“Moving and deeply funny—a captivating exploration of how our drive to create can lead to both heartbreaking beauty and cruel destruction. Lu reminds us that broken things are sometimes in their perfect form.” —Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Hole in the Sky

“I was mesmerised the moment I opened this book.” —Bora Chung, National Book Award finalist and International Booker shortlisted author of Cursed Bunny

“Ingenious in its construction, Siang Lu layers myth and reality into a marvelous structure. This is bold, inventive storytelling, a novel full of ideas that never loses its heart.” —Charles Yu, National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown 

“Kaleidoscopically erudite, inexhaustibly lyrical, moving, and fabulously funny. There are immortal sages, concubines, eunuchs, moonlit pagodas, assassins, chess, Bentley limousines, psychedelic whiskey, the cinema, crazed auteurs (hats off to Siang Lu for creating “Baby Bao,” one of the great literary characters). And there’s a love story. And when the iridescent effulgence of all this eases, you’re left with the beautiful and elemental image of the solitary Writer, secluded in that hidden room at the center of his labyrinth, his brush “dancing on the page.””—Mark Leyner, author of The Sugar Frosted Nutsack

“What a pleasure to follow Siang Lu into his labyrinthine Ghost Cities. An instant Australian classic that stands both on the shoulders of giants and yet is somehow completely and delightfully new. I want to crumple this novel into a ball and swallow it, whole.”—Hayley Scrivenor, author of Girl Falling

“Poignant…satisfying….I was blown away by Ghost Cities.” —Charlie Jane Anders

“Clever…readers will find plenty to feast on.” —Publishers Weekly

“Lu’s genre-bending novel unfolds like a metropolis itself—sprawling, imaginative, and at times overwhelming. At the risk of carrying too much, Ghost Cities offers everything readers could ask for—historical drama, modern romance, satire-infused dystopia, a reckoning with one's identity. A quirky, complicated novel for those who like a challenge.” —Allison Cho, Booklist