Advice from IR Approved Author Ann Yihyang Kim: “I make sure that my books are thrilling, that they’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, that they’ll keep you turning each page with the eagerness that only good entertainment can inspire.”

Tree of Eyes: Book Two of Eyes of Awakening: Received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.

Following find an interview with author Ann Yihyang Kim:

1. What is the name of the book and when was it published?

Tree of Eyes: Book Two of Eyes of Awakening will be published on January 31, 2026.

I mentioned in my interview for Eye in the Blue Box: Book One of Eyes of Awakening (https://indiereader.com/2025/10/advice-from-ir-approved-author-ann-wu-sometimes-we-in-the-real-world-need-to-try-and-live-in-another-world-in-other-words-we-need-to-put-ourselves-in-others-shoes-in-order-to-help-th/) that I chose to publish my first book on the same date that the main protagonist, James, begins his adventures in the Flowering, the dangerous and surreal world he’s cursed to enter each time he falls asleep from that night onward. I’d actually wanted to continue publishing my books on dates that coincided with important timestamps in the plot and as such, had originally planned on a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day publication date for Tree of Eyes.

However, in the end, I decided to be more forgiving toward myself and aim for a later date. Who am I kidding? If I try to pull off a book launch as an indie writer on top of all the craziness that already composes the holiday season, I would, without a doubt, burn out and go bat crap crazy. And who’s to say that I’d even find time to sit in front of a computer on Christmas Eve/Christmas? So, I decided to publish Tree of Eyes at the end of January rather than the end of December. Hopefully, the holiday season will still be somewhat fresh in my readers’ minds at that date and add to the experience of reading a story that uses holidays as important timestamps.

2. What’s the book’s first line?

“James rushed into his apartment and slammed the door shut.”

As the IndieReader review for Tree of Eyes so aptly states: “The story picks up right after the events of Eye in the Blue Box, dropping the crew into fresh trouble while the shadow of a past enemy begins to stretch over their nights.

Kim wastes no time throwing Crew Blue into new danger. E, their fearsome and unpredictable leader, turns her volatility on the blind Shaman Snow; Lux’s irrepressible cheer frays into frustration; Blood Crow’s alliance still bristles with ideological fault lines. Honey’s quiet support of James deepens, glimpsed in the moments when they wordlessly cover each other’s flanks. Here, interpersonal tension isn’t a pause between battles; it’s another front in the war.” (https://indiereader.com/book_review/tree-of-eyes-book-two-of-eyes-of-awakening/)

3. What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.

Join James in the grand finale of his journey as he, at last, discovers the origins of the Flowering and uncovers the remaining mysteries of the eye in the blue box. He will fight with all his strength to protect the friends and family he loves. The strong must aid the weary now more than ever. But not without sacrifice.

4. What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?

Tree of Eyes is me at my most vulnerable. I can’t go into too many details out of fear of spoilers, but a major event that triggered the creation of both Tree of Eyes and Eye in the Blue Box was an abusive relationship.

I was briefly in an abusive relationship, and yes, it was also physically abusive. I wrote my books with the intention of bringing comfort to anyone else who might have gone through something similar. I also wanted to teach those who may not have gone through abuse but still might have the potential to understand the intricacies of such dark and often complicated circumstances. Hopefully, after reading my books, if they happened to come across someone who needed help or healing, they’d be able to offer constructive words and actions rather than destructive judgments, as is often the case, unfortunately.

Even if it’s not in the context of abuse, though, I wanted to use all the tools of entertainment and thrill to fashion the horrors and sufferings of our world into a palatable story that would help my readers to understand deep and dark matters that are otherwise difficult to digest.

In short, abuse and suffering but also the strength, hope, and beauty that endure despite the darkness were my main sources of inspiration for my Eyes of Awakening saga.

5. What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?

Early on in the creation of my saga, I decided on three core values for all of my writing endeavors.

1. Entertain

2. Comfort

3. Teach

As such, all of my books are not limited to only spectacle or only deep philosophizing. I make sure that my books are thrilling, that they’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, that they’ll keep you turning each page with the eagerness that only good entertainment can inspire.

But I also make sure that the fun won’t stop on a superficial level. My books are fun, and they have depth. I combine entertainment with the profundity of hard-earned life lessons because I believe that the best of times are not only fun but also memorable.

And you can bet your ass my books are memorable.

Read my books! You’ll learn something in a fun way, which is, after all, the best way to learn anything.

6. What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?

I already went into James’s love for instant ramen and his use of a spear in my Eye in the Blue Box interview, so I’ll elaborate more on E for this interview. As the cover of the book implies, Tree of Eyes focuses a lot on E as well as James’s friendship with her.

Just as how I wanted readers to associate a spear with James, I wanted readers to associate black machetes with E. I’m not sure why I always envisioned her as a dual wielder. I think it’s partially because of an old Korean period drama called Rustic Period, which features a badass gangster by the name of “Ssang Kal,” which translated means “Twin Blades”. I remember being in awe of how cool that character was. (And yes, he did use twin blades.) I also think Levi from the anime Attack on Titan had something to do with me being smitten with anyone who can master two swords.

There were practical reasons too, though. The Flowering does bestow roughly equal physical strength to both men and women, but men do have slightly stronger upper body strength and women have slightly stronger lower body strength. (This is why, if you pay close attention to the end of Eye in the Blue Box as well as upcoming battles in Tree of Eyes, you’ll notice that Kit uses more of his hands, arms, and elbows during battles whereas E uses more kicks and knee attacks combined with her agility.)

As such, I thought it made sense that E would use an extra sword to empower her upper body even further. Combined with the power of her lower body as well as her agility and battle acumen, I felt that her two machetes, which are black like her eyes, would ensure the easy and ruthless slaughter she so often rains down upon her enemies.

7. When did you first decide to become an author?

It was more of a gradual realization than a decision. When I first started working on my saga, it was to fulfill a bucket list item. “I’m an English major, so obviously I have to write at least one book in my lifetime!” had been my mentality. Little did I know that a flippant bucket list wish would form a new part of my identity and that creative writing would turn out to be an arena I was actually well equipped and well shaped for. I’ve always loved the arts, but it’s only been in writing that I’ve felt like a fish finally set free at sea. My books have been instrumental to my personal growth and journey of self discovery. I write so that my books can likewise give some small type of joy and meaning to others. I suppose that means I’m an author.

8. Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?

I don’t mean to sound super hoity-toity, but I’m going to have to go with Shakespeare.

I first read Hamlet’s famous soliloquy (“To be or not to be …”) in high school. I remember not understanding everything fluently due to the older nature of the language, but for some reason, the words still touched my heart. I felt a deep sense of loneliness and nihilism just from the tone the words somehow created. It was the first time the medium of the written word brought tears to my eyes.

Since then, I’ve read much more Shakespeare, and what I’ve come to respect most about any Shakespearean work is their ability to combine pure genius with captivating entertainment. I loved the magic, deception, and confusion in his comedies. I loved all the ghosts, madness, and horror in his tragedies, the sword fights, the tragic deaths. Shakespeare understood not only spectacle but also what kinds of spectacles would entertain audiences of any station, high or low. He knew what would sell but also possessed a notable knack for picking elements that were just as timeless as they were immediately appealing. He was, as I like to say, equal parts class and trash.

Fun and entertainment are often associated with childishness, flippancy, or transiency, while on the other end of the spectrum, profundity often conjures the connotation of dryness or the necessity to be well-versed in not only literature but also history, art, and a whole slew of other aristocratic subjects in order to derive some sort of enjoyment. But Shakespeare was a master at marrying fun and profundity. He whole-heartedly accepted that even the most important messages are absolutely useless if presented in a bland and monotonous manner. He was a genius who shamelessly wrote for the masses and chose to channel his brilliance through what was fun rather than what was dry. He knew how to keep an audience and even more, how to give them something truly worth their time.

You can be both extremely entertaining and extremely profound. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. In fact, as Shakespeare demonstrates, you can only be a master storyteller when you are first, humble enough to acknowledge that a good story is an entertaining one and second, brilliant enough to infuse enough substance into entertainment so that audiences can take away something they’ll keep within their minds and treasure within their hearts even long after your story has ended.