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sarahb919's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Misogyny, Blood, Stalking, Drug use, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Sexism, Drug abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Body horror, Murder, Child death, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Bullying
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Pregnancy
book_gremlin42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Stalking
legs_n_chins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I hoped I would enjoy this more. The world building was fascinating and I loved all the descriptions of the world of the dead and the Chinese folklore woven throughout. The parts in the world of the dead were certainly my favorite, and I think the most successful parts of the book when it came to the mystery and tense situations. The build up to that, I thought, was also very good, setting the stage well and teasing a lot of the world of the dead without giving everything away. But the final part of the book just didn’t capture me. The climax was surprisingly underwhelming and everything after that just felt like it dragged. I guess there were sort of two climaxes to tie up the two ends of the two plot lines that were introduced, but neither of them really felt like they lived up to what I had been hoping for.
Overall, I liked the characters. Though, mostly the secondary characters. Li Lan as a main character was perfectly serviceable, I didn’t hate her, but I didn’t like her as much as, say, Old Wong or even Yan Hong. I understand a lot of her actions were dictated by the context of her being young and sheltered and lacking a lot of worldly experience, but sometimes I just felt like she lapsed back into total helplessness. Most of her choices made sense, but some of them still felt like they were stupider than they should have been, even considering that she’s working with a serious lack of information and youthful impulsivity. I didn’t find it onerous to read from her perspective, but she did frustrate me sometimes.
I appreciated learning more about Chinese culture and folklore through this book, though. The author was clearly aware that some of her audience wouldn’t have a lot of familiarity with the culture and really aimed for clarity. (Sometimes it did take me out of the story when she would define the Chinese words. I don’t speak any Chinese, so it was welcome, but it still was like a sort of record scratch in the middle of a sentence.) My experience with Chinese tradition surrounding death is mainly regarding funeral offerings and a little vague understanding of the afterlife, so I liked learning more about that through this story.
I don’t know if I’ll pursue other books by this author, but for the most part I did enjoy reading this. It was definitely a uniquely Chinese story and that’s a lot of what I’m looking for these days.
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Suicide
rafacolog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Murder, Addiction, Drug use, and Death
fkshg8465's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Death
matcha_pages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death and Addiction
Minor: Abortion and Suicide
coryyalva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Nonetheless, I do recommend everyone read this book, especially women. This book was a deeply beautiful example of what it feels like to be a woman, the pressure that is put onto women, and it is a great reminder, in the midst of the story, that women have gone through so much to get where they are today.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Misogyny and Violence
Minor: Abortion and Murder
lectora21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, and Drug use
Minor: Abortion, Infertility, and Murder
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
bc this book went in such a different way from what I had thought lol But still, the afterworld's world building and the richness of the different folk beliefs, culture and heritage, and Malaysian and Chinese history throughout the story make it worthwhile to stick around. And the whole messiness with Fan and the Third Concubine and Madam Lim and Yan Hong gave it the Telenovela feels (tm) and I love that ish so much lmao. And Er Lang his character did nothing for me for the most part but I'll admit he was sexy with Li Lan and I liked that, I guess. The last 20% was fun though, it was ok, I enjoyed reading it but is not its best xoxo
Graphic: Addiction and Death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Body shaming, Drug use, and Sexism
Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Suicide
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
The side characters of Amah and Old Wong were my favorites, though Li Lan herself was also enjoyable to read. I also enjoyed some of the other side characters a lot as well, though for all of them (except Amah and Old Wong) I had at least a few moments when I questioned their motives. All of the characters that we spent any length of time with were well developed and nuanced, often having echoes later in the story that I didn't anticipate.
One thing that I don't remember knowing before I started reading which would have been very helpful is the audience. I don't remember now if I had expected an adult or YA book, but this is definitely a YA book with an incredibly naïve protagonist getting herself into scrapes that an older, more experienced character would not. (So I guess it's good, from a story perspective, that she was so sheltered.)
Side note: while there is a love triangle of sorts in this book, it didn't bother me the way that trope usually does. I suppose that's because of the way it was handled, and because I could see the changes in Li Lan happening in what seemed like a very logical fashion.
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction and Suicide