Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

12 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • 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

I still like Yangsze's writing but I couldn't get into TGB as I did with TNT bc Li Lan wasn't very likable and the part where she's in the Plains of the Dead is a boring chunk of the book and Li Lan's thirsting over Tian Bai and then, out of the blue, Er Lang took me out. Like I get it, she's repressed and all but not every random dude you see is a snack calm down! Also either I'm misreading these blurbs or they're misleading ASF 
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

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rivercat0338's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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nannahnannah's review against another edition

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4.5

Oh, wow, I definitely didn't expect a paranormal afterlife adventure when I rented this! I was expecting more of a realistic historical romance or something? I'm so glad I was wrong, because this far exceeded any expectations I had (and I'm not that into paranormal books at the moment, either!).

Honestly, the book's tagline is the perfect introduction: "One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride...".

What's a ghost bride? In Malaya, even under British rule, the Chinese belief--or superstition--is that a ghost bride is a woman who marries a man already dead. She then becomes an immediate widow. As can be expected, it's a quite scandalous request to ask of someone.

The protagonist, a young woman named Li Lan, used to live comfortably before her mother died and her father squandered the family business. Now her arranged marriage to the heir of the rich Lim family is cut off, and the Lim family has a new offer for her: become the ghost bride of their dead son. She will become part of the Lim family, and well taken care of, but is it worth the price?

This starts her adventure into the afterlife, starting with the Lim family's son haunting her, her spirit's detachment from her body, and a dragon spirit guiding her through the Plains of the Dead to find out just what the Lim family may be hiding underneath that initial request.

The beginning is a tad slow only compared to the rest of the novel. It never failed to hold my interest, though. It's such a good and well-written book. It has a definite atmosphere and rich world building, and it's so easy to get lost within it. I think I stayed up till 4:00am reading this multiple nights, haha!

I think the only thing keeping me from giving this five full stars is the few mentions of fatphobia . . . even though later the protagonist does slightly scold some of the characters for treating one of the villains (yea . . . the villain is fat :/) badly when they were younger--and part of this was because he was fat. I'm not sure it's enough though to completely "fix" the beginning parts where she was just so repelled by him because of his "ugly looks" though. 

Anyway, this book was so beautiful, and I'll probably buy it. :)

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plantybooklover's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have really come to love audio books this year, and so when I saw The Ghost Bride was available at my library on the libby app, I opened it up. 
I really was enchanted. I found myself thinking about "what progress has LiLan made?" as I was doing other things, and got through the audio version (read by the author) pretty quickly.  
The essential premise is that LiLan- a very well educated (for a woman of that time) 18 yr old in British Malaysia (circa about 1890-1910?) has not yet been married.  Her father, once prosperous has sunk into an opium addiction after SmallPox wreaked havoc on the family, killing the mother, and severely affecting her father's appearance.  LiLan had once been promised to be married, but with their turn down in status, no one is quite sure that marriage promise still stands. One day her father offers her an opportunity to become the "Ghost Bride" of a recently dead young man.  She's understandably not too keen on this.  And thus, some adventure begins involving the world of the living and the dead. 
   I thought this was a fantastic story and I hung on every word. Interestingly, I never grew extremely fond of LiLan the main character. I think she was meant to be clever, but much of the plot and story shows how she wasn't.  She made many costly errors, and impulsive moves, and never seemed to learn to be more cautious as she continued on.  In the end, I was left thinking- she must have been extremely pretty because - although she was sort of advertised as being educated, she didn't really show it beyond her ability to read. I was left wondering what was so special about her that even a dragon had taken interest.  
Regardless of my not really liking the main character, I so loved this entire story, and highly recommend it, especially during spooky season!  I guess not all characters are to be loved!

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.0

Li Lan finds out her father is considering a ghost marriage for her to the recently deceased son of a rich family, then she starts being visited in her dreams by the odious spectral suitor himself.

I like Li Lan as a protagonist. She seems practical and able to go with the flow, adapting to her very strange circumstances even though she's definitely stressed by what's happening. The worldbuilding flows seamlessly, giving context in a way that was appropriate to each moment without making me feel like it has paused for me to catch up. That's helped a great deal by the fact that much of the book functions as a tour of this book's version of the Chinese afterlife, and Li Lan is new to almost as much of it as I was. There's also a lot of detail about colonial Malaysia as a setting, focusing on what's most relevant to Li Lan's life.

The plot has remarkably few pivotal events, as much of it focuses on Li Lan's journey from place to place or her efforts to get some piece of information. It takes a very long time before she has what she needs to change anything, and even then she's trying to get back to the formerly unremarkable status quo of having her spirit reside in her body. Along the way she learns the messy history of her family and the Lim family, the ways they've been frustratingly entangled long before her father considered one of their sons as a potential husband for her. Keeping things complicated, the one he originally considered isn't the ghost suitor but his cousin. Technically by the end there are three different potential suitors, but that develops slowly throughout the book. It manages to not feel like a "girl has to pick between guys book" even though that's an integral part of the premise.

I especially enjoyed the lively cast of secondary characters, both the living and the dead. The tangle of their (after-)lives is a huge focus and was very intriguing (even if rarely happy). 

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lynssss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really cool atmospheric escapism. I thought it would get darker really. But it did later in another way. Very interesting plot and characters that all coincide week with each other. 

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kaneebli's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0


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nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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adventurous dark relaxing sad medium-paced
  • 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

3.5

Pros:
World building and characters
Historical perspective
Well-written, captivating storytelling (especially as an audiobook)
Learned about Malay culture and folklore

Cons:
How some of the plot points were “solved”
Lagging at times during second half particularly in the spirit realm
Ending felt very quick, feel like more could’ve been done with it

Overall I loved learning about the history, language, and culture of Malay! Wonderful historical fantasy novel that was good but not great-there wasn’t a “wow” factor for me. I enjoy learning about other cultures and beliefs so I’m happy to have read the book but it won’t be memorable unfortunately. Maybe because I’m not a big fantasy reader that “took away” from my experience compared to other readers?


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replaceblue's review

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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