Review by kappafrog - The Ghost Bride

kappafrog 's review for:

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

3.25

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Pros: I loved the worldbuilding. 19th century Malaya was a cool setting, and I appreciated all the little historical details that went with it like the Dutch ghost, all the Malay folklore, and Tien Bai's education abroad. What I liked most about this book was the way Choo built the afterlife world. It was very spooky and atmospheric. All of the rules and restrictions were interesting. The bond between Li Lan and her horse was really nice. My favourite characters in the book were Amah and Old Wong. This was a really cool imagining of what life would be like for someone in her time and place being caught between life and death.

Cons: The plot was really meandering. There was a lot of time spent with Li Lan wandering around aimlessly, and while it showed off the cool worldbuilding, it left her motivations often muddled. She was a very weepy character which was all right but sometimes got a bit repitive. It was sometimes frustrating as a reader how big the disconnect was between what she was thinking and how she acted - she was often very passive in her conversations compared to what she was thinking. It wasn't unrealistic, but it did make her grate on me a bit. I was also never fully sold on Er Lang as a love interest. He was quite misogynistic and while this is true of most of the male characters in the book, which is appropriate to their place and time, it didn't make him seem that appealing.

Content Warnings