So ALBTALBS was down for a few weeks which I didn’t even know it was down until I tried writing the July TBR Challenge review. 🫠 I tried contacting my host and everything and I guess there was some massive DDoS attack … and the site finally came back a few days ago. As my body and the universe hates me … I didn’t get to writing this review till now – cuz also procrastination is something I do excel at, unfortunately.
Anyway, to the actual substance! A review!

白日提灯 (Carrying a Lantern in Daylight) by 黎青燃 (Li Qing Ran)

He Simu used to pick up people on the battlefield to earn her a living, but was unexpectedly picked up by someone.
The young general who picked her up seemed to see her as a weak woman orphaned by the war, and took great care of her.
So He Simu conscientiously and dutifully played the part of the weak woman.
— “Oh my, blood! I am most afraid of blood, I faint when I see blood !”
——”This water basin is so heavy and I have so little strength, I can’t move it at all!”
——”You guys fight and kill all day long, how scary!”
The female general who had an unrequited love on the young general angrily said, “Brother Duan certainly doesn’t like such a delicate young girl like you!”
He Simu tilted her head: “Really?”
One day, the young general made a mistake on the battlefield, after being tricked by others.
He Simu, who couldn’t lift her shoulders nor her hands and would faint at the sight of blood, loosened up her muscles, and lit up a ghost lamp: “I wanna see who dares to bully our General Duan, little fox Duan ?”
Duan Xu then thought, he shouldn’t have provoked the Ghost King.
It took him several months to learn that her real name was He Simu.
But maybe even with a lifetime, he still couldn’t let her remember his name in her four hundred years of long life.
“My name is Duan Xu, Xu like in ‘Feng Lang Ju Xu’*.” (*a famous chinese idiom)
—————
The super strong female Ghost King female lead faking weakness daily and the cunning special soldier young general male lead – blurb from NU

I actually picked up this book because I saw a melon that the book has been adapted, and the cast was Dilraba and Arthur Chen FeiYu and I thought “well that’s an interesting pairing” so I went to look up the book and was like “that blurb sounds fantastic!” And while I found it a bit misleading, I did really like the book, and think if the actors bring their A game it has the potential to be an excellent drama. So yay! I was also ready for some morally grey and/or trickster characters.

He SiMu is our female lead (FL)/heroine. “Spoiler” alert, she’s the Ghost King. She has been so for four hundred years, and the book opens with her walking into the carnage of a city basically like “yum time to collect souls.” What I found misleading about the blurb is … while she’s incredibly powerful, I felt it wasn’t sufficiently conveyed. There are also some issues where I don’t know if it was the author or translator – or just very particular “rules” – she has no senses. Or at least, diminished ones, because technically she’s dead – a  ghost. She can see, but not color. Has no sense of taste, smell, or touch. Can hear, but … not music? It didn’t really make sense to me but I don’t know if there’s some cultural thing I just don’t get or know. SiMu is basically the kindest “evil ghost” ever. She cares about humanity, sets rules for the evil ghosts, and only takes a soul with an exchange – she offers a person a wish in order to take their soul. (I can’t remember if it means they can’t reincarnate or something.) She basically wants to avenge her parents and make things in the ghost world better/have more harmony with the human world.

Duan Xu is our hero/male lead (ML) and he’s an incredibly complex character. For a while SiMu suspects him of being not who he says he is … only he is! There’s a lot of complexity and hidden issues there. He truly just wants to reclaim the cities the empire lost and is pretty much willing to do anything to make it happen. He’s the whole deal with superior talents in both learning and martial arts. He gives off the impression of being “like jade” – a gentleman, but he’s got a streak of evil. In fact I felt he was more “evil” and outrageous that the Ghost King FL. I don’t want to – or can’t talk about him too much without giving spoilers. His background is incredibly tragic. However if he considers you one of his people, he’s incredibly devoted. I love me a smitten hero but I almost … I can’t believe I’m saying this but almost felt he was too much. He literally didn’t care if he died just for SiMu to experience the world. Duan Xu is crafty and just a lot of fun.

I loved this pair of morally grey characters. Like sure, SiMu doesn’t take a soul unless they (a person who is literally on the verge of death) agree, and she even offers them a wish … but you know. The author also wrote her as a bit of a vampire because it seems the process of soul taking is her sucking their blood. I kinda ignored that – nothing against vampires I just felt it was extraneous. Both have their own missions and goals, and they work well both separately and apart.

I felt the author really did a good job conveying SiMu’s experience and detachment – she’s “lived” for more than four hundred years. She’s a bit stuck in the past – always wearing ancient clothing – and doesn’t really remember people she’s encountered. I can’t imagine being [alive] for four hundred plus years. There’s a scene where she takes Duan Xu to a place where there are 22 graves, and says those are her past lovers. (I loved that she had previous relationships – so rare in a c-novel.) She mentions especially liking one, then realizes she can’t even remember his name. This strikes Duan Xu, but he’s determined to get the girl. Other than reclaiming the cities, he wants to be with her and for SiMu to remember him even four hundred years after his death.

I did feel there was a bit of deus ex machina at the end and I … man I don’t want to say what it is but while I understand the ending and it was satisfying, a part of me is very 😒 about it. I’m curious how the drama will handle it. This is one of the few books where I already knew the drama adaptation cast leads, and while reading it thought “this can be really good!” Only if both actors bring their best, but if they do, it’ll be amazing.

I hate reviews that are so vague but this one really is complex and involved and spoilers “ruins” it – so my apologies. I will say the author did an excellent job conveying atmosphere, scenes, character, the emotion. Colors! Feelings! There were scenes where I cried. Even secondary characters had a lot of depth and interest. I laughed, I squeed, I can see myself re-reading this book. I even cared about the politics that were going on. I kept picturing scenes in my head too – a really different entertaining read.

Grade: B+

I read the book here. (Thank you, translator!)