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.

I was eager to finish this, but I don’t know if that’s because I simply wanted the answers so I could know and move on, or if I was genuinely interested in how it would end. And I think it’s weird, and maybe telling, that I can’t honestly say which is more true.

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.

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

This was a fun read, though the part of this book that I enjoyed the most was the setting. The description of Malaya, both the living and the dead versions, were rich and evocative and reminded me of a Studio Ghibli movie. This would not be ideal for everyone; while I enjoyed lingering in the different parts of the world Choo built for this book, if you're looking for a fast-paced book you aren't likely to find what you're looking for here except for in a few places where Li Lan gets in trouble and needs to escape.

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.

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). 

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?