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A review by inmydreams
Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben (Novel) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
4.0
It's a 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up because I have a soft spot for Meatbun and I trust that this will get better. I have some mixed feelings. I went into this with high expectations, because I'm someone that prefers modern setting vs cultivation/fantasy danmei, so my favorite writer + a modern novel + patient/doctor combo? I expected a 5 out of 5 stars from the beginning, but I guess it's a slow burn in terms of story and chemistry progression.
The novel follows He Yu, a 19 yo student that enrolls in the same university where his crush is teaching, which is a woman older than him. The girl's older brother is the other MC, Xie Qingcheng, his past doctor and someone He Yu has grown to resent due to his coldness and attitude. They know each other since He Yu was young because he has a mental disease called "psychological ebola", which required him to get treatment and that's where he first meets him as his doctor. Years later, they reunite, now Xie Qingcheng is 32 yo and is divorced. Both will get involved in a mystery solving case while growing closer, with the threat of He Yu's illness developing.
So I have to confess at first, I thought the dynamic for this book would be patient x doctor, but I got surprised when it also has the student x teacher relationship in present time. Of course, Xie Qingcheng isn't He Yu's teacher, but he's a professor and He Yu is still a student, with a gap of 13 years between them. I was immediately hooked. Then I realized that He Yu is romantically interest in Xie Qingcheng's younger sister, and is actually homophobic (same with XQC). These elements make the whole thing more complicated, but I was fine with that.
The problem I have with this first volume is that perhaps it is too introductory. It isn't boring because I could finish it very fast, but I was expecting something else to happen with the plot. It wasn't until around the 2/3 of it that I settled down and accepted that this wouldn't my favorite volume, but it's still good. The second thing that made me roll my eyes is the exposition about mentally ill patients and He Yu's illness. While at the end, the reader gets the impression that the author humanizes them, I still don't like the whole set up of the mental hospital being full of people screaming, you know the old way that movies used to portray this setting. At least it didn't end with that image, instead it gave highlight to a mentally ill minor character with a tragic but (sadly) realistic backstory.
One thing I also had to get used to again is the way Meatbun presents her characters. In 2ha, I despised Mo Ran from the beginning and thought Chu Wanning was too harsh, until a a few chapters later when I realized he wasn't as bad as I thought, and Mo Ran redeems himself later in his 2.0 self. With Yu Wu, I liked both of the protagonists from the beginning, although I haven't finished that novel yet. In this case, it's both HY and XQC who annoy me, not due to their personalities, but mostly due to the homophobia, especially XQC with his sexist views. The good thing is that this promises to change later, and it's always interesting to see a relationship go from hate to love. I'm also a sucker for slow burn (there is a promising rival who will make HY jealous?) so I have hope.
This first volume doesn't have the same engaging factor as 2ha or Yuwu though, which is another disappointment. Sure, it leaves you wanting more, but I don't feel desperate to read the rest and I did with Meatbun's other works. I'm deciding to maintain my high expecations for the next ones though, because from a few spoilers I've seen, the toxicity between HY and XQC is exactly my type of thing.
PS. I've seen people after reading BAB completely believing that Meatbun wants to write an omegaverse setting really bad. I'm not up there yet, but my take is that she wants to write incest lol. The whole thing about XQC being paternalistic, almost a father figure to HY, and how he always lectures HY like a father... I see your intentions Meatbun, and I support you fully.
Tags: (can miss some, heads up that I don't tag everything)
-POV: third person
-Content warnings:
-Elements:
-Kinks: None
-Sexual act(s): None
-Dynamic:
The novel follows He Yu, a 19 yo student that enrolls in the same university where his crush is teaching, which is a woman older than him. The girl's older brother is the other MC, Xie Qingcheng, his past doctor and someone He Yu has grown to resent due to his coldness and attitude. They know each other since He Yu was young because he has a mental disease called "psychological ebola", which required him to get treatment and that's where he first meets him as his doctor. Years later, they reunite, now Xie Qingcheng is 32 yo and is divorced. Both will get involved in a mystery solving case while growing closer, with the threat of He Yu's illness developing.
So I have to confess at first, I thought the dynamic for this book would be patient x doctor, but I got surprised when it also has the student x teacher relationship in present time. Of course, Xie Qingcheng isn't He Yu's teacher, but he's a professor and He Yu is still a student, with a gap of 13 years between them. I was immediately hooked. Then I realized that He Yu is romantically interest in Xie Qingcheng's younger sister, and is actually homophobic (same with XQC). These elements make the whole thing more complicated, but I was fine with that.
The problem I have with this first volume is that perhaps it is too introductory. It isn't boring because I could finish it very fast, but I was expecting something else to happen with the plot. It wasn't until around the 2/3 of it that I settled down and accepted that this wouldn't my favorite volume, but it's still good. The second thing that made me roll my eyes is the exposition about mentally ill patients and He Yu's illness. While at the end, the reader gets the impression that the author humanizes them, I still don't like the whole set up of the mental hospital being full of people screaming, you know the old way that movies used to portray this setting. At least it didn't end with that image, instead it gave highlight to a mentally ill minor character with a tragic but (sadly) realistic backstory.
One thing I also had to get used to again is the way Meatbun presents her characters. In 2ha, I despised Mo Ran from the beginning and thought Chu Wanning was too harsh, until a a few chapters later when I realized he wasn't as bad as I thought, and Mo Ran redeems himself later in his 2.0 self. With Yu Wu, I liked both of the protagonists from the beginning, although I haven't finished that novel yet. In this case, it's both HY and XQC who annoy me, not due to their personalities, but mostly due to the homophobia, especially XQC with his sexist views. The good thing is that this promises to change later, and it's always interesting to see a relationship go from hate to love. I'm also a sucker for slow burn (there is a promising rival who will make HY jealous?) so I have hope.
This first volume doesn't have the same engaging factor as 2ha or Yuwu though, which is another disappointment. Sure, it leaves you wanting more, but I don't feel desperate to read the rest and I did with Meatbun's other works. I'm deciding to maintain my high expecations for the next ones though, because from a few spoilers I've seen, the toxicity between HY and XQC is exactly my type of thing.
PS. I've seen people after reading BAB completely believing that Meatbun wants to write an omegaverse setting really bad. I'm not up there yet, but my take is that she wants to write incest lol. The whole thing about XQC being paternalistic, almost a father figure to HY, and how he always lectures HY like a father... I see your intentions Meatbun, and I support you fully.
Tags: (can miss some, heads up that I don't tag everything)
-POV: third person
-Content warnings:
Spoiler
self-harm, mentally ill people not well represented entirely. forced kissing (between MCs)-Elements:
Spoiler
age gap, size difference, mystery solving-Kinks: None
-Sexual act(s): None
-Dynamic: