The Ghost Bride

Book Title: The Ghost Bride

Author: Yangsze Choo

Genre: Historical fiction, Murder Mystery, Fantasy, Paranormal (Ghost), Romance

Synopsis

'One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride...'

In 1890s Malaya, a seventeen-year-old Li Lan receives an unusual proposal: marriage to the recently dead son of the esteemed Lim family. Li Lan knows what this means for her impoverished father. She has to consider it carefully.

The Lim's wealth and grandeur is dizzying, but Li Lan has her sights set on another - surely she has to be certain of her heart's true desire before committing to a life with a ghost?

Night after night, Li Lan finds herself drawn into another world. One where boundaries between reality and dreams are blurred, and where the afterlife shows itself to be place of terror, temptation...and delight.

Li Lan must uncover the mysteries of the ghost world, and be united with her true love, before she is trapped there for all time.

My Review

I was introduced to The Ghost Bride by NETFLIX as a Mandarin series, which I binged watch till finished. I didn't even know it was a book until I was browsing through Bookurve to see what book to buy to add to ever growing yet never ending TBR pile and since the Netflix series was worth watching, I decided to get it. Lets just say I wasn't disappointed.

Thus without further adieu...Lets begin.

The Ghost Bride was set in 1890 Malaya as it was known back then in the port city of Malacca. It was a time where the British Empire had extended its rule to over half the world. The story follows our dear Li Lan, a seventeen year old girl; whose family was once well off but now was on the brink of bankruptcy, as  her debt-ridden father receives a proposal from one of the most wealthiest and influential Lim family. One would think that would be such a fortunate thing but the only problem was that the proposal was from Tian Chiang, the Lim family's heir, who is dead. Yes, DEAD.

Li Lan is horrified ; well anyone would be if they were in her position, even more so when her dead suitor starts to haunt her dreams as his tantrums become scarier and scarier. As if that wasn't her only problem, our dear girl is convinced that she's in love with his cousin, Tian Bai, our boy next door and who by the way is very much alive and next in line to be the heir. Riddled with nightmares and horrors, Li Lan is very desperate to get rid of her very much unwelcomed suitor, even though she knows that if she were to accept the proposal, her father's debt would be canceled. Can't blame the girl.  

Faced with the mysteries and challenges ,she embarks on a dangerous journey that takes her from her city of Malacca to the realms of the dead, where she'll have to learn how to navigate between foes and unexpected allies. 

I loved and quite enjoyed this book. 

The vivid settings with lush imagery and palpable  atmosphere, with amazing descriptions of  the mixtures of the numerous Malaysian cultures, nationalities and traditions that form the society of that era in port city of Malacca. The food, oh the food, was so mouth-watering portrayed that it had me wanting to go out to the kuih stands by the roadside just to buy some.

The author is of Malaysian descent and the way she portrayed the country in her story shows how deep her knowledge of Malaysia and it's rich history which was beautifully portrayed and with a lot of respect for all the cultures and social class represented.

The superstitions, myths, legends were all beautifully told. 

What I also enjoyed about the author was how she wrote both the realm of the living and the realm of the dead, how both worlds intertwined with each other and influence each other. There was vengeance from beyond the grave, love and romance that transcends mortal lifetimes, magic and wonder, lets not forget the menacing courts of hell where the departed must pay their due before moving onwards to their final stop.

I found the pace of this book to just nice, it was not too slow nor too fast, even though the middle part of the book was a wee bit confusing especially about who was who but it only lasted for a minute and I could follow the flow of the story. I never felt bored or impatient but genuinely enjoyed the book, even the middle part but wow the ending was something completely different to what I imagined would happen; I mean not even the Netflix series showed that or hinted that or maybe it but I didn't catch it....anyway I was pleasantly surprised and happy. To say I was very much invested is an understatement.

The romance aspect and Li Lan's love interests in particular. There wasn't a lot of romance in the book, just pockets here and there between Li Lan and her love interests.

The romance between Tian Bai, our boy next door, and Li Lan were little, well given the circumstances but their scenes where they were together were rare and few. I mean sure Li Lan thinks of him but the chemistry between was kind of like an infatuation/crush and I couldn't really see it blossoming into something more, which is more apparent as Li Lan grows throughout the story which is what I loved about Li Lan and the way she evolves throughout the story when the situation demands it of her, she grows. There is a love triangle of sorts but it wasn't cringe worthy, rather it was enjoyable mainly because of the interactions between Er Lang and Li Lan and their scenes together...no spoilers...

In conclusion it is not necessarily the perfect book for everyone but it was for me. I would very much recommend to those readers who enjoy this type of story and also those who have read other books by this author.

Kimi no Na wa / Your Name

 

Book Title: Kimi no Na wa / Your Name

Author: Makoto Shinkai

Genre: Light novel, Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

Synopsis

Mitsuha, a high school girl living in a small town in the mountains, has a dream that she's a boy living in Tokyo. Taki, a high school boy in Tokyo, dreams that he's a girl living in a quaint little mountain town. Sharing bodies, relationships and lives, the two become inextricably interwoven - but are any connections truly inseverable in the grand tapestry of fate?

My Review

Though I have already seen the movie, so I knew the story; I was still curios and intrigued on how the light novel would be, even more so when I learned that the director of the film was the same person who wrote the light novel based on his film and that he had  finished writing it before the anime film itself was actually finished. Which would make this a film turned novel but became film, not sure if there's a term for that but yeah.

The light novel itself, for all intent and purpose was light and completely different to what I'm used to reading. Good for a light reading, especially  to get out that reading funk...

So the story follows with two high school students, a young boy and a young girl, who experience this out-of-this-world experience of swapping bodies (very Freaky Friday vibes).
Throughout their experiences, they have the amazing power of changing each other's lives and fate of not only for themselves but also those around them.

The novel, I found would have been a little confusing for me, mainly the switching of points of views, if I hadn't watched the movie first. Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad, it was just that I can see how the narration and story would lend itself to a film format but in the novel there was no clear way to tell which first-personal perspective was now speaking, especially between the two of them with no real transitions to mark the difference.

Admittedly, it does take a little of getting used to as the narrative switches without warning but once you get used to that, it's a wonderful story that was captivating and funny. 

It was a wonderful and great companion to the film. Watching the movie again after reading, I realized that there were many small details hinted in the movie that were clearer in the novel that I had not notice before.

I, personally, wouldn't want to read the novel and not see the film first, but they are both excellent versions of  Your Name and the final line of the book and film was the perfect ending...

Overall I enjoyed the book. It's definitely worth the read and would recommend if you're a fan of this genre.

Jurassic Park

 

Book Title: Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Genre: Science Fiction Thriller

Synopsis

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now, one of mankind's most thrilling fantasies has come true. Creatures extinct for eons now roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery and all the world can visit them- for a price.

Until something goes wrong.... 

My Review.

I basically grew up watching Jurassic Park and the other sequels following right up to the most recent one that is coming soon this year....

So when I got the chance to read the book, I did and it was worth it.

So without further a due, lets get into it...

The book starts off with a  very short prologue, not expanding much but just enough to keep one invested. It is then followed by a series of incidents and events that flowed into the introduction of the main story and characters.

The book was really an engaging read, it kept me invested to find out what happens next. It was my first by Michael Crichton and the book itself had a really good pace and I wasn't disappointed by the length but was also surprised by how "short" the book seemed. Like all authors, there will be character death, but what caught me by surprise was who, compared to the movie.

The  difference in the characters interactions and portrayal from the movie was quite evident. 

- John Hammond was shown as a cold, ruthless and in many ways a stereotypical business man with a dark side that is shown quite a lot through the book.

- Ian Malcom, while was the character who was ignored along with his theories but in the end was proved correct at every turn, to me he was more eccentric in the movie but more put together in the book.

- The children were different as it seemed that they took the boy Tim from the book and split him into two characters in the movie, where as the girl Lexie from the book was completely different from movie Lexie.

 These were just some of the characters that I felt were different in both the book and movie, except Dr. Alan Grant as for me he was the unassuming hero who scraped by with his wits and luck in both the book and movie.

Overall for me this book was a solid read over the week of evening readings.

The story itself was compelling and it still held up to the scientific light. The technology described for me was still appropriate and held muster. While it was not something timeless it was not like watching a movie where a cell phone would have solved everything.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.

 

Introduction

Hi, welcome to my second blog called Blog of a Bookworm, my first blog is called Story Writing to pass the Time.

This blog that I've created, like the title says is about books, books and more books.

 It showcases the books that I enjoy reading and my thoughts on them

It's basically a platform where I share my love for books.

I also post my book reviews on goodreads under the name BookDragon...