soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2022-04-19 07:23 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2022-04-19 07:23 pm
The Terracotta Bride, by Zen Cho
I've read this novelette before, but it was years ago, and at the time it was long enough between when I read it and reviewed it that I didn't have a lot to say. Well, I just reread it and I have things to say!!! Mostly that it's GREAT.
It's the story set in the Chinese afterlife, featuring a Malay woman named Siew Tsin who died very young, who's manipulated by a dead relative of hers and then sold off to be the second wife of a very rich and powerful dead man.
I love the choice of Siew Tsin as the pov character. Through her eyes you can see just glimpses of a much more exciting story happening to other characters, but Siew Tsin is caught up in her own issues: her efforts to be good, her efforts to be someone, how she is always too late when she finally decides to do anything. The story is about Siew Tsin learning how to make and feel confident in her own decisions. And although I might WANT to know more of the story of Ling'en and Yonghua, I'm also very happy with what we do have on the page!
And I LOVE the moment at the end where Siew Tsin goes to Lady Meng to voluntarily re-enter the cycle and be reincarnated, and Lady Meng makes it clear in just a brief tossed off line that she knows and loves Siew Tsin for who she is, across all her lives.
I hope Siew Tsin has a better life next time around.
It's the story set in the Chinese afterlife, featuring a Malay woman named Siew Tsin who died very young, who's manipulated by a dead relative of hers and then sold off to be the second wife of a very rich and powerful dead man.
I love the choice of Siew Tsin as the pov character. Through her eyes you can see just glimpses of a much more exciting story happening to other characters, but Siew Tsin is caught up in her own issues: her efforts to be good, her efforts to be someone, how she is always too late when she finally decides to do anything. The story is about Siew Tsin learning how to make and feel confident in her own decisions. And although I might WANT to know more of the story of Ling'en and Yonghua, I'm also very happy with what we do have on the page!
And I LOVE the moment at the end where Siew Tsin goes to Lady Meng to voluntarily re-enter the cycle and be reincarnated, and Lady Meng makes it clear in just a brief tossed off line that she knows and loves Siew Tsin for who she is, across all her lives.
I hope Siew Tsin has a better life next time around.