The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

The Ghost Bride (P.S.)

by Yangsze Choo

"One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride ..." Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound. Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price. After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy--including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets--and the truth about her own family--before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.

Reviewed by nannah on

4 of 5 stars

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(4.5)

Oh, wow, I definitely didn't expect a paranormal afterlife adventure when I rented this! I was expecting more of a realistic historical romance or something? I'm so glad I was wrong, because this far exceeded any expectations I had (and I'm not that into paranormal books at the moment, either!).

Book content warnings
death (obviously)
arranged marriage
fatphobia mentions
drug abuse/use

Honestly, the book's tagline is the perfect introduction: "One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride...".

What's a ghost bride? In Malaya, even under British rule, the Chinese belief--or superstition--is that a ghost bride is a woman who marries a man already dead. She then becomes an immediate widow. As can be expected, it's a quite scandalous request to ask of someone.

The protagonist, a young woman named Li Lan, used to live comfortably before her mother died and her father squandered the family business. Now her arranged marriage to the heir of the rich Lim family is cut off, and the Lim family has a new offer for her: become the ghost bride of their dead son. She will become part of the Lim family, and well taken care of, but is it worth the price?

This starts her adventure into the afterlife, starting with the Lim family's son haunting her, her spirit's detachment from her body, and a dragon spirit guiding her through the Plains of the Dead to find out just what the Lim family may be hiding underneath that initial request.

The beginning is a tad slow only compared to the rest of the novel. It never failed to hold my interest, though. It's such a good and well-written book. It has a definite atmosphere and rich world building, and it's so easy to get lost within it. I think I stayed up till 4:00am reading this multiple nights, haha!

I think the only thing keeping me from giving this five full stars is the few mentions of fatphobia . . . even though later the protagonist does slightly scold some of the characters for treating one of the villains (yea . . . the villain is fat :/) badly when they were younger--and part of this was because he was fat. I'm not sure it's enough though to completely "fix" the beginning parts where she was just so repelled by him because of his "ugly looks" though.

Anyway, this book was so beautiful, and I'll probably buy it. :)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 11 October, 2017: Finished reading
  • 11 October, 2017: Reviewed