The Ghost Bride

[ DNF, page 50. ]

This book had been recommended to me several times over the years. In my opinion, the hype was ... too much. Two stars for the impeccable, lush lore and for the intriguing concept of ghost brides and being haunted by wandering spirits. However, the prose itself did not take me away into the story. I kept waiting to be incredibly captivated, or feel unease, or connect to our protagonist, Li Lan, and I wanted to keep going to see if it would happen, but, unfortunately, for me, it hasn't. This treads the line between adult novel and YA novel, and doesn't sound like either. It reads like a memoir? And that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I got tired of being told / reported everything instead of just swept into what was going on. Events were recounted, not encountered. People were described, not seen. I'm not sure if that makes sense, and maybe somewhere down the line, I'll finish it, but it won't be now.