Xinxia Fantasy Novel Review: Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi

 

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi

read on MTLNovel

*Synopsis

*Sorry, guys! I can't find one with a synopsis, so just refer to my previous post about Till The End of the Moon c-drama or read this review. 

8.5/10

* * *

I  have many thoughts on this book, and I do love reading non-standard romance, so bear with me here.

First thought. Despite a torturous romance story, the ending makes up for it. It's absolutely wonderful and explains quite a lot of behaviours on the male character's part.

Second thought. Till The End of The Moon c-drama series brought me here, and so far I have much more satisfaction with the novel itself than with its TV adaptation despite the atrocious translation. 

I understand the reasoning for the changes, I do. If the characters and story arc stayed as they are the drama wouldn't see the light of day and would be censored. I watched enough Chinese dramas to know the strict rules of how everyone should be portrayed morally.

 Tantai Jin is a proper antihero, and this romance is very dark. If you like R.Lee Smith books, you will enjoy this one. On the other hand, Li Su Su portrayal in the drama doesn't do her character justice. Her character is colder and more ruthless to Tantai Jin than it's shown on TV. Sometimes I didn't know who to feel sorry for more, Tantai Jin or Li Su Su. And in the latter part of the novel Tantai Jin firmly had my sentiments.

Third thought, the plot is very convoluted because it involves multiple timelines (at least 4), but you can also explain it pretty simply.

Our heroine, Li Su Su is a hundred year old immortal (very young by their standards) living in a world ravaged by a devil god and his army of demons. The world has no light and the immortals are slowly getting wiped out because no one can fight the evil overlord. The immortals last hope is to send someone 500 years back into the past when the devil god was still human and figure out how to remove an evil bone from him without killing the guy (which will instantly turn him into the devil god). The choice falls on Li Su Su for various reasons, and she is sent back to a body of a human Ye Xiwu who is ironically married to Tantai Jin, a human would be devil god.

The guy is a psychopath. A. He can not feel and process emotions apart from his need for survival B. His lack of emotions, his supernatural abilities and his very bad political standing as a hostage prince turned him into an object of constant abuse since the age of 6 when he was sent to be a hostage. So, yes, this did not improve his character, just made him deadlier.

Li Su Su's host, Ye Xiwu is an abuser herself. She is a spoilt rich girl who terrifies her household and who got married to Tantai Jin because he foiled her awful plan to ruin her love rival and turned it onto her to escape his life in the Palace. She beats him, humiliates him and generally wants him to die. In fact, when Li Su Su arrives into her body, the girl is nearly killed because Tantai Jin had enough and arranged for her own killing.

We are in for a great start, right?

Li Su Su is not an abuser, she is fair and stoic and has her mission in her sights at all times, but she also hates Tantai Jin's guts for all the suffering he will inflict in the future, so her desire to make him love her and find how to extract his evil bone, to protect his life is constantly warring with her deep seated hatred. 

She is tough, and so is he. When they end up adventuring together, there is always push and pull of hate towards each other, and his inability to figure her out in all her complexities only adds to his confusion. 

They are both awful and at the same time magnetic, and her redeeming him doesn't actually change his character very much. He just changes towards her, but because of his inability to understand his emotions he does not understand himself until much later in the novel.

Su Su is so concentrated on what she has to do, she doesn't allow herself to feel anything or to give him any leeway either. Add to it many many machinations of side characters, and this novel is an absolute rollercoaster.

 I really like watching the TV adaptation too because it just adds so much more richness to this story. It's changed, lighter and has comedic moments , which annoys me at times, and the characters are much more human, but the plot is more cohesive and easier to follow, plus the cast is gorgeous, especially Leo Luo/Luo Yunxi who is exquisite as Tantai Jin.

To conclude, this is not for everyone, and is easier to digest if you are familiar with xinxia dramas, and I also enjoyed it very much! This was definitely my catnip.