Choo creates an engaging tale of revenge and magic. Following two interconnected storylines with flashbacks that connect generations this is a tale of love, loss, and culture. Choo makes a bold choice to explore the experience of being a woman during the Qing Empire through an almost immortal being, a fox in woman form. The history and mythology seamlessly create a vivid world. The pace is a steady if somewhat slow march toward an ending that I found satisfying if a little heartbreaking. The character development is well crafted and allows for truly human exchanges. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always real.

The author’s choice to read her book for the audio keeps the narrative running and adds depth to the dialog that may have not translated from the text directly, adding a dry wit and dark humor that may or may not be obvious on the page. I really enjoyed this creative and unique experience.

This is my most anticipated 2024 release. I'm sorry to say I was a little disappointed. Don't listen to me and be discouraged. There are tons of four and five star reviews, and this is wonderfully written. Check out Marquise's. It just didn't hold my interest in the way that The Night Tiger did.

As an aside, again, because I will talk about this until I die, do not try to compare The Ghost Bride with the television series. Overseas Chinese communities do not speak Mandarin. I don't want to hear anything else on the subject.

Back to this novel. I love fox mythology. It's heavily prevalent in East Asian culture. This is actually the first book Yangsze has written that isn't set in Malaysia, her home country. As she is ethnically Chinese, I was interested to see where she would take this.

This is a very slow novel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've enjoyed other books like this before. However, the story never really picks up for me. There's a mystery. There's a touch of romance. It is wonderfully representative of East Asian cultures of the time: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian. I just found myself wanting more.

If you're into historical fiction, and looking to diversify your reads, Yangsze is the author for you. However, as I read mostly Asian diaspora fiction these days, this is middling at best. That's not to say I won't continue to support the author. I loved her other two novels, and I'm sure I'll like the next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

This is a perfect book. I love the mythology and characters and history. There is love and loss, grief, friendship, mystery. It really does have everything and somehow it works so well. I absolutely cannot wait to purchase a physical copy. The narration was perfection, but I would really like to see how the names are spelled. This was a great novel and I will never stop recommending it.

This is a fairytale that turns into a mystery that turns in to a romance and it is so awesome! I read half on Kindle and listen to the second half as an audiobook narrated by the author and I’m so glad I did because at the end of the book she explains the myths in the book all about the fox in the stables the journey of 1000 years and so much more and I absolutely adore this book. A fox shifter goes to the city looking for a photographer she is out to kill she uses her Giles to get where she needs to go but never gives up anything that causes her to lose her self-respect or tarnish her journey of 1000 years. through luck she becomes the companion/servant to an elderly woman whose family owns a pharmaceutical clinic she is also suffering the loss of her baby daughter and she is married but we don’t find out to who until almost the end of the book. The grandson of her ladyship, who she is a companion to is into photography which is new at the time this book is written and so the fox wife thinks he can help find the photographer. We learn throughout the book the photographer is a blackmailer and much more. In a different part of the book we meet detective bow he is investigating the frozen lady that was found in the doorway of a restaurant. She was sitting up with a big smile on her face which is a sign she was a fox. During detective bows investigation he The choir‘s a photograph of the foxwives I’m thinking she has something to do with the murder he looks for her. Detective bow also is the truth seeker of sorts when someone tells a lie he knows if someone is up to no good innocent telling the truth he gets a grimace on his face in those who know him know what it means. He also has an assistant name Hong and Hong will be the one that brings these two POBs together but trust me when I say there is a lot of story before that happens an OMG this whole book is awesome I absolutely loved it I haven’t even told one third of the story there is so much to this book and it’s all good I wish I could wax poetic to convince everyone they should read this book Or be like the fox shifters and could persuade you long enough to go and buy the book because once you start reading it you’ll be so glad you did. Especially if you love fairytales mysteries and a slight death of romance and there’s more than one Kinda sorta romance because can I just say OMG her ladyship and Bow… Love it! You’ll have to read the book to see what all that means I hope you got this for this long discombobulate a review and I hope I have convinced you just took it so worth buying. I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

4.25/5 I really enjoy a historical fiction novel that includes mythology and my current favourite mythology is Chinese so this was right up my alley. After reading a few already, mentions of foxes and their role in storytelling has intrigued me.

In this book, the role of the fox and explored but also dismantled to include men as well which I really enjoyed! I loved following the main character through the mystery and history happening around her. I felt that some parts of the ending were predictable, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I would love to see a sequel or another book about foxes!!

4 stars

You should absolutely judge this book by its cover: woman, reflecting a fox, slowly traversing the snow.

I can't get enough of fox-related mythology in every culture, and when I saw that this one was coming from the author of a book I thoroughly enjoyed, _The Night Tiger_, it obviously shot to the top of my to-listen list. On a related note, the narrator of the audiobook is excellent, and I'm certain I enjoyed what is transparently not the fastest moving plot in large part because of the way these characters and scenes come to life in this format.

Folks who have some background in mythological representations of foxes (cross culturally) will get so much out of this, though I don't think that incoming knowledge is necessary for still truly enjoying this lush narrative. This is no action-packed thriller. As the characters wait for answers and revelations, we also wait. The good news is that we get a remarkably compelling character leading us on the journey.

I came in a fan of this author and am already really excited to talk up this book in my Great Myths and Legends class next semester.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.