Now that I’ve decided Wallace Huo is my Meng Jiu, I’m going to make up for post-topping picture shafting him for chapters on end. My sister made fun of me for my Da Mo Yao drama casting freak out this week, since she mistakenly thought I had issues with Wallace being Huo Qu Bing. Er, no, that would’ve been fine … Continue reading →
Yun Zhong Ge (Song in the Clouds) is Tong Hua’s best period novel to date. Bu Bu Jing Xin was exquisite, but then she wrote the simple and sweeping Da Mo Yao likely to cheer herself up afterwards. Everything in DMY worked itself out too easily, but what if there was a love story so thrilling and gutwrenching that it … Continue reading →
Do you guys know what empowerment entails? It means doing something rather than just complaining. My imagination is mine, my facility with words are mine, and my love for Da Mo Yao is all mine. Rather than have it taken away from me with hack drama casting, I choose to keep the novel all mine. I was waiting for a Jiu … Continue reading →
Dear Da Mo Yao: I’m breaking up with you. It’s not me, it’s you. And I’m not the least bit sorry. I still love you, but you are owned by the Death Star and I refuse to be part of this atrocity of a charade of a drama. Tangren is a lying liar who lies, and if I continue to … Continue reading →
We’ve had drunken kissing, passionate life-and-death kissing, and now we’re getting some angry kissing? I can handle that, so bring it on! Da Mo Yao is quite an active novel, and really a marked departure from the simmering held-in-check intensity of Bu Bu Jing Xin (and also from the snowballing angst that is Yun Zhong Ge). I chalk it up to the characters … Continue reading →
Things may change with the passage of time, but what is unavoidable will come to pass no matter what. The higher Huo Qu Bing flies, the more the Emperor will want to clip his wings. The more Yu Er digs into her past and her present, the more she’ll only discover that a heart can grow bigger and love more, … Continue reading →
Having read all three of Tong Hua’s historical novels, I have to concede that Da Mo Yao is her weakest work. It lacks the intelligent depth of Bu Bu Jing Xin and the emotional range of Yun Zhong Ge. But it’s my favorite nevertheless. I’ve been waiting for Tong Hua to actually start on the final novel of her great … Continue reading →
What a difference a few months make? Or perhaps the better statement would be, what a difference a missed opportunity makes? Yu Er and Huo Qu Bing finally return to Chang An in this chapter of Da Mo Yao, and the former tries to seamlessly and quietly return to her former life, while the latter is now the most sought … Continue reading →
The title for this chapter of Da Mo Yao is the ancient name for football (i.e. soccer for those in the States). One of the legends about Huo Qu Bing was that he loved playing football and forced his army to dig football fields and play with him. Tong Hua actually manages to explain away a lot of the historical tales … Continue reading →
Finally! After years apart and tons of unresolved issues, Yi Zhi Xie and Yu Er finally meet face-to-face. To no one’s surprise, the guy is clearly not over her, but whether it’s from guilt or love is hard to distinguish. It’s the old adage that with the pursuit of power comes the inevitable sacrifice. I think it telling that the … Continue reading →
This might just be the best chapter of Da Mo Yao so far. Might, but I can’t say for certain because I love this novel so much it’s hard to play chapter favorites. But this chapter rocks so hard it should win a prize for effectively blending action, romance, and emotional angst into one perfect package. If Huo Qu Bing … Continue reading →
[Seriously? Still depressed, which sucks, because this chapter is so so good. I’ve decided that if Hu Ge doesn’t end up being Huo Qu Bing, it doesn’t matter because he’s HQB in my novel translation version. So. There. Suck on that, Tangren!] I’m going to take issues with Tong Hua‘s title for this chapter of Da Mo Yao. Not only … Continue reading →
This was a hard chapter to translate, because it was a hard chapter to read. Lest we forget, Da Mo Yao is set during a period of the Han dynasty where the empire was expanding and engaged in bitter warfare with their main rivals the Xiong Nu tribe. In volume 1, Huo Qu Bing went off to war while Yu … Continue reading →