Despite his callousness and violent temper, Dongfang Qingcang has braved peril to save Xiao Lanhua time and time again. Now the Demon Lord grapples with deadly wounds, and she too grapples with her feelings for him. Why is he so desperate to protect her? Is his tenderness real, or is it just another ploy to get what he desires?
Before Xiao Lanhua gives herself over completely, a shocking reveal by Dongfang Qingcang’s greatest nemesis flings her heart into turmoil. Further trials await the pair in the form of heavenly punishment, demonic power struggles, and a twisted student-teacher obsession.
Will love blossom between the orchid fairy and the Demon Lord, or was their relationship tainted from the start? Find out in this epic conclusion to the hilarious yet heart-wrenching story that won over countless fans across the globe!
So, the second part is here... and, well, I don't know? A part of me is confused about this story. I also watched the anime too and I realized that also took some liberties with the story.
I am giving three stars to the way that he fell in love with her and she fell in love with him. It was a slow burn for sure.
But the plot, oh that plot. Bits and pieces were certainly taken to make the show in this part more than the first part.
This is a crappy review, I know, but to me when it comes to JLFX books I preferred the other adaptations and stories.
Many thanks to Bunny for joining me for this buddy read!
This is a direct sequel and conclusion, and I liked this second half of the story a lot more than the first. There is still comedy but the romance and underlying themes such as Dongfang Qingcang lack of understanding emotions is much more pronounced. In general, while it is still very different from the drama adaptation, there are a lot more scenes that feel familiar and you can see how they inspired what ultimately happened in the drama.
Xiao Lanhua is stuck in the Demon Realm because Dongfang Qingcang won't let her leave. He takes the utmost care to keep her safe and whole, or rathe, he is trying to protect her physical form so that he can reawaken the God of War inside the body Xiao Lanhua currently resides in. This, on the other hand, only confuses her; she knows the Demon Lord only wants her body, yet his occasional moments of kindness towards her have her slowly falling for him. Dongfang Qingcang also begins to struggle with emotions he doesn't understand.
We get to see both of their motivations and thoughts and I'd argue that there's at least a certain amount of misunderstanding between them, but we get to explore both of their thoughts and feelings throughout this volume which, whilst not quite as fleshed out as in the drama, is quite a bit of a rollercoaster. We also find out a little more of what happened in the past that led to how the first book started - it's still a bit too abrupt for my taste but it was nice to have a little more added. Speaking of which, I also found the ending a bit sudden. I liked how the story resolved but I could have definitely done with a bit more. There are three bonus chapters, two of which focus on side characters, and the final serves as a bit of an epilogue which helped.
The first volume feels a bit weak on its own but this series is best seen as a whole work and with the addition of the second, I did end up enjoying this quite a lot overall. I'd love to see more works by this author released in English along with other Chinese works.
Volume 2 concludes the love story of the orchid fairy Xiao Lanhua and Demon Lord Dongfang Qingcang. Xiao Lanhua spent most of the previous volume without a body of her own, having accidentally killed it. Dongfang Qingcang promised her a new body, and at the end of the volume, created her one out of living clay.
Things are never that easy though, when dealing with an evil entity. Xiao Lanhua learns to her horror that the body isn’t meant for her but for the Scarlet Lady, the former god of war, who defeated the demon lord. He wants revenge and since she’s dead, he needs to bring her back in order to have it. He means Xiao Lanhua to prepare the clay body with her special abilities for the lady. Problem is, she’ll die in the process.
The second volume is mostly about Xiao Lanhua trying to avoid her fate. She tries to flee from him several times, only for him to bring her back. But every time he arrives just in time to save her from a mortal peril, after which he’s very nice to her, which messes with her head and heart. It brings her very low. It doesn’t help when she learns that the safe haven she’s been trying to flee to is no more and she’s been abandoned.
Dongfang Qingcang is on a more straightforward path. He’ll take the demon realm back, bring the Scarlet Lady back to life, defeat her and then rule the demon realm. There’s no room for Xiao Lanhua in that plan. But things don’t go his way. He gains back his emotions, including the ability to love, not that he pays attention to it. Nor does he question why he always goes after Xiao Lanhua and never punishes her, even though he’s an evil demon.
And then he gets what he wanted, the Scarlet Lady back. But turns out, revenge isn’t important anymore after all. He wants Xiao Lanhua, only it’s too late for her. What follows is a redemption arc—of sorts—for Dongfang Qingcang. He needs to change drastically and it almost happens, at least when it comes to her.
This was a good conclusion for the romance. With only two volumes, it was a very short book compared to other Chinese fantasy, but it didn’t need to be longer than this. I felt for Xiao Lanhua, who only wanted to live. It wasn’t easy for her to know that the man she loved, despite trying not to, only needed her as a disposable medicine. And it was very difficult to root for Dongfang Qingcang as a romantic interest when he remained evil throughout the story and was responsible for what happened to Xiao Lanhua. But the author really made him work for the happily ever after, and in the end it felt earned and as it should be.
There are three extras, two of them about side characters. Third one is about Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang living their happily ever after. Sort of. And it may be, she’s been changed by him a little too, at least when it comes to adventures.
As I noted in my review of the previous volume, the original story is very different from the TV adaptation. There are similar elements and some characters, but the original story is more straightforward and less soapy. I’m not sure if either of them is the better one. Both have a good romance and a lot of twists and turns. If you’ve seen the adaptation, I recommend the book too.
Bolo to rovnako dobré ako seriál? Nie. Mám tomu čo vytknúť? Rozhodne. Užila som si ako veľký fanúšik seriálu čítanie? Áno. A na čom inom vlastne záleží? :P
I loved this so much!! I really enjoyed that in this volume we really focus on Xiao Lanhua being open and honest about how she feels, but also how Dongfang Qingcang discovers that he actually cares. While I found the story with his dad forcibly removing his emotions from the show to be interesting, I enjoyed this because there's no outside influence here. Dongfang Qingcang essentially *grows up*. It's the same with Xiao Lanhua just a different type of maturing. This really made the relationship feel more real, if that makes sense.
This second book focuses on A-Hao and his disturbing obsession with the Lady of the Wastes, which it took me reading this to realize that A-Hao and Dongfang Qingcang aren't so different when it comes to her in particular. Both of them are completely obsessed with her for different reasons and yet regardless of these differences their actions to quite literally possess her are virtually the same. Both need Xiao Lanhua to revive her, both are willing to murder thousands to do so; the only real difference between the two is that one at least admits that he hates and the other professes to love her. It's an excellent demonstration of the very real and very thin line between love and hate. It's also a really good conversation on letting things go and moving on. You can't dwell on the past like they do, it will eventually make you a bitter and miserable person.
Finally, and this is important Dayu is the best!
Highly recommend this series. Especially if you watched the show. I don't believe either is better or worse they complement each other. I feel like reading the novels gave me the wonderful opportunity to know two of my favorite characters better!
The second volume of Love Between Fairy and Devil offered a delightful end to the tale. As I noted with volume one, the story in the original novel is very different from how it was presented for TV, but I think both versions have their charms, and in both volumes of the novel you can see certain moments that were plucked out and adapted for the TV version. The thing I found most interesting was how the ending of the book is almost a role reversal with how the TV series concluded. This second volume contained moments of sadness and moments of humour and action, and if you liked volume one you will want to read on to see how it all concludes. I am giving it 4.5 stars.
Alas, the second and last book clicked better with me. I must've gotten used to the narration and story pace. Way more enjoyable!
It's still a little bit unclear how Xiao Lanhua suddenly decides to love Dongfang Qingcang. The Demon Lord's in-love/heartbreak POV is described better and feels more authentic.
Lanhua's master, Siming-xingjun plays a big part in both repairing Qingcang's greatest regret and offering them the blessing (all the while complaining about not receiving any betrothal gift).
The second books follows the series pretty closely so it flows better for someone that has prior context.
The story arc concludes perfectly, and the extras of all the side characters are an absolute delight! The extra bits might have been my favorite part!
this book is so fun and silly, and this was a nice conclusion.
i enjoyed how dfqc’s character is just a bad guy. he’s simply just a megalomaniac. he’s really just like that. and i liked that xlh’s character was never really like, “stop!! don’t go down that path!! look at me!! you’re better than this!!” etc, she was just like, “oh wow, that guy’s evil. welp! what can you do!” it was just a really fun dynamic.
i did notice a few editing errors, like odd phrases, missing punctuation, extra letters, etc., nothing too crazy or distracting but they definitely could have been caught in a round of editing.
there’s soft world-building, issues arise and reach their resolution quickly without a million other schemes to keep up with, most characters get some closure to their stories, dfqc really is just that powerful for no rhyme or reason. it’s great.
loved it. a good time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
You have to completely separate the novel and cdrama, as they share nothing except for some character names. However, I had a good time reading this! It was a fun little ride!
Docking one star though because I found that one chapter where he [spoiler] watches her grow up again and makes a move when she reaches a teenager-kind-of-body again SO weird.