酌鹿

by 绿野千鹤, Lv Ye Qian He (Editor)

古籍烬，道卒崩，鹿璃一出天下兴，争，争，争。 万骨枯，天子令，不负皇恩负君情，命，命，命。 林信给皇家做了一辈子屠刀，心狠手辣，从不后悔，唯一遗憾的是到死也没得到沈楼的心。重活一世，他决定装乖卖巧，好好把沈楼哄到手。 沈楼给天下做了一辈子楷模，清心寡欲，从不逾矩，唯一出格的是喜欢上了林信那个魔头。重活一世，他决定抛开世俗，早早把林信骗进门。

Paperback

Published August 1, 2021

About the author

Associated Names:
* Lu Ye Qian He (English)
* 绿野千鹤 / 綠野千鶴 (Chinese)
* ลวี่เหยี่ยเชียนเฮ่อ (Thai)

Reviews

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romanized name: Zhuolu

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I picked this up because I'm a sucker for a good rebirth story, and it's not often I come across stories where both main characters are reborn with memories. I was super excited when I started, but that enthusiasm gradually wore off as I started reading. I don't know whether it's an issue with the translation or whether the author's writing is hard to follow (I suspect both but more of the latter), it was hard for me to follow along.

For example, sometimes the narrative will randomly jump to a flashback of their previous lives and it takes me a while to figure out we're in the past. Also, initially the author would just throw random statements in about their previous lives that sound really important but not give much clarity about it (i.e. how the MC's master died, why his parents were killed, etc.), so I was constantly confused until these points were explained later.

However, eventually once we got past all that, the novel becomes easier to follow as each point that caused confusion earlier is explained, and I got more invested in the characters and the story. The story wraps up very nicely with all of my questions answered as well, including how/why the rebirth happened, so that's why I'm rounding my rating up to 4 stars.

The MC of the story is Lin Xin, the emperor's loyal lackey in his previous life known for being vicious to the point of killing his own master. He had a tumultuous relationship with the ML, Shen Lou, and even though they had a physical relationship, it was very much a love/hate relationship with very little sweetness and honesty.

In this life, Shen Lou was reborn first and is determined to make it up to Lin Xin by finding and taking care of him earlier. He wants to try and "fix" the mistakes from their previous life so that Lin Xin can live nicely without being branded with a terrible reputation. I won't go into all the details here, but initially their relationship is good right off the bat as each tries to win the other over without realizing the truth of the other's rebirth. The author doesn't keep us in suspense for too long and they realize relatively quickly about the double rebirth, due to a slip up from Lin Xin.

The two of them start investigating some of the suspicious events that happened both in the previous life and the present and eventually realize that there's a conspiracy going on (isn't there always?) involving the barbarians in the North and some soul devouring artifacts they're developing. Everything is connected, including the death of Lin Xin's parents, what happened to his master in his previous life that force Lin Xin to kill him, and why Shen Lou was reborn with such a weak soul in this life. Like I mention earlier, I thought the author tied everything together nicely by the end.

The romance was okay. The feelings are already there in both the MC and ML from the beginning, so it just took some time for them to figure out the double rebirth and actually confess their feelings. After that, their relationship was quite sweet. After all, they had enough hardships in their previous lives so they deserve more sweetness in this one! It was funny seeing everyone around them do a double take when they find out about their relationship, as I'm sure it comes out of left field for everyone else lol

The novel had a strong ending but a weak start, otherwise it'd be a solid 4 or even 4.5 star book for me.

[Beatrice Lapa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was kinda surprised that this had been difficult for me to read because I really liked this author. But I was surprised at how bad the scene transitions were. This is a rebirth story that just jumps from one timeline to another without proper segway, so sometimes I get confused which timeline is being described. World-building was kinda piss poor, too, compared to this author's other works. Otherwise, it would have been very interesting because the characters were funny and had various strengths, especially the ML's sister, who is a master archer and military commander. Good explanation for the rebirth, though. At least it's not the usual unexplained restart.