icons: Handsome Stewardess, Their Story (Tamen de Gushi)

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Ravenous (护食) by Ning Yuan (宁远): Review

[douqi]

Ravenous (护食, pinyin: hu shi), which I would classify as urban fantasy, was a perfect antidote to the disappointment that was The Wayward Disciple (孽徒, pinyin: nie tu), reviewed here. In her author's note to the final chapter of the main novel, Ning Yuan states that she had huge fun writing it, and I definitely believe her: it's a gloriously pulpy trope-laden adventure, with high drama, high stakes and heightened emotions.

The novel begins from the point of view of Lu Jin, a hard-working, up-and-coming actress who's just been nominated for a slate of prestigious best actress awards. At an awards show, she's politely fending off the attentions of the male actor sitting next to her when movie-star-turned-producer Zhao Ci marches up to them and sends the actor packing in short order. Lu Jin is surprised by this, because there's always been a sort of unspoken antipathy between herself and Zhao Ci — the two of them have always taken pains to avoid each other. Just as you think this is going to be a showbiz rivals-to-lovers story, however, things take a turn for the much weirder. Unseen by anyone else, Zhao Ci quietly snarls 'you're mine' to Lu Jin and bites her on the ear, leaving a mark that looks much more like a bite mark from a carnivorous animal than anything human teeth are capable of.

( some discussion of early-book reveals )

( discussion of mid-book reveals )

I read the Chinese original of the novel here on JJWXC. The title translation is the product of a joint brainstorming session between me, x_los, superborb and momijizukamori (we spent at least 50% of the time groaning 'why is this so HARD' and at least another 40% looking up animal facts).