Xiao Lanhua, an orchid fairy has found herself sharing a body with Dongfang Qingcang the most feared Demon Lord in history! As the two of them fight over everything from whether or not to murder people in cold blood to how to walk correctly they find themselves in an odd sort of symbiotic relationship that may just blossom into more. Or they may just kill each other first!
I have wanted to read this since I first watched the Netflix show and while I had expected this review to end up being just a comparison of the show to the book I have to say that would be completely unfair to both of them as they are almost two separate stories. At least with this first book. So while there will be some comparisons it's not going to take up most of this.
I do have to start though with Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang because I mean there's just no story without them and while Xiao Lanhua especially is not different than her character in the show she is dare I say it marginally better? I do dare because she is. And do not get me wrong I still adore her Netflix counterpart but in the book, she is just simply more. She's not as naive, she certainly is more mature, and she is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Oh and a raging smart ass which y'all know means I loved her. Dongfang Qingcang is essentially the same, he throws the "This venerable one" thing around a lot more but I mean it fits him, he's an arrogant Demon Lord so of course he does. What I think is really important to point out here though is if you have watched the show I can not stress enough how perfectly cast Wang and Yu were for these characters. Just absolutely fit them to a T and that's a huge plus for me.
What I absolutely loved about this though is it more focuses on Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang's adventures as they figure out how to get Xiao Lanhua a new body. And no I'm not spoiling why that's a thing you'll just have to read it but it's a thing and it's hilarious. Especially when both their souls are stuck in Dongfang Qingcang's body, it takes enemies to lovers to a whole new level! It's not like they just happen to be two souls in one body; one soul controls the right side of his body and the other the left which allows Xiao Lanhua to interfere in his nefarious plots much more effectively and adds some hilarious scenes where the entirety of the Demon Realm chalks up Dongfang Qingcang arguing with himself to him being an "eccentric" immortal demon. Because of course if you've lived for millennia you'd be arguing with yourself. Duh.
The fact that so far there is *no* love triangle was amazing as well. That's the one thing I wasn't a fan of from the Netflix version. And while I have a feeling some sort of love triangle is going to pop up at some point I don't feel like it'll be the whole focus of the series.
Highly recommend this whether you've watched the show or not, but if you have I can not recommend it enough. Like I said instead of doing a ton of comparing between the two by chapter two I was done with that. I'd say that the show is a wonderful companion to the book series and you can't really fully appreciate one without the other.
Love Between Fairy and Devil Vol. 2
And they lived happily ever after!
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!
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