The Wife Comes First

by Lv Ye Qian He

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 323
Series: The Wife Comes First #2
Rating:

Synopsis:

On the brink of death, Prince Cheng is stunned to find the one person still by his side: his long-neglected princely consort, Mu Hanzhang. While Prince Cheng pursued power and countless lovers, Mu Hanzhang never wavered in his dedication as his wife, despite the future he lost. Prince Cheng knows he never deserved such loyalty.

But fate isn’t finished with him yet. When he awakens in the past—on the morning after their disastrous wedding night, with all his memories intact—Prince Cheng seizes the chance to set things right. This time, he’ll treasure Mu Hanzhang. This time, the wife will come first, the state second, and the husband last.

Yet winning Mu Hanzhang’s trust is only the first battle. Court conspiracies still run deep, and if they’re not careful, history may repeat itself…starting with a knife in the back.

Volume two of Lv Ye Qian He’s The Wife Comes First picks up directly from the previous volume, and mostly concerns Jing Shao and Mu Hanzhang going to war. Junqing spends a chunk of the story pretending to be just a ‘strategist’, since it usually isn’t permitted for generals to take their wives with them to war, but Jing Shao (great big puppy that he is) wheedles and begs his way into Junqing’s tent, and soon eveeeryone knows who he must be.

There are some really sweet moments between the two of them as they really solidify their relationship and speak honestly to one another about their feelings. I loved it; it’d be easy to introduce drama and a third act breakup, and I think in “Western” fiction that’d happen — but instead we just get to watch the two of them being ridiculously devoted to each other and an absolute power couple.

Also, Junqing gets a baby tiger cub.

There’s a fair bit of politicking and so on, so the plot also advances, hopefully carrying Jing Shao and Junqing past the difficulties that plagued Jing Shao’s past life. I’m kinda eh on the white lie about the previous attempt being a dream that Jing Shao had, but at least he’s found a way to explain some of his foreknowledge to Junqing, instead of leaving him out.

The problematic elements of consent and the treatment of women mostly aren’t carried through in this book, in part because I think only two named female characters show up in the whole thing (Ge Ruoyi and Hao Dadao’s wife). As mentioned, it’s really not the best-written, and I think that can also add to the problem, making the characterisation of a lot of characters flat. I’m here for Jing Shao and Mu Hanzhang (and their tiger cub), so your mileage may vary on how much it bothers you. My rating is definitely reflecting personal enjoyment and the way I raced through the book, not a considered critical response! Possibly if I went with my gut now, I’d lower it to 3/5… but I really had fun while reading it.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)