Copper Coins Review
Copper Coins by Mu Su Li
The Story
A ghost, a dragon and a monk go on supernatural adventures. Things get interesting when you discover that the monk is an amnesiac. The dragon is partly paralyzed and best of all the ghost is afraid of ghosts.
It begins when one night while walking the monk, Xuanmin is approached by a shopkeeper to get rid of a ghost. He heads off to investigate and finds two souls attached to little papermen. One is Xue Xian, a dragon that’s been separated from his body. The other is Jiang Shining, a young scholar who recently burnt to death with the majority of his family.
The monk is about to leave the area with these two wayward souls when he’s stopped by the authorities. They’re looking for a dangerous monk. This leads to the three of them getting wrapped up in a mystery and it’s one that involves what happened to Jiang Shining’s family.
Who’s it for?
This is for fans of fantasy, mystery and the supernatural. If you enjoy sharp-tongued characters you may get a kick out of Xue Xian.
The Downsides
I’ll confess that I was a bit confused for the majority of the first arc. I felt like I needed a primer, something like Feng Shui for Morons. I didn’t fully understand how the magic in the story was meant to work so the characters are what kept me reading.
Xue Xian is a rude arrogant brat. Yet, he’s so easily embarrassed that it leads to some awkward situations. Combine him with the always cool and collected monk and the cowardly ghost, and you get a fun dynamic.
I also took issue with how coincidental everything is. Things fall into place by accident. Random strangers turn out to be just the people they need, or they have some deeper connection to the main characters. Clues pop up when they’re not even looking for them. This was probably the author’s intention. Perhaps they were using the idea of fate bringing people and things together. It happens a lot, too much in my opinion.
The Romance
In terms of the romance where the monk is concerned it comes out of nowhere. He’s one of those quiet characters who doesn’t show his emotions easily. However, so is Lan Wangji in Módào Zǔshī and in that story it’s blatantly obvious that he’s attracted to Wei Wuxian. I don’t get that impression here. Xue Xian is better in this regard, because you can see him starting to care more about the monk as time goes by. There are points where he willfully ignores clues about his past that have the potential to damage his relationship with Xuanmin. That said, their relationship is entertaining once it starts.
Ultimately, it was an okay read, but I doubt that I’d reread it.