She is caught, but the leader of the caravan is a young man whose beauty and serenity captivates Yu Jin. A few years pass before one day, Yu Jin decides to steal some supplies from a traveling caravan. They roam the plains together, with Yu Jin a girl who is no longer completely a wolf, but cannot return to the human world because the only one she knows is gone. With her father dead, Yu Jin manages to return to her wolf tribe, were she is welcomed back and finds solace in the leader of the wolf pack, whom she calls Brother Wolf. Yu Jin is but a child of 12 when she is forced to face the grim reality of the ruthlessness of political succession as there is a change of leadership within the Xiong Nu. She resists initially, howling at the moon to be freed, but she eventually settles into the human world and grows up amongst the sons, daughters, and tribesman of the Xiong Nu. He forces this child of 7 or 8 to learn to walk upright, speak the human language, and live amongst the people, namely the Xiong Nu tribe. A Han scholar who is an advisor to the Dan Yu (Leader) of the Xiong Nu tribe, this man becomes this feral wolf girlвЂ™s adoptive father. This wolf girl saves a man dying of thirst in the desert, and he in turn kidnaps her. Though Tong Hua takes tons of liberties with her characters and historical accuracy, she uses the general crux of the geo-political warfare during that era as the backdrop for her story.ДЄ wolf girl grows up amongst the wolf pack of the Xi Yu desert region of Western China, where many different tribes existed which sought to remain independent from the encroaching military forces of the Western Han empire. Set in Western Han Dynasty (founded by Liu Bang after defeating Xiang Yu, hence the Emperors of that dynasty all carried the surname Liu), the novel is dense in actual political history, with one of the main characters that is General Huo Qu Bing an actual historical figure. DMY is wholly different than BBJX in almost every way, except for the overarching thread of political intrigue centering around imperial succession.

If I end up recapping the novel, donвЂ™t worry, IвЂ™ll translate word for word when it gets to the good (i.e. This is just a introduction to Da Mo Yao. *rubs hands gleefully* IвЂ™m actually considering summarizing the novel chapter by chapter, but itвЂ™s only fun if folks participate in the book discussion with me. Which means right now that Hu Ge, who is slated to play Huo Qu Bing, is by default also mine. And IвЂ™m going to call it right now: General Huo Qu Bing, aka the single most awesome ass-kicking romantic hero ever written on paper, is MINE. This is not your mommaвЂ™s period political romance novel. And If Tangren dares to redact any of the eyepopping romantic scenes in this, imma going to have words with their puritanism.

I donвЂ™t think IвЂ™ve fully digested everything I just read, but oh holy I CANNOT wait for this to become a drama. I liked it, but there was no indication of the epicness to come. I actually read a few chapters of DMY awhile back, with the introductory sections interesting but nothing that would compel me to keep reading. ItвЂ™s more sweeping, has tons more action scenes, everyone will be smoking hot in their Han dynasty attire (no Qing queues for the men, yay!), and the love story between the OTP makes me blush like a school girl just recalling scene after bone meltingly romantic scene. I can tell you that if Tangren doesnвЂ™t royally F-up the drama adaptation, DMY can easily be even better than BBJX the drama. Of course, the fact that DMY is also written by Tong Hua says something for my appreciation of her writing talents and my love of her storytelling. Between squealing, gasping, holding my breath, and then crying tears (whether happy or sad, IвЂ™ll play coy and not reveal just yet), I think I just found a period romance political intrigue novel better than Bu Bu Jing Xin. My takeaways from marathoning Da Mo YaoВ (Ballad of the Desert) the novel this weekend are this: (1) General Huo Qu Bing is about to become the best character Hu Ge has ever played in his career (EVER) and (2) oh my lordy was that a love story (and love triangle) for the ages.

Tong hua novel