The Monster's Petition

What surprised me most about this book was that it did not simply write the "evil" as a monster that needs to be defeated. As you read later, you will slowly discover that the ghosts and gods, marriage contracts, rivers, old customs and taboos here actually have their own set of rules. Many times the real danger is not the evil spirit itself, but the fact that you don't know when you have violated its rules. The way the protagonist is handled is also quite to my liking. Instead of just relying on your realm to crush you when encountering problems, you should first observe, test, and find the rules, and then find loopholes in the rules. In particular, some folklore cases may seem like evil spirits at first, but upon further investigation, you will find that many of the previous details were actually foreshadowed. That feeling of "it's already been pointed out here" feels good. What I also like better is the weird Chinese atmosphere of this book. Things like red paper marriage contracts, bone rice, and old boats are not unusual when taken individually, but when combined they are very visual, and the author did not rush to explain all the settings clearly, but always left a feeling of not knowing what is hidden under the water. Of course, some chapters currently contain a relatively large amount of information, and you need to read them carefully when characters, rules, and clues appear in succession. It is not suitable for skipping chapters along the way. If you like "Mystery"-style rule exploration, as well as Chinese folklore, strange stories, and suspenseful crime solving, you can give this a try. What I am most curious about now is not what the next monster will be, but - why do these monsters want to "petition"? I feel like this issue is the real big pitfall of the entire book.