Review: Ashes of Love

Some Cdramas, for reasons known only to the translators, have multiple titles. This causes headaches for people trying to decide which title to use. So I'd better make it clear from the start: this is a review of the series that is called both Ashes of Love and Heavy Sweetness, Ash-Like Frost.

Ashes of Love, AKA Heavy Sweetness, Ash-Like Frost, AKA 香蜜沉沉烬如霜, AKA Xiāng Mì Chén Chén Jìn Rú Shuāng is a 2018 Chinese series. It's based on the novel of the same name (the Chinese name, that is) by Dian Xian.

I only recognised three actors:
Yun Xi Luo (Rong Qi in Princess Silver) as Run Yu
Yu Qi Chen (Tuoba Di in The Princess Wei Young) as Liu Ying
Yi Fei Wang (Xiao Qing in The Untamed: The Living Dead) as Sui He

The series starts off a comedy. It doesn't stay one for long. Jin Mi finds an injured bird and rescues it. The bird turns out to be Xu Feng, son of the Heavenly Emperor and Empress, who was attacked by a mysterious assassin. Jin Mi decides she really wants to see the Heaven Realm. So Xu Feng takes her back with him. While there she meets his half-brother, Run Yu, and the three of them get dragged into a love triangle. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Empress is determined to get rid of everyone she doesn't like... including Jin Mi and Run Yu.

Chinese dramas, especially fantasy and historical ones, are rather like Dickens novels. Attempting to explain their plots and subplots would take hours. So I'll move on to a different subject: the characters.

Jin Mi

Jin Mi is, to put it bluntly, an idiot. Her habit of jumping into things without knowing what she's doing causes endless trouble for herself and everyone else. But unlike some idiotic characters, at least she's an entertaining idiot. She provides a lot of the series' humour, even when it becomes less outright comedic.

Xu Feng

Xu Feng is one of those characters who never made much impression on me. I don't like him or dislike him. He's just... there.

Run Yu

And now, a character who definitely did make an impression on me! Run Yu became my favourite character almost as soon as he appeared. The flashbacks to his childhood are heartbreaking 😢 Honestly, I cheered him on when he finally had enough and lashed out against his father and stepmother. At the same time I really wanted to slap some sense into him, because why did he insist on marrying Jin Mi? When it was so obvious she wasn't happy?! 😒

This is one of the few series where I don't ship either part of the love triangle. (In fact, I've seen so many series with love triangles that I'm sick of them. Find more original love stories, series-makers! Enough angst and indecision about which love interest the main character will choose!) Jin Mi and Xu Feng are frankly dull. Jin Mi and Run Yu? No, no, no. They could never make each other happy. Not to mention Run Yu treating Jin Mi like a possession he can "reclaim" by fighting Xu Feng 😒 This series would honestly have been better without a romance subplot at all.

I liked some of the series. Other parts of it infuriated me. That mortal realm subplot bored me so much I skipped almost all of it. At least the scenery and the music are always beautiful. There were times when I completely forgot about what was happening in the story because the scenery was so pretty! 😄

Is it a bad series? No. But it's also not my favourite. I'd recommend it mainly for people who like fantasy and don't mind love triangles.

Is it available online?: Yes, on YouTube with English subtitles.

Rating: 7/10.