The Night Ends with Fire

A fresh, new retelling of Mulan, with a stronger focus on feminism and the lack of control that women had in China's history.

The first few bits of the story felt a little rushed, a filler in order to build up some background and flesh out Meilin's character before we reached the bit where she disguises as a man to participate in a war. However, the plot does kick in, with a lot of questions revolving around ambition and power, with Meilin wondering how much can she be influenced by this new power that she receives.

The romance subplots felt a bit lacking. While it is clear who the main male interest in, we don't get much of his development and character showing through. It's completely overshadowed by the second male interest, who has proper interaction of a deeper sort with Meilin. The male lead seems reduced to a way for Meilin to root herself to her home country.

As for the ending... I understand why it went the way it did with the strong reminder that Meilin does not want to be reduced to a controlled possession, passing from one male (father) to another (husband) yet it was done in such an unsatisfactory way, in order to announce a “to be continued”. Perhaps more can be revealed in the sequel, hopefully with more insight into the male lead if he is to carry on being so.