This series is good, this one is actually one of many great chinese manhua. Guys, dont confused with manhwa, manhwa is korean manga, manhua is chinese. Anyway, read this, the plot is depth and has chinese folklore and stuffs. Great one.

For the most part, I did enjoy it. Hoever, the last 2 or 3 vols were sad and the guy that she loved in the last few vols, i just never liked him very much. If you dont like sad or trajic endings, stay away from this. The art was a++ and its a good tight story with no unecessary filler. The ending was well thought out. It wasn't a ruched super quick one chapter ending that is so common today.

I've read the previous reviews and i'm baffled by them.

The downsides-
Drawing is OK (but outdated and simple) and i had absolutely no problem differentiating main characters from one another, only the taiwanese names were a bit difficult to remember at first. The translators also changed the way those were written 3-4 times during the manhua because the groups changed. Quality of scanlations lacks past the first volumes, which is a shame. But i'm grateful to Transcendence and i know they did their best with what they had.

The goods-
I've read over 800 mangas and this is pretty high up there, unfortunately i don't give high ratings easily. But this is an excellent manga anyway. I've read it all in a single day.

I was worried about the gender bender tag because till now i haven't read any gender bender manga with a serious tone, but in Divine Melody it comes naturally, you just accept it as something normal in that fantasy world. It's not lewd, it's not perverted, it's not ecchi.

Caisheng is flawed and i had many moment where I believed the manhua lost its ways, but that was just for Caisheng to be able to grow. She's not the only one that grows, everyone advances and matures, they are not cliches or cardboard characters, they are not fillers.

At 1600 pages this manhua manages to go from a feel good story to a tragedy, and nothing seems forced, very few shortcuts were taken. This is a very complex story of human desires and the tragedy of faith and chaos all in one. Ping-er says it well: "Love and hate are equaly frightening and equally pitiful". But what do these characters eventually learn? You'll just have to read it to find out.

I can't say this will appease to everyone, i've seen more 10 ratings on mangas i rated 3 than here, but for me it was something fresh and it kept surprising me volume after volume, which is a feeling I hardly get these days from mangas, and almost never for such lengthy ones. It's difficult to maintain quality over many volumes, but Yi Huan somehow managed to do it.

Pure Shoujo, had downloaded it a long time ago, finally got the chance to read it.
If you come across this manga, and you are 13-14 years old. I'll guaranty you'll love it but when you're not an adolescent and are a veteran manga reader, you'll find the teenage fantasy a little too simple...childish. Cliche off course, reincarnation etc.
But I was quite curious who the girl will end up with and at time, I found the facial expressions inadequate. One second, you lose some one important but you're immediately back on your feet the next chapter...sorry the next page
Apart from the fact that I found the main lead a little creepy. The art was good. Typical Shoujo ^_^

A good one time read.

too fast and too slow at the same time, with emotions and decisions change from one page to the next leaving me feeling disoriented sometimes. the art can be confusing with the almost static posture and infrequent use of backgrounds. some of the characters have almost indistinguishable face, especially the fox sisters and the male form of the heroine and her lover.

with all that, i do enjoy this manhua. i like all of the central characters since they have quite good character developments. the plot is tight, there is no unnecessary happening, and everything tie together nicely. i like the ending too. all in all, it's not a bad manhua to read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this manhua. I liked the concept, plot, and setting and many of the characters were appealing to me.

My biggest problems with this series were with the character designs, pacing, and protagonist.

The character designs fail at having distinctive silhouettes, so if you don't memorize everyone's names and nicknames ASAP, you can't tell who is who. Oh, and the protagonist is a shapeshifter whose designs look JUST like the supporting cast of men and women. Good luck telling everyone apart. You'll need it.

I don't mind slow pacing if it's used to develop characters, the plot, or the setting, but here, the pacing would slow and even backtrack and it was really confusing and frustrating.

The protagonist was raised in a sheltered environment, so she's a bit of an empty shell, which makes her hard to relate to and really easy to get frustrated with. She makes the same mistakes multiple times, because she's really that out of sorts with how the world works. It helps to develop her character well, but it's really hard to take this kind of personality from the protagonist. Sometimes, I thought it'd be better if she was part of the supporting cast instead.

That said, if you like romance, historical fantasy, or myths, you'll probably like this.

This was a good read. A bit confusing at times, but definitely worth my time. The art is good,the plot interesting and a bit tragic, and even though the ending wasn't to my liking but I had a lot of feelings while reading it, I wasn't just skipping through the pages.

So overall it's worth a bit less than a 8.5 IMO. I have a tendancy to rate quite high, but this manhua is worth a read if you have 4-5 hours before you.

... Last updated on August 30th, 2011, 5:02am

Wow, I was a bit apprehensive about reading it because of that genre but man... I was wrong I may start reading more shoujos if they are anything like this! This can get a bit overwhelming at times especially in the romance aspect, but overall the story is very nice and I absolutely loved it. I am really glad I read it

Just like the comments by jeffreymgibson + mercury160 + Auwx suggested, I agree that the story is tragic but a good read. When I say it's cliche, Cai Xeng thinks too much about wanting to be a guy or girl, but eventually, this puzzle is solved.
Even if I consider it tragic, the ending can be also considered as a beginning (although the continuation is not continued by the author). I just got to know the real theme of the title "Divine Melody" that is presented near the end.
The ending is also rushed...

I think it's an unfair ending for the 'new' Tze Qiu. However, it kinda leaves an open ending for us to think that the Fairy Realm will train the new Tze Qiu in the future.

The art looks sweet, but not that fabulous.

It is imperative that you read this knowing that it is a manhua because of the many cultural references to Chinese mythology/historical beliefs. Having background in this topic ensures how absolutely shocking the claims within the story. Furthermore, you will appreciate the work much more if you look for the themes and messages in this work, and consider the connections between the stories of this author.