A Dream within a Dream

书卷一梦 ‧ Drama ‧ 2025
Dropped 1/40
FILOFRETKA
11 people found this review helpful
Jun 28, 2025
1 of 40 episodes seen
Dropped 1
Overall 5.0
Story 1.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Smile-free comedy

.It's my first time watching LYN and I'm really curious about him. Unfortunately, I don't enjoy this drama. I love this genre , LYT and everything about it seemed promising, but I found the plot unengaging. The ML characters weren't likeable from the outset. In the first episode, ML slapped, betrayed and killed FL twice. I know this has many different scripts and ML is going to change, but this did put me off too early. It's not a good start. In addition, when I watch a comedy, I expect to laugh, but there wasn't anything funny in ep1 episode — quite the opposite, in fact. I might give the actor another chance if I like a drama he's in and his co-star.

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Ongoing 1/40
Abhi
4 people found this review helpful
Jul 9, 2025
1 of 40 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 9.5
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

just my thoughtttts

Everything is so nicely done the production team. The overall view the cast has also done the thing. The main all the things that I have seen is very nice about this drama, you can go with the flow. The drama has nice. Storyline with twisted creations of other dramas, but with a very nice adaptations, you will not get bored and the best part is every character has its meaning and they're getting too much attention. Plus, it's a good thing by the way.

The only thing that hates me that I just want to punch that second lead, I just don't like him every time he just blames every thing to the prince and half of the time I don't get wider. King is such arrogant person. I don't like this thing, and the favourite, that all that thing makes you boiled up, towards hold the drama, it will just make you feel more angry that how discrimination is going around. It is my first time that the main leader is going through so much because of the female also because of her background. None of this was done by him, but what to say I give it a 10 out of hundred drama. Best drama has seen for 2025.

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Dropped 1/40
scarfie
12 people found this review helpful
Jun 27, 2025
1 of 40 episodes seen
Dropped 3
Overall 5.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 1.0

Not Watchable and dropped

Sorry I am not an antifan: this story is not for me. I knew it and dropped early.
There are many time travel plots/writers writing themselves into the stories, etc. But this one is not as expected and just not entertaining for me.
While the ML and FL are attractive and good actors/actresses, the plot is just not to my liking. I hope to see them in the future dramas.

Please don't bother to argue with my review. Everyone is entitled to give reviews. I have seen enough to know I don't like the drama. And I've said as much. I didn't lie. If you like the drama, good for you. Go ahead and write what you like. I promise I won't waste my time arguing with your review.

Those who want to take away my right to give an honest reviews will be blocked. Sorry I don't have time to read or deal with your negativity.

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Dropped 1/40
Miiee00
3 people found this review helpful
Aug 17, 2025
1 of 40 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 1.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 1.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

annoying fl

I really couldn’t get into A Dream Within a Dream because of the female lead. Her acting felt flat and forced, and instead of drawing me into the story, she came off as annoying. The role had so much potential, but her performance made it hard to stay invested. Honestly, the whole drama suffers because the main character just doesn’t deliver and the story is too shallow. The plot is so chaotic. liu yuning is overrated despite being an ugly actor. fl’s acting is so bad
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Dropped 1/40
John Hart
2 people found this review helpful
Aug 12, 2025
1 of 40 episodes seen
Dropped 7
Overall 3.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

I knew DREAM was garbage but had to be fair and give it a try...

So I noticed here and on Reddit this series was so RAVED about I could smell the social media campaign from a mile away. I knew it was yet another one of those shows that's mostly hype and little else.

I've only watched the pilot. Episode One. But before you roll your eyes and tell me "it starts slow" or "that's not a fair way to judge a show" you have to remember what a pilot of a TV show is supposed to do: make you watch the next episode at least, and consider watching the entire series at best. The pilot failed on both fronts.

By the way, I recognize no one in this cast, and so I'm not bringing 'Idol' worship to this series. Seeing it objectively. The lead lady is definitely cute, the male lead is little pointy looking.

1. I'm getting up in years and I find these days that when something is childish and suspect, the trick to make it 'okay' is to simply give it a name.

Halloween is supposed to end around puberty. But now it's okay for adults to show up as Pokemon at Comic-Con because it's 'cosplay'. See? Just giving it a name erases the childishness of it all. "I'm giving my inner child a night out!"

Maybe. Or maybe you need to grow up a little more.

I know, I know, I sound like some grumpy old man telling kids to get off my lawn. I hear you. I don't mind childish fun. I fully enjoyed MAKE A WISH which was basically a feline rewrite of I DREAM OF JEANNIE. It wasn't perfect, but so much fun.

Anyway --

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM is about an actress who falls into her TV show screenplay and becomes her character in a sense. That is she's aware she doesn't belong in the story she's in. And this one fact ruins all dramatic tension. Not an opinion, but fact.

WIZARD OF OZ wouldn't have worked if Dorothy was aware she was dreaming. GROUNDHOG'S DAY wouldn't have worked if we knew his character was in a screenplay.

So how can DREAM WITHIN A DREAM exist and be so popular? Because this kind of series has a name, don't you know? TRANSMIGRATION. See, that makes everything better, doesn't it?

No. It doesn't. Sorry. The real name for this genre is BAD WRITING.

2. Thanks to suffering thru JOY OF LIFE and MEET YOURSELF, I now give every series a litmus test now before I proceed past episode one. This series left a sourer taste in every way.

a. Are the opening titles and songs engaging or generic? Both the animation and the song were nothing special, leaving me disinterested. That's fair, right? If I see care and love put into such a sequence, it tells me the show has been carefully crafted.

b. Does the show deploy CRASH ZOOMS with 'wooshing' sounds or feel like a video game? Yup.

c. Do we have cutey cartoon sound effects to indicate humor, like a laugh track? Yup.

OZ had a great opening, followed by a song soon after the opening that is one of the best songs on the planet. OZ had no CRASH ZOOMS, no cartoon sound effects.

3. I appreciate that this series wants to be funny. I'm not opposed to the idea. But better writing suggests the following. Keep our lead in her world, make the world real, and have her fight for what she wants.

Suppose she had a Mom or a Grandmother giving her advice on how to deal with the male lead. 'Modern' advice, right? Kinda like a hyper feminist in ancient times. And the girl struggles to do what she says because it sounds like sage advice. But the girl ends up worse for following the advice, but then the world resets itself each day and only the girl remembers this, a la GROUNDHOGS DAY.

No screenplay. No present. No stupid TRANSMIGRATION excuse. Make it real, and that of course means a lovely opening song instead of pop drivel, no Crash Zooms, and no cartoon sound effects.

To overlook all this is YOUR choice.

But why this harsh review is here is that I don't think the young even understand what TV is any longer. I think they've spent so much time gaming or watching sped up TikTok super short vids that the very idea of actually watching a show with proper pacing is completely foreign. That attention spans aren't just shorter but outright GONE.

Don't believe me? There's a review one or two above mine about how someone felt the show started great but then got bland and they dropped it. That's my definition of 'crap' -- so bad you can't keep watching it. But then they skipped a bunch of episodes, came back -- and really liked it. If you can skip ten episodes of a show, it should have never been offered that way.

Real criticism is recognizing crap when you see it and telling others -- it's crap!

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Ongoing 12/40
MDLOWL5566
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 23, 2025
12 of 40 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 1.5
Story 3.5
Acting/Cast 3.5
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

I CANT SEEM TO GET STARTED ON THIS DRAMA

I DONT LIKE SHOWS THAT KEEP REPEATING THE STORY, SO I AM NOT VERY KEEN ON STARTING THIS. WHEN I TRY TO WATCH I FOUND THE STORY CONFUSING N I CANT CONCENTRADE BECOS I ASSUME IT WILL JUST KEEP CHANGING. SO I LOST INTEREST AND DONNO IF I WANT TO TRY AGAIN NEXT TIME IF I AM BORED.

THE FL IS ALSO NOT INTERESTING, COMPARED TO CHENG YI DRAMA I THINK CHENG YI DRAMA IS BETTER .
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Completed
Tati Cardoso
4 people found this review helpful
Jul 18, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10

Me apaixonei pelo cabeludo

Esse cdrama me ganhou desde o início!
A construção da história e a evolução dos personagens me deixou com gostinho de quero mais. Terminei e já quero reassistir!
O ator que fez o Nan Heng me cativou de uma forma que acho quero assistir qualquer coisa que ele interprete 😅
Eu fiquei com medo de demorarem construir o romance dos personagens principais, mas foi perfeito. No tempo certo e de forma divertida e muito fofa.
Os personagens secundários também conquistam com suas personalidades diferentes e divertidas.
É impossível não amar. Vale muito a pena

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Completed
Yuri1101
7 people found this review helpful
Jun 28, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 3.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 2.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

Esperaba más...

Tenía altas expectativas por el nombre, ví el primer episodio y no me engancho aún así continúe esperando que en algún momento mejorará , me encantan los C-dramas de época y Liu Yu Ning es un actorazo y la protagonista es muy linda, pero se me está haciendo difícil ver está serie, la historia se me hace sosa y me aburre continuamente y aunque tiene sus momentos graciosos de ahí no pasa. El vestuario, elenco y actuaciones están bien, para mí gusto es la historia la que no le veo sentido a pesar de que es una comedia le falta y son 40 episodios madre mía posiblemente la abandone y si la termino es por LYN y adelantando escenas, para mí gusto desperdicio de elenco para la historia.

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Completed
Gretel Alanís
4 people found this review helpful
Jun 29, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Me decepciono.

Literalmente llevo un año esperando este drama, me encante el cliché de adentrarte a una historia, pero simplemente no supieron manejarla.

Siento que sí o sí me quieren poner un "enemies to lovers" donde no va, o sea esa enemistad qué??? Se supone que la protagonista ya leyó esta historia entonces ya debe de saber el porqué el protagonista es como es, un antagonista. Pero no, perece que le mucha leyó sobre el papel no se adentro y alaba a un personaje por el simple echo de ser el protagonista.

Quiero continuar con el drama pero esta siendo muy difícil. Es inportable ver como la protagonista esta cegada ante algo TOTALMENTE EVIDENTE, pero bueno.

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Completed
syahbanSarah
1 people found this review helpful
Aug 6, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5

Dramanya keren

Dramanya keren, walau nanheng sangat menderita tapi dia sangat ganteng, nanheng yang malang dia terus-menerusan disalah pahami, sejujurnya saya sempat berhenti di episode 30 karena tidak kuat melihat penderitaan nanheng, tapi saya lanjut karena penasaran dan sangat menyukai 3 episode terakhir yang keren
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Completed
Michell Andrea
1 people found this review helpful
Aug 23, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers

Gran historia

Este drama te hace sentir una montaña rusa de emociones, al principio te hace morir de la risa, pero en los últimos episodios estas llorando a mares.

Es una historia que tiene muchas matices, tanto en la trama, como en los personajes, nos enseña que no todo es lo que parece y que no hay que juzgar un libro por su portada. Podemos apreciar esto con los ojos de la protagonista, pues descubrio que el que consideraba el villano, no era tan malo como creía, si no que era un chico que por las circunstancias había sufrido mucho y tenía que mostrarse ante el mundo como alguien fuerte e impenetrable para protegerse, pero en realidad tenía un corazón noble y siempre intentaba hacer lo mejor, aun con todos los obstáculos que se le atravesaran; mientras que el chico que consideraba bueno, se dejo llenar el corazón de odio y rencor, convirtiéndose en una persona verdaderamente malvada que por sus ideas y deseos egoístas, no le importaba lastimar a personas inocentes y quién nunca acepto su responsabilidad en los actos detestables que cometió, si no que buscaba excusas y culpas en otros.

Al principio suceden muchas situaciones absurdas, pero es algo que se hace a propósito, es una manera de burlarse de todos los cliches de los cdramas y es gracioso verlo de esta manera; Song Xiao es una protagonista alocada, que ayuda a que estas situaciones sean mucho más divertidas, siempre metiendose en problemas por sus ocurrencias, pero con mucha perseverancia para poder sobrevivir a este mundo al que fue arrojada; pero que me llegaba a desesperar porque por un tiempo se volvio muy terca e indolente con el pobre de Nan Heng, como lo dije anteriormente era un buen chico, pero al que todos juzgaban como malvado; pero desde que se enamoro de ella, le demostro mil veces que esas acusasiones eran falsas, quizas no era perfecto y había tenido errores en su vida, pero siempre intentaba emendarlos dando lo mejor de si mismo para contribuir a los demás y siempre cuidaba de ella y la protegía sin importarle que él mismo se viera afectado; eso me molesto mucho, él se abrio mucho ante ella, le enseño sus emociones y sentimientos, pero Song Xiao tardo mucho en confiar en él y compensar todos esos sacrificios que hacía por ella.

Aparte de los protagonistas, siento que habían muchos personajes secundarios que contribuyeron mucho a la historia y que tenían gran peso en ella; es muy difícil nombrarlos a todos, pero creo que los más importantes o mis favoritos eran, el padre de Song Xiao que quería mucho a sus hijas y jamás hizo nada que las lastimara, al contrario las apoyaba y las aconsejaba siempre que lo necesitaran; Song Yi Ting era una chica con una gran personalidad, no dejaba que nadie se interpusiera en sus creencias y objetivos, aunque a veces llegaba a ser tenebrosa (pregúntele a Shanguguan He); Nan Rui que es uno de los personajes que más me impresiono por su evolución, pues empezo siendo un príncipe mimado y altanero, que odiaba a Nan Heng porque así lo habían criado, pero al ver que su hermano en realidad era buena persona y que su primo y padre estaban cometiendo injusticias contra él, intento ayudarlo a su manera y pudo reconocer sus errores y disculparse por los daños causados, logrando que su relación de hermanos mejorara bastante, pues en realidad tenía un alma bobadosa; otro personaje que me gusto mucho fue el fiel sirviente de Nan Heng, Fu Gui, que siempre estaba dispuesto a ayudar a su jefe en cualquier situación y que era muy chistoso, especialmente cuando se ponía celoso de Shanguguan He; y hablando de sirvientes leales, los Moonshade son el mejor equipo del mundo, aunque eran percibidos ante todos como un grupo de bandidos, en realidad ayudaban a la comunidad cuando los necesitaran y eran muy leales entre ellos mismos y con su jefe; el tercero y cuarto líder eran polos opuestos, pero se llevaban muy bien y también salían con una que otra ocurrencia; y por supuesto el segundo líder Shanguguan He sin duda es mi favorito, era muy lindo, un poco engreído, pero un amigo leal, siempre dispuesto a escuchar a Nan Heng y aconsejarlo cuando esté metía las patas, también era muy listo, aunque aparentara ser flojo, y jamás desconfío ni traicionó a su mejor amigo, aunque estuvo a punto de morir por ello, a lo único que le tenía miedo el pobre era a Yi Ting, eran una pareja muy divertida y adorable.

Evidentemente no puedo olvidarme de Chu Gui Hong, comenzo pareciendo un chico noble y justo, pero que poco a poco se fue dejando envenenar el alma por falsas creencias y se convirtió en un tipo miserable, malvado calculador, que se cego a lo que creía correcto, y a diferencia de su hermano o el emperador, nunca logró aceptar sus equivocaciones y hasta el final siguio culpando de todas las catástrofes a Nan Heng, aunque en realidad él haya sido el que causo muchas de ellas; era alguien que no tenía redención y al que odie con el alma, pero supongo que despertar esos sentimientos, lo hacen un gran villano.

Aunque me molesto que en gran parte de la historia, Nan Heng siempre estuviera sufriendo por injusticias; el final me gusto mucho, porque tanto en el mundo fantástico como en el mundo real por fin pudo ser feliz junto a la mujer que amaba.

Sin duda es una serie que disfrute de principio a fin, es muy interesante como la abordaron y todos los giros que le daban y tiene su toque diferente y especial frente a este tipo de historias.


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Completed
GabrielaBorges
1 people found this review helpful
Aug 24, 2025
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

Cansativo

A história é interessante, mas o senso de humor não me pegou. A protagonista é irritante e a forma como muitas coisas foram abordadas e desenvolvidas foram cansativas para caramba. Quase desisti na metade. Os episódios de 36 para 39 foram os melhores. A queda de Chu Gui Hong foi realmente interessante de assistir, de dar nos nervos á vezes, mas interessante.
A atuação de Liu Yuning foi de dar gosto, 1000/10. Nan Heng foi o personagem mais carismático, seguido pelos secundários como Shanguan He e Yi Ting.
No geral teve pontos positivos, mas não assistiria de novo e também não acho que recomendaria.

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A Dream within a Dream poster

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Statistics

  • Score: 8.4 (scored by 9,726 users)
  • Ranked: #647
  • Popularity: #924
  • Watchers: 24,568

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