Wonderland of Love

Romance to the Max in the Midst of an Engaging Historical World

This is definitely a historical romance that is worth your time.

This would have scored higher if I had been just a bit shorter but it ultimately falls a bit prey to some C-Drama pitfalls. Overwhelmingly though, “Wonderland of Love” is an excellent watch.

Pros:
• THE LEADS THE LEADS THE LEADS. Oh my goodness, these two were brilliant. Their characters, their acting, their chemistry, their development—just wonderful. You will be engrossed in their love story. For the most part, they face everything together and hardly let things come between them. It was phenomenal.
• The plot was brilliant and delivered by a cast who, majority wise, was excellent. You will fall in love with Li Ni’s Zhenxi Army as well as Cui Lin’s best friend/maid and her father. And don’t get me started on the Crown Princess—she is a masterclass in writing and acting.
• Super satisfying ending!
• The OST and production is quality to the max.

Cons:
• Some annoying villains. Good grief, most of the villains in this show are just plain annoying. The original villain, Sun Jing, is excellent in every way, but after his defeat halfway through, the other villains are the worst. I got so annoyed dealing with their antics. And did we really need more psycho-unrequited-love characters in the Cdrama world? No… no we did not. But we get two here, and I loathed both of them.
• The writing really gets wonky episodes 28-38. I managed to keep going, but I was very frustrated after what was an incredibly first 20 episodes. They really needed to shorten the story and take out some of the secondary baddies who, again, were more annoying than compelling. This hurt the rating big time for me.

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Everyone in the world deserves peaceful life

Important if you have an patients you love this drama because it's not an fast derived story
For me this drama resemble some of [ Who Rules the World ] i felt impact in this drama
Xu Kai [Li Ni ] and Jing Tian [ Cui Lin ] are equal weightage character's & they are looks good in onscreen pair
As usual cinematography, costume Designer are done awesome work in this drama
Cons in this drama [ There is a space for improvising an after marriage life ]
Thus all thank you---/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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Too much conflicts, too much bad guys

I started watching this drama because I recently became a fan of Xu Kai. After finishing As Beautiful As You, I was eager for more and jumped into this series to get my Xu Kai fix. I had actually tried watching it a few months ago, but I lost interest about 20 minutes into the first episode. Still, my admiration for Xu Kai pulled me back in. I also like Jing Tian, especially from her role in Si Jin, so I decided to give it another shot.

This time, I pushed through the first episode and found it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. That gave me enough motivation to continue watching the entire drama. Unfortunately, the female lead’s character quickly started to wear on me. She constantly set up schemes against the male lead, only to end up in trouble and needing to be rescued. And of course, Li Ni ever the devoted and heroic figure, would rush to save A Ying, only to be betrayed time and again.

As if that weren’t frustrating enough, the plot kept piling on villains and conflicts. Just when one antagonist was defeated, another would emerge, and the cycle repeated endlessly. It became exhausting. I genuinely felt sorry for A Ying, and even more so for Li Ni. Jing Tian is an actress I admire, but her character here was difficult to root for, always pushing her own desires while ignoring Li Ni’s feelings. The emotional imbalance became more grating as the story progressed.

Despite the flaws, the excessive conflicts, the overwhelming number of antagonists, and the frustrating character dynamics, I stayed until the end. Mostly for Jing Tian, but especially for Xu Kai. His expressive eyes and charming smile were the saving grace of this drama.

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cute historical romance

Wonderland of Love (2023) - 8,5 -cdrama

historical romance wuxia cdrama. With average story, but cute romance.

This drama got few very good characters. Main and some minor characters got quite good or unique personalities. At other hand at least for me this drama lacks in villain characters development. Almost all villains was one dimensional or at best two dimensional and overall lacklustre.

Romance part was playing big role here. I would even say its more like main story is that romance and fight for throne or wars between armies are just backround.

plot - Emperor is dead, killed by traitorous general together with all his direct successors. New traitorous emperor aint supported by all and :warlords: rise to fight for throne. ML is frontline border general without big ambitions, sadly for him he is former emperor grandson and as such got duty to quell rebellion. At his crusade he meets FL which is strategist lieutenant of Cu army. Cu army is one of strongest :warlord: armies competing for throne. ML and FL play cat and mouse mind games to compete, but slowly their clashes spark a fire between them.

genre - wuxia, romance

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while it’s a good show, something was lacking.

honestly don’t know what to expect after watching first 10 episodes of the show.

the plot is like moving from one “zhou” to another “zhou”. then there’s plot about the great imperial grandson which was there till mid way then it was forgotten until it popped up again after 3/4 of the show. then the rebellion between the sons, to be honest for them to come to this point, who started all this? if Cui Lin wasn’t so insistent of wanting Shiqi to be the CP, and wrote that request to the imperial court, these won’t escalate into such big tragedy.

shiqi’s life is hanging by the thread even if he didn’t become CP. and the worries he told Pei Yuan if he become one, it made sense. for Cui Lin, he’s the only one who can correct the weight from wrong and ensure peace. if she wants to be his Crown Princess, she jolly well know that her reputation can’t be as strong as Li family. and Cui Army’s disbandment is inevitable. this part could carry more emotional plot for both of them. but it just went off poof fast, and they reconciled. maybe I’m expecting too much.

I’m hoping for less angst for I started this show and while the show did less angst, overall, the show is not giving that punch.

I honestly don’t know what’s lacking in this show that prevented me enjoy it fully. I dozed off at some parts but I enjoy some parts too.

both main leads showcase their wits and intelligence, proving them to be equal. I’m glad that here their chemistry was quite strong. (having both equal characters can have issue showing chemistry)

ep30 was chaotic and escalated down fast and I broke down. it was one of best downfall scenes I’ve watched.

villains in this show aren’t worth mentioning.

acting wise, Jing tian was okay. Xu Kai was good. his crying scenes are good too. their banterings were entertaining.

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Brilliant Cast! Intriguing Characters! Worth the watch!

The best part about this drama are the leads, their witty & intelligent banter made me like them. In the beginning, I liked the ML more than the FL, because he was actually pretty kind and decent person. In comparison, the Fl was kind of foxy with her schemes. I also liked how ML was open in showing his affection and was very much in love with her. So, I was rooting for them & hoping that we would find out more about the FL as the show progresses so that I can like her. And she grew on me, at the same time I continued to like ML for who he was.

That changed midway, I started liking FL more because she was very consistent with her feelings and made better decisions than ML most of the time, not always, but majority of it. The ML wasn't bad either but his thinking was hampered by his need to choose a life away from the scheming. Their intelligence and strategies weren't to be questioned, but I questioned ML's feelings for her in the latter episodes. The ML feelings constantly wavered, in the beginning, he was quick to blame her and even nicked her neck drawing blood in a fight, this was when he claimed to love her. To be honest, he was the one who used her more to achieve his goals, and she didn't complain. Once his goals were achieved, he just refused to listen to her even knowing that what she said was valid. Even when he had concerns he refused to talk it out with her. The second disappointment was when she was sick and he found out too late. Even then, he didn't make much efforts for her. He always needed to be prodded by his soldiers to make a move on her & even then sometimes didn't. I don't much like MLs like that. The change in his character was so obvious. What was sad about their breakup in episode 29 was that even with how silent it was, it was violent, he treated her as if she had something to gain from asking him to be the crown prince, other than maybe a chance for him to survive longer. She is a warrior who was never really interested in the court & cared more about her soldiers. If it wasn't for him, her father and she would have probably come up with some other strategy to save their army from the likes of that cowardly & honestly silly emperor. Even with all the claims of loving her, his actions fell short.

Thank god for the final 10 episodes, ML was back to his earlier self where he seemed to care a lot about the FL. And I'm glad that it was that version of him that ended up with her. One thing you got to give the guy credit for, even though they fought a lot of time, he never once considered loving anyone else. Even when the emperor gave him a concubine, he was upfront and told her that he would never love her but all he could give her was the title of lady of excellency, Apart from that she couldn't have anything from him.

In contrast to the ups and downs between the leads, the relationship between the Tao Zi & Chang Er was very adorable and they were very consistent about each other throughout the drama. Chang Er was a warrior in his own right and still made sure to treat Tao Zi well. They understood each other.

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Worth Watching

Story:
Good characters though it took a while to warm up to the FL character
Showed the scheming of powerful people in military, at court and those seeking power or control over people
Enjoyed the ML & FL banter, fighting and push and pull in the relationship...
Liked the hidden identities and how it unfolds
Good strong FL character who could hold her own even when "forced" to marry and ML character hurt so many times to save the FL, his father, his fellow soldier, his country.
Good frustrated with the emperors incompetence...very realistic

Acting:
- Both leads and supporting actors were excellent
-Scheming military and court officials all did their parts well
-The comradarie among his band of brothers was enviable

Overall:
The beginning is fast paced and builds story well. So pay attention .
The coffin and ending was a bit predictable but none the less fun to watch
The ending was good and complete...satisfying unlike some dramas that just end it.
Good humor and moments of fun within serious topics of leadership, bearing the weight of purpose and what you are born into as well as sacrifice for those you love

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Enjoyable but often frustrating

I really enjoyed many parts and arcs of this drama and I think the whole cast has been great in it. In particular I think Kai is a phenomenal actor who managed to bring his character to life beautifully.

I'm pretty sure he didn't dub himself (if I'm wrong, I apologise) so I wanted to also praise whomever did dub him because he did a great job, you could often truly feel the raw emotion in his voice.

Sadly, for me personally, this was a very frustrating drama because of the relationship between the characters and because I often found myself not liking the FL.
I often felt like the relationship was a bit imbalanced and that the FL could be pretty unreasonable but that even when that happened, she always ened up being the one shown to be "right".
While I really liked Li Ni, I also sometimes couldn't help but feel like he was too much of a "perfect hero".

I also felt like some characters arcs and motivations could've been flashed out a little more as they fell a little flat.

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Struggling to Finish this Drama

I have watched over 35 dramas this year (2025) and this is the first one I am struggling to get to the finish line. This is also the first one I felt compelled to write a review for, because I just don’t understand the high rating for it. If you can see the history of the shows I’ve watched, or see my ratings for each one, you’ll see that I’m pretty easy to entertain as long as there’s a coherent story and the actors are decent. This drama is by far my lowest rating, like BY FAR!

The leads are not particularly likable, especially the female. There are several instances where her selfi-righteous attitude and decisions cause conflict between her and the male lead, and it’s always he who comes back and apologizes even though I think she’s in the wrong to begin with. This is the first drama I’ve watched that Xu Kai is in, and it’s the main reason I picked it, since I wanted to see one of his shows. I didn’t mind him here as much, but the female lead here just soured whatever positives I could gather. I don’t understand why his character even found her attractive or lovable. She’s got red flags flying left and right.
The story itself makes very little sense. I don’t even understand what the plot of this show is and what the end game, if any, is. The female lead’s backstory is about as what-the-f*** dumb as it gets. Her parents couldn’t have child, so they adopt a boy, then they have her, but they pretend she’s a boy, and use the step son as a decoy (say what now?) and then the step son falls in love with her and becomes a deranged villain that has one sole purpose in the whole drama, and that’s to force her to be with him (like girl, after being rejected multiple times and failing multiples from kidnapping her, get a clue!)
Then the show drags on about the male lead and how everyone else is trying to make him the crown prince, but he’s having none of it, like I just don’t get it.
One of my main pet peeves is the dubbing because it never sounds right, and the voice actors are always SOOOOO DRAMATIC and when they cry or shout or argue, it always sounds like cat claws scratching a chalkboard. Like I just can’t!
I’m still 11 episodes from finishing, so maybe there will be a payoff at that end, but I’m not holding my breath.

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Excellent if you like great female leads

I enjoy this drama thoroughly. The story is, if not totally realistic then at least very beliavable while at the same time keeping the historical romance frame intact.
There are at least 3 strong female characters, 1st one warrior/strategist, 2nd army medic and the 3rd concubine who decided to fight the enemy from within. Not much hate in the harem; female characters have friends and colleagues and they mutualy support each other.
The love story is sweet and enjoyable; I loved the war of wits between the main couple that starts from the 1st episode. Their love grows naturaly and is not forced like in some dramas where you ask youself till the end why the heck does s/he love her/him. The setbacks are reasonable depicted and you feel that portrayed reasons would work for us, too.
Politics and the war are the big part of the story but for me, not overly complicated so they are easy to follow. There are even some traces of social issues (disappointed veterans-turn-bandits). The overall situation of multiple forces fighting for the ultimate power and ever changing loyalties are a faithful representation of the historical period.
Acting is great, not sure whether I enjoy more young couples' lively nteractions or the low-key, full of danger and deceit elder couple of chancellor and his lady.
Looking forward to 24 more episodes and how our main couple with develop and grow in such dangerous times.

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One of the best dramas of 2023

"Wonderland of Love" is a drama that both enchants and irritates. It transports viewers to a visually magnificent world of vivid costumes, breathtaking vistas, and rich palace settings, yet it fails in pace and character development, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.

**What I liked best:**

Xu Kai and Jing Tian's chemistry sizzles,
Electrifying every moment with their intense gazes and lively banter.
The action moments are thrilling, highlighting Li Ni's amazing swordplay and Cui Lin's deft techniques.
The political intrigue is compelling, spinning a web of deception and treachery that keeps you wondering until the very end.
The clothes and settings are sumptuous, transporting you to Tang Dynasty splendour.

**What I didn't love:

The plot meanders at times, losing momentum with unnecessary subplots.
Some characters lack depth, falling into familiar tropes without meaningful development.
The ending is rushed, offering a resolution that feels too convenient after a tumultuous journey.
In conclusion, Wonderland of Love presents a visually captivating world with promising leads but ultimately falters in its storytelling execution.

If you're seeking a visually arresting historical drama with hints of romance and heart-pounding action, this drama might offer a temporary escape. However, those seeking a more cohesive and fulfilling narrative experience might find themselves wishing for more substance beneath its alluring surface.

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