Legend of the Female General

A story of rebirth of general Feihong and her moon accompanying her through the journey

I have been a fan of Zhou Ye since I watched her series Back from the Brink that came out in 2023. Have been following her since then. I still remember back in 2023, the first time I heard about this drama was because ZY was rumored to be the lead in this drama. The story line interested me and I started keeping tabs. Eventually, Zhou Ye and Ryan Cheng were confirmed to be the leads and the filming started which brought in some beautiful reuters. But then the third lead got into a scandal and the release kept on getting delayed. Fast forward to 2025 the drama finally confirmed its release date.
I have always been a fan of dramas with strong female leads. Personally for me this drama does have some flaws and some illogical scenes but overall I would say it is a good drama.
Here is my opinion and some advice for people contemplating to watch it.
1. If you are expecting a female lead who is scheming, ruthless and blood thirsty for revenge, then this will not be your cup of tea. The female lead has been wronged by her family and had her identity as a mighty general stolen. So she starts over again to gradually get back what she lost. Since she is starting from scratch, she is a carefree and bubbly soldier in the initial episodes who is no longer shouldering the responsibility of a general. But once, battle starts she is again back to her fierce fighter mode. I personally liked all the fight/battle scenes. Sometimes they felt short but other than that they were extremely well executed.
2. The chemistry between the leads was insane. This drama has some of the best romantic scenes especially the way they profess their love to each other. Our male lead is not someone who says a lot in general and appears cold, but he expresses everything through his actions. Need Ryan Cheng and Zhou Ye in a modern drama please.
3. The Overall storyline is good but then to me it felt like they failed to pay attention to details. Like in some scenes, it failed to deliver the emotion it intended to, just because the build up was not proper. To some extent, I would try to excuse that given all the scandal, delays and all the scenes they had to cut. Not to mention Chinese censorship banned a lot of things like rebirth to be shown in the drama.
4. One thing i would like to mention is how the second male lead, Chu Zhao could have been portrayed in a better way. Although I did not dislike him cause we got to see a few cute jealous moments , he was already very complex from the start but it took a darker side especially in the last 3 episodes.

Anyway in the end I would say since this drama had an insane hype, different people would have different expectation from the drama. But in the end it is hard to satisfy from every aspect. So if you like good fighting scenes, good chemistry and a strong yet bubbly female lead, I would recommend giving it a try.

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Not overrated, really good. ;) ♡

Many bad critical reviews, but I think the high rating of this drama and mostly good comments in the comment section speak for themselves.
I love both Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei, and I think they made a really great job portraying their characters. Somehow despite so many fighting scenes Cheng Lei managed to show his soft and gentle side with Zhou Ye( behind the mask of cold general. )
Beautiful leads, good acting, great chemistry, beautifully filmed combat scenes, beautiful costumes, good script, great production and rewarch value overall by my opinion.
Even though Zhou Ye is a thin and graceful girl she looked not less impressive in combat scenes than Cheng Lei.
A Story about Hetoism, Loyalty, True friendship, Love, Betrayal, Patriotism.
Family what is it? Is it a place where you are born, or people who surround you from childhood? or family are the people who understand you, care for you and support you most throughout your life?
This drama is about past, but you can see similar things in modern world too. When people in struggle for power don't see how ugly their soul becomes when they use wrong means to achieve their goals.
But the truth is that as long as Heroes and benevolent fearless souls exist there will always be justice and Light, and good will always triumph.
Heroes and true Love can be reckless sometimes risking their lives and everything they have for the right cause. But no matter if their end is happy or tragic, at least they don't live in vain. To follow your heart always, and to live according to your beautiful values no matter what, is the only beautiful, worthy and dignified way of existing.

Dont miss this coz of wrong opinions.
Everyone has their own perception of Beauty and values.
Try it, and make your own opinion. 😉

😚🩵🪽

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it had potential, but...

Well, the story had potential. If you disregard the utter sht of the 2nd "half", and if you get rid of all that useless stuff (thats almost half of it :) ) from the rest.... maybe. So basically good idea, poor execution. The first couple of episodes really looked like something ok, but then : plot devices, plot contrivances, plot holes. Yeah, yeah, its a drama, I shouldn't expect much. I didn't and it still disappointed. Even the fact that the character has inner monologues got replaced with the annoying trope of talking outloud for themselves. Actually there are lots of tropes (even the one where the dying characters get a 1min "last breath" so that they hate time to say something "meaningful". *sigh*
Moving on, the acting is meh. Yeah, sure, there's chemistry between some of the characters and thats making it feel more "real", but most of the times is just meh. Also, the continuously expo-dump didn't help in making them more "natural".
Long story short: its a meh drama. You might enjoy it for a bit, but it is overly long when it didn't needed to be. And it feels even longer because of the non-sense fluff inserted. And then it gets boring.
It gets a rating of 4 for the tiny pieces of good story, some good acting, some decent cinematography.
Have a nice evening.

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It all comes down to one issue - Writing

Classic case of things happening because of the plot, not plot happening because of the things.
It's still very addicting watch, but not in "savor every minut" but more like "being strung along" kind of way.
Even the most tolerant of viewers would have trouble to suspense their disbelief all the way through.
Feeling a bit disappointed I grabbed the book it's based on, and wow, now I'm really disappointed. It was an amazing read. I couldn't put it down.
I was thinking of picking this drama back again after I finish the book, just for the romance and battles parts, but I can't make myself watch it now.
Now everything seams wrong. Casting, scenes, lines, everything looks like the worst possible choice.
They removed part where she died and woke up in the body of a different girl. Because of that, the story in drama makes unfathomable leaps to patch itself up. I cannot understand why some of the mediocre scenes were copied 1:1 but the very powerful ones, like their meeting at the temple on the mountain, where she tries to hung herself, was change beyond recognition and personally for me didn't have any impact. And it was placed at the beginning, when I didn't even understood what it was about. Before reading the book it was confusing, now it feels like such a waste.
This sentiment applies to the entire production. Before reading the book - confusing and cringy, after reading it - well, just a waste of amazing reading material. More so with such an amazing fighting scenes in drama. I would love to see them all, if only I could bare to taint my reading experience with the rest of it.
Shame.

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The Cringe Romance of A Self Proclaimed Female General (Can't Be A Legend With Such Poor Skills)

The title of the drama itself is misleading. The title promised to be a dark military drama promoting women empowerment, but instead it delivered an underwhelming romance drama of the suppossed to be Female General. The story is lacking in many senses, and even the excuse of the scene cut by censors cannot save it. The entire cast seemed to have delivered the worst performance of their entire career. None of them was convincing at all. All of their emotion seemed superficial. The biggest negative point is the FL herself, who can't act. Sorry to say, the FL did not look like a general to me from any angle. She is supposed to be a general, but she was only doing stunts in fancy costumes while delivering empty, big speeches about women's empowerment. There is no coherence in the character of the FL. As a general who is well-versed in warfare, FL should be proficient in making strategies that show her brilliance. But all those nice scenes from the novel were NOT in the drama. Nor is there any character development of both the ML & FL. While it gets a bit better in the middle but gets completely ruined at the end due to the writer's obsession with the 2ML. The 2ML had better character growth in the drama. The overdose of the 2ML ruined the drama for me. The original novel was so nice and beautiful, which was utterly ruined by poor script, acting and direction. As a viewer, I could not connect emotionally to any of the cheracters especially the FL's. The show is seriously overhyped in my opinion.

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Strong Leads Saves a Flawed Story

This historical romance starts with great promise but doesn't quite reach its full potential. Our female lead begins as a fierce warrior with an interesting backstory, but her character development gets overshadowed by convenient plot devices and rescue scenarios that undermine her strength.

The romance between the leads is the true highlight. Their chemistry lights up the screen, and their journey from reluctant allies to devoted lovers provides the most enjoyable moments. The actors deliver their emotional scenes perfectly, making you truly care about their relationship.

However, you should know that the story can be a little messy. Some parts don't make perfect sense, and you might find yourself thinking, "Wait, how did that happen?" a few times. The ending also feels a bit rushed, and some side characters don’t get enough screen time to feel important.

Where the drama falters is in its uneven pacing and plot structure. Early episodes build an exciting foundation, but later ones rush through important developments while lingering on less significant ones. Some characters appear and disappear without proper development, while others face sudden fate changes that feel more shocking than meaningful.

The production values deserve praise - beautiful costumes, impressive battle choreography, and a lovely soundtrack enhance the viewing experience.

For fans of historical romance with court intrigue and military elements, this is still worth watching for the central love story and strong performances, even if the overall narrative could have been tighter.

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Dramatic Battle Scenes, Nice Romance, Epic Failure to End Satisfactorily

The cast, leads' chemistry, costumes, and OST were good. The story kept me invested most of the time. I loved the FL. She had an admirable character, and Zhou Ye played her well. Kudos to Ryan Cheng who had the best adoring looks as the ML.

Nitpicks:
1. I'm all about female empowerment, but some of the speeches got too preachy. People accept points of view more readily when they are attractively and subtly presented, not when they are bludgeoned repeatedly with them.
2. The death of Yan He was telegraphed so hard in advance that it became a cheap and needless death.
3. Chu Zhao's character was a large part of the story, but his ending felt rushed and squandered. What a waste. He could have been an amazing villain or a compassionate leader after a redemption arc, but his character fizzled out.
4. If He Yan grew up as a boy and became a fierce general, she wouldn't have acted so timidly or cutesy, like hiding behind Xiao Jue while grasping him for protection. It would have been engrained in her to act masculine at all times, for fear of blowing her cover and losing her life.
5. During battle scenes, it's probably dangerous to seek out your loved one for a moony-eyed heart-to-heart talk or to sit and cry because you think your partner is dead when war is raging all around. Thankfully, the enemy respected that lovers need a break from battle and didn't skewer them with a spear. What is that? A love time out? A battle break?
6. No one noticed General Fei Hong shrunk overnight when He Ru Fei took He Yan's place? No one noticed the voice change? Or her delicate hands became manly? She was tiny, and he was average male sized. Major plot hole! I could suspend belief that beautiful He Yan was accepted as a male (not really, but I tried very hard!), but this was impossible to fathom.

Neither here nor there, but I don't believe I've ever watched a drama that smashed so much pottery to convey surprise, anger, and an utter disdain for the props budget. The director obviously loved the splash and crash of a smashed dish filled with liquid.

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Is this what a strong female lead is supposed to be?

I really don't understand the good reviews ??

The marketing for this was a total bait-and-switch. The FL was the most annoying thing on the planet! every time she said the word "DUDU," it made my skin crawl. Why was she acting like a lovestruck teenager when she was supposed to be a tough man? It’s impossible to believe anyone would fall for her disguise when she makes zero effort to be suspicious-free.

The way the ML found out her secret was ridiculous. There is no way in hell he could have felt her breasts while they were riding a horse like that. On top of the bad logic, the ML was bland, boring, and had zero personality. I didn't care about him at all. The actor also genuinely didn't impress me here.

The story was supposedly about vengeance ( or was it ??) , but the FL was so grating that I lost the plot entirely. I had to skip most of the drama just to finish it. It’s a shame because the poster makes her look badass, but the character is just a joke. To the creators: please, never make a "strong" female character like this ever again. Definitely a shitty drama.

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Unmet expectations

I was eager to watch this because of the favorable pre-release feedback online. But from the start, the actress playing the female lead was a disappointment. Regardless of the different contents, : moods or tones of the scenes, she had only 2 facial expressions: either smiling or grinning, trying to look cute and lovable as she “innocently” flirted her way through the drama; or putting on her feeble attempt to look serious, oh, of course a 3rd expression—pain when she gets wounded.

Sorry, but having watched a lot, a lot of Chinese dramas: whatever good points this drama may have, and I’m sure other reviews here will point it out, I’m sorely tempted not to continue watching this.

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One of the more interesting shows in 2025 so far

I quite enjoyed this show. it had a lot of military intrigue with the focus primarily being on the female general. I think overall the show was well done.

The Good

I actually appreciated that the romance took a backseat in this show. It was subtle and more natural instead of forced and in your face. The main plot was pretty interesting and overall was a well written story. Of course there were moments where logic got a little lost but the main plot didn’t lose its edge. I like that the story stayed in focus for majority of the show. It didn’t have a whole lot of sub plots. I also enjoyed the progression of the female general as it was truly like a comeuppance story. The flashbacks were well placed and added to the story building. The acting was pretty decent for most of the characters and our leads had really good chemistry. They were well suited for their roles. Overall, production value was decent. I’d give the war scenes a 4 out of 5 with well coordinated fights.

The bad

I think Chu Zhao’s character was sort of unnecessary. For me he didn’t really add much to the story. It was almost a way just to fluff up the conflicts, but I think it could’ve been written better. As I mentioned, sometimes logic got lost in some of the war scenes. And I know this was probably put in place to accelerate the romance, but it was almost unnecessary for some of the scenes. The ending with the king was also a little unnecessary. I think they could’ve wrapped up the final couple of episodes a little differently as I think that conflict at the very end is sort of a waste. I also felt like there were scenes missing from the show as I watched throughout because sometimes the transitions would be abrupt or I felt like I missed something. To wrap it up, the final scene was a little unsatisfactory. It didn’t end bad but it was sort of flat for me. Didn’t evoke too many emotions.

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Right. Down to business then. This was my first drama to watch while it was airing, giving me a new experience I guess to have to keep waiting for new episodes. However, through this, I realized that this drama started out really amazing, having me not being able to wait in between episode releases rating it a 9.5 at first encounter. Sadly after a while it went to a 9 and gradually at the end to 8.5 when the excitement faded and the yearning for new episodes decreased too. However, this does not mean Legend of the Female General wasn't an amazing watch. Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei (Ryan) are a really visual couple and they look great together. Although lacking in the romance between Cheng Lisu (Li Qing) and Song Taotao (Zhang Miaoyi (my queen)) it wasn't an undesireable match either. What could've had a lot more potential as a drama though, faded as time passed. Idk, it felt like there was something missing. The ending was really rushed and there was no concentration on any specific theme, it was just a bunch of random moments put together. I read another review and would like to quote it exactly here: "Me during the first few episodes: Why are these episodes so short? Why aren't they 45 minutes long? Me during the last few episodes: Why are these episodes so long? Why aren't they 30 minutes long?" This here is exactly what I thought while watching. Overall, this wasn't terrible but lowk let down my expectations a little after seeing the beginning and the cast. Solid 8.5.

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