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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a simpler story than Blue Seal. Instead of having to save the world, Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen have to save themselves (and a few other people).
I'm not going to say anything about the science in this, but I did like the idea of the Projector and how the interconnected consciousnesses worked in general. Having to keep the balance while finding a way out made for an interesting story, especially with that little miss on the loose.
Of course, above all I loved my doctor princess and his knight. They made every scene they were in enjoyable. Any the FLIRTING. Oh the flirting. <3 <3 <3
My only qualm with this story is that there isn't more of them. Perhaps the Chang Dou extras could have been added to Blue Seal (b/c I totally wanted more of his story after reading Blue Seal), and we could have had more Kou Tong/Huang Jinchen fluff? Also, although I was happy to get more Chang Dou I really would love to see Fang Xiu's POV.
Overall, this is definitely on my fav danmei of all time list.
I'm not going to say anything about the science in this, but I did like the idea of the Projector and how the interconnected consciousnesses worked in general. Having to keep the balance while finding a way out made for an interesting story, especially with that little miss on the loose.
Of course, above all I loved my doctor princess and his knight. They made every scene they were in enjoyable. Any the FLIRTING. Oh the flirting. <3 <3 <3
My only qualm with this story is that there isn't more of them. Perhaps the Chang Dou extras could have been added to Blue Seal (b/c I totally wanted more of his story after reading Blue Seal), and we could have had more Kou Tong/Huang Jinchen fluff? Also, although I was happy to get more Chang Dou I really would love to see Fang Xiu's POV.
Overall, this is definitely on my fav danmei of all time list.
tense
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
This hurt more than I thought it would. The psychological and emotional discussion as also the relationships were much more interesting than the scifi aspect.
It was beautifully written as always, Priest is a great writer. Huangkou is so cute, loved the found family here and manman is adorable.
It was beautifully written as always, Priest is a great writer. Huangkou is so cute, loved the found family here and manman is adorable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Though the night was still approaching, they were together now.
Not before, not later; now.
= FIRST OF ALL, before I wrote down what I thought about this, I would like to warn you that this book HEAVILY discussed suicide, self-harm, ptsd, depression, delusional disorder, abuse, dead family members, and bipolar disorder. This book also graphically described self-harm, suicide, and violence. I WOULD not recommend you to read this when you have these triggers. The ending will especially ruined you so bad. Please don't read this if you're easily triggered by this. =
I keep hesitating between giving this book a complete 5 stars or a solid 4 stars....
Well, you see, this book is actually okay. It's not bad, and it's not the bestest one either. More like, a good enough book to be read, and especially memorable one.
But it was kinda hard to sit still yourself for some hours to finish this book. really.
Here is the thing: if this book were to be compared to the first book, which is Zhongji Lanyin, this book is a underwhelming and a little too low. ZJLY is a masterpiece written by a goddess, on the other hand this book feels like it was written by.. uh.. well, human being. Excluding all the writing style and the main moral value, this book is like the walmart version of ZJLY.
I'm not saying that it was so dissapointing it was unbearable, i'm not saying that it was so much different that people won't paid for, nor was it so ugly it ruined the whole franchise. This book is good, yes! I love the concept and the plot. But once again, if it were to be compared to zjly.... Well.. i'm sorry i guess.
You see, there are actually quite a lot of things that make you hooked up enough to read this in one-go. The concept is 100% unique. It's style Priest's writing style; full of sciences and philosophies, sometimes poets sometimes methaporics. 100% the main concept is original 100% it was extraordinary. If you especially in love with science-fiction, especially in love with science, this book will still giving that all.
All the mental health talks in this book also, is quite sufficient to fulfill your curiosity. Every of their mental problem was described quite okay with the methapors, even though it's also a little bare minimum, but it was good enough to read.
I also loved the ending. Not because I think they deserve it nor because I am cold-hearted or something. But it was realistic. The message is clear and blatant: "Healing depression is not easy, letting go of one desire will also never be easy. Seek professionals for a few times, because one time healing isn't a miracle that would instantly clear you like it's on TV." So it was realistic, it encourages the readers that it was important to actually seek help to cure mental healths. Thus there will be no one holding on to false hope.
After all the concept and the plot are fairly good, the moral values and conclusions are realistic and deep, and all the deep and dark theme discussed within were very seriously taken.
BUT there are also a lot of things that would make you groan in hate when you read this.
1. Huang Jinchen.
It's very hard to actually love him. Yeah, I mean, he's okay, I guess. But to be able to love him... Well, I wouldn't lie that i could emphatize with him only after I am on the 40s something chapters. Yes, and this book has 60 chapters in total. LOL.
It's not like he was annoying to some extent that I can't bear it. It's not like he treated Kou Tong badly either. It's just... How do I say it... Idk I just really can't stand him for some reason... Like.. I really want him to shut up whenever he talks.
But maybe that was just my own opinion being a hindrance. I think there are quite a lot of people who actually like him since the beginning. Plus I love him so much at the 40+ chapters, he become especially funny and likeable, and he treated Kou Tong very well, so actually he's notbad.
Anyway he's still the funniest Priest's characters LOL.
2. Tons of bullshit that could've been rephrased to something more efficient
priest's writing in this book was especially like this:
"She's hungry."
Rephrased with:
"The metabolism system in that girl's body was then triggered by the lack of components to retrieve energy. That particular trigger was then sent to a certain part in the lobus frontal which would process the meaning of the signals then sent some responses signals to her stomach and let out rumbles to declare its urgent needed of some fulfillment after being assessed. If those urgent signal was ignored and dragged out too long, all of her organs would react at the same time which could create some complexity that led her to weakness."
AND I'M LITERALLY NOT JOKING.
Yes, I knew, this was always been priest's writing style all along. This book is a science fiction, she was an expert in this field, this book's heavy concept was on its motherfucking science things. But I don't know why this writing style kinda bother me in this book. There are tons of scenes that could've been deleted because it has nothing to do with the story, the development of the characters or the relationships. There are tons of unnecessary explanation about things that don't even vital. There are tons of dragged explanation that could've been summed up in one practical sentences.
If all those unnecessary scenes was reduced to a half, this book would be much shorter than the initial one. For my holy God's sake. What is the point of having a full of knowledge books and aesthetically methaporics if your readers can't stand it?
3. There are tons of deep things that could've been dived into rather than anything else.
For example, Kou Tong's dark past. For example, Manman's life. For example, He Xiaozhi's life. For example, Qin Qin's development. For example, The fucking explanation about the Seed Project that was exist for God's know what fucking purpose. For example, the mysterious girl talking in code with Kou Tong that also serve no purpose. For example, Kou Tong's dream.
If you are willing to add more spices to the food, don't add it on a bare minimum amount that you would let the eater only taste the surface feeling of it. DIVE DEEPER. We don't eat raw foods.
Well, those three are the main things that bothers me the most; the reason why one star is missing from my rating. Although there are also a lot of things that make me hate this book, like it was unreasonably boring at some point, but it was forgiveable because of the last few chapters are good.
Anyways, even with these three things, this book is still worth a try nevertheless. There is at least one Kou Tong's development that is good to follow, there are a lot of painful life you would witness to make you emphatize with people better, there are tons of psychology x science aspects that would make me fascinated. The plot is unique. The humours are good. Huang Jinchen's and Kou Tong's relationship are also funny to follow. The worldbuilding is good. The painful ending is good. The diverse characters with deep and dark lifes are good.
AND the extra where Su Qing, Kou Tong, Huang Jinchen, and Hu Bugui finally met each other, and the details about Chang Dou's and Fang Xin's relationship, is the funniest scene to ever exist and it was the bestest part of this book.
Anyway it okay to follow, maybe you should put more of efforts but it wasn't that bad.
Initially
Anyway I feel so bad for He Xiaozhi and Qin Qin. I really hope people would paid more attention to people like them. I really hope so.
It was a relief that at least Manman and Yao Shuo could strive.
And a relief that their relationship are extending to some degrees and I would paid some pennies for Priest to make a book about their journey as a wanderer. :D
Anyways.
P.s. Yes you are right. The additional 1.25 stars were thanks to the emotional scene when they are going back to the real world and the scene where Su Qing putting on an act to make HJC jealous. Funniest shit ever.
P.s.s. This is the first time I'm not really interested on researching Priest's science idea. Projector sounds like a bad idea.
P.s.s.s. I really love Chang Dou
P.s.s.s.s. Am i the only one who think that Kou Tong would be friends with Fei Du? LMAOO.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The last sentence of the English summary says this is a cheerful adventure story. This is a blatant fucking lie. On the one hand, the main relationship between Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen is, for the most part, straight forward. They meet, they get on like a house on fire, they flirt, and then they fall in love. This is the lightest part of this novel and the main story is focused on an inception-like psychological tool that malfunctions and drags in 7 unrelated individuals, creating a world where they each get what they desire most but this all depends on a fragile balance as one of them being removed can destroy the whole world and have unknown but likely deadly consequences for the rest of them.
Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen try to gather together as many of the subjects (I really want to say dreamers because a lot of the concept of the Projector reminded me of Inception) as they can to help with balancing their mental happiness but they can't bring over everyone and it turns into a sort of conflict with one of the subjects, a young girl with paranoia and delusions who has found herself in a world that complete validates her delusions and she sees them as intruders trying to destroy her kingdom.
Over the course of roughly 10 days, they build a small, happy little family group while trying to get back out which only makes this all the more devastatingly sad because not everyone wants to leave and this is absolutely not going to end happily for all of them.
While this story does touch a lot on themes that Priest likes to explore in their novels, the main focus on this one seems to be how life is not always fair and that you can't always help everyone. Most of these people have heavy psychological burdens that affect them in a lot of ways (the paranoid/delusional girl, an abused child who can't speak, a teenager with extreme depression and self-harm/suicidal tendencies, a man buckling under societal pressure, an old man literally on the brink of death, and then Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen themselves, the former of whom lost his mother at a very young age and the reason why is heartbreaking, and the latter of whom was raised pretty much since birth and genetically modified to be an almost inhumanly talented assassin) and they each get a perfect resolution to their problems in this fake world. It makes it very hard for some of them to be willing to give it up.
It's a good story but definitely a tragic ending for some of the characters.
Why not 5 stars?
I couldn't believe how quickly this story was flying by in general and some things I felt did suffer a lot so others could shine. Specifically Huang Jinchen. I really enjoyed him as a character and I was kind of looking forward to a deeper dive into his own psychology, especially since it was clear from the beginning of the story that while he could fake a relatively normal personality, his inner monologue showed he had extreme difficulties seeing other people as anything other than targets and especially looked down on people he regarded as "weak" because he didn't understand how they could possibly continue to survive.Unfortunately, he's the only one in this fake world that doesn't actually seem to have anything that he wants. For example, for Kou Tong, he gets his mother back. Yes, she's just an idealized projection of the woman he remembers from his childhood, but she's still there. For the abused girl who couldn't speak, she can communicate with everyone telepathically. For the teenager, he finds a purpose and a use within the group that fills him with validation and fulfillment. For the man buckling under pressure, his family, the biggest burden he has, is gone, along with all of his other troubles. The dying old man gets a whole dimensional space of his own, keeping him alive and at his most peaceful moments.
But for Huang Jinchen there was... nothing that I could pinpoint. If anything, it was simply that he fell in love with Kou Tong and Kou Tong returned his affections super easily. It's possibly the most straightforward relationship I've read in any Priest novel but that also made it weak developmentally, especially when it seems that most of Huang Jinchen hinges on either doting flirt or psychopathic murderer.
Also they have the whole thing with both Huang Jinchen and Kou Tong having been genetically modified and experimented on by Seed but they don't really... do anything with it. I'm not sure if this is because I didn't read the other novel but that seemed to be more about Utopia. Seed is just something thrown in there for flavor and who the fuck even knows what happened to it after they left. Are kids still being taken and genetically modified? I have no idea and it doesn't seem like they do either or that they even care.
Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen try to gather together as many of the subjects (I really want to say dreamers because a lot of the concept of the Projector reminded me of Inception) as they can to help with balancing their mental happiness but they can't bring over everyone and it turns into a sort of conflict with one of the subjects, a young girl with paranoia and delusions who has found herself in a world that complete validates her delusions and she sees them as intruders trying to destroy her kingdom.
Over the course of roughly 10 days, they build a small, happy little family group while trying to get back out which only makes this all the more devastatingly sad because not everyone wants to leave and this is absolutely not going to end happily for all of them.
While this story does touch a lot on themes that Priest likes to explore in their novels, the main focus on this one seems to be how life is not always fair and that you can't always help everyone. Most of these people have heavy psychological burdens that affect them in a lot of ways (the paranoid/delusional girl, an abused child who can't speak, a teenager with extreme depression and self-harm/suicidal tendencies, a man buckling under societal pressure, an old man literally on the brink of death, and then Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen themselves, the former of whom lost his mother at a very young age and the reason why is heartbreaking, and the latter of whom was raised pretty much since birth and genetically modified to be an almost inhumanly talented assassin) and they each get a perfect resolution to their problems in this fake world. It makes it very hard for some of them to be willing to give it up.
It's a good story but definitely a tragic ending for some of the characters.
Why not 5 stars?
I couldn't believe how quickly this story was flying by in general and some things I felt did suffer a lot so others could shine. Specifically Huang Jinchen. I really enjoyed him as a character and I was kind of looking forward to a deeper dive into his own psychology, especially since it was clear from the beginning of the story that while he could fake a relatively normal personality, his inner monologue showed he had extreme difficulties seeing other people as anything other than targets and especially looked down on people he regarded as "weak" because he didn't understand how they could possibly continue to survive.
But for Huang Jinchen there was... nothing that I could pinpoint. If anything, it was simply that he fell in love with Kou Tong and Kou Tong returned his affections super easily. It's possibly the most straightforward relationship I've read in any Priest novel but that also made it weak developmentally, especially when it seems that most of Huang Jinchen hinges on either doting flirt or psychopathic murderer.
Also they have the whole thing with both Huang Jinchen and Kou Tong having been genetically modified and experimented on by Seed but they don't really... do anything with it. I'm not sure if this is because I didn't read the other novel but that seemed to be more about Utopia. Seed is just something thrown in there for flavor and who the fuck even knows what happened to it after they left. Are kids still being taken and genetically modified? I have no idea and it doesn't seem like they do either or that they even care.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
There's a lot in this even within those minor things mentioned. The animal death mostly involves birds. While in the fake world, Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen are watched and attacked by birds that Huang Jinchen then shoots and they turn into paper. After they leave the fake world, he continues to kill any bird he sees which leads to his boss asking him to please stop because they technically work on a nature preserve and he's significantly impacting the bird population.
Kou Tong is a child when his mother tries to divorce and leave his extremely abusive father. Father forcefully confines her in his house and in order to set her free, Kou Tong gets rid of her life saving medication so she dies. It's never hinted or implied that Mom asked for this.
Huang Jinchen is raised from essentially a baby and genetically modified to be a super assassin. After Kou Tong is put into foster care, he too gets sent to and confined in this genetic modification program for a period of time.
Huang Jinchen will pull his gun on people and sometimes uses it for "jokes." One particular instance that comes to mind is in the epilogue when he and Kou Tong go radio silent and their boss cuts off their wages in order to bring them back. Huang Jinchen announces he's back by sneaking up on his boss, holding a gun to his head, and telling him to give up the money.