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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
I think the main deterrent I have might be with the style of translation. I am used to translated works using footnotes for quick reference so having one chunk at the end describing all the nuance that is otherwise lost in translation interrupts the flow. I chose to discern by context and then read through the glossary and such after so I think it will improve the experience for reading the next book in the series. I admit that this is a personal preference.
Minor: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Violence, Death, Murder, Body horror, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical content, War, Gore, and Torture
tiredtori's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Bullying, and Death
Minor: Classism and Injury/Injury detail
dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Murder, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Bullying, Genocide, Violence, and War
strrygo's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Bullying
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
The only way I know how to describe the prose is to say that it's like a fanfic. It is quite jarring to see such things in an original story I paid money to read - for example, characters' dialog consisting only of "..." or "???????". If you had never read fanfic before, I cannot imagine how this would come across!
The other is something the many fans encouraging me to read it or the discussions I've seen about the book never mention - the transphobic and Islamophobic elements in the plot. It was extremely uncomfortable to hear characters say things like "if I kidnapped someone I thought was a woman and they turned out to be a man in a dress, I'd kill them!" or
Overall, my feelings are really mixed...
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Transphobia, Blood, War, Death, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Genocide, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, and Bullying
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
dottiewankenobi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Really strong start to the series, and I am very excited to keep reading and learn more.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Ableism, Cursing, and War
squinnittowinit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The biggest difficulty a reader might have with this book is how many names some of the characters have, as many of them are immortal gods who have gained names over time. Keeping a paper nearby to make a character log or keeping the Heaven Official's Blessing wiki pulled up (but beware spoilers) as you read may be helpful.
Another thing to note is this is a translation from Chinese. In order to more closely capture the meanings of the original text, this version is not quite written in the 'literary English prose' style that English readers may be used to, but it is grammatically correct and overall quite understandable.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Transphobia, Cannibalism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Mental illness, Self harm, and Confinement
Minor: Sexism, Grief, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Body shaming, and Misogyny
levtolstoy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Death, Blood, Body horror, and Bullying
Moderate: War
tenori's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Minor: Body horror, War, and Bullying
vigil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
it is the first volume in the series and it's aggressively obvious. the entire volume is set up. setting up the world, the characters, the plot, everything is just beginning. if we began in a place where the main couple is already or soon to be established, this would be the flashback b-plot. the actual plot itself is a bit akin to taking two video game side quests, and making them your main story: plot events that are meant to serve your characters and the world their in, not necessarily further the narrative (though in this case i do suspect there will be callbacks and tie-ins later on, hence the flashback b-plot comparison) or to be the most engaging by itself. this did get a bit irritating in the banyue arc, which dragged on for longer than it needed to.
the characters are engaging enough, but everything in this series seems to move glacially, so we learn them better much slower than you'd might like, if at all. we have an messy outline of xie lian by the end, but by no means the full picture. san lang
this is probably the mxtx work with the most misogynistic undertones (at least in this volume) with the crazy overbearing jealous scorned woman trope, who takes her anger at a man out on other woman, and the near constant description of nearly every woman of prominence as ugly, which is especially noteworthy because there isn't many of them.
i have checked out the next two volumes from my library and i will be continuing with the series, but my first impression of tgcf so far is that it's aggressively fine. it's a slow burn in everything, character, plot, relationships, and unfortunately, this first volume was a spark that didn't really lead anywhere. i could tell you what happened, but outside of the relationship inception and further development, not much did so it'd be pretty useless. i don't think they chose a bad place to cut off per se, but that the start of the web novel so far is more concerned with set up, exposition, and info-dump, and didn't bother to leave room for much else. i'm aware things will get meatier later on, but for right now, it has nothing to really go against or for it.
as is standard with mxtx translations by seven seas, translation issues abound. they are not as present or severe as the ones in mdzs, but they have not disappeared.
overall, i'd say if you already like mxtx, go for it, but if you're a newcomer to her or danmei in general, pick up something else. tgcf is longer than the bible and the first volume doesn't give you much incentive to continue with the rest of it, because it has very little meat to it, and relies on established tropes of the genre.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, and War