picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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aelin_morgenstern's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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fullybookedlola's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious slow-paced
  • 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

4.0

This book was very good and I loved it. Sometimes though, the translation seemed off and some sentences did seem to not make complete sense. But overall, I really liked reading it and after putting it off for half a month, I was right back and could follow along where I had left off.
I love MXTX's writing style, it does feel unique, though it looks like it is sometimes too much telling the story instead of showing it, but luckily it doesn't put me off. 
Loved reading this novel after waiting a long time! 

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winter_dream's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0


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namjin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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usjdjfnnffm2737's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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graceskate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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r1vana's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75


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dottiewankenobi's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious 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

4.5

I've seen part of CQL already so I came into this knowing that things would be similar but hopefully different enough that it wouldn't be boring -- and it definitely wasn't! While the flashback scenes did drag a bit at times, the present/future parts were enough to get me through those spots. MXTX's humor is, as always, great (I'm still laughing about some of the things Wei Wuxian said/did/thought -- for instance, dude? You're Lan Wangji's dead wife) and the mystery was super interesting. I loved his interactions with the juniors and I was pleasantly surprised that Jiang Cheng wasn't as bad as fandom made him out to be.

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particledamage's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

 I decided to give the novels a try after watching the drama, CQL.

And after reading just volume 1, I will say, I appreciate the novel for expanding and clarifying the lore, but I think my "canon" will be the drama. 

MXTX truly struggles to relay exposition in a smooth manner, instead choosing random info dumps that derail the plot and make it very unclear who knows what. I have no idea what information Wei Wuxian knows (or how he knows it, after coming back) and what information is included just for me, with him unaware. 

This story is a diamond in the rough. Knowing what I know about how this ends (and also how much has been changed from original text to adaption, as I have also read the manhua and also several posts comparing the drama to the novels), I think the drama improved this story which lays down an amazing foundation. Great ideas, intriguing characters, but so much mess in between. 

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