Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Heaven Official's Blessing - Light Novel, Band 01

it was cute. which is the only emotion i'm really feeling coming out of this. i read it really quickly, the story is blunt and uncomplex, the characters are engaging enough for me to keep turning the page, the prose is plain and easily understood, if not rather bland and awkward, etc etc. there's nothing quite wrong with this first volume, but there's not too much right with it either.

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

aka hua cheng

is still largely a mystery. the side characters are present, but not especially noteworthy.

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.

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samugranjo's review against another edition

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adventurous funny relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was so fun to read, truly a blessing. And I like how we are building up the relationship between the main characters while also giving us mysteries and making us reflect on the unbalanced way in which power exists in this world.

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magatsumandala's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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ye_li's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Every one of MXTX's works, though not known for a poetic and literary writing style, is renowned for its stories and complexities; its characters, and their anguish. Heaven Official's Blessing is no exception. It's a story of such yearning, of deep-rooted bitterness, of gut-wrenching regret, of hidden secrets that must be unearthed—I hold tgcf close to my heart.

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