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4.63 AVERAGE
4.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Classism
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Qiāng Jìn Jiǔ was a very good book. I really loved most of it - except for the last 250 pages or so.
But let’s start at the beginning: Our MC Shen Zechuan is a teenager when the book starts. He’s kinda doomed from the start because his father (Shen Wei) has betrayed the emperor of Dazhou and especially its six prefectures of Zhongbo. Following his betrayal around 40.000 soldiers and many more people of this region died under the onslaught of the Biansha cavalry. Even though I’m not sold on kin liability, it's a fact that it was commonplace in imperial China (and Dazhou is some sort of fantasy Ming dynasty equivalent of China). So, our MC is well hated and many people would like to see him die.
Among them is Xiao Chiye, our ML, whose family of military leaders had to give it their all to get the enemy to retreat out of the country with a ruined Zhongbo left behind.
From there the political situation sets off and many intrigues and hidden agendas are waiting to be revealed. There are not only some epic battles but also many verbal or mental duels happening between different fractions of the imperial court or of the many educated people we meet along the way.
Our MC and ML clashed regularly at first and yes, one nearly killed the other, but over time they got to know each other and also learned where the other got their drive from. Their relationship progressed in an absolutely lovely way (and I loved that for them).
Honestly, I also loved the complicated plot and the fact that I had to consult a character sheet a lot in the beginning and a map of Dazhou through the whole book. There were some great side characters and the fate of one of them nearly made me cry. Let’s name a few of those cool people not to spoil anything: Li Jianting, Qiao Tianya, Xiao Fangxu, Yao Wenyu, Qi Zhuyin, Hua Xiangyi and the youngsters, especially Jiran.
Another thing I highly appreciated was that there were no fragile women in this book. The women were as capable and intelligent as the men. They schemed and fought and - though this shouldn’t be something worth mentioning - it is a plus compared to other danmei stories. I also thought I spotted a budding Bai he story but I’m not totally sure if that wasn’t just wishful thinking.
Now to the points that rubbed me the wrong way:
First of all, the overly hectic and forced ending. The showdown in the desert felt as rushed to me as the one in Qudu. The book is at least 2.5k long in Chinese (depending on the editions I saw) and a lot of plot points and arcs are slowly built up which only makes the ending feel more hastened to me.
Secondly, I disliked the cliched revelation about who the scorpion masterminds in Qudu were.
Thirdly, it was disappointing to see what happened (or didn’t happen) with Duo’erlan and Li Jianting. I mean this is a book about many morally dubious characters who - with only a few exceptions - make a lot of questionable decisions. And in the end, the author conveniently offs one person, but offing the other looks too bad although it’s absolutely illogical not to kill them.
Last but not least, I thought it didn’t make much sense who ended up on the throne. Like, I totally get who’s supposed to end up on the throne in the future but if one looks once again at the premise of this book I just am not sold. Feels like one of Lanzhou’s fever dreams that all the people of Dazhou happily embraced their new emperor when corruption and nepotism had been running rampant for decades.
The longer I’ve been writing this review the bigger the itch to curb my rating became. I did have a great time with over 90% of this story so I’ll just leave it be
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
love the relationship as its building up in the first third of the story. it does get formulaic at points going from the relationship driven scenes to the plot driven scenes. the more character development forward scenes like the first chapter, the king and that one guy in the building collapse, the teacher dying etc are sooo beautifully written. sometimes the plot seems to stagnate and we’re just waiting around for the next thing to push the plot along. a lot of things could be shortened and the pacing would be a lot better for it. sometimes its dragging out details that don’t have any real impact. i also dont think the couple narratively get together too quick, but relative to the length of the story it was too quick for my taste. after they are solidly together there’s no real growth in their relationship which i generally find to be an issue in “established relationship” couples in novels.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Legitimately one of the best things I have ever read. Such beautifully written characters that are all fleshed out with proper motivations and personalities. Every big 'villain' in this is complex and interesting and at times I felt quite sad for them even though I was rooting for the main characters. At one point I was crying so hard my face was all sore from wiping my tears 🥲 I'm also usually not one to be interested in these kinds of feudal political storylines but I was actually really invested in this one.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
emotional
funny
sad
slow-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:
No