Reviews - Qiang Jin Jiu 将进酒

101 reviews for:

Qiang Jin Jiu 将进酒

Tang Jiu Qing

4.63 AVERAGE

brindsy's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

nikhitha_jacob's review against another edition

3.75

Ngl I skim read the majority of this book

sarahek716's review against another edition

Officially licensed

yellauraya's review against another edition

5.0

➺ 5/5

camomila_'s review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Rating this novel was a challenge for me. While I loved many aspects of it, there were also a couple of chapters I really disliked. I laughed, I cried and I got tired of it too. However, I had a great time reading it and it's one of the best novels I've ever read.

what I liked:

I really, really, really liked the MC and ML, Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye. They have my heart. Not only are they great separately, but they are also great together. I loved their personalities, their stories, and how they were both important to the story all the time.
I loved the romance. It was my favorite aspect of this novel. Cezhou became my favorite couple among all the other danmei couples of novels I’ve read before. A heavy continuous applause for the author for writing them. The enemies-to-lovers was delicious, the sexual and romantic tension, the love that was built, the trust, need, and partnership that they found within each other were so good, cute, and lovable. And I have to say, I don’t know if it was the translation or if the author actually has the ability to write smut scenes, but I didn’t feel any cringiness or awkwardness in those moments, so I salute you.
The F/F couple, Hua Xiangyi and Qi Zhuyin, I really wanted to see more of them. Such a beautiful couple. I just craved for it.
The female characters are so good and so strong. One of the things that I dislike the most in danmei novels is the way women are usually represented: either as jealous or in love with either the ML or MC. So seeing strong women, who are actually powerful and cunning, that are independent and are not in the story to have servitude towards men, was really good.
The side couples!! Honestly, this novel had much more romance than what I was expecting, and they were cute. I actually have some that I wish were canon, but well.
The characters in general were so interesting. The main characters and their side characters were captivating, and I liked their interactions. If I had to list all of them this review would be too long.
Lastly, I really liked the way that the motives of the characters were shown, and you don’t necessarily have the good or the bad. Most of them were people who were doing what was necessary to survive or their actions were just the results of what life made to them. To show a story in which you can empathize with the “bad guys” is refreshing.

what I disliked:

The politics. I do think that the author made a plot so complex that they lost themselves in it. There were too many characters, plots, subplots, and twists and turns. It got tiring a lot of times to read all of that, not because of the complexity, but because the story kept going around and around, with bits that weren’t even important in the end. It took such a long time to arrive at the climax that the story lost its heat, and the end was a bit underwhelming. Because the politics were vital for the story, it made me slow to finish the novel, and for that, I can’t give it 5 stars.

shadowfriends's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Yes

this has become one of my favorite stories out of the many i have read. despite it being translated, you can tell how much the author cares about their writing. based on the writing alone, this is one of the best works i have read, and it just makes me wish I was able to read it in its original language. though i do wish we got to see more interactions with the side characters and cezhou, especially towards the end, it doesn't diminish the story. i would say it is very heavy in politics so if that might not be your thing, this probably won't be for you.

lena_45's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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: Yes

How do I even start…This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read.

If I had to make a comparison, this whole novel is a chess game from the start until the end.

There are so many things I want to say but starting from the plot, I’m not gonna lie it is very political and full of plot twists and foreshadowing. Just trying to understand the world’s geography, different political parties and what type of power they control was HARD. However, once I understood (thanks to the maps fans created bless them), there is no other option but to be captivated by the storyline! There wasn’t a moment where I was bored. And I’m really thankful to the writer because she did not oversimplify the plot like in other books I’ve read but she trusted the readers to understand plot points on their own. That was honestly so much fun.
So if you are reluctant to read qjj because of the politics, I would say to give it a try on your own instead of reading negative comments. It might not be for everyone but if you are in the right mood to start this novel it will be a mind blowing experience.

The main couple left me in tears!!! Their love story is as devastating as beautiful. Their relationship grows from enemies to lovers who would not only die but LIVE for each other. Lanzhou being Cean’s freedom and Cean being Lanzhou’s reminder that he IS still human and capable of love😭 Also I love how their love story wasn’t necessarily separate from the main political storyline because we see them grow individually and as a couple as the story progresses not in spite of it.

After Cezhou, I also loved the side characters!!! Especially Yao Wenyu and Qiao Tianya story 🥹
I grew fond of so many of the people that supported the main couple in their goals.

If there is one complaint about this novel is that I wish at the end we could have seen more of the side characters perspectives or the main couple interacting with certain people after they achieved their goal as a kind of culmination of their identities. That is more of Huo Lingyun story and him interacting with Lanzhou because I think they would really understand each other. Also, I needed Yao Wenyu to have a proper conversation with Cean too😭 Him and Lanzhou are best friends but I think Cean has known him for so long and we didn’t even get to see their first meeting.

Cean should have had the chance to talk to yao wenyu one last time too😭

Qiao Tianya’s story…I guess with everything he went through there really is nothing else he could have done but

him and Laznhou went through thick and thin together so a goodbye at least would have been nice

Another character that I think was underrated is Hua Xiangyi. She is so clever in politics and the one who understands humanity best but we did not get a lot of moments for her to shine.

I was also expecting a more emotional/dramatic last conversation between yao wenyu and xue xiuzhuo and Lanzhou confronting fengquan

One last point which is a bit more selfish, I wish we got more moments of Lanzhou with Cean’s family😭😭

I could talk on and on but the last thing I wanna mention is the writing!!!! The prose is the best one I have read in a danmei. Also, the metaphors and the way scenes are described would be PEAK cinematography if they ever made a LA.

I will never forget this novel and I can’t wait to reread it and experience everything again🥹