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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
DNF. Once I realised this book was plagiarised, I stopped reading.
The translation wasn't pleasant to read either. This is a case where I think the translator should take a freer approach in order to make the writing less jarring in English. This is not to say I don't understand the precarious tightrope a translator needs to balance between fidelity to the original, and producing something that is readable for a foreign audience.
The translation wasn't pleasant to read either. This is a case where I think the translator should take a freer approach in order to make the writing less jarring in English. This is not to say I don't understand the precarious tightrope a translator needs to balance between fidelity to the original, and producing something that is readable for a foreign audience.
Don't misundertand, I liked this book. But I can't give it the praise it might deserve when I know this is a piece of theft.
I wish I could read the original work from wich this was copied. Since there's no translation available I can only show my support to the original author by giving this book the lowest rank.
Plagiarism is NOT okay.
I wish I could read the original work from wich this was copied. Since there's no translation available I can only show my support to the original author by giving this book the lowest rank.
Plagiarism is NOT okay.
Could not finish after I found out it was plagiarized. So disappointed.
The whole experience of reading this book was different from the very beginning.
There's so much that happened that I don't know how to describe my experience. From Taoism, goddesses, and blindness to secret babies, secret twins, and amnesia.
All in all, the story was entertaining enough, very different from my usual tastes in fantasy which made it easier to stay open-minded to all the drama. The pacing, however, was a bit erratic as the narrator was always going back a forth, telling her story according to the present situation and on a need to know basis.
There wasn't that much foreshadowing to the main mysteries in the plot and main events happened out of nowhere with characters coming and going with cero build-up or development. Maybe it was the author's style, maybe the translation, but this was more valuable for me in terms of novelty than immersion.
What I do not know is how this got traditionally published by Amazon and turned into a major tv drama, with it being a plagiarised work, according to other reviews...
There's so much that happened that I don't know how to describe my experience. From Taoism, goddesses, and blindness to secret babies, secret twins, and amnesia.
All in all, the story was entertaining enough, very different from my usual tastes in fantasy which made it easier to stay open-minded to all the drama. The pacing, however, was a bit erratic as the narrator was always going back a forth, telling her story according to the present situation and on a need to know basis.
There wasn't that much foreshadowing to the main mysteries in the plot and main events happened out of nowhere with characters coming and going with cero build-up or development. Maybe it was the author's style, maybe the translation, but this was more valuable for me in terms of novelty than immersion.
What I do not know is how this got traditionally published by Amazon and turned into a major tv drama, with it being a plagiarised work, according to other reviews...
4.5/5 stars
**DISCLAIMER** I am fully aware that this is a work of plagiarism. The ebook was available to me for free thus, no financial support was given to to the author. I would have read the original work if it had been a English translation had been available.
All praise for this novel will be given to the original author, Da Feng Gua Guo, and her work, The Peach Blossom Debt (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17728235)
LIKES:
-DRAAAYYYMA: This was a mix of a Shakespearean play and Maury Povich w/ a big ole heaping of Chinese mythology. FANTASTIC. When it went hard. IT WENT HARD:
“If you’re to be skinned and have your tendons pulled out, I would prefer it not to be with my face on your body.”
-Ba Qian + Ye Hua: Oh, man. These two lovers tugged at my heart strings.
“Bai Qian, do I not hold even a small place in your heart?" OMG ME DED
DISLIKES:
-BAD LGBTQIA+ rep: The story has gay characters (mainly m/m), but technically it's not. A female character is disguised as a man and the man falls in love w/ "him". He then believes he has "turned" homosexual because he has feelings for a man. He is unable to come to terms w/ this, but later understands that he only loved a man because he was actually a she the whole time.
-PROBLEMS W/ CONSENT: Example - "He assumed that my hearing his confession was the same as giving my consent, and so he came over and tried to rip off my clothes. I desperately guarded my lapel. “You’ve agreed, Si Yin. Why are you acting all coy?” he said angrily." Oy Ve!
**DISCLAIMER** I am fully aware that this is a work of plagiarism. The ebook was available to me for free thus, no financial support was given to to the author. I would have read the original work if it had been a English translation had been available.
All praise for this novel will be given to the original author, Da Feng Gua Guo, and her work, The Peach Blossom Debt (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17728235)
LIKES:
-DRAAAYYYMA: This was a mix of a Shakespearean play and Maury Povich w/ a big ole heaping of Chinese mythology. FANTASTIC. When it went hard. IT WENT HARD:
“If you’re to be skinned and have your tendons pulled out, I would prefer it not to be with my face on your body.”
-Ba Qian + Ye Hua: Oh, man. These two lovers tugged at my heart strings.
“Bai Qian, do I not hold even a small place in your heart?" OMG ME DED
DISLIKES:
-BAD LGBTQIA+ rep: The story has gay characters (mainly m/m), but technically it's not. A female character is disguised as a man and the man falls in love w/ "him". He then believes he has "turned" homosexual because he has feelings for a man. He is unable to come to terms w/ this, but later understands that he only loved a man because he was actually a she the whole time.
-PROBLEMS W/ CONSENT: Example - "He assumed that my hearing his confession was the same as giving my consent, and so he came over and tried to rip off my clothes. I desperately guarded my lapel. “You’ve agreed, Si Yin. Why are you acting all coy?” he said angrily." Oy Ve!
The drama is way better than the book - the author never bothers with detailed descriptions of places to set the fantasy and historical scene and just rushes through with bare minimum of dialogue and plotlines. It severely hampered my enjoyment since I had to rely heavily on my memory of the drama to picture everything better. Lots of information that is specific to chinese culture and history is lost on western readers too, so that doesn't help.
The drama version enchants you with amazing scenery and costumes, expands the plotlines that are only briefly mentioned here, and gives us additional romantic couples. Still not exactly happy with the ending; it feels so rushed. I'd definitely go for the drama to enjoy the story, but there's also a movie version coming soon, so that may be a better fit for people with less time on their hands (the drama has 58 episodes, FYI).
There's also plagiarism allegations to consider, which I've seen mentioned many times. I'm not a fan of that in any case or form, but let's remember that China is the world capitol of counterfeit articles, so it only follows that they aren't exactly fighting for intellectual/authorship rights. I've only read the book to see what inspired the drama - hats down to the scriptwriters for doing an excellent job and even patching up the original's numerous flaws. The book drops so many interesting plotlines and never mentions characters again after they've outlived their usefulness... which speaks volumes about the writing skills of the writer. The translations seem clumsy at times - sometimes translating the names of people or places, sometimes not.
Not really worth reading if you're not a fan of the drama.
The drama version enchants you with amazing scenery and costumes, expands the plotlines that are only briefly mentioned here, and gives us additional romantic couples. Still not exactly happy with the ending; it feels so rushed. I'd definitely go for the drama to enjoy the story, but there's also a movie version coming soon, so that may be a better fit for people with less time on their hands (the drama has 58 episodes, FYI).
There's also plagiarism allegations to consider, which I've seen mentioned many times. I'm not a fan of that in any case or form, but let's remember that China is the world capitol of counterfeit articles, so it only follows that they aren't exactly fighting for intellectual/authorship rights. I've only read the book to see what inspired the drama - hats down to the scriptwriters for doing an excellent job and even patching up the original's numerous flaws. The book drops so many interesting plotlines and never mentions characters again after they've outlived their usefulness... which speaks volumes about the writing skills of the writer. The translations seem clumsy at times - sometimes translating the names of people or places, sometimes not.
Not really worth reading if you're not a fan of the drama.
So lets talk about To the Sky Kingdom.
First, my reading experience. I'll be honest. I didn't finish this one. It took some time to get into the writing style of the opening section. The language used was rather old fashioned for lack of a better term, something which normally doesn't bother me, but did in this particular case. I found it more difficult to read on a kindle than as regular print, which was odd. (Or maybe I just like borrowing my brother's older titles because he adds in notes and commentary in the margins). The opening section was a bit long and had a good conclusion. It felt like its own story and I had no ambition to read further at all. When I finally did start at chapter one, I found it just as hard to get into the story a second time. All of a sudden the point of view changes from third to first. I always find this unnecessary and aggravating, another strike against a book I wasn't enjoying.
At this point I put the book down again. Then when I was going to pick up the book a third time to see if I could finish the entire thing I hear that the book is plagiarized. Nope. That's more than enough strikes for me. Sorry, but I'm not going to be finishing this one. Author's plagiarizing from another author's work is juvenile, disheartening, and unforgivable.
*I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.*
First, my reading experience. I'll be honest. I didn't finish this one. It took some time to get into the writing style of the opening section. The language used was rather old fashioned for lack of a better term, something which normally doesn't bother me, but did in this particular case. I found it more difficult to read on a kindle than as regular print, which was odd. (Or maybe I just like borrowing my brother's older titles because he adds in notes and commentary in the margins). The opening section was a bit long and had a good conclusion. It felt like its own story and I had no ambition to read further at all. When I finally did start at chapter one, I found it just as hard to get into the story a second time. All of a sudden the point of view changes from third to first. I always find this unnecessary and aggravating, another strike against a book I wasn't enjoying.
At this point I put the book down again. Then when I was going to pick up the book a third time to see if I could finish the entire thing I hear that the book is plagiarized. Nope. That's more than enough strikes for me. Sorry, but I'm not going to be finishing this one. Author's plagiarizing from another author's work is juvenile, disheartening, and unforgivable.
*I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.*
Well that was disappointing. I’m pretty sure a few of these side stories could have been taken out and it wouldn’t have mattered at all. I should have just skimmed over those parts. Kind of feel like I just wasted a reading day.
read 2/3 and found out it is a plagiarized novel, will not be finishing
There were so many flaws. The possibility that it was plagiarized, the constant feeling that so much had been lost in translation, the plots that seemed better suited for tv than literature...I could go on. But I loved this bc I'm a big dumb sap.