Reviews with content warning for War - Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 1

The beginning was a little on the slow side but it picked up and quickly became engaging and I didn't want to put it down.

I think the main deterrent I have might be with the style of translation. I am used to translated works using footnotes for quick reference so having one chunk at the end describing all the nuance that is otherwise lost in translation interrupts the flow. I chose to discern by context and then read through the glossary and such after so I think it will improve the experience for reading the next book in the series. I admit that this is a personal preference.

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stroop's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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jackbifrost's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious 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

2.5

I am really conflicted about this book (hence the middle rating). On one hand, I really like our protagonist and his love interest. Hua Cheng is charming, and I have plenty of theories about his backstory I want to see play out. The arc format of the story is appealing, with each arc having a ton of many wild plot twists, and I'm going to continue on with the series. But there were also grating things I just can't ignore.

The only way I know how to describe the prose is to say that it's like a fanfic. It is quite jarring to see such things in an original story I paid money to read - for example, characters' dialog consisting only of "..." or "???????". If you had never read fanfic before, I cannot imagine how this would come across!

The other is something the many fans encouraging me to read it or the discussions I've seen about the book never mention - the transphobic and Islamophobic elements in the plot. It was extremely uncomfortable to hear characters say things like "if I kidnapped someone I thought was a woman and they turned out to be a man in a dress, I'd kill them!" or

"the warmongering, brutish, Middle Eastern coded country was going to send civilians wearing bombs into public places to blow them up in acts of terror" as justification for genocide.

It makes me wonder what other harmful stereotypes of minority groups I'm going to have to grit my teeth through in the future.

Overall, my feelings are really mixed...

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