Review by chronicallylavender - Heaven Official's Blessing - Tian Guan Ci Fu [天官赐福]

chronicallylavender 's review for:

Heaven Official's Blessing - Tian Guan Ci Fu [天官赐福] by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Humans ascending, gods falling, ghosts rising, unconventional friendships & (unconditional) love. What makes one human?
You gotta read all of it for the story to really come together cause they’re one book.

Its really not perfect but i do love this story a lot. It’s funny and endearing and beautiful and tragic and heavy and.
The Bad: everything relating to the banyue arc and that one scene with sqx.

topics- Humanity, Resilience, (choosing) Kindness, ((breaking) cycles of) Abuse, Trauma, Violence for the sake of „Peace“, Classism, Religion, Fate vs Free Will, forging your own path, Responsibility, Power, Status, Friendship, Obsession, Devotion, Corruption,…
MDZS and TGCF are both in part about the necessity of doing good and “the right thing” even if you are met with hostility for it.

i love xie lians characters and how he goes through such a big character transformation
from spoiled, extremely wealthy and powerful to dirt poor, ridiculed but content with his daily choices
and how he learns that he cannot do shit alone but that he needs people with him etc

I think the romance can be seen as having problematic parts but I enjoyed that they truly see each other as they are and love just that and they trust and respect each other deeply and make each other laugh and can be hurt and vulnerable with each other etc.
fate kept them apart but again the forged their own destiny, they chose their connection.

„those who have known each other for decades can become strangers in a day. we met by chance and we may part by chance. if we like each other, then we shall continue to meet; if we don’t, then we shall part. there’s no banquet in the world that doesn’t come to an end, so I’ll say what I want to say.“

„To me the one basking in infinite glory is you, the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is you and not the state of you.“

„Things aren’t always that absolute. Sometimes it’s not up to you to decide whether the path is easy to walk.“ -„ I might not be able to decide whether the path is easy or not, but whether I walk it is entirely up to me.“

“Whether I can, I won’t know until I’ve tried. Even if the heavens say I must die, if that sword doesn’t pierce my heart and nail me dead on the ground, then I am still alive, and ‘til my last breath I will struggle to the end!„

„Remember: when humans ascend, they are still human; when they fall, they are still human.“

„“Body in the abyss, heart in paradise.”

[...] If the crown prince were to see the remnants of those words, he would probably be the first one to rush to destroy what was left.

The person who had said those words had personally proven that when the body is in the abyss, the heart could not be in paradise.“

„of course! Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy.”

Last time, they spent eight hundred years running toward each other.
This time, it only took an instant to fall into each other's embrace.

Content Warnings