panofsauce 's review for:

Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu (Novel) Vol. 1 by Tang Jiu Qing

2.5

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

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After reading Thousand Autumns and the first volume of Peerless I was excited for another political danmei but something about this book did not vibe with me. The political schemes were all incredibly convoluted and barely seemed to follow each other and the interactions between the two main characters seemed odd and out of place half the time, as if they were interacting just for the sake of it. 

There's also a hell of a lot of characters in this book and keeping them straight is a nightmare, especially since Seven Seas have begun cutting down the character list and glossary segments at the back of their danmei. 

Will not be continuing this series.