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emmxy19 's review for:
Nirvana in Fire 琅琊榜
by 海宴
i started drafting this review far before i finished my second full read of this book. but i’m still not nearly satisfied by it.
but first, a disclaimer: i don’t know if there’s an official english translation for nirvana in fire but i’ve tried my best to do the quotes from the book justice, which was so difficult because it’s hard to capture the essence of writing when you go from one language to another. i picked some of the easier good quotes to translate though. i’ve also left the chinese version there as well, for any that can read it.
if you asked me for a concrete reason like a trope, genre, character, etc. about why i liked this book so much, i wouldn’t be able to come up with a great answer for you, maybe besides it being about bromance and friendship and justice. this book does not, by most means, have found family or romance or glorious fight scenes or dashing youthful heroes (well, a bit, but in a slightly sickening and depressing way), which are things that many people, including me, typically look for. its ending can be either happy or sad, depending on how you look at it (when i was younger, i hated it, but now as i’ve gotten older, i’m starting to accept and appreciate the way that the author finished it more and more). it isn’t a typical “powerless main character figures out they are super special and trains to become the best in the world” sort of book, like most other wuxia/jianghu books. in fact, it’s quite the opposite, because mei changsu is a fallen version of his previous, glorious self:
but somehow, through its loophole-less-plot and painfully moving characters, it is uplifting and heartbreaking and just so, so MUCH. i cannot even begin to describe the wide spectrum of emotions i felt while reading this book (both times). at times, i loved mei changsu for all that he sacrificed, and at times i hated him so much for what he was doing to himself. at times, i screamed inwardly at xiao jingyan for his stubbornness and stupidity, not recognizing his best friend right there in front of him, but most times i sympathized with and understood him. even lin chen, who doesn’t appear until around halfway through the final book, came so quickly to me in the flesh. he had maybe like, 15 pieces of dialogue, but it revealed so much of his feelings and inner thoughts and motives. i knew these characters, and i belonged with them.
rereading this, something about the characters dawned on me. now that i think about it, maybe the reason i liked kaz brekker in six of crows so much is bc i can see the shadows of changsu on him, and why i liked matthias helvar nearly as much is bc i can see shadows of jingyan on him. it all makes sense, and this is also an easier way for me to talk about these characters by using a more well-known book in the english community. but kaz rietveld’s entire life changed when he floated in a barrage of bodies in the middle of a freezing river, prompting him to become kaz brekker to seek his justice and revenge, and lin shu’s entire life changed when his army got annihilated by their own allies so he watched all his men die in a sea of fire, prompting him to become mei changsu to seek his justice and revenge. now, matthias and jingyan have vastly different backgrounds as compared to mcs/kb, but their sort of ox-like, grim-faced, loyal, quick-to-anger, only-one-weakness (nina/lin she) vibe is also stunningly similar.
yeah, sounds about right.
(also lin chen gives off slightly jesper vibes but i might just be hallucinating that?? and maybe nihuang for inej too!! my strong female fighting queens who have a thing for that traumatized revengeful main character to varying degrees. love them.)
anyways, i’m definitely not saying that they’re the exact same, because that would kinda ruin the whole point of reading different books?. but given that we can all agree that six of crows has, like, one of the best casts of characters to ever exist (do not try to argue with me on this), i’m just going to say that i like these characters just as much, if not even more. because if the perfection of the crew in 6oc relies somewhat on the found family dynamics, in this book, it’s just. pure characterization. and it’s executed so wonderfully i could die.
don’t even mention the prose to me. this is what i hate the most about translations and why i wish so badly to know every language in the world. it’s so hard to properly and thoroughly capture the essence of beautiful writing from english to chinese, and vice versa. there’s always something lost in translation (unintentional taylor swift all too well reference ?! i am a die hard red stan by the way if you wanted to know). but the way hai yan writes, incorporating so many chengyu in there with phrases and grammar akin to 20th century prose?? there are reasons why people read this book 10 times, because every single time you reread it, you get stabbed again and again by the way she describes mei changsu’s emotions and pain. i guess we like to torture ourselves.
but since this is a website for english readers, i probably wouldn’t recommend reading the english translation because i’ve tried translating it myself for fun (which was not fun, barely got past the first chapter) and i know just how difficult it would be to execute it well. like the following quote — no matter how i try to translate it, it always comes out somewhat wrong-sounding.
instead i would recommend the drama, which lives up to the book. acting is much easier to understand across different languages and cultures when compared to words. usually i like book or drama, one or another, so i’m glad to say that this was probably (?) the second time in my life where i liked the drama/movie just as much as the book, the first being the harry potter series and films (i liked lord of the rings movies more than the books, so that doesn’t count, either). of course, the drama adaption did change some seemingly significant things, especially regarding nihuang/changsu’s relationship and the events toward the end, but those proved to be insignificant with regards to the entire theme and message of the book. i especially loved the cast they picked — all great actors/actresses, unlike so many chinese dramas nowadays that just cast popular, gorgeous idols with zero acting skills. yeah, mid 2010s were amazing. nirvana in fire has a whopping 9.4 on douban (chinese version of imdb), ranking it at no. 15 out of all dramas (where the ones above it are all older classics), which is just insane. so definitely go watch the drama with eng subs and throw yourself into mei changsu’s brilliant, scheming, broken mind.
i’ll end this ramble here — i was far too emotional and in a daze while writing this to call it a review. essentially, this book and its characters took my heart and shattered it and put it back together again. i will reread it again and again and i doubt i will ever get sick of it.
on that note. enjoy a quote that i think i actually translated fairly well, a quote that can tell you something about who mei changsu — or lin shu — was, and what the story was like…
but first, a disclaimer: i don’t know if there’s an official english translation for nirvana in fire but i’ve tried my best to do the quotes from the book justice, which was so difficult because it’s hard to capture the essence of writing when you go from one language to another. i picked some of the easier good quotes to translate though. i’ve also left the chinese version there as well, for any that can read it.
if you asked me for a concrete reason like a trope, genre, character, etc. about why i liked this book so much, i wouldn’t be able to come up with a great answer for you, maybe besides it being about bromance and friendship and justice. this book does not, by most means, have found family or romance or glorious fight scenes or dashing youthful heroes (well, a bit, but in a slightly sickening and depressing way), which are things that many people, including me, typically look for. its ending can be either happy or sad, depending on how you look at it (when i was younger, i hated it, but now as i’ve gotten older, i’m starting to accept and appreciate the way that the author finished it more and more). it isn’t a typical “powerless main character figures out they are super special and trains to become the best in the world” sort of book, like most other wuxia/jianghu books. in fact, it’s quite the opposite, because mei changsu is a fallen version of his previous, glorious self:
他就像是一团熊熊烈火被扑灭后余下的那一抹灰烬，虽然会让人联想到曾经存在过的那团火焰，却再也没有火焰的灼灼热量和舞动的姿态。
He was like a raging fire that had been put out, leaving only a pile of ashes. Although the cinders would remind people of the flames that had once been, they would never have the same burning heat or leaping appearance.
but somehow, through its loophole-less-plot and painfully moving characters, it is uplifting and heartbreaking and just so, so MUCH. i cannot even begin to describe the wide spectrum of emotions i felt while reading this book (both times). at times, i loved mei changsu for all that he sacrificed, and at times i hated him so much for what he was doing to himself. at times, i screamed inwardly at xiao jingyan for his stubbornness and stupidity, not recognizing his best friend right there in front of him, but most times i sympathized with and understood him. even lin chen, who doesn’t appear until around halfway through the final book, came so quickly to me in the flesh. he had maybe like, 15 pieces of dialogue, but it revealed so much of his feelings and inner thoughts and motives. i knew these characters, and i belonged with them.
rereading this, something about the characters dawned on me. now that i think about it, maybe the reason i liked kaz brekker in six of crows so much is bc i can see the shadows of changsu on him, and why i liked matthias helvar nearly as much is bc i can see shadows of jingyan on him. it all makes sense, and this is also an easier way for me to talk about these characters by using a more well-known book in the english community. but kaz rietveld’s entire life changed when he floated in a barrage of bodies in the middle of a freezing river, prompting him to become kaz brekker to seek his justice and revenge, and lin shu’s entire life changed when his army got annihilated by their own allies so he watched all his men die in a sea of fire, prompting him to become mei changsu to seek his justice and revenge. now, matthias and jingyan have vastly different backgrounds as compared to mcs/kb, but their sort of ox-like, grim-faced, loyal, quick-to-anger, only-one-weakness (nina/lin she) vibe is also stunningly similar.
yeah, sounds about right.
(also lin chen gives off slightly jesper vibes but i might just be hallucinating that?? and maybe nihuang for inej too!! my strong female fighting queens who have a thing for that traumatized revengeful main character to varying degrees. love them.)
anyways, i’m definitely not saying that they’re the exact same, because that would kinda ruin the whole point of reading different books?. but given that we can all agree that six of crows has, like, one of the best casts of characters to ever exist (do not try to argue with me on this), i’m just going to say that i like these characters just as much, if not even more. because if the perfection of the crew in 6oc relies somewhat on the found family dynamics, in this book, it’s just. pure characterization. and it’s executed so wonderfully i could die.
无论曾经是怎样一个天真无邪的朋友，从地狱归来的人都会变成恶鬼，不仅他认不出来，连我自己，都已经认不出我自己了。
No matter how innocent or carefree of a friend there once was will still become a demon after returning from hell. He’s not the only one who cannot recognize me, for even I can no longer recognize myself.
don’t even mention the prose to me. this is what i hate the most about translations and why i wish so badly to know every language in the world. it’s so hard to properly and thoroughly capture the essence of beautiful writing from english to chinese, and vice versa. there’s always something lost in translation (unintentional taylor swift all too well reference ?! i am a die hard red stan by the way if you wanted to know). but the way hai yan writes, incorporating so many chengyu in there with phrases and grammar akin to 20th century prose?? there are reasons why people read this book 10 times, because every single time you reread it, you get stabbed again and again by the way she describes mei changsu’s emotions and pain. i guess we like to torture ourselves.
but since this is a website for english readers, i probably wouldn’t recommend reading the english translation because i’ve tried translating it myself for fun (which was not fun, barely got past the first chapter) and i know just how difficult it would be to execute it well. like the following quote — no matter how i try to translate it, it always comes out somewhat wrong-sounding.
他天性不善权谋，这又有何妨，不是还有我吗？那些阴暗的，沾满血腥的事我来做好了，为了让恶贯满盈的人倒下，即使让我去朝无辜者的心上扎刀也没有关系，虽然我也会因此而难过，但当一个人的痛苦曾经超越过极限的时候，这种程度的难过就是可以忍耐的了。“
“So what if he’s not innately talented at tactics, at trickery, at politics? After all, I’m here. Let me do the dark, bloodstained things. To bring down those that are full of evil, it’ll be alright even if I must pierce the hearts of the innocent. I will be pained because of this, but when someone’s agony has exceeded a limit before, this level of pain can be tolerated.
instead i would recommend the drama, which lives up to the book. acting is much easier to understand across different languages and cultures when compared to words. usually i like book or drama, one or another, so i’m glad to say that this was probably (?) the second time in my life where i liked the drama/movie just as much as the book, the first being the harry potter series and films (i liked lord of the rings movies more than the books, so that doesn’t count, either). of course, the drama adaption did change some seemingly significant things, especially regarding nihuang/changsu’s relationship and the events toward the end, but those proved to be insignificant with regards to the entire theme and message of the book. i especially loved the cast they picked — all great actors/actresses, unlike so many chinese dramas nowadays that just cast popular, gorgeous idols with zero acting skills. yeah, mid 2010s were amazing. nirvana in fire has a whopping 9.4 on douban (chinese version of imdb), ranking it at no. 15 out of all dramas (where the ones above it are all older classics), which is just insane. so definitely go watch the drama with eng subs and throw yourself into mei changsu’s brilliant, scheming, broken mind.
i’ll end this ramble here — i was far too emotional and in a daze while writing this to call it a review. essentially, this book and its characters took my heart and shattered it and put it back together again. i will reread it again and again and i doubt i will ever get sick of it.
on that note. enjoy a quote that i think i actually translated fairly well, a quote that can tell you something about who mei changsu — or lin shu — was, and what the story was like…
梅长苏的心头涌起一股热潮，唇边也露出了一丝惨然的笑，不知道什么是军人，什么是战场么？也许在十二年前那场寒冬的雪中，心凉了，血也凉了，但那些烙入骨髓里的东西呢，是不是也凉了？
Mei Changsu’s heart surged with a wave of emotion, a faint, sorrowful smile appearing on his lips. Didn’t he know what being a soldier meant, what the battlefield was like? Perhaps in the snow of that bitter winter twelve years ago, his heart had turned cold, his blood had turned cold, but what about the things branded into his bones? Had they, too, turned cold?