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A review by beasanz2002
Qiang Jin Jiu: Ballad of Sword and Wine [将进酒] by Tang Jiu Qing
5.0
okay woah i spent nearly 3 months reading this story how am i supposed to write down the way this novel made me feel during that time.
This novel was great in every possible way: plot, characters, romance, worldbuilding, narrative, prose, they all amazed me. So let me rant about all these aspects one by one:
1) Its very difficult to explain the plot of this novel. Qiang Jin Jiu is a story about the unfairness of the world and defeating the corrupted system that kept suffocating the characters, about them paving their own path and taking their fate into their hands.
It's very politics centric and yeah, for a small brain like mine, they were kinda difficult to follow at times bc this novel demands 100% of your brain to read it (and i can only offer like a 50% of my brain at best). It's about war, political schemes, economy, and everything is described in such a realistic way that it's very noticeable all the research the author had to do to write this story. However, like i said, it's kinda difficult to keep track of the politics bc they are kinda complex sometimes. This is the only con that i find in this novel and it might be one of the reasons why this novel took me so long. It demands you to think through all the 2800 pages and sometimes my brain needed a break. BUT when you do understand what is going on, everything comes together in a way that blows your mind. AND THE BATTLES????? EPIC AF,, THEY GOT ME BITING MY FIST BC OF THE TENSION
(If you have read any other danmeis, i will say that i found the complexity of the politics here similar to Sha Po Lang's politics, but less complex than Thousand Autumns')
2) LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. OH HOW I LOVED THE CHARACTERS. The author did a brilliant job with the characterization of every single character in this novel. Everyone has their goals, their story, and believe me, THERE ARE A LOT OF CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY (i recommend ALWAYS having a character chart with you when you read this), and the fact that she still put so much effort into building every character as multidimensional fascinates me so much. And omg, one thing that fascinates me EVEN MORE is how the author didn't try to make some characters "good" and other characters "bad", they are ALL gray and i absolutely adore that. Everyone believes in their goals and they think that they are doing the right thing, even if it hurts others, even if they have to kill to reach that goal. MAN, there were even times when i pitied the "villains", that's how well written this is.
All this made me love the characters so much
This novel was great in every possible way: plot, characters, romance, worldbuilding, narrative, prose, they all amazed me. So let me rant about all these aspects one by one:
1) Its very difficult to explain the plot of this novel. Qiang Jin Jiu is a story about the unfairness of the world and defeating the corrupted system that kept suffocating the characters, about them paving their own path and taking their fate into their hands.
It's very politics centric and yeah, for a small brain like mine, they were kinda difficult to follow at times bc this novel demands 100% of your brain to read it (and i can only offer like a 50% of my brain at best). It's about war, political schemes, economy, and everything is described in such a realistic way that it's very noticeable all the research the author had to do to write this story. However, like i said, it's kinda difficult to keep track of the politics bc they are kinda complex sometimes. This is the only con that i find in this novel and it might be one of the reasons why this novel took me so long. It demands you to think through all the 2800 pages and sometimes my brain needed a break. BUT when you do understand what is going on, everything comes together in a way that blows your mind. AND THE BATTLES????? EPIC AF,, THEY GOT ME BITING MY FIST BC OF THE TENSION
(If you have read any other danmeis, i will say that i found the complexity of the politics here similar to Sha Po Lang's politics, but less complex than Thousand Autumns')
2) LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. OH HOW I LOVED THE CHARACTERS. The author did a brilliant job with the characterization of every single character in this novel. Everyone has their goals, their story, and believe me, THERE ARE A LOT OF CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY (i recommend ALWAYS having a character chart with you when you read this), and the fact that she still put so much effort into building every character as multidimensional fascinates me so much. And omg, one thing that fascinates me EVEN MORE is how the author didn't try to make some characters "good" and other characters "bad", they are ALL gray and i absolutely adore that. Everyone believes in their goals and they think that they are doing the right thing, even if it hurts others, even if they have to kill to reach that goal. MAN, there were even times when i pitied the "villains", that's how well written this is.
All this made me love the characters so much