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A review by veronikav
Thousand Autumns [千秋] by 梦溪石
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
3.5
Finally I have finished this colossus of a novel! I had many ideas for a fun and cheeky start to this review amidst which I wanted to make a joke about how Shen Qiao literally gave up his asceticism for some good d... but honestly it's Yan Wushi that was simping and chasing after him desperately in the end.
Let's get the first awkwardness out of the way - I was not that into the relationship. Even though there were compelling moments I ended up not enjoying the direction the characters went to. Shen Qiao was way too timid when it came to their relationship for my liking and Yan Wushi was just... I feel like his character didn't get a proper redemption arc. Or let me phrase it this way - I do not care if characters are evil and malicious but I do like the relationships they're in to feel somewhat balanced. It's because of that that I can enjoy Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu's relationship in Tian Ye Ke where both of them are pretty despicable people but because they are both this way it feels deserved. I just feel like to deserve Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi should go through a more soul-crushing change. A good attempt at this is the post-ambush arc where we can see hints of Yan Wushi's younger self - however this is not further explored once that arc ends and we don't actually get to find out much about Yan Wushi's motivations in the end.
Thousand Autumns is a robust historical fantasy novel. The setting is something I cannot judge the accuracy of because my knowledge of Chinese history is absolutely lacking. However I can acknowledge that the philosophical aspects of this novel were much more accurate than you tend to see in wuxia - as far as Taoism is concerned the author had a good grasp of it and actually utilized it in the plot beyond just "magical fairy people can fly cause I said so". Same goes for the political aspects and world building - it is a very solid work in this aspect. Furthermore I have to praise the translation that the first 70 chapters have which felt effortless and natural to an extent that is hard to see in amateur translation.
The book is very plot heavy. So if you're only into it for the relationship you should maybe consider if you're willing to go through all of it. After all it takes really long for the relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao to actually start growing - even though they have their share of flirtatious/coupl-y moments before that, it's all just manipulation and neither party is serious about it.
Generally I think the quality of this book is very good and if not for censorship laws this would be a book that can do well as a published work too. However personally I wasn't charmed by the main couple and ended up a bit frustrated because of it.
Let's get the first awkwardness out of the way - I was not that into the relationship. Even though there were compelling moments I ended up not enjoying the direction the characters went to. Shen Qiao was way too timid when it came to their relationship for my liking and Yan Wushi was just... I feel like his character didn't get a proper redemption arc. Or let me phrase it this way - I do not care if characters are evil and malicious but I do like the relationships they're in to feel somewhat balanced. It's because of that that I can enjoy Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu's relationship in Tian Ye Ke where both of them are pretty despicable people but because they are both this way it feels deserved. I just feel like to deserve Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi should go through a more soul-crushing change. A good attempt at this is the post-ambush arc where we can see hints of Yan Wushi's younger self - however this is not further explored once that arc ends and we don't actually get to find out much about Yan Wushi's motivations in the end.
Thousand Autumns is a robust historical fantasy novel. The setting is something I cannot judge the accuracy of because my knowledge of Chinese history is absolutely lacking. However I can acknowledge that the philosophical aspects of this novel were much more accurate than you tend to see in wuxia - as far as Taoism is concerned the author had a good grasp of it and actually utilized it in the plot beyond just "magical fairy people can fly cause I said so". Same goes for the political aspects and world building - it is a very solid work in this aspect. Furthermore I have to praise the translation that the first 70 chapters have which felt effortless and natural to an extent that is hard to see in amateur translation.
The book is very plot heavy. So if you're only into it for the relationship you should maybe consider if you're willing to go through all of it. After all it takes really long for the relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao to actually start growing - even though they have their share of flirtatious/coupl-y moments before that, it's all just manipulation and neither party is serious about it.
Generally I think the quality of this book is very good and if not for censorship laws this would be a book that can do well as a published work too. However personally I wasn't charmed by the main couple and ended up a bit frustrated because of it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
All of the above appear as themes in the book, pertaining to the main couple there is toxic relationship, sexual harassment and one of the characters giving the other one away to an enemy knowing he's likely to be raped and tortured