A review by mimosaeyes
Silent Reading 默读 by priest

4.0

I started out very invested in the cases and only sort of into the main couple. By the end, it was the reverse - both because I just want good things for Fei Du (and Luo Wenzhou can provide them, heh), and because it got difficult to keep track of the various minor characters and what each of them was up to over time. Roughly the entire second half of book five had me going, "Haha, what? Sure," whenever a character analysed clues dropped dozens of chapters ago and there was some reveal. It should have been a glorious moment of everything tying together, but alas: I am dumb.

The biggest thematic concerns of this novel are criminality, trauma, and revenge. It actually gets pretty philosophical about human nature at times. I like the idea of Fei Du's little band of people with criminal pasts who are loyal to him because he's promised to help them get some form of justice. Fei Du starts out as such a lonely and cold character, and he ends up surrounded by so many friends. That's catnip to me.

Read it in Chinese, reviewing in English - you know the drill by now. And at further risk of sounding like a broken record about danmei, I like the range Priest displays here. The story is by turns gritty and dark, or warm and funny, or that particular brand of feral romance that her leads always have to some degree. I also love Luo Yiguo

and the new feline addition to the family, Fei Qian

with all my heart. Bastard cat representation <3