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A review by rebeccazh
泾渭情殇 [Jīng Wèi Qíng Shāng] by 请君莫笑
I am sadly putting this on indefinite hold. This book is just too long. I've been reading this for forever and there's still so many chapters left and I am not a slow reader. Long review ahead, skip using the headers.
The plot:
First arc - The novel starts off when Qiyan was just born to the people of the plains. Due to political reasons, she is brought up as a boy. When she's five or so, the Wei kingdom (the Han Chinese), exterminated Qiyan's tribe. She escaped and was taken in by a masked woman, who teaches her everything about the Wei kingdom for the sake of vengeance. Qiyan is brought up and moulded into a tool of the masked woman, meant to take down the Wei kingdom because the masked woman also hates the Wei kingdom.
Qiyan, now able to pass off as a Han Chinese person, enters the capital as a scholar. Through a series of schemes, both her own and others', she ends up entering the palace, but as the husband of Princess Nangong Jingnu, most beloved daughter of the emperor.
Second arc: Qiyan puts on a performance as a studious and devoted husband to Nangong Jingnu. Nangong Jingnu falls in love with her and Qiyan also starts to develop feelings, even though she had originally faked everything. This arc mainly focuses on Qiyan's increasingly conflicted feelings - vengeance says that Nangong Jingnu is part of the group that caused the genocide of her people (she's part of the royal family) but her personal feelings say that she loves Nangong Jingnu and being with her is probably Qiyan's only shot at happiness.
Meanwhile, Nangong Jingnu undergoes quite an intense growth arc. She starts out very impulsive, innocent/naïve and good-hearted; she becomes more mature, thoughtful and thinks before she acts. She learns about political maneuvers and learns that what you see is not always all there is. There are also a bunch of political sideplots that show the kind of person Qiyan is - very intelligent, calculating and a little ruthless. Although not totally a bad person, she does a lot of amoral things.
Third arc: I stopped halfway through here. More players come into the field - the masked person, some people from the plains who survived, Nangong Jingnu (who is now on the path to becoming a female Emperor), other political heavyweights, etc. Qiyan is also beginning to want to protect Nangong Jingnu's life no matter what happens. A lot of moves by various players to get power; Qiyan and the masked person are trying to topple the Wei kingdom.
The good:
- huuuge improvement from [b:女将军和长公主 Female General and Eldest Princess|48752565|女将军和长公主 Female General and Eldest Princess|请君莫笑|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573480864l/48752565._SX50_.jpg|74124005]; the main couple is much more interesting and dynamic and you actually know what they are like together
- qiyan and nangong jingnu are very well-written characters with very compelling arcs. it is really a pity that the novel was so long and there was so much info-dumping. qiyan is an anti-heroine and i was actually quite uncomfortable with some of the things she did
- female characters are all awesome!!
The bad:
- way too much info-dumping. the pace is really, really slow. there were too many side-plots that were unmemorable and side characters who are basically like NPC characters in a game, where i barely remember them after they're gone. this book reads like a whole series of novels stuffed into one. it's 4000+ pages on my kindle.
The plot:
First arc - The novel starts off when Qiyan was just born to the people of the plains. Due to political reasons, she is brought up as a boy. When she's five or so, the Wei kingdom (the Han Chinese), exterminated Qiyan's tribe. She escaped and was taken in by a masked woman, who teaches her everything about the Wei kingdom for the sake of vengeance. Qiyan is brought up and moulded into a tool of the masked woman, meant to take down the Wei kingdom because the masked woman also hates the Wei kingdom.
Qiyan, now able to pass off as a Han Chinese person, enters the capital as a scholar. Through a series of schemes, both her own and others', she ends up entering the palace, but as the husband of Princess Nangong Jingnu, most beloved daughter of the emperor.
Second arc: Qiyan puts on a performance as a studious and devoted husband to Nangong Jingnu. Nangong Jingnu falls in love with her and Qiyan also starts to develop feelings, even though she had originally faked everything. This arc mainly focuses on Qiyan's increasingly conflicted feelings - vengeance says that Nangong Jingnu is part of the group that caused the genocide of her people (she's part of the royal family) but her personal feelings say that she loves Nangong Jingnu and being with her is probably Qiyan's only shot at happiness.
Meanwhile, Nangong Jingnu undergoes quite an intense growth arc. She starts out very impulsive, innocent/naïve and good-hearted; she becomes more mature, thoughtful and thinks before she acts. She learns about political maneuvers and learns that what you see is not always all there is. There are also a bunch of political sideplots that show the kind of person Qiyan is - very intelligent, calculating and a little ruthless. Although not totally a bad person, she does a lot of amoral things.
Third arc: I stopped halfway through here. More players come into the field - the masked person, some people from the plains who survived, Nangong Jingnu (who is now on the path to becoming a female Emperor), other political heavyweights, etc. Qiyan is also beginning to want to protect Nangong Jingnu's life no matter what happens. A lot of moves by various players to get power; Qiyan and the masked person are trying to topple the Wei kingdom.
The good:
- huuuge improvement from [b:女将军和长公主 Female General and Eldest Princess|48752565|女将军和长公主 Female General and Eldest Princess|请君莫笑|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573480864l/48752565._SX50_.jpg|74124005]; the main couple is much more interesting and dynamic and you actually know what they are like together
- qiyan and nangong jingnu are very well-written characters with very compelling arcs. it is really a pity that the novel was so long and there was so much info-dumping. qiyan is an anti-heroine and i was actually quite uncomfortable with some of the things she did
- female characters are all awesome!!
The bad:
- way too much info-dumping. the pace is really, really slow. there were too many side-plots that were unmemorable and side characters who are basically like NPC characters in a game, where i barely remember them after they're gone. this book reads like a whole series of novels stuffed into one. it's 4000+ pages on my kindle.