Oh my goodness, What a true delight this book was to experience! As a lifelong lover of myth and legend, the xiānxiá (仙侠) genre always makes reading immensely enjoyable. Dānměi (耽美) however was a first for me, nevertheless I was surprised how much I enjoyed the style of book.
Now, before I dive into my thoughts here is the synopsis to give you a better grasp of what the story is about.
Synopsis: for book one
Born the crown prince of a prosperous kingdom, Xie Lian was renowned for his beauty, strength, and purity. His years of dedicated study and noble deeds allowed him to ascend to godhood. But those who rise may also fall, and fall he does—cast from the heavens and banished to the world below.
Eight hundred years after his mortal life, Xie Lian has ascended to godhood for the third time, angering most of the gods in the process. To repay his debts, he is sent to the Mortal Realm to hunt down violent ghosts and troublemaking spirits who prey on the living. Along his travels, he meets the fascinating and brilliant San Lang, a young man with whom he feels an instant connection. Yet San Lang is clearly more than he appears… What mysteries lie behind that carefree smile?
Now that’s out of the way here are my thoughts on the first two volumes of 天官赐福 !
Starting things off I wanted to say that this book has been circulating in the periphery of books I wish to read/am curious about, for the better part of three years…
Why I waited so long to start this series I do not know, setting that aside I thoroughly enjoyed the first two volumes.
The Characters:
Okay this cast was an absolute blast to read, funny, heart warming, and oh so much fun.
In particular my favourite form of comic relief was Nan Feng and Fu Yao, watching them bite each others heads off: Very entertaining.
This was also helpful for keeping the reading process light, especially since the first book was very heavily focused on establishing Xie Lian’s place in the story, making reading feel a little slow. (A lot of things are mentioned then set aside character wise only to then get more attention in book two.) Then towards the end, they picked up the pace piquing your curiosity enough to begin considering whether or not to follow him across the eight full volumes.
Then you go into book two and dive more into character development and history, which pays off quite nicely.
If by the end of book one you’re not feeling like characters are going anywhere, hold on and continue reading for other aspects of the story, it is on its way.
The Plot+Writing:
As to the plot, I found it a little strange in so much as I didn’t entirely know where things were going as of most of the way through book two. I hope and believe that books 3-4 will give us the last bit of character development and then lead into the final goal being revealed. So far things seem as though book one was focused on giving us insight into Xie Lian’s past, introducing San Lang, setting up the intrigue about the past 800 years, and getting you invested as to how they could already be connected somehow which was mentioned heavily in the end of book one.
In terms of writing, it has nothing to complain about though it’s not particularly complex. Especially being an AI translation that appeared to have been reviewed by actual people for errors, not surprising in the slightest. That is not to say the book is bad it just meant you occasionally come across strange things such as ‘“…”’ or ‘“???”’ Which got the point across just fine but seems slightly lackadaisical. Other than that I had no problems with the writing besides being the kind of person that deeply wishes I could read all translations in their original, that however is a me problem and not a book problem.
The Romance:
The romance was adorable, to the point of repeatedly reducing me to unintelligible fits of blushing and giggles.
(Thought not a terribly difficult feat I still love it when a book does this.)
I adored the dynamic between Hau Cheng and Xie Lian!
It was such an honest and loving rapport. You might think it would be a relationship full of deception and duplicity based purely on who Hau Cheng was presented as and perceived to be, but no. While I assume the story will dive more into the relationship in later instalments, their encouragement and support of each other was incredibly wholesome from the start.
Hau Cheng’s sincere shutting down of Xie Lian’s blaming himself was probably one of the things that hit the hardest for me, as I also tend to struggle with blowing things (and my part in them) way out of proportion. So I welcome seeing love interests that will both tell you it’s not your fault and stand by your side in battle as your equal.
Overall I thought theirs was a very healthy relationship, and I need to see more like it.
But by far my favourite thing was the “San Lang” footnote in book one. Mainly the fact that Hau Cheng purposeful gave Xie Lian a name that can be interpreted as “Sweetheart” and Insists that Xie Lian continue to call him by that name. It made my little heart so happy.
Representation:
As this series was classified as a dānměi (耽美) or BL, the main romance was obviously going to be gay but I will also state my approval for how the world seemed fine with the whole thing and just let it be as if nothing’s amiss.
I likewise enjoyed the introduction of gender fluidity through the mortal misinterpretation of legends, causing people like Ling Wen and Shi Qingxuan to swap back and forth between male and female forms, or be portrayed as the opposite in temples. Shi Qingxuan in particular just tickled me character wise, especially in terms of their gender changing shenanigans.
Thats all for the time being, hope you enjoyed the review!
-Sam
