This author is not without her flaws but man I still love reading her books. This is the very loose prequel of her other book, 皇权, and this book was adapted into the TV drama, Legend of Fuyao. I didn't watch it coz I didn't like the cast.
Plot: this is a sprawling and absolutely mammoth book. Meng Fuyao, the main character, is an archaeologist. During a dig, she was transported to another world. This world is like a xianxia world - there are cultivation masters, magical creatures/monsters, and the usual stuff you expect from a xianxia/wuxia story. The world is split into seven kingdoms, each with its own cast of characters. Some of the kingdoms are distinctly different from the others.
Fuyao retains her memories of her past life and she grew up aiming to collect an item from each of the kingdoms because that will allow her passage into the last kingdom, Qiong Cang, where it is said that the powerful, almost god-like ruler will grant a wish to anyone who passes his tests. Fuyao wants to use the wish to go home. She has a sick and ailing mother who depended on her, and she and her mother were very very close.
So the novel is split into seven books or seven arcs chronically her adventures in each kingdom. Basically what happens is: she goes to the kingdom, gets embroiled in brutal and bloodthirsty politics, dig up old and horrible secrets and unfairness, bring them to justice through a coup, and either becomes the Empress or helps someone become the Emperor. Usually, the guy becomes the Emperor is in love with her, so she ends up being the love interest of like, the Emperors of at least four kingdoms, lol. In the process, she learns more about her past, herself or the world. She is put through a crucible as she goes through the kingdoms. It was so emotionally satisfying to read and see her transform and grow.
This is largely a quest/adventure story with a heavy dose of romance. There are SO many love interests. It's almost a harem novel. Every man is extremely beautiful, skilled, powerful and falls in love with Fuyao lmao. So there are: Zhan Beiye (became Emperor of his kingdom) who is not-Han and Prince of his kingdom. He roams around and met and fell in love with Fuyao early on. Then there is Zong Yue (also became Emperor of his own kingdom). He's an extremely skilled doctor, but also a Prince, although he is in disguise most of the time because his family was murdered due to politics when he was younger. Then there's Yun Heng (who also becomes the Emperor of his kingdom), who is quite a nice guy - he's loyal and faithful.
And my favorite! Zhangsun Wuji! He's the Crown Prince of his kingdom and he's a bit of a genius. He accomplished a lot at a very young age and he's famed throughout the seven kingdoms. He's the dream love interest - he's pretty much perfect. He's also almost omniscient and he's very powerful. He has the best scenes with Fuyao imo. I skipped most of the scenes where Fuyao was with the other guys because I just don't really like harem novels, but his scenes were so good. They have a lot of chemistry together and it's obvious that they both really care for each other, trust each other and feel safe around each other quite early. Fuyao treats all the other men as good friends.
Fuyao herself is a character I love. She's very different from the main character of 皇权. She's VERY unconventional. And I laughed aloud at how much she curses, how aggressive and impatient and thick-headed she was! But she is also very passionate and emotional, and her heart is where the book shines. Her values are everything to her, and I loved watching how different she was from everyone around her. In a time when most people act out of self-preservation, she stuck by her morals and treated people kindly with no benefit. It inspires people. The most painful scenes were when she was forced to go against her instincts and her feelings - she couldn't protect or care for the people she loved, or she was forced to watch innocent people be bullied or killed.
What I didn't like: subtle thread of misogyny. Like her other novel, most women are really unlikeable. Cunning, crazy, despicable or unlikeable. The men are very very complex. Each of the male characters has compelling arcs, and even male villains are quite easy to sympathize with, even if their actions are awful. Not so for most of the women. They're just awful. I was so glad when they died. Such awful people.
Also, some of the arcs were a bit long and some of the side characters were boring to read about. It feels like she took her time developing and writing the first 2-3 arcs, so that they were a bit draggy, but then kind of ran out of steam near the end. The last few arcs were rushed with a lot of stuff happening in a very short span of pages.
Some things are super exaggerated. Like, four Emperors all happened to fall for Fuyao? Also, Zhangsun Wuji being pretty much perfect? Also, the fact that everything is related to Fuyao in some way is hard to believe - every kingdom's ruler had some kind of connection to her in some way! Also, the ending. That felt like exaggerated angst. I still liked it, but it was kind of far-fetched.
The good: again, I think this author is really good at writing very moving moments. Fuyao underwent transformational changes throughout the book. I loved watching her evolve. A lot of scenes stand out in my mind for how much they made me feel. A lot of the side characters had very poignant scenes that I still remember even after finishing the book.
For example, the author used all the love interests to make a very strong statement to about love being about prioritising the other person's happiness. I think she really explored an alternative way of loving - an antidote to the possessive, hierarchical and proprietary nature of hetero-patriarchal relationships. All her love interests sacrificed part of their own happiness for the sake of Fuyao's happiness. They were never threatened by her strength, independence or power, and they always put her wishes before any desire to own, control, restrict or possess. There was respect, acceptance and unconditional support, even when what she wanted went against what they wanted. Zhangsun Wuji in particular - the way he did his best to let her be her own person (sometimes even at his own expense) reminds me of that poem that talks about how sometimes love is about letting go: "for love's sake, I hurl you into the universe, and pray".
Such an emotional roller-coaster, reading this book.
My heart is spent and my brain is muddled from inhaling this roller-coaster ride day and night, so I will just give a highly superficial review. Keep in mind that my review may offend you.
I admit I haven't read a lot of books but I keep drawing parallels with A Song of Ice and Fire. I expected this book to be a fun and lighthearted novel but I end up getting my heart shred to bits and traumatised by the gore and tribulations the characters went through. So basically, this is akin the Chinese version of A Song of Ice and Fire but more poetic. Or perhaps my command of the Chinese language is so mediocre, I misread ignorance as poetic.
This 7-part series has its share of discontinuities (which irked me to no end) but for a novel of that length, I guess expecting perfect editing is something you can only hope for but not force (可遇不可求). Nevertheless, I love this series for its humour, twists and turns, moral dilemmas, and it's strong female protagonist. It's very empowering to read about a woman who is strong on the inside and out, and how the men around her not only respect her choices and support her, but also never forget that she is still vulnerable despite her overwhelming strength. I also appreciate that other than romance, there is kinship and friendship, though not given as much weight.
But, I really hated the ending of the 番外篇。I NEED A MORE COMPLETE ENDING,天下归元 !!!
If you are interested but can't read Mandarin, have no fear. A kindhearted saint has painstaking translated the entire book and you can read it here: https://trackest.wordpress.com/(Or Google 'Legend of Fuyao' if the link has expired). If you don't want to read the entire series, alternatively you can watch the drama adaptation. It's quite different from the novel but it has retain as much of the gist as possible in 66 1-hour episodes. The content may have changed, the characters may have been altered, but the chemistry between the two protagonists is something to revel in.
Một câu truyện ngôn tình tiêu biểu - cung đấu, một nữ nhiều trai thích, nữ nam gì xuất sắc tuốt luốt. Thích hợp để đọc trong lúc mình không cần nghĩ gì và để ve vuốt cho cái tôi thích đọc truyện miêu tả trai gái đẹp tài giỏi hết hồn.