Ok, so there's a lot wrong with the plot of this book, I've seen other stories treat psychology and hypnotism like witchcraft before but this one is just ridiculous. Also, I'm really not a fan of the beta couple, I didn't really like them in the drama and I actually like them even less in the novel. HOWEVER the overall story is so entertaining and most importantly, the main couple is so freaking adorable that I'm willing to almost overlook everything else. I rarely ever say "couple goals" but these two are truly couple goals.
Look at how precious they are 🥰
Also, due to the lack of translations I had to read 450 pages of this book in Chinese and my Chinese is terrible. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is. I don't know if I can stomach reading another volume of this series in Chinese (let alone another 4 volumes) so I can only hope that some kind soul will continue the translation of this series at some point because I really need to know what happens next!
Uh so I’m the dumbass who thought that case two was volume two lmao but okay fine here’s my review, rewritten, with more thoughts.
Originally I had given case #1 a 4.25 🌟
But I will amend that, having read cases 2-3.
So I have a couple of problems with the novel
1.) Medyo magulo, minsan di ko maintindihan yung plot pero sige na, medj interesting naman
2.) SI BAI JINGTAN. The entirety of that human being he’s a person who molests other people and that should have been addressed ano ba?! This wasn’t handled properly and there’s no excuse to what he did to Gongsun talaga that’s beyond moral justification!
3.) I guess where the plot was going wasn’t really for me haha and like it’s very interesting but at this point, I think it was a bit too confusing for my taste.
So, all in all-
3.75 stars 🌟 rounded down to 3 stars.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to people but it wasn’t that bad, I just didn’t super love it:)
This series is a lot of fun! You do, however, have to go in understanding that the psychology is all handwavium. Also, the last two of the five cases have apparently only been machine translated, or else very poorly translated, so watching the drama first will give you a much better idea what's going on. The first two cases are translated really well, though. The interactions between the main pairings (except Bai Jintang and Gongsun; Bai Jintang should be stuffed in the doghouse and stay there for longer) are all pretty comedic, and I love watching them interact. The slapstick elements are absolutely hilarious. Zhao Jue is also both bonkers and fascinating, and I really want to know what happened in the past with him. Bai Chi is adorable, and everyone agrees, including miscellaneous bad guys. Also, there is a lion.
I watched the show first, so I was prepared for cases with handwave-y psychology, and also some not too pleasant characters/dynamics. You might wonder why I stuck it out. Well, the two leads, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, make it worth it. They're so cute together and well-suited to each other!
I'm also on board with the secondary ship of Bai Chi and Zhao Zhen, but as with the show, Bai Jintang and Gongsun are... problematic. Content warning for rape.
This is an easy read, mostly fun shenanigans with a very wholesome and endearing main couple. If you're thinking of checking it out, do be careful though.
Pierwszy tom skończony i... mimo wszystko to jest coś innego niż drama. Oczywiście, drama wycięła, zmieniła wszystkie sceny, które zawierały w sobie najdrobniejsze elementy BL, ale z drugiej strony to dobrze? Nie chcę spoilerować nikomu, ale bohaterowie na tym zyskali. Nie dość drama skupiła się na akcji, na relacjach i na budowaniu czegokolwiek między postaciami, w przeciwieństwie do nowelki, która w relacji niektórych postaci zeszła tylko do poziomu... seksu? I to takiego średniego. Btw. uwielbiam Bai Chi i tego magika. Mega słodka para xd
No recuerdo bien el día en que lo empecé, pero sí que lo retomé en el 2024 y ya para el 2025 estoy con el segundo volumen.
Una buena historia, quizás con escenas que prefiero pensar que no pasaron, pero el resto del libro estuvo muy bueno, escenas dramáticas, comedy relief que daba risa, los shippeos que uno mejor que el otro. Me da mucha fe a que el próx. volumen va a ser igual de bueno.
Obvio, los personajes bien trabajados, y la trama intrigante, donde ibas hilando cada caso poco a poco, recordando la trama principal que también se iba develando.
2,5 sao làm tròn 3/ update kệ Nhĩ Nhã là bà chúa của đầu voi đuôi chuột, của làm quá và tả siêu siêu không thực bất cứ cái gì liên quan tới ngoại hình, EQ, IQ vân vân và mây mây, mà bộ này là đỉnh của ba vụ đó ha. Đọc đâu tầm năm 2011 thì phải, giờ nghĩ lại ấn tượng của mình chỉ là “viết mở đầu hoành tráng vô lúc kết không cái gì dính nhau hết”, bye
I tried watching a few episodes of the drama adaptation. I thought the production quality wasn't that great but the case was interesting, so I looked for the novel.
I don't know why but something just feels off about this and I couldn't even go past the first few pages.
I like reading these types of novels because of the way they solve crimes and how things take an unexpected turn, but with this one I got bored enough to not continue reading.
---------- Story 2 ---------- I am still loving the main couple and the story line, but I cannot get on board with what happened with my side ship, which is why I have lowered my rating for this volume. One scene in particular soured the side couple for me. It's very disappointing, since I was completely behind them up until now. :-(
Thankfully, the translator was kind enough to section out explicit content for those who may not be interested in reading it. I'm all for explicit content, but for chapter 10 of this case (chapter 38 of the series) I would include a potential trigger warning for the explicit section and have recommended friends that they skip it.