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chasing-ephemera · 3 years

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Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect / 六爻 (BL) By Priest

Blurb (taken from NU)

A cultivation story about how a declining sect is restored by a narcissist, troublemaker, meanie, idiot, and wimpy kid.

Thoughts

Danmei novel lovers will no doubt have read, or at least heard of, one or more novels written by Priest. Priest has many popular danmei titles under her belt, many of which have been adapted to audio dramas, manhuas, and even live action. Her writing is smooth and her stories well thought out; the world and characters she paints have always been outstanding. Despite this, I’ve never managed to connect with or enjoy any of them. I’m not sure what it is, perhaps due to there being sombre undertones, or constant melancholic overtones, I find her stories ever so…depressing?

That is not to say that her work is bad, far from it! As mentioned above, her works are actually so well written they rank far above many other webnovels and definitely more so in the danmei genre. But while a popular novel or one that is well written definitely adds to read appeal, ultimately though, I read for enjoyment and the last thing I want to do is subject myself to torture by getting depressed in my spare time!

So yes, much to my surprise, picking up this title and finishing it was a bloomin’ miracle!

Story wise, it started off quite slow and took a bit of time to get into but once I did I found it difficult to put down, if only just to know how it all ends. A ton of (unfortunate) events occur which greatly affects our main characters and leads them through endless destruction, despair and desperation. It was both thrilling and upsetting to follow them along their journey. There were occasions when you really felt their hopelessness and helplessness and wanted to simply send them a hug. Listen, I don’t do too well with tragedy and angst aiiii….

The characters were both annoyingly cute yet frustratingly annoying, but they do grow on you. When we meet our main characters they are kids, then we watch them grow into teens. There was a time skip in between and when we get to meet our main characters again, they’re already adults. Sadly, I did not get the impression that they were older which unfortunately meant that as I was reading, I could only picture their teen selves.

In terms of romance, this was the area I felt was most lacking. I can appreciate danmei with some papapa (why not? lol) but I can also happily do without. For me, as long as whatever is written goes with the general flow of the story, and the development fits well, I really don’t mind what kind of romance it is. That’s why my negative points isn’t about the lack of bedroom action! When I refer to ‘romance’ here, I am talking about the love development between our main cp.

My issue is that the main cp’s romance didn’t really fit anywhere. I did not feel any kind of romantic feelings between the main cp, not even when they eventually ‘confessed’. As a reader we could perhaps tell that the ML liked the MC more than the MC liked the ML, but even that would be pushing it. If the relationship part was removed from the story it would have still functioned absolutely fine without it. Not that the romance was bad, it just wasn’t all that necessary either. It was most likely for plot convenience, but I felt it was more of what I refer to as the ‘danmei tick box’ whereby one must add some kind of reader service to satisfy the ‘danmei’ cateory.

I felt a bit bad for Han Yuan (4th bro) though. He started off as the character everyone loves to hate because he’s pretty dodgy and least likeable. That was until things happened and he became the character I enjoyed reading the most, but sadly, ended up with the short stick. I understand that not every character can live happily ever after, and people will get their just desserts, but it’s just a shame that it had to be him. Nevertheless, the ending was satisfactory because it was a happy ending of sorts.

Would I recommend this? Sure, it’s worth the read and length wise, would not cost you too much life span even if you didn’t enjoy it. Still, I don’t think I’ll be binge reading any of Priest’s novels any time soon.

P.s there’s a donghua adaptation coming out soon which is pretty cool. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference and whether my opinion of the novel will change.

#ce: rev #ce: 3 #Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect #六爻 #Priest #webnovel: c #cat: bl #cat: xianxia

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besanii · 4 years

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I've just started getting into period c-dramas and I see you reblogging about a few of them. And I was wondering if you had some recs? Thanks, I love SM and DH. it's okay if you don't answers this I know this may not be the purpose of your blog.

Hi nonny!

Period cdramas are my jam!!! I love period cdramas (and fantasy/wuxia/xianxia), although I used to watch primarily HK ones and only in recent years started to watch mainland ones. I’m going to assume you’ve watched The Untamed (陈情令) since you came to me and my blog is like...90% CQL lol, so I’ll leave that off this list XD

I’ll be providing YouTube links where I can, but please note that the subs on YouTube are not...the greatest. I don’t usually watch cdramas with subs, so I’m not sure which places to recommend. Sorry in advance!

Nirvana In Fire (琅琊榜)

I think everyone recs this at some point, but it’s just THAT GOOD. It’s set around the Northern and Southern Dynasties era and is primarily a political drama, but also has elements of wuxia (martial arts) mixed in. My favourite part of this drama was the intricate plot and also the wealth of interesting side characters that give the whole drama extra depth. There’s not much romance, but the individual characters and the plot is gripping enough without it.

(I tried to watch the sequel Nirvana in Fire II: The Wind Blows in Changlin (琅琊榜之风起长林), but I never really got into it? I should really try again, but at that point I was still really attached to the first one and wasn’t ready to let go lol. I’ve heard it’s good too!)

Legend of Ruyi (如懿传)

Okay I just finished watching this the other day and I really enjoyed it. It’s set in the Qing dynasty, during the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, and is about the life of Ulanara the Step Empress. I loved the strong female friendships in this (it’s rare in a Palace drama), and the complex dynamics between concubines of different ranks. The progression of Ruyi and Qianlong’s relationship feels very organic and (if you’re familiar with the history) is like a reverse-slowburn where you’re just really rooting for her to get out and when she finally stands up for herself it’s like \o/

(also cameo by everyone’s favourite shijie, Xuan Lu!)

The Story of Yanxi Palace ( 延禧攻略)

This is also set in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, but the story is completely different. It’s about the Imperial Noble Consort Weigiya and her rise from a palace maid to the Emperor’s favourite consort. It’s funnier and more light-hearted than Ruyi, but it still has its fair share of dramas. The main character is a ‘non-traditional’ woman in that she’s outspoken, brazen and can be quite cruel when dealing with her opponents, but she’s still fundamentally a good person so you really root for her throughout the show.

I personally wouldn’t recommend watching this and Ruyi together or back-to-back because you’ll probably get whiplash from how different the characters are portrayed and how differently the history is interpreted, but it really highlights how much we don’t know about the palace women throughout Chinese history.

The Story of Ming Lan (知否知否应是绿肥红瘦)

NOT a palace drama this time! But it still explores the very complex family dynamics in China between wives and concubines and their respective children, about marriage and social hierarchy and how an unfavoured, illegitimate daughter of a low-ranking imperial official rises to become the wife of a powerful Marquis in the Song Dynasty. I’m a massive fan of Zhao Liying, the main actress, and her husband on the show is her husband IRL and they are the CUTEST HECKING COUPLE I swear to god. Their chemistry is OFF THE CHARTS.

Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (三生三世十里桃花)

Xianxia (fantasy/martial arts) drama about an immortal Fox Spirit and her love story with the Crown Prince of the Nine Heavens that spans over three “lives”. There’s magic, sword fighting, questionable CGI and a lot of typical romance drama stuff like pining, misunderstandings, miscommunication and jealousy etc. I found this drama more compelling than its sequel Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book (三生三世枕上书) because the characters were better fleshed out (although a lot of the same characters appear in both), and it was easier to get emotionally invested in them. Also I find Bai Qian a lot less...annoying than Fengjiu (who is so cute, but oh my god can be quite irritating sometimes).

Love and Destiny (三生三世宸汐缘)

Apparently this is meant to be set in a similar universe to Peach Blossoms, but it’s quite different. This is the love story between a young bird spirit and the God of War, which also spans over three lives. I found it a lot darker than Peach Blossoms, and a lot more tragic, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected to when I first heard about it. I really liked the main character (Lingxi) here (she’s a good mix of Bai Qian and Fengjiu), and although I wasn’t quite sold on the development of her relationship with Jiu Chen at first, they won me over with some really heart-wrenching story lines.

(I don’t know if the playlist above is Eng subbed though, sorry!)

Other dramas that I liked are:

Empresses in the Palace (甄嬛传) - it got really messy in the end, but I really like Li Sun so I kept watching. It’s meant to be a prequel to Legend of Ruyi (above), set in the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (Qianlong Emperor’s father). Don’t watch it on Netflix though, they really messed it up by trying to condense the story and it doesn’t work.

Legend of Fuyao (扶摇) - xianxia drama about a slave girl who was cursed as a child and sets off to collect magical artifacts to lift it. I got up to about Episode 20 and then life got in the way, so I didn’t finish it, but I’ve been meaning to get back to it one of these days. It stars Yang Mi, who plays Bai Qian in Peach Blossoms.

Princess Agents (特工皇妃楚乔传) - I really liked this drama, but it gets really dark and touches on some darker themes like rape, murder and torture, and the story gets quite messy and it ends on a cliffhanger (there was talk of a sequel a couple of years ago, but nothing’s come of it). Stars Zhao Liying (from Story of Ming Lan), who is so badass in action roles.

Noble Aspirations: The Legend of Chusen (青云志) - another xianxia drama about an orphan boy Zhang Xiaofan who joins the Qingyun Sect after the massacre of his village and falls in love with the daughter of the leader of the Ghost King (an enemy of the “righteous” sects). It starts off quite slow, took me about 5 eps to really get into it, but I enjoyed it for the most part. There’s a season 2 that kind of ends on a cliffhanger, and there’s been rumours of season 3 for years but nothing has ever come of it so it was quite disappointing. Stars Zhao Liying (again, I’m a massive fan haha), and is based on the same novel as Xiao Zhan’s movie Jade Dynasty (which I haven’t watched yet).

#besanii watches cdrama #drama rec #obviously I don't stray much from my preferred genres #but here you are #hey nonny nonny #asks

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