#not sweepingly life-changingly good like ts

[grassbreads]

I got to the main couple's first kiss finally (all the way in book 5!!) and even though I'm not done w it yet I'm certain I can say that No Pollution, No Public Harm has earned a place among my favorite web novels. It's absolutely my second favorite priest novel so far after Tai Sui.

It's not perfect. The plots and conspiracies in books 3 and 4 dip a little into the same muddled over-complicated feeling that I got from parts of Mo Du, and there are definitely criticism to make about background ableism and fatphobia or about this novel's over-positivity toward the police. But all the same, man. Both of these main characters are so fucking good. Their relationship is so fucking good.

Book 5 so far has been so quiet and sincere. Every part of it is infused with this intense, bone-deep ache. This is a story about regret. It's about looking back on your life and seeing your legacy and your mistakes. It's about the regrets of the elders of the community and it's about the regrets of Gan Qing. And it's about how you find a way to keep living and hoping and finding the best path forward amid that regret. And it's so sincere and complex and gentle in how it handles these feelings. Gan Qing is one of the characters of all time.

And the romance. God, the romance. It takes a long time to build up into a real romance, but now that it finally has, good god it's been worth the wait.