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it might need a reread once the full official tl comes out but i gotta say. based on one read, guardian (novel-only) did not feel like it actually went anywhere. it's like the novel equivalent of those posts where you learn something and the next reblog immediately refutes it. neutral experience.
#guardian spoilers in tags#like multiple times a character introduces a tension-causing plot point and then as soon as the arc is resolved#and in some cases within like. one or two chapters#the problem just immediately resets to nothing?? no consequences at all??#at one point zhu hong 1. is made to resign immediately due to familial issues and 2. has a crush on zyl#and she immediately decides not to resign with no further familial strife/pushback AND accepts that zyl won't love her back with no issues#if there are no plot consequences then why did we introduce that. what was the point#or like. shen wei deliberately orchestrating every possible interaction he had with zyl#including the ones that provide the will they-wont they tension before and after they get together#in the service of them DYING TOGETHER#like it feels like the reveal was trying to be a gotcha moment but it just made their relationship feel more meaningless#and he doesn't even go through with it in the end!! i got a blissful thirty seconds of believing that#the reveal that every moment of narrative tension beforehand was worthless#was actually meaningful bc shen wei fucking died#but no! he comes back again! perfectly fine! BETTER in fact than beforehand!#and the only consequences there are zyl. pretending that he doesn't know him for a solid two minutes. thats it????#it just feels like a whole lot of nothing. honestly it feels a little like priest came up with the relationship dynamic first#and built the entire world around trying to make it make sense#which isn't necessarily a bad way to write a story i just wish it had been handled a bit better#also slightly unrelated but did i misread it?? bc what the hell was up with ghost face's parting line#i genuinely thought his death was setting up for another 20 chapters of plot where he comes back#bc hes like 'ohhh shen wei u wanted to defeat me w/o ever fighting me directly well guess what! u won't get away w that forever!#ill force u to fight me directly just u wait!'#AND THEN HE FUCKING DIES????? and its anticlimactic bc the main characters are barely involved?#like sir. come back and do this right.
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