#we make fun of fainting Wei Wuxian but honestly

[hunxi-guilai]

WWX IS SO RUDE THO???? Like his refusal to be formal with Wangji? But tbh what took the cake for me for the rudest, most dickiest (is that a word) moment was when he went to the Jiang Ancestral Hall? Like you- you left the sect, you aren’t a member of the family, you’re bringing some random dude in- like maybe I’ve been overreacting over the whole thing, but I think Jiang Cheng wasn’t at fault for reacting the way he did

you’re absolutely right, anon, and I hate to admit it because I (like everyone else who’s watched this show) love Wei Wuxian dearly

perhaps rude is a strong way of putting it; I would say he’s actively discourteous in his younger years, and when it’s him using Lan Wangji’s personal name without being given permission to do so, a charitable reading would be to say that Wei Wuxian’s showing his disregard for petty social courtesies that would ordinarily keep them at a safe and polite distance from each other, but also he like... doesn’t really respect Lan Wangji’s personal space. He’s very well-intentioned, and nothing terrible comes of it, but teenage Wei Wuxian does not understand consent.

and likewise with the Jiang Ancestral Hall -- it’s hard, because we as viewers know that Wei Wuxian still cares for the Jiang Clan like his own family, that he’s bringing Lan Wangji here with only the gravest and most solemn of purposes, but also like... dude. That’s an extremely private and hallowed space; it’s not somewhere that random visitors should just be walking into. Jiang Cheng barely let them into the reception hall; it probably would’ve been savvier to, y’know, not push your luck.

At the same time, you can see how much this moment means to Wei Wuxian, to be able to pay his respects to the people who gave him a chance and a home. Jiang Cheng is excessively aggressive in driving them out; each sentence is calculated to insult and hurt Wei Wuxian as much as possible, so much so that Wei Wuxian can’t even respond to defend himself, so much so that Lan Wangji steps in.

Everything about that conversation is pure, concentrated pain -- it’s Jiang Cheng, lashing out after years and years of mixed guilt and bitterness; it’s Wei Wuxian, being confronted with the consequences of his actions; it’s Lan Wangji, realizing how much of his own family Wei Wuxian sacrificed, both on purpose and accidentally. No one is purely innocent in this scene, and no one is purely at fault; it’s the accumulation of entire lifetimes of debts unpaid and resentments accumulated and harsh words unsaid, all coming out in one ugly, vicious fight.

[yuziyuanapologist]

Please tell us what kind of cat energies other cql characters have.

hello anon! so you might just be making fun of me with this ask bc I know i do nothing but talk about cats however I am taking it seriously so if that is not what you wanted please look away now!

to recap: lan xichen = orange boy cat

also disclaimer - we do not do cat breeds here. no sir. we also discourage you from reading too much into cat stereotypes. all cats are individuals it is really not much to do with their colour or gender. also we do not know why we are referring to myself as we, but that's just how it is now. blah blah blah.

as for the rest :

lan wangji = big tortoiseshell energy. I know that they are only female but I think honestly that is just very gender of him. so he's like one of those really puddingy tortoiseshell cats, will whack u if u pet him wrong, will curl up on ur lap and be the warmest ball of fluff if u Behave

wei wuxian = not to be predictable but he's a black cat. one of those that has silly time every night at 3am. sometimes he disappears for three days at a time but he always shows back up when u least expect it, covered in mud and sometimes with his ear split

jiang cheng = let's be honest he's probably grey. like a really sleek grey cat that u would see on a cat food advert. despite his appearance he will hiss and growl at Anything That Moves. he has his people that are His People and the rest should Stay Away Or Get Scratched.

jiang yanli = old lady tabby cat. she probably has no teeth but is the gentlest little cat you ever have met. instantly your friend, and will chirp at you because You Are Her Kitten Now

nie huaisang = okay. so. one time I met this cat that was like. super pretty, white cat, blue eyes, lil bit fluffy, you know the type. shoulda been called duchess except i think her name was sapphire but yknow. everyone who met her was like oh she's the most gorgeous cat I've ever met! and they were WRONG. she was purely evil, literally a demon. her meow sounded like metal screeching. she did not know what a litter tray was. she was plotting my death. and no, she never even scratched me. but I bet that when I hit my head on the door on the way out that was her fault. so that's nie huaisang.

nie mingjue = big Big street cat with the cheekies, been straying for years, probably doesn't have a full tail or his ears intact, his nose is all scritchy scratchy. HOWEVER. once you gain his trust it is over for you hoes. he will literally fall over onto you and rest his entire weight on you for affection. a good boy.

jin guangyao = I don't know but he has really big ears. probably a silver tabby. always squinting at u, and yes that means cat friendship. but u have a sneaking suspicion he has gone beyond cat body language

jin zixuan = fluffy tabby cat. insists that you brush him three times a day at precise hours. probably has a fainting couch and glass dishes like that tumblr cat, you know the one.

wen qing = again I'm not sure about colour, maybe another grey cat. she doesn't care about you and she wants you to know it. however, if you are sad, she will mysteriously appear in the same room as you. but it was an accident.

wen ning = a kitten. very stupid and will fall over himself trying to get attention. like when u scratch at the base of his tail he will stand up so high that he goes head over heels.

xue yang = like a version of Wei wuxian except that he's Actually Feral and his whiskers are all missing and he's the scruffiest cat you ever did see. but he Wants that tuna and you Will give it to him.

xiao xingchen = another orange boy cat, but a very fluffy one with white paws and chest. knows he is pretty and would like belly rubs about it please and thank u

song lan = i am running out of cats at this point. probably another grey one though. no touchy.

okay that is a good place to stop I am so sorry

[sizhuyu]

.｡.:*☆Love at First Sight ( Lecture )☆*: .｡.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆ first part here ☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

+ Wangxian and Xicheng and Lan Jingyi and Sizhui

Wei Wuxian gathered some information for Zizhen and with Jingyi, Sizhui, and himself they both despised a plan to make Zizhen ask you out. He also got some of your favorite flowers! "Soo.. How was the lecture?" Jingyi asks Zizhen knowing he did not listen "Pretty- uh I mean.. Uhm.. Interesting??.." He was clearly not listening at all! "Hello! Zizhen right?" You came up behind them smiling "I noticed you looked pretty tired lately so you can rest tomorrow! It has only been 3 days. I hope after you rest you can listen to the lecture again but you have to stay after class to recap the previous lessons." He nods and you notice a cherry red blush on his cheeks while looking down. "Are you okay do you have a fever?" You feel his forehead is not quite warm and took your hand away "Hm.. Do you have someone you like? I know this is quite sudden but honestly, my friend had the same experience so I know you are going through the same thing." He turns red and faints "Z-Zizhen?!" You and Jingyi scream luckly he catches Zizhen "I guess he does need rest afterall huh? You are dismissed."

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

"Lady Y/N!" Wei Wuxian calls out to you while running. You laugh on how childish he is in your opinion "Haha! No running in Cloud recesses Wei Wuxian!" He laughs and stops in his tracks and asks you a series of questions. "Are you free on Saturday?" He asks you and you nod and ask why. "Well my friend wants to meet you somewhere in Gusu's forest.. I will escort you there!" hmm.. He seems to have no ill intentions.. I guess I will see what his friend wants with me. "Sure! I will wait outside the gate by 5:30 pm!" And you left and realized what you have said when you went back to your room "Oh. My. Gosh.. What do I wear?! It's only Thursday!!"

You begin to panic and search for a dress and accessories in a "orderly" manner. Hmm.. I have no idea what the his friend is like! I should've asked! I'm just going to wear this.. You search for a light blue dress with clouds and say "This is fine!" And arranged your closet back to it proper state and slept in your bed.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

It was time for your date after the day of your lectures.. You see Wei Wuxian in a distance "Lady Y/N! Over here!!" He shouts at you and waves his hand "Hanguang-jun." You greet him "Lady Y/N." He greets you back as you 3 went to the forest to where the meeting spot was.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

"ZIZHEN SHE'S GONNA BE GOING HERE IN ANY MINUTE!!!" Jingyi shouts at him while grabing his shoulders "Jingyi.." Sizhui tries to stop the conflict "B-But!.. What if she doesn't like it?!" Jingyi breathes deeply and recites in his head the 4,019 rules "Zizhen Lady Y/N will like it, afterall you asked half of the female cultivators about her-" Sizhui gets cut off by Wei Wuxian's signal that you are here. "Hide!" Jingyi whispers to Sizhui as they hid in the trees. "M-M-Miss Y-Y/N!" Zizhen stutters to even say your name! How cute! "We Will take our 'leave' now! Have fun on your date Y/N!" You were in shock he never said date! "U-uh.. Soo.. You did all this?" You ask him amazed by the set up with fireflies and food with new chapters that haven't been released of the book you were reading. Wow did he ask the whole cultivational world for this? You ask yourself "I-I did.. With help of course!" You guys began talking and eating your food and found out you both have a lot in common "Really? Sect leader Lan said that to Sect leader Jiang?!" Zizhen tries to hold his laughter "Haha! YES! He said! 'I-I like you Z-Zewu-jun!!" You imitate Jiang Cheng ( YES LET US INCLUDE XICHENG ) You both laugh and continue talking about some other things "Okay we have to go back or Lan Qiren will make us copy the rules 13 times! I will help you pack up-" You begin to pick up the basket of food "N-no need miss Y/N!" You still laugh on how respectful this kid is "No need for formalities when we are alone Zizhen. Call me Y/N!" You reply as you clean up with him and he gives you the books he bought for you as you both bid farewells when you both reach the gate "Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and Sect leaders Lan and Jiang. Please come out I know you all are there watching me and Zizhen." You turn around as your suspicion was correct "Aww~ you caught us." Wei Wuxian sighs "For how long did you start to notice?" Sizhui asks you "When me and Zizhen were near the gate I heard extra footsteps and I recognize 5 of them but there was another but I assumed it was Sect leader Jiang visiting Zewu-jun again so I was right." You smiled and said goodbye

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

"Well she was super observant." Jiang Cheng said to Zizhen "Yea he is head over heels for her, he got himself a nice lady~" Wei Wuxian comments to Zizhen as he and Lan Wangji began to walk back to the Jingshi. "I will go with Sect leader Lan now, bye." as they both walk to the Hanshi.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

When you both went back you realize your feelings to eachother

+ bonus :

Lan Xichen : "You looked like you like young master Ouyang, am I right Y/N?"

Y/N : "I-I.. Uhm.. I.. Yes.."

Zizhen who is listening outside : * faints due to happiness *

[midnightluck]

Masquerade! What does Lan Sizhui dress as? Does he dance with anyone? OR MAYBE some cute wangxian family fluff + Sizhui's first masquerade ??

Lan Xichen looks out at the party and smiles. It’s little and painful, but this was a good idea. It’s good to start small, and there’s something almost healing about seeing the joy in the crowd.

“You did well with this,” he tells his brother, who is wearing his formal daily wear. The only concession he’s made to the idea of a masquerade is the pair of rabbit ears perched on his head. They’re made of paper and they twitch adorably; Xichen senses a certain troublemaker’s hand in this. He rather suspects his brother’s only contribution to his own costume was the inability to say “no.”

“Hm,” Wangji says.

“Yes, I know it wasn’t your idea, but you planned it. And you did well.” He gestures out at the people and the swirl of colors that are, for once, not representative of standing or sect. Everyone came as they aren’t, and there’s a lot of common ground being found. “Isn’t this more fun than a discussion conference?”

Wanji tilts the top of his head fractionally to the left and his right rabbit ear twitches twice. It’s adorable and Xichen feels his smile grow. It doesn’t even hurt this time.

“Lan Zhan!” a familiar voice calls over the chaos and he turns in enough time to focus on two shapes cutting through the crowd. “Oh! And Lan Xichen! Hello!”

Xichen bows marginally, more of a deep nod–family to family. “Wuxian,” he greets. “And Sizhui. Good evening.”

Then he blinks and looks back and forth between Sizhui and Wanji. His heart speeds up and his smile grows and he has to raise a hand and pretend to cough. “Ah, A-Yuan, that’s...”

Sizhui is dressed in robes that exactly match Hanguang-jun’s. Xichen’s eyes catch on the left hem and he knows that these are, in fact, Wangji’s robes Sizhui is wearing. He’s also managed to straighten his hair and is wearing a mask across the top half of his face that includes the same paper bunny ears. “That’s adorable,” he says, and barely manages to stop himself from asking if Sizhui is dressed like a bunny or like his dad.

“Isn’t he cute!” Wuxian says, twirling on the spot to tug at Sizhui’s arm. “He’s like a mini-Hanguang-jun! So handsome, like his daddy!”

“Yes,” Xichen agrees. “And you?”

Wuxian’s shoulders sink and he leans forward to affect a truly evocative sulk. “You can’t tell?”

With the amount of makeup Wuxian is wearing, Xichen is identifying him more by his robes, honestly. They’re his nicest daily robes, outer black, inner red, and his hair seems to bounce differently in his high ponytail but Xichen can not honestly connect that to any kind of costume.

“I’m a vengeful spirit!” Wuxian announces, bouncing on his toes. He reaches for the place on his belt where he keeps Chenquing and seems surprised when his hand hits fabric. Then he grins anyway and says, “I was summoned back from death to haunt everyone! Woooooo~! Aren’t I fearsome? Hey, hey, Lan Zhan, you think I’m fearsome, don’t you?”

He skips forward to tug on Wangji’s sleeve and grins from up close. Wangji’s hands settle on Wuxian’s waist, and then Wangji frowns.

His head turns between Wuxian and Sizhui then back again, and then he closes his eyes for a half-second longer than a blink. “Mm,” he says, sounding less than pleased.

Wuxian turns and Wangji lets him go, dropping his hands to his sides. Xichen frowns, but then Wuxian punches the air and says, “Thirty seconds! I win!”

“That’s cheating!” Sizhui protests, only it isn’t his voice. It’s different, deeper and older and rounder on the accents.

“Is not,” Wuxian says, a little bit sing-song and a whole lot mischievous. “The rule was not to make it obvious, and I didn’t! Uncle didn’t notice!”

The not-Sizhui takes off his mask and sighs. “It was cheating and you know it!”

“I didn’t notice what?” Xichen wonders, then blinks at the uncle, puts that together with the way Wangji let go and the makeup and the mask and the hair, of course, and he looks at the boy in white and rabbit ears and says, carefully, “...Wuxian?”

“I am very convincing at being you!” Not-Wuxian says, and that–it must be Sizhui. It must, mustn’t it? “Right, uncle?”

“I–” Xichen says, staring at him, a little faint. “Yes.”

“So I win!”

Wuxian-as-Sizhui sighs, a production involving his whole body, and says, “Fine, you win. Get gone, you little brat. You’ve got one week before we come after you.”

Sizhui-as-Wuxian jumps and punches the air in a move that is very much not out of place on Wei Wuxian. “Thanks, dad! Have fun!” And he’s gone a half-second later, yelling, “Jingyi! Jin Ling!”

Wuxian-as-Sizhui smiles wryly and steps up to stand next to them. “How could you tell?” he asks his husband.

Xichen cuts his eyes away so he doesn’t have to see whatever his brother does to explain what Xichen’s already figured out–there’s no way Lan Wangji’s hands don’t know what Wei Wuxian’s hips feel like.

“Ah, Lan Zhan,” Wuxian sighs, swaying into him. Xichen looks back to see that their white robes blend and their ears are almost touching. “You’re so sweet!”

Then Wangji does the unthinkable–he leans away from Wuxian. Wuxian stares at him in shock. “What,” he says, and steps forward. 

Wangji steps back.

“What!” Wuxian repeats, more shrilly, and Xichen clears his throat and moves to intercept before they start drawing attention. 

“Ah, Wuxian,” he says. “Perhaps–well, maybe...perhaps you should–” he gestures at Wuxian’s everything, “perhaps...change?”

Wuxian’s eyes laser-focus onto Xichen. “It was just a joke,” he says blankly. “Just for fun. Is he mad, does he hate me, what do I–”

“Ah,” Xichen says, and even knowing it’s Wuxian it still triggers his Uncle instinct. He puts his hands on Wuxian’s shoulders to keep him place. “Maybe change? And come back to kiss your husband when you don’t look…ah. Quite so much like your child?”

Wuxian’s eyes go from empty to horrified in a second flat. He looks at Xichen, then at Wangji, who’s looking pointedly away, and then back down at his own robes. “Oh,” he says. “I don’t think I thought this through.”

And, for the first time since his world crumbled, Lan Huan finds himself laughing.

[satonthelotuspier]

❄️ Untamed Winter Fest 2019 ❄️

Day 19 - Snow - 1.3k

Follow on from my Day 7 - Relax Prompt

Once he found the footprints in the crisp white snow it was of course very easy to track the creature down. “Lan Zhan, its trail leads over here” Wei Wuxian called and his voice carried clearly on the chill air of the winters night. They tracked a yaoguai, specifically a malevolent fox spirit, who had been causing havoc in a small hunting village who had called for aid from the Lan Sect.

“Mn” he heard the soft sound of his husband’s acknowledgement, so he took off after the ghost, unwilling to lose it’s trail to the still falling snow. If they could ensure they dealt with the spirit tonight he could make Lan Zhan take a day away from Cloud Recesses tomorrow to relax and have some fun.

Not that Lan Zhan necessarily considered fun to be found in the same things as Wei Wuxian did.

Except for that. Which of course offered possibilities of it’s own.

More often than not “fun” was Lan Zhan following Wei Wuxian around like an overgrown nanny goat while Wei Wuxian larked and frisked like a newborn lamb in a meadow.

The only time he’d ever seen Lan Zhan completely let go and act like anything but a stuffy cultivator at his own instigation was when drunk. But as he never remembered anything that happened while drunk Wei Wuxian was under strict instruction from his husband that he wasn’t to encourage him to touch alcohol.

And as boring as that was he had promised.

He wondered what Lan Zhan would say if he ever revealed the silly, childish things he’d done whilst drunk back when they’d tracked Chifeng-zun’s severed body parts through the various sect lands.

Wei Wuxian would have laughed out loud and fox spirit be damned at the memory if he hadn’t then remembered how uncommonly dense he’d been about Lan Wangji’s completely obvious feelings, and really not even he had the face to laugh then.

His lack of concentration was to blame for what followed.

The fox spirit had turned back on his own tracks and waited behind a tree for Wei Wuxian to catch up. As Wei Wuxian drew level with it it leaped out and charged at him.

Luckily his reactions where very quick and he blocked the first swipe of claws with Chenqing. An unfortunate slip in the snow offered the yaoguai a second opening and its claws raked across Wei Wuxian’s chest in a glancing blow.

He dropped to the snow as Bichen flew in fast as an arrow and pierced the ghoul right through the chest before returning to Lan Zhan’s hand as he rushed forward and swung in a beheading arc.

Foe dealt with he rushed to Wei Wuxian’s side with a panicked call of “Wei Ying”

He groaned melodramatically, “Ahh Lan Zhan, it hurts so much, am I going to die?”

Lan Zhan was close enough now to see the wound wasn’t particularly deep and certainly not fatal. He knelt in the snow next to Wei Wuxian and pulled open the front of his robes, to assess the damage.

“Mn” he agreed and Wei Wuxian, who had been half caught between still pretending to be on the verge of death and wanting to tease his husband for trying to strip him in the snow, froze as he eventually realised Lan Zhan was teasing him.

All acting was forgotten and he launched himself at the other, arms around his neck as he pressed kisses against every surface of his face that came into reach of his lips in glee, “Oh Lan Zhan, would you mourn me? Or marry again?”

A bittersweet half-smile crossed Lan Zhan’s face, “Was thirteen years not enough for Wei Ying?”

Wei Wuxian didn’t have the heart to continue in the light of Lan Zhan’s words, “Fine, fine, I’d say fifty years but we both know I’m never going to leave you again Lan Zhan. You’re stuck with me. Forever”

“Mn” Lan Zhan’s eyes were full of love as he looked at the man plastering himself to his chest.

“Oh Lan Zhan, I’ve gotten blood all over your lovely white robes again” Wei Wuxian said in despair as he pulled away; he was indeed prone to bleeding all over Lan Zhan. “Maybe we need to talk to Zewu-jun and your uncle and have them consider changing the colour of the sect robes”

“Or be more careful to not get injured” Lan Zhan said with a faint hint of exasperation at him.

Wei Wuxian considered it briefly, but he did know himself. “No, I think it’s better if we speak to your brother and uncle” he said and Lan Zhan couldn’t help but give a small head-shake.

He pulled Wei Wuxian’s robes back together, “We should return to Cloud Recesses. Wei Ying’s wound needs cleaning”

“Lan Zhan, the snow is too thick to fly on your sword. Let’s use that hunting outpost I can see through the trees by the lake” he pointed to the small hut he could see in the distance. “Come on, lets” he rose to his feet and tugged on Lan Zhan’s sleeve. He was about to set off when Lan Zhan scooped him up into a bridal carry and moved off in the direction Wei Wuxian had pointed.

Of course if he had wanted to fly on his sword the snow wouldn’t have been much of a deterrent for Lan Zhan, but as ever Wei Wuxian’s every wish was his command.

Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around Lan Zhan’s neck and snuggled into his warmth as the latter picked his way carefully through the still drifting storm.

Once they’d reached the hut he placed Wei Wuxian on his feet, “Build the fire. I’ll bring water” and he took a bucket obviously meant for that purpose and moved off towards the lake.

Inside the hut Wei Wuxian found a stack of firewood provided for just such an emergency and set a bed of kindling in the firepit. He was lazy though and instead of lighting the fire manually he used a talisman.

It soon began to warm up the small lodge as he fed the blaze with more wood, warming his outstretched hands.

Lan Zhan was soon back with lake water and they’d set a pot to boiling so he could tend to the bloody, but not particularly deep, scratches the fox spirit had scoured into Wei Wuxian’s chest.

“Is it painful?” Lan Zhan asked as he wiped away the last of the blood.

“It only stings a little now” Wei Wuxian admitted honestly, poking at one of the gouges.

Lan Zhan pulled his hand away, “Wei Ying, stop that” instead he lifted Wei Wuxian’s hand to his mouth to place a gentle kiss against his knuckles. Wei Wuxian took advantage of the caress and stroked those same knuckles against Lan Zhan’s cold cheek, looking over into his light amber eyes.

“It looks like this snowstorm is set in for the night, Lan Zhan” he murmured, sliding into his husband’s lap. We need to think of ways to keep warm. I do have one idea, if you’d like to hear it” he wrapped his arms around Lan Zhan’s neck and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

Lan Wangji’s arms had circled around Wei Wuxian and they tightened briefly at whatever was said to him, “But Wei Ying is injured”

“Barely. You’ll just have to be very gentle with this husband Lan Zhan, I trust you”

The snow continued to fall outside the small hunting lodge deep into the night but it was noticed by neither of it’s occupants.

[skywalkersapprentice]

mdzs novel review

Now that we’re in quarantine and I have an infinite amount of time on my hands, why not read a novel that’s 500k, right?

(Spoilers ahead.)

I totally fucked up my sleeping schedule by staying up for three nights in a row and sleeping four hours in the afternoon while reading it. worth it, though. Despite a few flaws that tripped me up close to the end, Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) was a gorgeous story. Kudos to the translators for giving it to us in English.

I’ll start off by saying that this story is not for the faint of heart. The main character has very grey morals. There is self-cannibalism, gore, period-typical homophobia, corpses come to life, mentions of rape, incest, sexual content, straight up dubcon and disturbing themes all the way through. If I’d seen this tagged as such on Ao3, I definitely would have left it alone. Despite all this, there’s also some truly wonderful characters, a plot unlike anything I’ve ever read before, subtle pining, fantastic worldbuilding, magical music, found families, and!! canonly lgbt characters that get to experience all of this things in the one hundred goddamn chapters it takes for them to get together.

The Good:

Wei Wuxian. One of the most interesting characters I’ve ever encountered. How can one be so good, so happy, so giving, yet so incredibly fucking annoying? He’s so clever, but also a moron. He’s selfless, but only in regards to things and people he cares about. He has an absolutely terrible memory (god me too) and knows how to get under everyone’s skin and has killed literal thousands of people and also. He is my son. If I knew him in real life I think he wouldn’t have survived long enough to become the Yiling Patriarch but in fiction he is wonderful.

The plot: Look. This novel is longer than the first four Harry Potter books combined. You can almost think of it as two books- one set in the past, one set sixteen years later. But although it’s the longest book I’ve ever read, it never really felt boring. It was definitely confusing at times (I’ve never had to take notes on a novel before to keep everything straight in my head) but I wasn’t bored. Things just keep happening- Wei Wuxian is back from the dead!! Now there’s a creepy hand!! Now there’s a statue that can move!! Now we’re in the past!! Now we’re back in the present and there’s a castle that eats people!! Now we’re in a ghost city and there’s some freaky stuff going down!! Time for the saddest flashback of all time, and now we’re starting to put the puzzle of this dismembered person together!! All of this is interspersed with worldbuilding and character dynamics and creating a full picture of the past and- whew. It was so hard to tear myself away to sleep or eat because I just wanted to know- what’s going to happen next? 

The love story: Hello, slowest of burns in the entire fucking world. I live for the enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-what-are-we-to-lovers love story that this book gave me. Lan Wangji, you poor emotionally repressed disaster gay. Wei Wuxian, you blind oblivious moronic disaster bi. Somehow, they’re perfect for each other. I was really, really hesitant to read this book because I know it has roots in that specific straight-girl-writes-gay-men type of culture that is often terrible and fetishistic. There were definitely things that I disagreed with that that I’ll talk about later, but largely, stereotypes were avoided and I have to give the author credit for this relationship that managed to be so many things. I relate heavily to the type of person Lan Wangji is, and I adored watching him fall for Wei Wuxian, through Wei Wuxian’s eyes, without either of them really even realizing it. They’re the definition of what I like to call a “Red and Blue couple”- the opposites, the fire and ice, the calm and the wild, the dark and the light, the red and the blue, who complement one another so well despite being so different. They balanced each other out wonderfully. Don’t talk to me about the WangXian song or the fact that they have a child or I will start crying.

Lan Wangji: Though I love Wei Wuxian, annoying traits and all, Lan Wangji is who I heavily resonated with. He kind of reminds me of Else from Frozen?? Anyone else?? Like, his whole thing is basically “conceal don’t feel”, except what he’s concealing is the fact that he feels things so deeply. He just wants to help people, to be essentially perfect at what he does (scooby doo villian voice: and he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for wei wuxian) His character development from the past to present was lovely. I silently cheered for him whenever he broke the rules, or let the strict facade down for a bit. 

The side characters: Literally how are there so many characters in this book who are so fleshed out that they feel like real people? Xiao XingChen, Lan SiZhui, Wen Ning, Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng and Jiang LanYi all especially stood out to me, but even beyond them, everyone had a fully explained reason and motivation for like, everything they did. Even if I hated the villains, they weren’t needlessly evil. We love a grey story.

But there were some things I didn’t like.

The Bad

The R rated stuff: Well. This is probably the weirdest critique I’ve ever had to make about a book, and maybe some of it was partly due to translation, but... the sex was out of character. I thought the general dynamic made no sense for the two of them as people and it just.... wasn’t super well written? Thankfully I was warned beforehand that the Incense Burner chapters contained content I wasn’t prepared to read, but yikes, I felt like I was reading about two different characters the second clothes started coming off. I haven’t finished the bonus chapters for this reason. The second I read the word “rape”, I had to stop. Consent is a pretty hard line for me, and I can’t do a dubcon kink. Obviously the author can do whatever the hell she wants with her characters, but I felt like she threw away their personalities for the sake of trying to write something hot (which- it wasn’t.) This is why straight people have no rights and also why I will be pretending those scenes don’t exist. 

The Hatred Chapters: I do feel like all of the tension and action was sort of- let down at what was supposed to be the climactic showdown in the temple. It dragged on for so many chapters that I didn’t feel on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next.That could also be due to translation. I’m not sure. Maybe I need to read the Hatred chapters again. But I did feel sort of let down in the final 20 chapters of this novel. It wasn’t enough to seriously impact how much I love the general concept, but it was disappointing.

Semi related but after 100 chapter build up, that confession could have been better. Again- maybe a translation thing.

The Nie MingJue backstory flashback: just- honestly wasn’t interesting to me. It was the only part of the novel that I really had to slog through. 

Lastly - this isn’t the novel’s fault, and I am certainly grateful to the translators for all of their work translating this gigantic novel, but there were some consistent grammatical issues surrounding the dialogue tags that bugged me. I’m not sure how it is in Chinese, but in English, writing “Wei WuXian, “Nothing.””  just- isn’t correct. At the very least, you need a verb like “said”. I usually read fast enough that my brain tends to insert the word even if it’s not there, but when reading slowly, this did frequently jar me out of the story. I’d be willing to edit the entire novel just to fix these errors. But it says a lot about how good this novel is that I continued reading despite errors like this because something like that in a fic would have me closing the tab immediately.

Alright, that’s all. 

Overall:

There are so many small things, little moments and lines that I loved about this story, it would take me days to list them all. The dialogue patterns from character to character were distinct. Things like the forehead ribbon were endlessly entertaining. Side plots like the A-Qing one had me in tears and I was laughing a few chapters late from drunk LWJ. The novel was just fun to read. There were errors, yes, there were disappointments, sure. But it made me feel so much. I’ve been through the entire range of human emotion while reading it, and it’s so rare to find a book that just yanks you into the universe like this one did to me. I really needed an escape this week, and this was absolutely a welcome one. If I go read it again, I’m sure I’ll find a hundred more things I like about it. Heed the warnings I’ve given, if you read it, but I absolutely adored most of this book and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

9/10.