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Something's Not Right
His Majesty hits his head and upon waking finds that everything around him has become peculiar.
His dignified and virtuous empress is still dignified and virtuous, but she's taller than His Majesty by half a head.
His surpassingly gorgeous favorite consort is still surpassingly gorgeous, but her dancing has an unshakeable air of square dance.
His utterly loyal commander of the guard is still utterly loyal, but he keeps trying to crawl into His Majesty's bed for a heart-to-heart.
His burningly ambitious younger brother is still burningly ambitious, but his aim is no longer His Majesty's throne, but a chance to spend some quality time with His Majesty.
His Majesty senses ill will from the whole world.
His dignified and virtuous empress is still dignified and virtuous, but she's taller than His Majesty by half a head.
His surpassingly gorgeous favorite consort is still surpassingly gorgeous, but her dancing has an unshakeable air of square dance.
His utterly loyal commander of the guard is still utterly loyal, but he keeps trying to crawl into His Majesty's bed for a heart-to-heart.
His burningly ambitious younger brother is still burningly ambitious, but his aim is no longer His Majesty's throne, but a chance to spend some quality time with His Majesty.
His Majesty senses ill will from the whole world.
520 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2017
4 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
青色羽翼
32 books3 followersAssociated Names:
* Cyan Wings (English)
* 青色羽翼 (Chinese)
* ชิงเซ่ออวี่อี้ (Thai)
* Thanh Sắc Vũ Dực (Vietnamese)
* Cyan Wings (English)
* 青色羽翼 (Chinese)
* ชิงเซ่ออวี่อี้ (Thai)
* Thanh Sắc Vũ Dực (Vietnamese)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 28, 2025
Another great Cyan Wings novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and although not perfect, the heartwarming love between the main characters was enjoyable to read and the plot was intriguing enough to keep me engaged the whole way through. I picked up on a couple of plot holes regarding lapses in the main character’s memories and plot convenient abilities that the second main character reveals—but these are minor in an otherwise entertaining overall plot.
But I’ve never read a book that made me ask “what the hell is going on” until almost twenty chapters in 😂 Normally this would be grounds for a DNF, but I simply couldn’t put it down until my questions were answered, and the author did a phenomenal job of slowly breadcrumbing bits of information to keep me interested and wanting to piece together this wacky little premise.
For anyone interested in reading this, you will be wondering what’s going on for a good third of the book, but you won’t be overwhelmed and you definitely won’t be bored in the meantime. The following bits of my review may contain spoilers relevant to the overall premise—it won’t ruin the reading experience to know these things, and maybe I was just confused because I went in blind.
*MINOR SPOILERS*
”This was the world’s first holographic game, and they were the first group of players to enter it. The first person to win would receive an enormous cash prize, and perhaps also be recorded in the historical annals of the game world. Everyone had come here to seduce Emperor Jingren, with the exception of the empress. He had come to find someone.”
The main setting is a historical empire during the peaceful reign of Emperor Jingren. The game premise was very slowly revealed, and since you follow an “NPC” POV (the emperor’s) for the first chunk of the novel, the game itself is largely a mystery—why are these people in this fictional world? What purpose do they have? Why is there a gap in the emperor’s memories and why is everyone around him suddenly acting differently?
Perhaps the biggest question in the emperor’s mind is why his beloved empress wife is taller, impressively muscular, and more handsome than Emperor Jingren recalls…
While the emperor attempts to make sense of the strange curiosities in his otherwise familiar world, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to his sword-wielding martial arts master empress wife despite suspicions growing in his mind.
And meanwhile, his empress wife becomes even more doting and protective of the emperor. Which makes the reality waiting outside the game they’re playing even more difficult to accept: can empress Xiao Jinyi still complete the mission while falling for an NPC?
”Whether fantasy or reality, what he had was now. Now, he was Xiao Jinyi. He was with Shen Junrui, and they loved each other.
If one day all this truly turned to dust, he would still remember that he had loved an NPC with more integrity, a greater sense of responsibility, and greater allure than any human, and that emotion would remain with him all his life.”
For fans of game or system-based danmei, transmigration novels, historical danmei, and some palace drama danmei with a romantic comedy backdrop, this short and sweet novel is a great read.
(Some content warnings: attempted SA, drug use, torture, violence, war, minor gore)
But I’ve never read a book that made me ask “what the hell is going on” until almost twenty chapters in 😂 Normally this would be grounds for a DNF, but I simply couldn’t put it down until my questions were answered, and the author did a phenomenal job of slowly breadcrumbing bits of information to keep me interested and wanting to piece together this wacky little premise.
For anyone interested in reading this, you will be wondering what’s going on for a good third of the book, but you won’t be overwhelmed and you definitely won’t be bored in the meantime. The following bits of my review may contain spoilers relevant to the overall premise—it won’t ruin the reading experience to know these things, and maybe I was just confused because I went in blind.
*MINOR SPOILERS*
”This was the world’s first holographic game, and they were the first group of players to enter it. The first person to win would receive an enormous cash prize, and perhaps also be recorded in the historical annals of the game world. Everyone had come here to seduce Emperor Jingren, with the exception of the empress. He had come to find someone.”
The main setting is a historical empire during the peaceful reign of Emperor Jingren. The game premise was very slowly revealed, and since you follow an “NPC” POV (the emperor’s) for the first chunk of the novel, the game itself is largely a mystery—why are these people in this fictional world? What purpose do they have? Why is there a gap in the emperor’s memories and why is everyone around him suddenly acting differently?
Perhaps the biggest question in the emperor’s mind is why his beloved empress wife is taller, impressively muscular, and more handsome than Emperor Jingren recalls…
While the emperor attempts to make sense of the strange curiosities in his otherwise familiar world, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to his sword-wielding martial arts master empress wife despite suspicions growing in his mind.
And meanwhile, his empress wife becomes even more doting and protective of the emperor. Which makes the reality waiting outside the game they’re playing even more difficult to accept: can empress Xiao Jinyi still complete the mission while falling for an NPC?
”Whether fantasy or reality, what he had was now. Now, he was Xiao Jinyi. He was with Shen Junrui, and they loved each other.
If one day all this truly turned to dust, he would still remember that he had loved an NPC with more integrity, a greater sense of responsibility, and greater allure than any human, and that emotion would remain with him all his life.”
For fans of game or system-based danmei, transmigration novels, historical danmei, and some palace drama danmei with a romantic comedy backdrop, this short and sweet novel is a great read.
(Some content warnings: attempted SA, drug use, torture, violence, war, minor gore)
September 4, 2024
A fun premise that suffered from a flat execution. Emperor Jingren hits his head and after recovering he notices that the people around him don’t look like anyone he recognizes. Turns out his Empress (now a big, strapping man), concubines, multiple courtiers, palace eunuchs, etc are players in an immersive holographic video game. This had some fun jokes but the characters felt a bit wooden and the plot was surprisingly bland. Cyan Wings does a lot of clever subversion of tropes in her books and this is no exception, I just wish it felt more developed.
CWs: attempted rape (not between the MCs), nonconsensual drug use, sexism, incestuous attraction (not between the MCs), kidnapping, injury detail, murder, war
CWs: attempted rape (not between the MCs), nonconsensual drug use, sexism, incestuous attraction (not between the MCs), kidnapping, injury detail, murder, war
May 15, 2024
This book made me make an account on NovelUpdates so I could channel my inner Shen Yuan.
An emperor slowly realizes that he's surrounded by transmigrators playing a game where victory is seducing him and that even his beloved empire's history is hazy and fictional. But despite being at the mercy of higher powers, it also becomes clear that his empire is a living world in its own right that can't simply be dismissed as only a fictional dream.
What a great premise, right?
Too bad this novel completely wastes it!
Even with your brain turned off, it's a mediocre read. The CP is bland, the plot feels like nothing is happening, most of the side characters might as well not exist and even those who are important feel underbaked, the plot twists are so poorly foreshadowed and abruptly introduced that the author might as well be hitting you with a wet noodle...
And if you do have any extra brainpower to go "wtf" when you read this novel, these plot twists make zero Watsonian sense and zero Doylist sense!
The best I can say about this is that the translation is good and nothing about the story is offensive beyond just being badly written.
An emperor slowly realizes that he's surrounded by transmigrators playing a game where victory is seducing him and that even his beloved empire's history is hazy and fictional. But despite being at the mercy of higher powers, it also becomes clear that his empire is a living world in its own right that can't simply be dismissed as only a fictional dream.
What a great premise, right?
Too bad this novel completely wastes it!
Even with your brain turned off, it's a mediocre read. The CP is bland, the plot feels like nothing is happening, most of the side characters might as well not exist and even those who are important feel underbaked, the plot twists are so poorly foreshadowed and abruptly introduced that the author might as well be hitting you with a wet noodle...
And if you do have any extra brainpower to go "wtf" when you read this novel, these plot twists make zero Watsonian sense and zero Doylist sense!
The best I can say about this is that the translation is good and nothing about the story is offensive beyond just being badly written.
April 9, 2025
If this novel has only one fan, then it's me. If this novel has no fans, then I've died and probably transmigrated into this novel and have taken over a poor NPC's life. If so, sorry in advance to that NPC.
People who only read this in English version and complained about it being too plain or too simple probably didn't realize that the whole thing is written in a truly old-fashioned tone in Chinese. It truly read like a period piece of court drama set in ancient China except for some system words before the scifi elements started popping into the novel. It also took me a while to warm up to this novel but then it got so good. I enjoyed all the twists and turns, though none of them are as dramatic as I thought.
I love the main characters. I love their love and respect for each other. I love the way they treat each other. I've read four of these author's books so far and I've found out that they have a particular way of combining tooth-rottingly sweet romance with comedy while keeping the tension of the novel up with the over-powered main characters and their struggles against the even more over-powered world aroung them. I like power couples and I hope I never, ever, ever, ever run out of Qing Se Yu Yi's books to read.
People who only read this in English version and complained about it being too plain or too simple probably didn't realize that the whole thing is written in a truly old-fashioned tone in Chinese. It truly read like a period piece of court drama set in ancient China except for some system words before the scifi elements started popping into the novel. It also took me a while to warm up to this novel but then it got so good. I enjoyed all the twists and turns, though none of them are as dramatic as I thought.
I love the main characters. I love their love and respect for each other. I love the way they treat each other. I've read four of these author's books so far and I've found out that they have a particular way of combining tooth-rottingly sweet romance with comedy while keeping the tension of the novel up with the over-powered main characters and their struggles against the even more over-powered world aroung them. I like power couples and I hope I never, ever, ever, ever run out of Qing Se Yu Yi's books to read.
August 9, 2023
For the first time, the story is from the perspective of the random bystander in a novel, where nearly everyone around him has transmigrated!
Of course, this random bystander is a pretty important character – one of the main leads, the Emperor Jingren – but even he is just an NPC of the game based on a novel. This is a pretty unique take, and was quite hilarious to read knowing what we know about the transmigrators plotting around him. Especially since their goal is to make him fall in love with one of them.
The romance is a little rushed though and we don't get the reveal of why the transmigrators are all here, how they know each other and what their goal is until the last 15% of the novel. The pace and tone of the story also shift abruptly, and there's a heap of exposition towards the ending that doesn't feel quite smooth. Even so, all the loose ends do get tied up, the truths that should come to light do come to light and it is a happy ending.
It is an entertaining read all in all, and the translator has done a wonderful job as always!
3⭐️
Of course, this random bystander is a pretty important character – one of the main leads, the Emperor Jingren – but even he is just an NPC of the game based on a novel. This is a pretty unique take, and was quite hilarious to read knowing what we know about the transmigrators plotting around him. Especially since their goal is to make him fall in love with one of them.
The romance is a little rushed though and we don't get the reveal of why the transmigrators are all here, how they know each other and what their goal is until the last 15% of the novel. The pace and tone of the story also shift abruptly, and there's a heap of exposition towards the ending that doesn't feel quite smooth. Even so, all the loose ends do get tied up, the truths that should come to light do come to light and it is a happy ending.
It is an entertaining read all in all, and the translator has done a wonderful job as always!
3⭐️
March 31, 2025
Emperor Jingren hits his head and wakes up to a world where everyone is deeply, deeply weird! Us readers learn by ch3 that the world is filled with dimension hoppers/system players/transmigrators who all want to get close and intimate with the Emperor. Too bad for them because the Emperor only wants to spend time with his Empress–except that she’s a he and the Emperor curiously isn’t bothered by it too much. (Very open-minded for a straight person, eh, wink wink nudge nudge, say no more?)
As the story progresses, the “players” start to be increasingly open about what’s going on but the real motivator for the Emperor’s lure is somewhat elusive for a good while. There are a handful of convenient (delightful!) red herrings to confuse the reader (and everyone else) and the revelations in the end were rewarding. The 11 extra chapters are basically a short story that expands the main relationship and gives it a happy ending.
All in all, I liked this a lot! The story was mostly funny and cracky until it gained some darker shades towards the end, and I felt the ending of the proper story was very fitting. Some reviewers have complained that ⅔ of the book was good and the last ⅓ was very confusing. I cannot claim the same–but perhaps it’s because I’ve read a couple of System books before. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I wouldn’t have minded the novel’s original, ambiguous ending because I felt it fit the story of the Emperor’s life.
As the story progresses, the “players” start to be increasingly open about what’s going on but the real motivator for the Emperor’s lure is somewhat elusive for a good while. There are a handful of convenient (delightful!) red herrings to confuse the reader (and everyone else) and the revelations in the end were rewarding. The 11 extra chapters are basically a short story that expands the main relationship and gives it a happy ending.
All in all, I liked this a lot! The story was mostly funny and cracky until it gained some darker shades towards the end, and I felt the ending of the proper story was very fitting. Some reviewers have complained that ⅔ of the book was good and the last ⅓ was very confusing. I cannot claim the same–but perhaps it’s because I’ve read a couple of System books before. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I wouldn’t have minded the novel’s original, ambiguous ending because I felt it fit the story of the Emperor’s life.
July 25, 2023
king of translators, e. danglars, once again comes through for english language danmei fandom. i'm v glad that they're a certified cyan wings appreciator. great authors deserve great translators!
anyways if you've read cyan wings before you know their penchant for intelligent characters, humor, and trope meta, all of which are on display here. it's a quick read as danmei go with 56 chapters and 8 extras -- i powered through the entire second half in two days in between naps (a girl is sick and using her limited brain capacity for emotional uplift through danmei)
3.5 stars
anyways if you've read cyan wings before you know their penchant for intelligent characters, humor, and trope meta, all of which are on display here. it's a quick read as danmei go with 56 chapters and 8 extras -- i powered through the entire second half in two days in between naps (a girl is sick and using her limited brain capacity for emotional uplift through danmei)
3.5 stars
July 29, 2023
A delightful little story about an emperor who's very smitten with his tall and strapping "empress", but unfortunately doesn't know that he's also the main character in an elaborate game of Bachelor. Genuinely funny, great trope-lampshading, and adorable romance. And E. Danglars' translation is superb as usual.
November 18, 2023
I've been on a cyan wings craze, and I must say this book was nothing like I was expecting it to be. Every book of theirs is so distinct in characters, tone, plot... The read would have felt incomplete without the extras.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2024
Nudne?
Ogólnie nie byłam zainteresowana, żeby to czytać. Niby zapowiedź fajna, mamy jakąś tajemnicę itd, ale mam wrażenie, że zostało wszystko poprowadzone w mało przyciągający sposób...
Ogólnie nie byłam zainteresowana, żeby to czytać. Niby zapowiedź fajna, mamy jakąś tajemnicę itd, ale mam wrażenie, że zostało wszystko poprowadzone w mało przyciągający sposób...
September 26, 2023
I believe this book makes fun of the well known tropes of Danmei. I haven't read enough Danmei yet to know all the tropes and can thus not appreciate it for what it is. Still fun and easy to read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews