Nirvana in Fire Vol. 1

Nirvana in Fire #1

by Hai Yan, Chen Si

A feudal war rages in Ancient China. While the Emperor's sons are embroiled in a bitter rivalry for power, word spreads across the capital about the arrival of a man of extraordinary genius and a brilliant strategist Mei Changsu, adding fuel to the fire. The prophecy says that one who enlists his support will rule the world. But will Mei Changsu agree to be used as a pawn? Many years ago, the capital knew him under another name, and the reason why he returned has nothing to do with the whims of the powerful ones. He only seeks to clear the names of tens of thousands wrongly executed warriors. Willing to sacrifice his past affections and put his own life at stake, he is prepared to go to any length to achieve his goal, even to shake the foundations of the Empire.

Genres: Manga, Historical, Manhwa, Historical Fiction, China

216 pages, Hardcover

First published December 29, 2019

Reviews

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me way too long to finish this because I decided to read parts of the novel along with the manhua so I could understand it better. I really love the story and the characters so far and have a pretty good grasp on the plot. If I had the time I would definitely watch the drama as well.

*This is not danmei

Historical fiction
Palace intrigue
Beautiful art
Solid quality from Aloha Comics

I am excited to finish the series and the the novel!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I mistakenly assumed this was a BL, I still very much enjoyed it for what it was. It's a complex political story filled with characters with mysterious motivations and plenty of scheming. It's a little hard to follow at times, but by the end I was invested and am looking forward to more.

[Nea Poulain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Está interesante, seguiré leyendo si Aloha publica el siguiente volumen

[Katie❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing art style. Some of the panels were too dark. The story was a little difficult to follow at times but I am looking forward to the second volume.

[... · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rather intrigued by the story already, really can't wait to continue with vol. 2 (whenever the publisher decides to release it..? I might pick up the novel if that doesn't happen anytime soon.) The art is beautiful, the print quality is also amazing - the thick paper, the hardcover with dust jacket; the translation is also smooth.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of disappointed because I'd assumed this was danmei, but apparently not? I started looking into it a bit, and there's some information about the original novel being adjusted to "bromance" during the writing process, while the (apparently super popular) live action drama inserted a m/f romance to ensure it was even straighter. It's just that if I'm going to be embedded in this much political power struggles and military strategy, I'd prefer to be reading something like Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu (Novel) Vol. 1.

It is interesting to have a manhua adaptation, though. The art isn't always terribly expressive; it's really just a bunch of pretty still paintings of the characters with the dialogue in bubbles around them, although that improves some as it goes on. Yujin in particular branches out with his reactions, since he's simply not stoic or polite enough to sit around looking serenely beautiful at all times.

Keeping track of all the characters is pretty tough; it helped to have a reference at the beginning for some of them, although one of the presumably main characters, Prince Jing, barely appears in this volume. (I think he's the "bromance" with the main character, Mei Changsu, also known as Su Zhe.) The plot is also pretty dense, although it does a pretty good job of looping back to explain various things. The whole backstory for Xiao Jingrui having two fathers, for example, was pretty well done, and effectively portrayed through the narration and art.

I do still have a lot of questions, including not understanding what was happening in that prologue and who the named characters were. What's their relation to Su? It's clear that he's on some sort of political revenge plot that has to do with that big battle and all the lives lost but I have no idea beyond that.

This volume was mostly just setting up the characters, and then spending a lot of time on the marriage of Princess Nihuang, whom I believe is the female love interest in the drama. (But was apparently engaged to someone else in the novel, and considered Su a brotherly friend.) It has a couple "more coming soon!" ads, so I'm guessing Aloha Comics will be moving forward with the next volume of this series - less pressing for me than the others I'd bought from this Kickstarter bundle, but I'm interested enough to keep going, I think. It is a very pretty book, and I would like to find out what Su's up to. And hopefully see a bit more of Prince Jing.

[Yue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot, characterization, etc, everything is excellent, EPIC. Of course I watched the cdrama and read the book so I am biased. What I can see as a downside in the manga edition is that everyone looks like 20 and is slender and pretty... so it is rather confusing. And well, Hu Ge may not be fairy-looking but he is damn handsome!

[Kimmie]

So was anyone going to tell me that Nirvana in Fire -- one of my all-time favourite c-dramas -- was going to have its manga released into English, or did I just have to discover that myself whilst searching for other Chinese novel releases?

smh -- adding to my shopping basket. Proper review to come once it arrives and I've read it.

[Ehlana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay...I think I understand what's happening now! when is book 2 dropping??

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would enjoy this more if I had read the novel or watched the drama first. Kind of lost and not sure who is who.

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This needs edited, I kept seeing spelling and grammar mistakes. The art in some places was to dark to see what was going on. I did like the watercolor art style, it was nice.

[Gabrielle Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember being obsessed with this cdrama years ago. Not sure how hard this is going to be to follow in this media form. Wish I still had all my notes!
Anyway the art is gorgeous ♡

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s definitely stilted, but I got into the swing of things after a few chapters and I’m interested in seeing what comes next.