Well it just gets a second star, only because Part 4 (which is only online) was so damn good again.
But Sand Sea was just.. horrible - it has (as expected) again no real ending, but mostly the new introduced young main characters are just not ... loveable. I had not once moment, where I thought wow Li Cu is really nice, maybe a bit dumb, but its okay - lik with Wu Xie.
The whole book is weird - the chars are all not important at all, they are alle pretty stupid, they are all not loyal - which annoyed me even more. They called themself friends but pff.. nope - and yeah I do compare them to Wu Xie, Fatty and Pokerface. Then there are SO MANY parts where is something about piss or shit (wtf, rly? i don't care), or how annoyingly teenage they are, because it was like all three males NEVER EVER saw any female human ever and def. not naked - it was so annoying, holy shit, all those drooling males *rolls eyes*.
So yeah, I don't like the series either, but at least that was interesting.
book of the flight! ✈️ This is something different than I would usually check out but the storyline was incredibly intriguing that time flew as I flipped the pages ✅
In short, this book is sooooo different from the drama adaptation Sand Sea.
As in the drama, we follow Li Cu as our new protagonist as he meets Wu Xie and is reluctantly dragged into the world of grave robbing. The journey our characters take before their excursion into the desert and their adventures after entering, however, differ VASTLY from the drama. So far, I think that the book does a better job of explaining various phenomenons that the drama glosses over. It also has a more interesting set up that the drama COMPLETELY omits. A glaring difference to many will be the lack of characters. While the drama jumps back and forth between different storylines, we're limited Li Cu's perspective with the book. I'm sure many will miss seeing so much of their faves but I personally find this version to be much more streamlined and focused than the drama. Of course, since this is only the 1st book I'm sure that many other characters will continue to pop up as the story progresses.
Speaking of characters, Hei Xiazi FINALLY makes a significant appearance for the 1st time EVER in the books! I was honestly beginning to think the drama adaptions had completely extrapolated his personality and quirks from his brief appearance in Graveyard of a Queen. Hoping we get to see more of him as the books continue.
It's jarring to see Wu Xie's transformation between the incomplete Tibetan Sea Flower story and this. I will forever be waiting for the completion of that storyline to see how our boy became the man he is here. It's so cool to see what a badass he's become but also quite sad knowing what hell he must have gone through to come to this point.
While I know some people will have a difficult time accepting Li Cu as the main POV after so many books following Wu Xie, I think it's a great shake up. Seeing Wu Xie from someone else's perspective (especially an impressionable young kid) is so much fun. It's funny how many people compare Li Cu and Wu Xie because reading their POVs makes it quite clear how distinct the two of them are. While they both may have started their stories as naive kids, their personalities and world views are quite different.
If you loved the drama, you may be disappointed by all of the differences. However, I enjoy them because it makes the experience feel fresh again. It's not a total rehash of everything I've already seen which I appreciate immensely.
This feels like a fresh start. Li Cu offers an outsider's perspective on familiar characters behaving in slightly unfamiliar ways. A hardened Wu Xie through someone else's eyes is really interesting to see. I like how you can tell that he's no longer as naive and dependent on others, and in fact calls the shots, but retains a core of goodness and kindness. I also genuinely think there's literary value in how the cycle is beginning again: Wu Xie is inadvertently initiating Li Cu into the world of grave robbing just like San Shu did, and seeing not only how he's grown but also what he's lost since he was like Li Cu. Great stuff.
I'm counting all of the available Sand Sea books (about 1000 pages' worth) in this entry. These focus on Li Cu, and end his story with a cliffhanger before doing back to Wu Xie for what amounts to the fourth volume. I didn't like it as much as the Tomb Raider main series - it's much more focused on Wu Xie's plotting (to defeat... some other tomb raiding plotting group that is evil? It's all a bit unclear, honestly!) than tomb raiding. I did like Li Cu though. Sure would be nice if I knew what happened to him!
Ooh my gosh, Wu Xie is such an asshole here, I love him so much lol. Poor Li Cu getting dragged around, but I'm so happy Hei Xiazi finally showed up :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Very well written with unexpected development.Kept readers in suspense..Difficult to put down.One of the few top writers with special skills to grab the readers undivided attention. Qq