凰权

凰权 #1

by 天下归元

皇权博弈，谁撞破谁的潜谋，生死一瞬？
倾轧沉浮，谁藏于谁的来路，操刀相视？
对弈天下，谁又贪恋谁的温情，醉了今生？

他诡谲如海、藏拙弄巧，廿载翻云覆雨弈天下棋局，举手算乾坤。
她迷蒙如渊、韬光养晦，一朝石破天惊成国士无双，袖底谋皇图。
他与她，是那一场相遇，是那一种相像，踏乱红尘，一曲情深。
可怎敌，血脉对立，命运彻骨森凉？

那场朝野倾覆，埋下的究竟是劫，还是缘？
那些霸业皇图，较量的究竟是筹谋，还是无情？
梦中江山，江山如梦，谁将醒来？

Genres: China, Historical Fiction, Russia, Historical, Fantasy, Asian Literature

952 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Associated Names:
* Tian Xia Gui Yuan (English)
* 天下归元 (Chinese)
* เทียนเซี่ยกุยหยวน (Thai Profile)


作者简介 · · · · · ·
　　天下归元， 中国作家协会会员 ，江苏省作协签约作家，镇江市作协理事，当当网青春文学热门作者，上海视觉艺术学院兼职教授 ，第七届全国青年作家创作会议代表 ，潇湘书院A级作者。深受读者喜爱。写作至今出版《扶摇皇后》、《凰权》、《燕倾天下》、《帝凰》、《千金笑》、《凤倾天阑》共800余万字，多部作品上市后登当当网青春文学热门新书榜首。《帝凰》获潇湘书院十年经典第一；《扶摇皇后》获“2011全国优秀女性文学奖”、“2012镇江市政府文艺奖”、“2013句容市政府文艺奖”，作者凭借此书获“2011优秀女性文学新人” ；2012年，中国作协首次网文研讨会（京都论剑）在京举行，《扶摇皇后》为五部作品之一；《凤倾天阑》、《燕倾天下》获2013年句容市政府文艺奖。2012、2013连续两年，获潇湘书院最高奖非凡成就奖。新作《女帝本色》正在潇湘书院火热连载，现已完结。
收藏人数最多的5部作品

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the book that the Netflix drama, Rise of Phoenixes, is adapted from. It's a distant sequel of the author's other book, which was adapted into the drama, Legend of Fu Yao. I binged Rise of the Phoenixes the past two weeks and hated the ending so much (it was changed to get past Chinese censors) that I downloaded this book, read the still ongoing translation by ninja-reflections, and then read the book.

WOW I have so many conflicted feelings about this.

Summary:
The title of this novel translates roughly to 'power', but specifically referring to the power that the imperial family wielded back when there were still dynasties. The book opens with quite a bang. Feng Zhiwei, the main character, is drowning her step-aunt in the ice-cold pond (it's winter). She's seen by the love interest, Ning Yi, the sixth prince of the imperial family, who is one of the powers struggling for control of the throne. This sets off a chain of events where A LOT happens. A lot. This is a seriously mammoth book and so much happened lol.

The bad:
I had so many mixed feelings about this. The reviews of this book on Douban were quite polarized. Some people loved it, some people hated it. I kinda agreed with most of the criticisms? The biggest thing I had issues with was the writing style. It read like a high school writing assignment. It gets better towards the latter half of the book, but I struggled to get through the first 20% because the author just spammed descriptive phrases. Also, the author loved to use phrases that basically translate to, 'her beautiful, limpid eyes gazed at him', 'the beautiful woman (Zhiwei) smiled', 'her beautiful voice'... Also, the misogyny.

Themes:
Misogyny: after reading a bunch of Chinese webnovels by female authors, I feel like misogyny and the oppressive patriarchy is this unconscious theme in a lot of the stories. Authors prefer male protagonists and male characters tend to be written much better - they're complex and likeable - while female characters often end up being bitchy, slutty, shallow, or powerless and weak. In this book, a bunch of the female side characters were either truly despicable and pitiful, or were motivated solely by their love for a man in their life.

Zhiwei herself starts out quite disdainful of most people of her gender, there was a lot of gender essentializing like 'women's biggest flaw is their soft heart' etc, and her best friend Hua Qiong and her are pretty much like superwomen. Zhiwei is fierce but has a kind heart, doesn't suffer fools gladly but shows mercy, intelligent and always knows what's going on, undergoes suffering but is not ruined by it... She's both emotionally detached, extremely intelligent, powerful and ruthless, but also passionate, caring and kind. She's a little bit like a female power fantasy. She gets to be a court official, a general, an Empress, a female Emperor... She is one of the most powerful players on the chessboard of politics and power.

Ning Yi is this idealized lover and a reversal of the usual hetero dynamics - he does everything because of love, he seems almost passive compared to her, he's pining pretty much the whole book, he lets her do whatever she wants and he kind of is a bit like the devoted, pining wife lol, she hurts him and tries to sabotage him and he just takes it and forgives her repeatedly...

Hierarchical societies and power struggles: the title already gives a clue. But a lot was said about how savage, ruthless and inhumane the struggle for the throne was. Power corrupts and ruins good people, and the more powerful you are, the less choice and freedom you have. Zhiwei and Ning Yi struggled to be together because of the way their society is like - Ning Yi's family and he himself caused the deaths of her family and people she loves, so she has to take revenge because he owes her a blood debt. At the end, Zhiwei realizes that this 'an eye for an eye' revenge mentality goes nowhere and just perpetuates and repeats violence over and over again... her mother, her elders, she herself, the imperial family, all trapped in cyclical revenge. At the end of the novel, she finally realized she needed to transcend it all.

The good:
The character arcs. Gu Nanyi is the second love interest and he is someone who seems like he's on the autism spectrum. He's indifferent and ignorant of social cues, he's very blunt, doesn't like to speak and people find it hard to understand him, he's a very skilled fighter, he's stoic and almost emotionless. He becomes devoted to Zhiwei and because of her influence, he ends up knowing all the nuances of life, feels a range of emotions and emotionally 'thaws'. His arc is beautiful and at times, heartbreaking. I kind of hated that he became a love interest because I just wanted him to be her platonic soulmate.

Ning Yi and Zhiwei's arc was also pretty awesome. Zhiwei changed quite a lot by the end of the novel; she started out cynical and calculating but she became much kinder by the end. The scenes describing the tragedies that shaped her - her loss of innocence, loss of trust and love - and the turning points in her life - her decision to take Ning Yi down - were really really moving and I totally cried for her.

I still feel that Shao Ning's character was one of the biggest tragedies in the novel. Her arc was just heartbreaking.

And a bunch of other awesome side characters that I'm too lazy to mention. But wow this book took me on an emotional trip.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

У меня есть вопросики к логике, к некоторым ещё аспектам, но, возможно, это всё древнекитайский сеттинг и культурные особенности. Но в целом читалось быстро, герои интересные, таинственный телохранитель и степной принц мои фавориты!!

[mstan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't find the version I read in GR -- it's 369 pages long, not 900+ -_- （edited to add that I realised there are 4 books in the version I have, and not just a 上 and 下... books 1&2=755 pages so I am far from done!)

I read this after watching "The Rise of Phoenixes" on Netflix, so strangely, the book read like fan-fiction to me, though it in fact preceded the show. There are some similarities but I can see how the 70-episode drama took inspiration from, rather than was based solely on, the book. Most strikingly, the characters are actually quite different in both settings, and the book is told from the perspective of the female protagonist (Feng Zhiwei) rather than the male protagonist. A major flaw in the drama (though I am a huge fan, which is why I sought the book out) was the hastiness and lack of logic of some of its plotlines, and I was hoping the book would remedy that, but it didn't really, maybe because the perspective was FZW's rather than NY's. In fact, the show has a heavier dose of palace intrigue than the book, the latter of which is more romance-focused, though I may have this impression because I haven't read the other installments yet. I'm also not sure if it's my rather poor grasp of Chinese, but I found the writer's writing style a little purple. That said, I'll still read Book #2 at some point. 实在是意难平。。。

[Millie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the sunk cost fallacy for getting me through this book <3 Shaoning + Wei Zhi 5eva