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Qing Yu Nian
当今世界，千穿万穿，唯有马屁不穿。
因为故事发生在庆国，而那位病人很奢侈地拥有了多出来的一截生命，所以取名为：庆余年－－很有乡土气息的名字。年轻的病人，因为一次毫不意外的经历，重生到一个完全不同的世界，成为未来庆国伯爵府一个并不光彩的私生子。修行无名功诀，踏足京都官场，继承庞大商团……范闲，包裹在他最外面的是一层金光闪闪的纸衣，纸衣下面是非常刺眼使人流泪的芥末，芥末下面是甜得发腻的奶油，奶油下面是苦涩无比的毒药壳，壳的中间却有那么一抹亮光……人都是复杂的， 对于庆国的百姓来说，看到的是他金光闪闪的外衣，对于范闲的敌人来说，看到的却是这层外衣下面辛辣的芥末……
因为故事发生在庆国，而那位病人很奢侈地拥有了多出来的一截生命，所以取名为：庆余年－－很有乡土气息的名字。年轻的病人，因为一次毫不意外的经历，重生到一个完全不同的世界，成为未来庆国伯爵府一个并不光彩的私生子。修行无名功诀，踏足京都官场，继承庞大商团……范闲，包裹在他最外面的是一层金光闪闪的纸衣，纸衣下面是非常刺眼使人流泪的芥末，芥末下面是甜得发腻的奶油，奶油下面是苦涩无比的毒药壳，壳的中间却有那么一抹亮光……人都是复杂的， 对于庆国的百姓来说，看到的是他金光闪闪的外衣，对于范闲的敌人来说，看到的却是这层外衣下面辛辣的芥末……
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 2, 2023
Was this an enjoyable read? Largely, yes. Would I re-read any sections of it to re-live the thrill? No.
This was a laborious novel to read, and I’m thankful that I could skip the first two volumes because the content was already adapted into the television series. From volume 3 onwards, the TV series diverges from the novel more significantly. However, this is not an essay on comparing the novel with its adaptation.
As a novel, the story is quite focused and the conflicts that Mao Ni set out for Fan Xian to resolve at the very beginning do play out at the end. Namely, his mission is to find out the truth behind the death of his mother, and about the Mystical Temple, the place from where his mother came into this alternate dimension. This is also the magical place where the best cultivators of wugong (martial arts) acquired their secrets to becoming the best of the best. He accomplishes these goals by creating schemes to establish his own network of spies and root out the moles installed by his enemies. This was how he was able to re-establish economic stability for the Qing Court (not to be confused with Imperial Qing Dynasty) and gain the trust of the Qing Emperor. It’s a very ambitious undertaking, and for the most part, the plot was believable, entertaining and suspenseful, too, at times. The numerous plot twists at the end were a lot of fun to read, and the final battles were mostly quite satisfying. There were some areas where the story went off-tangent and perhaps spent too much time on some of the subplots, but as I reader, I found it quite easy to skip over those sections because I was confident that Mao Ni would bring me back to the main plot line.
My major complaint would be the writing itself. The first is Mao Ni's narrative style. He often interrupts an action sequence and slows it down (maybe to create suspense?), but it comes across as simply infuriating. He also interrupts a scene with a substantial plot/character reveal, sometimes to explain how a character feels about an event. Instead, I would have found it more entertaining if he just continued with the action. Or, if he wants to use a character's POV to comment on the events, that's fine, but he tends to focus on the wrong character’s point of view. I don’t know if he’s being lazy or if he doesn't know what he should be writing about.
An example of this is at the end in the final battle. FX makes an amazing discovery, but there is nothing written about how FX feels about this discovery. Instead, Mao Ni decides to explain how the villain feels. At this point, the reader would expect Mao Ni to show FX's emotional reaction to the obstacles that he's facing. This is how you draw your reader into the story and make them care about what happens to the heroes. Why does he suddenly expect the reader to empathize with the villain when he just showed you how vicious and cruel the villain is? This almost relegates FX to the secondary role because we can't get inside his head anymore.
Another area that Mao Ni really needs to work on is to be more concise rather than verbose. He may think he's writing poetic prose, but it just comes across as choking on quicksand. One can tell from Mao Ni's writing that he's a fan of Gu Long, but what made Gu Long's writing so exquisite was his ability to say so much in such few words. Mao Ni is the opposite. He could have said it in two sentences, but he chooses to write two paragraphs!
The other thing that makes or breaks a novel is the construction of the characters. As other reviewers here have mentioned, FX is a very problematic protagonist. He's presented as a 30-something year old man who gets reborn as an infant in the alternate dimension. He grows up and by the time he starts on his adventures to the kingdom of Qing, he's about 45 years old. Despite that, he has no problem with falling in love with a 15 year old girl, and ends up marrying her. He later has more affairs with other 18-20 year old girls when he's old enough to be their father. The only female character close to him that he feels any fatherly love for is his sister in the alternate dimension, Fan Ruoruo. However, in one scene where he is recovering from a major injury, he dreams of a fantasy where he is being nursed by both his wife and his sister, both women dressed in cute nurses' garb. You see, he not only was raised to be FR's brother, but he claimed he felt a fatherly responsibility for her. Next thing you know, he's having a lustful threesome fantasy. For crying out loud!!! And for all the effort he made to chase after and win over Lin Wan'er, his wife, in the last three volumes, he ends up yearning for the woman that he could never marry. *rolleyes*
Feminist Critique:
Having read another novel by Mao Ni, I notice that he likes to keep his female characters hidden from the reader, hiding their thoughts and their feelings. Even if a female character ends up playing an important role in the story to help FX accomplish his goal, her feelings and thoughts are never revealed. They exist for the male protagonist alone, and possess no agency to determine their own fate or role in the story. This gives the reader the impression that Mao Ni has no respect for the female characters of his own creation.
This was a laborious novel to read, and I’m thankful that I could skip the first two volumes because the content was already adapted into the television series. From volume 3 onwards, the TV series diverges from the novel more significantly. However, this is not an essay on comparing the novel with its adaptation.
As a novel, the story is quite focused and the conflicts that Mao Ni set out for Fan Xian to resolve at the very beginning do play out at the end. Namely, his mission is to find out the truth behind the death of his mother, and about the Mystical Temple, the place from where his mother came into this alternate dimension. This is also the magical place where the best cultivators of wugong (martial arts) acquired their secrets to becoming the best of the best. He accomplishes these goals by creating schemes to establish his own network of spies and root out the moles installed by his enemies. This was how he was able to re-establish economic stability for the Qing Court (not to be confused with Imperial Qing Dynasty) and gain the trust of the Qing Emperor. It’s a very ambitious undertaking, and for the most part, the plot was believable, entertaining and suspenseful, too, at times. The numerous plot twists at the end were a lot of fun to read, and the final battles were mostly quite satisfying. There were some areas where the story went off-tangent and perhaps spent too much time on some of the subplots, but as I reader, I found it quite easy to skip over those sections because I was confident that Mao Ni would bring me back to the main plot line.
My major complaint would be the writing itself. The first is Mao Ni's narrative style. He often interrupts an action sequence and slows it down (maybe to create suspense?), but it comes across as simply infuriating. He also interrupts a scene with a substantial plot/character reveal, sometimes to explain how a character feels about an event. Instead, I would have found it more entertaining if he just continued with the action. Or, if he wants to use a character's POV to comment on the events, that's fine, but he tends to focus on the wrong character’s point of view. I don’t know if he’s being lazy or if he doesn't know what he should be writing about.
An example of this is at the end in the final battle. FX makes an amazing discovery, but there is nothing written about how FX feels about this discovery. Instead, Mao Ni decides to explain how the villain feels. At this point, the reader would expect Mao Ni to show FX's emotional reaction to the obstacles that he's facing. This is how you draw your reader into the story and make them care about what happens to the heroes. Why does he suddenly expect the reader to empathize with the villain when he just showed you how vicious and cruel the villain is? This almost relegates FX to the secondary role because we can't get inside his head anymore.
Another area that Mao Ni really needs to work on is to be more concise rather than verbose. He may think he's writing poetic prose, but it just comes across as choking on quicksand. One can tell from Mao Ni's writing that he's a fan of Gu Long, but what made Gu Long's writing so exquisite was his ability to say so much in such few words. Mao Ni is the opposite. He could have said it in two sentences, but he chooses to write two paragraphs!
The other thing that makes or breaks a novel is the construction of the characters. As other reviewers here have mentioned, FX is a very problematic protagonist. He's presented as a 30-something year old man who gets reborn as an infant in the alternate dimension. He grows up and by the time he starts on his adventures to the kingdom of Qing, he's about 45 years old. Despite that, he has no problem with falling in love with a 15 year old girl, and ends up marrying her. He later has more affairs with other 18-20 year old girls when he's old enough to be their father. The only female character close to him that he feels any fatherly love for is his sister in the alternate dimension, Fan Ruoruo. However, in one scene where he is recovering from a major injury, he dreams of a fantasy where he is being nursed by both his wife and his sister, both women dressed in cute nurses' garb. You see, he not only was raised to be FR's brother, but he claimed he felt a fatherly responsibility for her. Next thing you know, he's having a lustful threesome fantasy. For crying out loud!!! And for all the effort he made to chase after and win over Lin Wan'er, his wife, in the last three volumes, he ends up yearning for the woman that he could never marry. *rolleyes*
Feminist Critique:
Having read another novel by Mao Ni, I notice that he likes to keep his female characters hidden from the reader, hiding their thoughts and their feelings. Even if a female character ends up playing an important role in the story to help FX accomplish his goal, her feelings and thoughts are never revealed. They exist for the male protagonist alone, and possess no agency to determine their own fate or role in the story. This gives the reader the impression that Mao Ni has no respect for the female characters of his own creation.
dnf
June 4, 2024Read alongside currently airing season 2 of Qing Yu Nian.
Way too long and as another reviewer states, the female characters are all supporting roles to the main chosen one Fan Xian. They scrubbed his character a lot in the drama whereas here he is off galivanting, has a few concubines, sexual relations with other women in Bei Qi. Even a nine year old girl is in love with him, yuck. Wan'er acts as a vase, the sickly supportive beautiful wife. Political plotting is top notch but sidelining of female characters (stereotypically the saintess, the prostitute, the worshipper) so blergh.
Way too long and as another reviewer states, the female characters are all supporting roles to the main chosen one Fan Xian. They scrubbed his character a lot in the drama whereas here he is off galivanting, has a few concubines, sexual relations with other women in Bei Qi. Even a nine year old girl is in love with him, yuck. Wan'er acts as a vase, the sickly supportive beautiful wife. Political plotting is top notch but sidelining of female characters (stereotypically the saintess, the prostitute, the worshipper) so blergh.
August 31, 2024
This is everything I want in a book.
One of my all time favourite
Absolutely adore the personality of the MC
One of my all time favourite
Absolutely adore the personality of the MC
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews