Jo⁷’s Reviews > Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu, Vol. 1 > Status Update

HI I totally understand this—my recommendation honestly would be to push through the first book then decide whether or not it’s for you—and maybe watch the show as well because that may help ground you more in the story and get more familiar with the characters! It took me a bit to get used to the names, the world, and the writing too, so don’t get discouraged ;). It ended up being totally worth it for me and it’s one of my favorite series. The romance is beautiful and definitely a slow burn! I really hope you end up enjoying it if you continue!!

hannah⁷ wrote: "HI I totally understand this—my recommendation honestly would be to push through the first book then decide whether or not it’s for you—and maybe watch the show as well because that may help ground..."

Yessss I really want to watch the show! That might be what works for me so I'll do that, thank you! I wanted to get into this series specifically because of how beautiful of a romance hualian have, so I'll stick it out.

If you need help, I'm more than happy to help you! ☺️ I know this story like the back of my hand! Haha

It may be worth making yourself a cheat sheet of the names until you’re more familiar with them, I remember doing something similar when I first started (although the anime does help).

It does become easier the more danmei you read though! Especially with the historical ones its very common for a character to have three names and depending on which name is used speaks to the relationship between the people. Also if you google Character maps there are often mind maps people have made to that readers can keep track of the names and relationships. With how popular this series is you will probably find some that are helpful ❤️

Evie wrote: "It may be worth making yourself a cheat sheet of the names until you’re more familiar with them, I remember doing something similar when I first started (although the anime does help).

It does be..."

I second this. There's also a Wiki for TGCF.
If you Google it, it'll come up. It'll have the names at the top. Also, the glossary in the back of the book helps too.

The writing for me was also very animeske, i don't know how other way to put it, like, it reads like a cartoon? But I ended up enjoying it regardless, just a different style to what im used to

I personally found that Heaven's Official Blessing was too much in many ways and recommend Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation as an alternative if you can't get into this. The plot is much tighter (though names are still a lot because they always are in xianxia stories) and the main characters feel more vivid than Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. Hua Cheng does suffer from a bit of "I am so perfect I can do nothing wrong" syndrome.

V~ wrote: "If you need help, I'm more than happy to help you! ☺️ I know this story like the back of my hand! Haha"

thank you, that's very kind of you! 🩷

Evie wrote: "It may be worth making yourself a cheat sheet of the names until you’re more familiar with them, I remember doing something similar when I first started (although the anime does help).

It does be..."

I did find a character map someone made and I started the show last night too, which has helped soooooo much. I usually always watch sub but the dub has actually been more helpful for me, just getting it click better somehow.