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iariaBook 2
+ Can Xie Lian not be killed? Even banished he's an immortal cultivator but Lang Qianqiu staked him in the heart and buried him in a coffin!
+ Xie Lian says that he's "never had any good luck" but we know that's not true. As Crown Prince he had excellent fortune. So what happened to it? Did he essentially face a two cup situation with the fall of Xianle and ended up losing his luck to try and save his country/people, or did he chose to trade his good fortune to help Honghong-er (or someone else) perhaps? Those seem the most likely causes of his current extreme misfortune. Because honestly it's so bad it feels like he's under a curse of bad luck more than anything.
+ I really liked Xie Lian's habit of taking into his care orphaned kids who need help - Banyue, Lang Ying, Honghong-er.
+ Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan and Lang Qingxuan's escapades in Ghost City were fun.
+ As with the first book Xie Lian/San Lang are wonderful. I loved the hand holding flirting disguised as teaching how to shake a dice cup. The whole scene was amazing. Xie Lian stroking Eming was great. I love that his first instinct when Eming was upset was to comfort it by reach out to pet it. Xie Lian wondering "if every time I roll a two, I can see you" (and his pause when he realises how that sounds) and San Lang replying that if he wants to see him he will come no matter what he rolls.
+ I love that Xie Lian is all 'I'm completely unaffected by anything unseemly/"heart is as still as water"/'mind and body guarded and steady as mountains' and then as soon as he's reunited with San Lang that is all thrown out the window, lol. Heart jumps and skips, heated face, faltered steps, racing heart. I love that he's 'subconciously drawn' to return San Lang's gaze.
+ I love how much trust Xie Lian has in his San Lang. At the gambling den he was positive that he wouldn't allow the situation to play out. He took Hua Cheng's hand and left his palace. He followed him into Qi Rong's base.
+ I love that Hua Cheng is all care and gentleness towards Xie Lian and yet he is absolutely willing to against Xie Lian's will in order to do what he thinks is best for him (the truth about the gilded banquet). I love his intensity towards Xie Lian (the way he is always watching him, the intensity of his looks) and about Xie Lian (his rage over the disrespectful kneeling statues, his violence at Qi Rong insulting him).
Also I liked San Lang's background rage at himself for inadvertently hurting Xie Lian.
+ I loved Hua Cheng getting violent with Qi Rong every time he was insulting towards Xie Lian - and then the one time Qi Rong turned his vitriol towards Hua Cheng Xie Lian punches him in the face! Hard!
+ I like how pleased Xie Lian always is at people praising/appreciating Hua Cheng.
+ I'm pretty surprised that Hua Cheng doesn't hate Lang Qianqiu a lot more then he seems to considering what he did to Xie Lian. Sure, he had 'killing intent' in his voice when they first encounter each other and he humiliates Lang Qianqiu but considering what he did to Xie Lian I'd be expecting more 'enemies for life' vibes.
+ Lang Qingxuan wanting to still duel Xie Lian after learning the truth made me shake my head. Dude, you staked and buried him. I think you've gotten you're revenge on that count!
+ The whole Yong'an situation was certainly a difficult one. I'm not sure what would have been better for Xie Lian to do. Probably taking the blame and then faking his death rather then letting himself be murdered. I do love how this shows Xie Lian's ruthless side. He killed off An Le (the last of his bloodline) to stop him from continuing to foment conflict between Xianle and Yong'an, he killed the Yong'an king in order to protect the Xianle people, and he took the blame for it all to protect Lang Qingxuan and everyone. And it worked! I love that what he did led to peace and prosperity under Lang Qingxuan.
+ I love Xie Lian's little friendship with the Wraith Butterflies. I love the book for making delicate silver butterflies a symbol of terror.
+ I continue to like how the various weapons that should have been inanimate have personalities. Ruoye is lovely, Eming and his excitement whenever it sees Xie Lian, and even Fangxin reacting to finally being back with it's wielder is all great. Would love more of it.
+ I was very disappointed by the armoury burning. All those carefully collected weapons just gone, boo.
+ I love Feng Xin's loyalty and care towards Xie Lian. Him breaking his own arm and kowtowing to stop Xie Lian from potentially taking the punishment and end the royal conflict was pretty extreme. I loved that he saw potential danger to Xie Lian (Qi Rong whipping) and just acted decisively to protect him.
+ Mu Qing is a complicated guy and I have complicated feelings about him right now. Him having a lot of resentment and attitude in the past certainly makes sense and I feel for him. But some of it seems aimed at Xie Lian which is a little annoying possibly more so because of how he's behaved in the current time. Currently he seems to want Xie Lian to be revealed to be terrible person while taking a sort of pleasure at Xie Lian's suffering which is just a lot considering what we actually see of their past. I feel like a part of him desperately needs Xie Lian to reveal he isn't as good as he is, in order to make himself feel better? To make his own choices okay in retrospect?
But I liked the glimpses we got of his softer side - him taking cherries to his mother, his relationship with the homeless kids, him working with Xie Lian during the procession.
+ I liked getting to see younger Xie Lian who is still so kind, and good-hearted and generous of spirit, who actively works to help/support people and yet is also pretty naive, immature and arrogant.
+ I was definitely inclined to think well of Xianle simply because it was Xie Lian's country but having seen it more in this book I am not impressed. His father's attitude towards people and the poverty vs the excessive consumption of the royalty and nobles is especially abhorrent. Also the King and Queen's lack of holding Qi Rong accountable is side-eye worthy.
+ Qi Rong, even in the past before he completely lost it, was just so much, holy cow.
+ I like the idea of how people's beliefs can affect the gods. I like the contrast in how Shi Qingxuan and Ling Wen react to their followers gender beliefs. Shi Qingxuan enthusiastically embraces being occasionally female, occasionally male. Ling Wen changes nothing about herself. So belief doesn't force a god to change, only change how they interact with their followers. There are a lot of fun/terrible places this could go.
+ I feel very affronted for Ling Wen that people refused to believe that a great civil goddess couldn't exist and refused to give her her due/prayers until her followers gave in and made her a male god. Boo!
+ Can Xie Lian not be killed? Even banished he's an immortal cultivator but Lang Qianqiu staked him in the heart and buried him in a coffin!
+ Xie Lian says that he's "never had any good luck" but we know that's not true. As Crown Prince he had excellent fortune. So what happened to it? Did he essentially face a two cup situation with the fall of Xianle and ended up losing his luck to try and save his country/people, or did he chose to trade his good fortune to help Honghong-er (or someone else) perhaps? Those seem the most likely causes of his current extreme misfortune. Because honestly it's so bad it feels like he's under a curse of bad luck more than anything.
+ I really liked Xie Lian's habit of taking into his care orphaned kids who need help - Banyue, Lang Ying, Honghong-er.
+ Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan and Lang Qingxuan's escapades in Ghost City were fun.
+ As with the first book Xie Lian/San Lang are wonderful. I loved the hand holding flirting disguised as teaching how to shake a dice cup. The whole scene was amazing. Xie Lian stroking Eming was great. I love that his first instinct when Eming was upset was to comfort it by reach out to pet it. Xie Lian wondering "if every time I roll a two, I can see you" (and his pause when he realises how that sounds) and San Lang replying that if he wants to see him he will come no matter what he rolls.
+ I love that Xie Lian is all 'I'm completely unaffected by anything unseemly/"heart is as still as water"/'mind and body guarded and steady as mountains' and then as soon as he's reunited with San Lang that is all thrown out the window, lol. Heart jumps and skips, heated face, faltered steps, racing heart. I love that he's 'subconciously drawn' to return San Lang's gaze.
+ I love how much trust Xie Lian has in his San Lang. At the gambling den he was positive that he wouldn't allow the situation to play out. He took Hua Cheng's hand and left his palace. He followed him into Qi Rong's base.
+ I love that Hua Cheng is all care and gentleness towards Xie Lian and yet he is absolutely willing to against Xie Lian's will in order to do what he thinks is best for him (the truth about the gilded banquet). I love his intensity towards Xie Lian (the way he is always watching him, the intensity of his looks) and about Xie Lian (his rage over the disrespectful kneeling statues, his violence at Qi Rong insulting him).
Also I liked San Lang's background rage at himself for inadvertently hurting Xie Lian.
+ I loved Hua Cheng getting violent with Qi Rong every time he was insulting towards Xie Lian - and then the one time Qi Rong turned his vitriol towards Hua Cheng Xie Lian punches him in the face! Hard!
+ I like how pleased Xie Lian always is at people praising/appreciating Hua Cheng.
+ I'm pretty surprised that Hua Cheng doesn't hate Lang Qianqiu a lot more then he seems to considering what he did to Xie Lian. Sure, he had 'killing intent' in his voice when they first encounter each other and he humiliates Lang Qianqiu but considering what he did to Xie Lian I'd be expecting more 'enemies for life' vibes.
+ Lang Qingxuan wanting to still duel Xie Lian after learning the truth made me shake my head. Dude, you staked and buried him. I think you've gotten you're revenge on that count!
+ The whole Yong'an situation was certainly a difficult one. I'm not sure what would have been better for Xie Lian to do. Probably taking the blame and then faking his death rather then letting himself be murdered. I do love how this shows Xie Lian's ruthless side. He killed off An Le (the last of his bloodline) to stop him from continuing to foment conflict between Xianle and Yong'an, he killed the Yong'an king in order to protect the Xianle people, and he took the blame for it all to protect Lang Qingxuan and everyone. And it worked! I love that what he did led to peace and prosperity under Lang Qingxuan.
+ I love Xie Lian's little friendship with the Wraith Butterflies. I love the book for making delicate silver butterflies a symbol of terror.
+ I continue to like how the various weapons that should have been inanimate have personalities. Ruoye is lovely, Eming and his excitement whenever it sees Xie Lian, and even Fangxin reacting to finally being back with it's wielder is all great. Would love more of it.
+ I was very disappointed by the armoury burning. All those carefully collected weapons just gone, boo.
+ I love Feng Xin's loyalty and care towards Xie Lian. Him breaking his own arm and kowtowing to stop Xie Lian from potentially taking the punishment and end the royal conflict was pretty extreme. I loved that he saw potential danger to Xie Lian (Qi Rong whipping) and just acted decisively to protect him.
+ Mu Qing is a complicated guy and I have complicated feelings about him right now. Him having a lot of resentment and attitude in the past certainly makes sense and I feel for him. But some of it seems aimed at Xie Lian which is a little annoying possibly more so because of how he's behaved in the current time. Currently he seems to want Xie Lian to be revealed to be terrible person while taking a sort of pleasure at Xie Lian's suffering which is just a lot considering what we actually see of their past. I feel like a part of him desperately needs Xie Lian to reveal he isn't as good as he is, in order to make himself feel better? To make his own choices okay in retrospect?
But I liked the glimpses we got of his softer side - him taking cherries to his mother, his relationship with the homeless kids, him working with Xie Lian during the procession.
+ I liked getting to see younger Xie Lian who is still so kind, and good-hearted and generous of spirit, who actively works to help/support people and yet is also pretty naive, immature and arrogant.
+ I was definitely inclined to think well of Xianle simply because it was Xie Lian's country but having seen it more in this book I am not impressed. His father's attitude towards people and the poverty vs the excessive consumption of the royalty and nobles is especially abhorrent. Also the King and Queen's lack of holding Qi Rong accountable is side-eye worthy.
+ Qi Rong, even in the past before he completely lost it, was just so much, holy cow.
+ I like the idea of how people's beliefs can affect the gods. I like the contrast in how Shi Qingxuan and Ling Wen react to their followers gender beliefs. Shi Qingxuan enthusiastically embraces being occasionally female, occasionally male. Ling Wen changes nothing about herself. So belief doesn't force a god to change, only change how they interact with their followers. There are a lot of fun/terrible places this could go.
+ I feel very affronted for Ling Wen that people refused to believe that a great civil goddess couldn't exist and refused to give her her due/prayers until her followers gave in and made her a male god. Boo!
