Reviews

Thousand Autumns [千秋] by 梦溪石

bambhee's review against another edition

4.0

La velocità con cui ho letto questa novel - io, poi, che sono la lentezza fatta persona - è impressionante, per i miei standard, e soprattutto - un ottimo indizio di quanto effettivamente mi sia piaciuta. Non riesco a spiegarlo a parole, ma credo sinceramente sia la mia preferita tra tutte quelle - ancora non molte, mi tocca ammetterlo - che ho letto finora.
L'interesse mi è partito, come spesso succede, "per colpa" del character design dei due protagonisti. Il mio cuore ha sentito fin da subito qualcosa per Shen Qiao, e lì ho capito di avere bisogno di saperne di più. Una volta cominciato a leggere, mi è stato impossibile smettere. (Credo ci abbiano messo lo zampino anche i primi dieci+ capitoli introduttivi / di passaggio, li ho letti con foga nella speranza di "liberarmene" presto e passare subito al punto della storia in cui Shen Qiao e Yan Wushi cominciano ad interagire sul serio.)
Da lì è stato tutto un crescendo di emozioni. Mi sono affezionata a moltissimi personaggi - Bai Rong in primis, ma anche Yan Wushi mi ha colpita molto più di quanto avrei mai potuto immaginare - e sono felicissima di aver dato a "Thousand Autumns" la possibilità che assolutamente si merita, senza farmi frenare dai vari commenti che la citavano come troppo politica o che le "rimproverano" il mancato focus sulla storia d'amore tra i due protagonisti - che non è, infatti, neanche lontanamente il centro della vicenda - l'assenza di papapa e quant'altro. "Thousand Autumns" ha saputo lasciarmi tantissimo anche senza tutte queste cose, e gliene sarò per sempre grata.

danmeibykai's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

thedisreputabledog's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

_holycow_'s review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this story. It was not my favorite but it was a good read. Obviously enough to finish it in two weeks soooo. But the end I love. Like the author had specified so many times that he is incapable of love and that he hates humanity. The fact that he didn’t immediately kill him is awesome actually and that he didn’t turn him in but “helped” him escape from his family is also amazing. Imma be honest it sorta surprised me and was unexpected when MC suddenly liked him when he saw him at the door but other than that beautiful and it totally makes sense that his multiple personalities took over and made him start to like him because then it just proves that the personality he originally had would NEVER like him. I liked the development and the MC is amazing. I mean everyone says it’s unrealistic that he never did anything bad and was not capable of not not hating someone cause so many bad things happened to him. But that’s litterly what made people hate and like him. Like it was explained why he is like that and how he still can. I mean his thought process was literally in the book. I did hate ml quite a few times like I was calling him a bitch and crying but they got a happy ending so Woop. His brother though or whoever was his successor is an absolute menace and he is fckin devious. That bitch is something else. Not ml bad but only a small step behind. 

majo_15's review

adventurous emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

mimosaeyes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've long heard of this one, and been told to expect a lot of politics and not as much romance. I can see why people would say the former, but as for the latter, I am perfectly satisfied with the pay-off. There are lines that had me screaming in multiple Discord servers (I was liveblogging for internet friends). Shen Qiao is my darling and Yan Wushi grew on me like some sort of persistent mould. They aren't so much an "aaah, they're meant to be together!" ship, as an "I want to study them under a microscope, they're fascinating" kind of deal.

The author clearly knows her history and I honestly struggled a bit to keep up with some of the dense background. But the ensemble cast of characters are lively and three-dimensional, and as for the plot, I like that a lot of thought was put into how big names in the jianghu play a role in bringing certain people to power, and how this affects ordinary civilians in a time of much strife. The writing itself is also praiseworthy. Especially in certain passages and images, it has an understated quality to it, a subtlety, that really hits the right notes.

yoohankim's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

4.5

mksana's review against another edition

5.0

Original Rating : 4.7 Star

Wow that was quite a journey....
Slow burn was just ......<3

saramdeuri's review against another edition

4.25

Qian Qiu is more of a series of philosophical questions than it is a danmei, although it forgoes giving you a set answer to any of those. instead, it finally asks, "wouldn't it be so hot if good and evil kissed each other sloppy style?", and yeah. it is

jokes aside, QQ was a pretty fun read! I went into this thinking it'd be more danmei than anything else, but actually it's about 80% political intrigue and philosophising. it was still entertaining though! even if, I admit, I could barely remember the full pantheon of characters (watching the donghua alongside it helped a little in this case, my poor little brain-eye cannot imagine that many faces in such quick succession) it was still quite satisfying to have them all congregate at the end for the final, explosive scenes. quite a well-crafted plot too. and so so wonderful to finally see some competent, capable women in BL who aren't just there to invite jealousy/envy, and even acknowledgement of sexism in the wuxia/jianghu genre! Bai Rong I hope all is well for you. speaking of - the characterisation is very well done for the main set especially! Yan Wushi was a given favourite for me (sucker for evil old men) but I didn't expect to end up favouring Shen Qiao this much. the author does such a good job at making his inner voice complex. other reviews have written about this better than I could, take a look! 

most of the danmei does occur in the extras, but boy is it sweet when it does. the little sprinkles we get across the main plot did give me those thrills of pleasure, too, even if most of the tension was "are they gonna fight about their morals or what?". when they do finally kiss though... oh boy, my poor fujo heart. I wish them their thousand autumns of love, joy, and passion.

the little extra about old Yan Wushi waiting for Shen Qiao with a drink he kept warm with his qi was extra sweet <3

neamsyyy's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0