Reviews with content warning for War - Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu (Novel) Vol. 1

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Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu (Novel) Vol. 1 by Meng Xi Shi

7 reviews

esmeloa's review

3.75

So, second danmei it is (just read TGCF so far).

First, yes, as many have said, lots of info dump. It does make it quite hard to read at times, and having watched the donghua first definitely helped me picture all the different characters better when reading the novel. (I was unsure if I should jump right to volume 3 or still read vol 1 and 2 first, but this volume has proven me that it's interesting to read vol 1 and 2 even after having watched the donghua - many scenes are remodeled quite differently in the donghua, toned down let's say.)

I also have some issues with the translation - it's fine for the most part, but

"This Shen asks Sect Leader Yan to bring him away with you.” (171) : just why. Why, why. As a comparison in the donghua it went "Take me away with you." Granted that's probably quite a stretch from the original, but this is English we're dealing with. The impact of this line is completely lost in the novel's translation. I understand why it's translated that way, except the utter lack of localization lefts me a bit bewildered as a reader. You cannot possibly read this and feel anything other than "well what was that." As faithful as a translation needs to be it still needs to be natural English. "Bring him away with you" : is it him or is it you? That's just not a proper English sentence.

In general I don't understand why danmei translators keep the third tense for characters talking about themselves in English. You wouldn't find that in any novel (I don't know much about Chinese literature, but I read Japanese, in which similarly the third person tense can be used to talk about oneself. Professional translators don't leave the third person tense when translating Japanese novels, because it does not make sense in Western languages.) I'm all for remaining faithful to the original but not when 1. It hinders your comprehension of the text and reduces its impact, and 2. It seems quite random. All the shixiong, shidi, etc are kept but Yan Wushi is somehow "sect leader." The sentence I quoted just really encapsulates why I disagree with certain translation choices in this novel, and wish there were more thorough editing.

Anyway do I love what's going on between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao yes absolutely so I'm driving into volume 2 rn but here is why it's a 3.75 : info dump (on the author) and questionable translation (on the translator). Otherwise it's so far quite good.

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camo_mila's review

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medium-paced

2.0

The writing/translation is not bad and the novel is easy to read and understand.

however

my problems were:

it lacks personality, not much of an actual story to be told, the characters didn't have much of a personality either;
nothing happens, you have 400ish pages of story telling of the world building that is simply put: basic;
over repetition of facts, we as readers already know that Shen Qiao developed a good sense and hearing after losing his vision, you don't have to repeat that all the time;
even though I know this story barely has any romance, tension and dialogue are important. They spent days together without us having any clue of their talks and interactions, you can't just brush it off when they arrive there, it feels lazy.

Summarizing: this novel tastes like nothing

With all of that said, I don't think I'll continue reading.

I do think it's a good novel for those who have zero or don't have much experience with the genre yet. To maybe getting used to the genre, but in my humble opinion, you can find better novels out there.

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