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oliin's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
afewisaacs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
fast-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
tgcf you are everything to me
lilytruonq's review against another edition
5.0
I would break the scale of 5 stars if i could on how much I love this book series. It's quite perfection in a nutshell and I fear I will never experience romance as deep as Xie Lian's and Hua Cheng's. The prose, quotes and world building is literally (no pun intended) out of this world.
meyrathedreamer's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so emotional right now, I can't think of a way to talk about this book but I can for sure say that it made me sob. I literally sobbed. It was amazing. Hualian is amazing.
roaming_library's review against another edition
4.0
I never thought randomly clicking on a new show on netflix would lead me to reading a 2000 page webnovel, but here we are. Really though, I had never even heard of Heaven Official's Blessing before, but the show looked beautiful so I decided, why not? Which of course led to needing to know more which led me to the novel. I wasn't really sure if I would like the book to be honest, I mainly just went into it because I wanted my questions from the show answered. But I ended up surprising myself and really loving it.
Just to be clear for anyone that might be confused, this story consists of five books total, with about 244 chapters all together. The premise of a god that has fallen from grace crossing paths with a ghost king is quite a bit of fun. This is a romance novel, so there are definitely some tropey aspects to it, but for the most part they're tropes I enjoy so I am not complaining. And overall, the story ended up being a lot more complex than I was expecting. There are a variety of characters and conflicts, storylines overlapping and connecting in unexpected ways. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, (I cannot even imagine how the author was able to keep everything straight) but it also makes the story that much more engaging and intriguing. The story was both funny and heartbreaking, and the character development was a joy to read. Overall Heaven Official's Blessing was a surprisingly great story that compelled me to keep reading. I really ended up loving Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, and even though I just got 2000 pages of them, I kinda want more
What I Liked
1. The Characters
There are a lot of characters, and a lot of them go by more than one name, so this can be a bit hard to keep track of at times. But, other than that, I liked pretty much all of the characters. They all had distinct personalities and added different things to the story. Xie Lian was a great main character, both in the sense that he is a good person within the story and that he is entertaining to read about. I love that he isn't shown to be perfect, but he is shown to always try and do the right thing. Even if he makes mistakes, he is still shown to be very capable and smart. And the story does a great job of conveying the difference between how he sees himself and how he presents. He is just wonderful and I loved to see where his story and development went.
The same can be said about Hua Cheng. He is a great character in his own right, and a great love interest. His design and personality are just fantastic. I loved that we got to see his more mischievous and hostile side when dealing with others, vs his kinder and softer side with Xie Lian. I only wish we could have had the chance to learn more about him and his past.
And the side characters are all entertaining as well, the Wind Master has to be my favorite. There is a rotating cast of minor characters, but also quite a few consistent side characters. They all have distinct personalities and roles within the story. I loved to see how the dynamic between Mu Qing and Feng Xin as well as the two of them with Xie Lian changed over the course of the story. They all had a pretty realistic dynamic with the others, and the evolution of their relationships with the others made a lot of sense to me and was pretty satisfying to see.
2. The Romance
I never want to hear anyone describe their story as slowburn again. This is it, nothing will ever beat Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's development. This has to be the most slowburn slowburn story to exist. I'm talking 800 years and 5 books worth of pining and development. Really though, Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's love story ended up killing me in the best way. The trope of like "powerful person helps and protects person in need" (I can't think of a more concise way to describe that, but you know what I mean right?) is not new. In fact, I think this is a pretty common trope in romance novels. But it is done so well here! Unlike others I've seen, Xie Lian never takes advantage of Hua Cheng's power or desire to help. Most of the time, Hua Cheng shows up to help unprompted. And Xie Lian never asks him to do anything for other people, or to volunteer information he is unwilling to give. He never takes Hua Cheng for granted, and is always very understanding of possible limitations. Plus he is always on the lookout for ways to help Hua Cheng back. I love this so much because, even though Hua Cheng is in a more advantageous position (better luck, more power, etc) I wouldn't say they are uneven. Xie Lian is not helpless, by any means, and he wants to support Hua Cheng just as much as Hua Cheng wants to support him.
On the flipside, Hua Cheng never uses his love for Xie Lian as an excuse to be controlling. He actively supports Xie Lian making his own decisions, and always looks for his input into situations. Their relationship is wonderfully balanced, even if in concept it seems like it wouldn't be. They both clearly view the other as an equal partner. I really love that there weren't any toxic romance tropes with them, like Xie Lian is never ashamed to associate with Hua Cheng (he actively defends him to the other gods before they are even together), and there weren't any 'miscommunication leads them to argue' storylines. Their love for each other and the journey they took to reach one another was just so great. It was heartbreaking and heartfelt. And the ending is just *chef's kiss*
3. The Premise/Themes
I suppose this is a romance novel first and foremost, but really the romance is only takes center stage in the last book (*see the times I reference 'slowburn' in the last paragraph*). The whole gods and ghosts that walk the earth thing is always something I've enjoyed, and I think The Heaven Official's Blessing does this well. The different arcs in this book involve solving different ghost problems in the mortal realm, all of which connect in such satisfying ways. The different adventures were fun to read about, and they all pertained back to the overall story in important ways--which I appreciated. I especially loved it in the last book where we see all of these characters come back for the finale.
In regards to the themes, most of what I loved pertained to Xie Lian's journey. Things like: prioritizing saving people over glory or power, believing in the good of people, loving a person even at their lowest moments. More concisely, the themes I liked were--the value of love, the value and difficulty of forgiveness, overcoming adversity.
What I Didn't Like
I only have a couple of fragment complaints, so I'll just put them together here. Bearing in mind that this is a translation, I don't want to be too harsh on some things. It is easy for meaning and tone to get misconstrued. I guess my biggest complaint would be the way some characters would sometimes react to things like different gender expression. Like in the very beginning, Xie Lian has to disguise himself as a bride to catch a ghost. And the other characters make like the jokes about how they can't look at him etc etc we've seen it a million times. Or how the Wind Master likes to switch between a male form and female form (which was cool) but the other characters try to dissuade this (which was not cool). To be fair, this really only happens a few times in the early books and stops showing up later. But I just feel it would have been cooler to have it not be an issue. I mean, setting up a system where these characters can choose however they present (I mean they are gods after all) could have led to better inclusion of different gender expressions. It isn't that egregious in this book, it just had me rolling my eyes a bit. Smaller things I've already said, it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing at times. And sometimes there are large sections of exposition dumping, so like not the most nuanced way to get information. But overall the good outweighs the bad for me.
Just to be clear for anyone that might be confused, this story consists of five books total, with about 244 chapters all together. The premise of a god that has fallen from grace crossing paths with a ghost king is quite a bit of fun. This is a romance novel, so there are definitely some tropey aspects to it, but for the most part they're tropes I enjoy so I am not complaining. And overall, the story ended up being a lot more complex than I was expecting. There are a variety of characters and conflicts, storylines overlapping and connecting in unexpected ways. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, (I cannot even imagine how the author was able to keep everything straight) but it also makes the story that much more engaging and intriguing. The story was both funny and heartbreaking, and the character development was a joy to read. Overall Heaven Official's Blessing was a surprisingly great story that compelled me to keep reading. I really ended up loving Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, and even though I just got 2000 pages of them, I kinda want more
Spoiler
What I Liked
1. The Characters
There are a lot of characters, and a lot of them go by more than one name, so this can be a bit hard to keep track of at times. But, other than that, I liked pretty much all of the characters. They all had distinct personalities and added different things to the story. Xie Lian was a great main character, both in the sense that he is a good person within the story and that he is entertaining to read about. I love that he isn't shown to be perfect, but he is shown to always try and do the right thing. Even if he makes mistakes, he is still shown to be very capable and smart. And the story does a great job of conveying the difference between how he sees himself and how he presents. He is just wonderful and I loved to see where his story and development went.
The same can be said about Hua Cheng. He is a great character in his own right, and a great love interest. His design and personality are just fantastic. I loved that we got to see his more mischievous and hostile side when dealing with others, vs his kinder and softer side with Xie Lian. I only wish we could have had the chance to learn more about him and his past.
And the side characters are all entertaining as well, the Wind Master has to be my favorite. There is a rotating cast of minor characters, but also quite a few consistent side characters. They all have distinct personalities and roles within the story. I loved to see how the dynamic between Mu Qing and Feng Xin as well as the two of them with Xie Lian changed over the course of the story. They all had a pretty realistic dynamic with the others, and the evolution of their relationships with the others made a lot of sense to me and was pretty satisfying to see.
2. The Romance
I never want to hear anyone describe their story as slowburn again. This is it, nothing will ever beat Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's development. This has to be the most slowburn slowburn story to exist. I'm talking 800 years and 5 books worth of pining and development. Really though, Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's love story ended up killing me in the best way. The trope of like "powerful person helps and protects person in need" (I can't think of a more concise way to describe that, but you know what I mean right?) is not new. In fact, I think this is a pretty common trope in romance novels. But it is done so well here! Unlike others I've seen, Xie Lian never takes advantage of Hua Cheng's power or desire to help. Most of the time, Hua Cheng shows up to help unprompted. And Xie Lian never asks him to do anything for other people, or to volunteer information he is unwilling to give. He never takes Hua Cheng for granted, and is always very understanding of possible limitations. Plus he is always on the lookout for ways to help Hua Cheng back. I love this so much because, even though Hua Cheng is in a more advantageous position (better luck, more power, etc) I wouldn't say they are uneven. Xie Lian is not helpless, by any means, and he wants to support Hua Cheng just as much as Hua Cheng wants to support him.
On the flipside, Hua Cheng never uses his love for Xie Lian as an excuse to be controlling. He actively supports Xie Lian making his own decisions, and always looks for his input into situations. Their relationship is wonderfully balanced, even if in concept it seems like it wouldn't be. They both clearly view the other as an equal partner. I really love that there weren't any toxic romance tropes with them, like Xie Lian is never ashamed to associate with Hua Cheng (he actively defends him to the other gods before they are even together), and there weren't any 'miscommunication leads them to argue' storylines. Their love for each other and the journey they took to reach one another was just so great. It was heartbreaking and heartfelt. And the ending is just *chef's kiss*
3. The Premise/Themes
I suppose this is a romance novel first and foremost, but really the romance is only takes center stage in the last book (*see the times I reference 'slowburn' in the last paragraph*). The whole gods and ghosts that walk the earth thing is always something I've enjoyed, and I think The Heaven Official's Blessing does this well. The different arcs in this book involve solving different ghost problems in the mortal realm, all of which connect in such satisfying ways. The different adventures were fun to read about, and they all pertained back to the overall story in important ways--which I appreciated. I especially loved it in the last book where we see all of these characters come back for the finale.
In regards to the themes, most of what I loved pertained to Xie Lian's journey. Things like: prioritizing saving people over glory or power, believing in the good of people, loving a person even at their lowest moments. More concisely, the themes I liked were--the value of love, the value and difficulty of forgiveness, overcoming adversity.
What I Didn't Like
I only have a couple of fragment complaints, so I'll just put them together here. Bearing in mind that this is a translation, I don't want to be too harsh on some things. It is easy for meaning and tone to get misconstrued. I guess my biggest complaint would be the way some characters would sometimes react to things like different gender expression. Like in the very beginning, Xie Lian has to disguise himself as a bride to catch a ghost. And the other characters make like the jokes about how they can't look at him etc etc we've seen it a million times. Or how the Wind Master likes to switch between a male form and female form (which was cool) but the other characters try to dissuade this (which was not cool). To be fair, this really only happens a few times in the early books and stops showing up later. But I just feel it would have been cooler to have it not be an issue. I mean, setting up a system where these characters can choose however they present (I mean they are gods after all) could have led to better inclusion of different gender expressions. It isn't that egregious in this book, it just had me rolling my eyes a bit. Smaller things I've already said, it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing at times. And sometimes there are large sections of exposition dumping, so like not the most nuanced way to get information. But overall the good outweighs the bad for me.
7mda's review against another edition
I wasn't in the right mental space then, I will come back to it once I am ready. As the story can get intense at the later chapters.
vin_81's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.75
mintchipcookie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
5.0
GOD DAMN THIS BECAME MY PERSONALITY FOR A WHOLE YEAR.
yinlin's review against another edition
4.0
xianle trio thank you for my life... also one star deducted on account of mxtx being a freak