Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Thousand Autumns [千秋]

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Thousand Autumns [千秋] by 梦溪石

2 reviews

nikolama's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I really like the elaborate historical setting (this is historical fiction) where this was placed into, certainly made me interested in learning more about Chinese history. The novel also involves politics and their dynamic is not difficult to understand. I wonder if knowing the historical background beforehand would make for a better read. The writing is very beautiful and full off references to Chinese poetry and literature. I was fortunate enough to find a relatively good translation but I bet reading this novel in the language it was written in would have been a whole other experience. One of my favourite exerts from the novel:

"However, the tranquility he was experiencing now was a result of him going through the blasts, the storms, and all kinds of predicaments. When the raging waves ceased, the moon climbed up above the clouds, merging the water and the sky into the same colour. There were no waves, no ripples, no grief, nor happiness. It was like watching spring darkening the grass along the stone stairs or autumn thinning the layers of clouds upon the sky. It was like seeing a well reflecting the lonely lantern hanging above it or the moon shining on the colored glass below.

And also the novel wasn't short on funny moments and witty jokes

the fish ball sparring between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao and then the fish head soup with green vegetables joke regarding one of the character's name made me laugh

I am also very happy that the novel has women as genuine characters and some of them are in positions of power. Essentially, the novel recognised the patriarchal system without the need to have graphic scenes of misogyny and discrimination. Instead it is able to simply imply it without resorting to unnecessary objectification and sexualisation.
I'm not very fond of the romance aspect of the novel: the romance is not very explicit and defined

no one ever confesses directly through "I love you" or "I like you"

, which in itself is not an issue, however, when it is combined with previous abusive teasing to me it comes off irresponsible to not have a clear indication of consent.

To me Shen Qiao comes off as someone on the asexual spectrum, and while his feelings become very clear in one of the extras it still feels very forceful of Yan Wushi to have to resort to shutting off Shen Qiao's meridians for a kiss (aka paralysing) and etc. If Shen Qiao's into cnc etc. there needs to be some sort of clearer indication that he has given consent. I guess you could argue that he would have actually put up a fight but it does not make me feel much better. I do like them as a couple overall but I think they would have worked well as just friends too.

The following are more depending on one's own preferences. Shen Qiao as a main character is very predictable and one dimensional

after falling off the cliff what he realizes is that Mount Xuandu's isolation made it ignorant to the political climate and how that puts the lives of many at risk. This does not change him as a person in terms of morals and values but it does change his perception of how Mount Xuandu did indeed need to open up somehow. Then no matter what Yan Wushi did he remained the same.

, while others not as much. I found that the conflict resolution at the end was very quick, tying up all of the loose ties at the end. There were a lot of fight or sparring scenes which ended up exhausting me personally at the end

I found them predictable??? Like I wasn't worried that Shen Qiao would die at any point in the novel. To me, the whole addition of Hulugu being alive all this time was a bit unnecessary. It did show everyone that Shen Qiao is powerful, but the way it was done was not interesting to me because to the reader that was already established (being able to fight with Yan Wushi at least somehow). I wanted the martial arts competition to be more interesting. And then, I guess, it did put Yan Wushi in a vulnerable position making Shen Qiao indirectly confess his love (if you can call it that) and give Yan Wushi another chance to tease Shen Qiao.

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veronikav's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

3.5

Finally I have finished this colossus of a novel! I had many ideas for a fun and cheeky start to this review amidst which I wanted to make a joke about how Shen Qiao literally gave up his asceticism for some good d... but honestly it's Yan Wushi that was simping and chasing after him desperately in the end.
Let's get the first awkwardness out of the way - I was not that into the relationship. Even though there were compelling moments I ended up not enjoying the direction the characters went to. Shen Qiao was way too timid when it came to their relationship for my liking and Yan Wushi was just... I feel like his character didn't get a proper redemption arc. Or let me phrase it this way - I do not care if characters are evil and malicious but I do like the relationships they're in to feel somewhat balanced. It's because of that that I can enjoy Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu's relationship in Tian Ye Ke where both of them are pretty despicable people but because they are both this way it feels deserved. I just feel like to deserve Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi should go through a more soul-crushing change. A good attempt at this is the post-ambush arc where we can see hints of Yan Wushi's younger self - however this is not further explored once that arc ends and we don't actually get to find out much about Yan Wushi's motivations in the end.
Thousand Autumns is a robust historical fantasy novel. The setting is something I cannot judge the accuracy of because my knowledge of Chinese history is absolutely lacking. However I can acknowledge that the philosophical aspects of this novel were much more accurate than you tend to see in wuxia - as far as Taoism is concerned the author had a good grasp of it and actually utilized it in the plot beyond just "magical fairy people can fly cause I said so". Same goes for the political aspects and world building - it is a very solid work in this aspect. Furthermore I have to praise the translation that the first 70 chapters have which felt effortless and natural to an extent that is hard to see in amateur translation.
The book is very plot heavy. So if you're only into it for the relationship you should maybe consider if you're willing to go through all of it. After all it takes really long for the relationship between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao to actually start growing - even though they have their share of flirtatious/coupl-y moments before that, it's all just manipulation and neither party is serious about it.
Generally I think the quality of this book is very good and if not for censorship laws this would be a book that can do well as a published work too. However personally I wasn't charmed by the main couple and ended up a bit frustrated because of it.

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