evitak's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Torture, Death, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Cursing
Minor: Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Transphobia
witheredflower's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicidal thoughts
karin_goodreads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So, MXTX might be my favourite author currently and maybe even of all time, because both MDZS and TGCF have taken over my life. I think TGCF is even longer than the Bible (fact?) and I just read through it like my life depended on it. Currently I'm reading the manhua and let me tell you - STARember's style and designs are SO PRETTY!! The story just feels even more grand. I'm just really into this stuff :)
There are many characters in this story too and they have usually just one name and some of them have a special title or a nickname. Like, one thing that I really liked was that Hua Cheng, who was the Supreme Ghost King was called Crimson Rain Sought Flower - if you know the story then you also know the meaning and I really like how it adds to the character. For some reason Qi Rong, who I hated AND loved because of his antics, swearing, dramatics and his unhinged and chaotic behaviour, had such a cute appearance in my head, even though he shouldn't. Like he was called Green Ghost Qi Rong or Night-Touring Green Lantern - that sounds cute to me but he is *definitely* not.
The characters were again written really well and the world building was great too! This time the characters pulled me in even more, because the humor and chaoticness was just so good. The story had the action and adventure we needed, we got our romance that Hua Cheng waited 800 years for (no big deal.. *pfft*) and some ✨spice✨ too. We got literal gods, cultivators, ghosts and all kinds of monsters and beings. Oh, Hua Cheng's scimitar E-Ming even had it's own spirit and Xie Lian's Ruoye too. Both of their "birth" story's are heartbreaking. And also, Hua Cheng's little Wraith Butterflies!!!! They are so pretty and cute BUT incredibly deadly too😍
Spoiler
So basically.. 800 years ago, Xie Lian, who was The Crown Prince of Xianle, ascended and became a god with tens of thousands of worshippers, but soon everything went downhill. He was sent back to the mortal realm, where he quietly suffered for 800 years. Seriously, it was so distressing and painful. The things that happened to him were truly just horrible. Hua Cheng who also suffered, tried to become powerful and unstoppable just because he wanted to protect Xie Lian, who didn't even know that he still had his most devoted worshipper fighting for him. Seriously, Hua Cheng was DEDICATED. I don't know where he got that kind of willpower. Well probably from his intense love and need to protect Xie Lian but still, his dedication was unrivaled.This novel had a lot of quotes and moments that just spoke volumes. I think one of the quotes that can be understood and felt even without reading the novel is this one (to this day this quote is precious to me):
The one standing in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is ‘you’ and not the state of you.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Self harm
Minor: Death of parent and Child abuse
ssyx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
xie lian is my favorite main character ever. period. in anything i’ve watched or read i can say with confidence xie lian is my favorite. he’s smart, funny, competent, and compassionate. he understands the ugliness of the world and how evil and cruel it can be
Spoiler
sigh book 4 sighhua cheng is a cool mf. everything about him is cool af. i would say i’m xie lians #1 fan but i couldn’t take hua cheng in a fight. i love him. he literally invented love. he’s one of the coolest characters i’ve ever read about (which to be fair he had 800 years where he solely practiced not being a loser to he could rizz up xie lian) he’s smart, he’s funny, it’s powerful af, and he’s be through everything with xie lian and will continue to go through everything with xie lian.
there are so many thematic and character parallels in tgcf and it’s so cool to go through the book and notice all of them
Spoiler
most prominent one to me is hua cheng’s obsession with xie lian compared to jun wu(fuck u jun wu i hope ur suffering)something about tgcf that is different from other books i’ve read is i actually give a shit about the side characters storylines. i loved reading about the backstories of all of the gods and the ghosts.
Spoiler
beefleaf you will always be iconic and they can have a happy ending ur delusional enoughi’ve written so much and i haven’t even gotten to how good the plot is yet. but i’ll spare the details because to no one’s surprise i loved it as well. it’s 750k words and it still felt too short because i loved it so much. also some also bangers quotes.
Spoiler
edgar allan poe has been real quiet since “what matters is ‘you’ not the state of you” droppedanyways i love tgcf and i want all of the books tattooed into my brain.
tldr: god is gay and is married to the devil
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Self harm, Violence, War, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, and Death of parent
xie lian has no regards for his safety love him for that but it can be a little scary lol (˃̵ᴗ˂̵)some_random_person_hi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I adore the way the themes of fate and love as well as the sheer number of character foils and ship(?) foils this book is so analysable as a lit student I am in love with it. But unlike other books that read like it's written for analysis (cough to kill a mockingbird, babel cough) and thus vaguely boring, this one is so fast paced. I read a couple of paragraphs and something new has already happened -> I finally managed to voluntarily finish a full length chinese book that isn't explicitly written for kids
Mm I'm never going to forget this book it singlehandedly dragged my chinese grades up, made me stop hating my mother tongue, hard carried my will to live for a semester all because I finally found a fast-paced fantasy book that I could understand.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Abortion, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Abandonment, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Stalking, Excrement, Racism, and Misogyny
Minor: Rape and Animal death
eatingbrains's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I do think the official translations streamlined and polished everything based on what I did read.
What can I even say about the story? It's about love and hate. It's about destiny. It's about willpower. It's about life and death. It's about sacrifice.
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Classism, Cursing, Murder, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Child death, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Medical content
aeons_v_atlas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Has fantastic realistic Dialogue and series of events, though a bit silly at times
Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Terminal illness, Grief, War, Violence, Death, and Child abuse
rainsought's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, War, Body horror, and Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Murder, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Torture
thecharnelraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Death, and Homophobia
illiteratenerd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War
Moderate: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Murder, Child abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault