A review by mimosaeyes
Thousand Autumns [千秋] by 梦溪石

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.