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theslashpileTitle: 漠上寒沙 | Cold Sands (Beyond the Frore Dunes)
Author: 牧云岚卿 (The translator is ayszhang)
Format: Novel
Length: About 80K (estimate)
Status: Complete
Rating: M
Warnings:
Summary: "He was just a low-ranking deputy general and he was a prince. They met on the battlefield but it turned out to be the beginning of a complicated and beautiful story."
Review: Heads up: the original Chinese novel was so-so. The English translation (which I assume is what most people here would go read) was mesmerizing. The English version is the one I'm recommending.
The translator/writer did a lot of research (or is just really smart) and it shows. I'm really impressed by how Chinese poetry/lyric/idioms are handled. The cultural aspects are exquisite, with enough worldbuilding to paint a culture. The writing style is beautiful, the story hits the agnst nail really hard. There's a lot of plot - omg, I LOVE political intrigue, I love plot and there's a lot of messy, delicious PLOT. The plot begins kind of slow, but there's a lot of fore-shadowing and relationship building.
Best of all - the characters. It's the protagonist who goes and carves out solutions to his problems, does what he can in a world that's against him from the start and use his brain to beat everyone else. The protagonist is also witty and his snark is pretty darn entertaining. The other guy, is an intelligent, ruthless alpha-male to the cunning, sneaky protagonist.
Plotwise, it's roughly about how a nobleman who just want to be free and unbothered gets captured by the enemy, falls in love and then return to his kingdom to discover he was the remaining heir to the throne. And so he seizes power in the corrupted hierarchy to fight against his powerful, invading lover, who was trying to conquer the empire.
So yes, a lot of interesting dynamics. The side characters are also interesting. I really feel sorry for some of them.
The translator/writer did a lot of research (or is just really smart) and it shows. I'm really impressed by how Chinese poetry/lyric/idioms are handled. The cultural aspects are exquisite, with enough worldbuilding to paint a culture. The writing style is beautiful, the story hits the agnst nail really hard. There's a lot of plot - omg, I LOVE political intrigue, I love plot and there's a lot of messy, delicious PLOT. The plot begins kind of slow, but there's a lot of fore-shadowing and relationship building.
Best of all - the characters. It's the protagonist who goes and carves out solutions to his problems, does what he can in a world that's against him from the start and use his brain to beat everyone else. The protagonist is also witty and his snark is pretty darn entertaining. The other guy, is an intelligent, ruthless alpha-male to the cunning, sneaky protagonist.
Plotwise, it's roughly about how a nobleman who just want to be free and unbothered gets captured by the enemy, falls in love and then return to his kingdom to discover he was the remaining heir to the throne. And so he seizes power in the corrupted hierarchy to fight against his powerful, invading lover, who was trying to conquer the empire.
So yes, a lot of interesting dynamics. The side characters are also interesting. I really feel sorry for some of them.
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Date: 2016-02-18 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 08:12 pm (UTC)