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A review by shanaqui
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Volume three of Heaven Official's Blessing is very up-and-down. The first part is the conclusion of the second arc, which is an extended flashback filling in details of events we pretty much knew about already. Much as I liked seeing Xie Lian in an earlier stage of his life, that quickly palled. While I know the significance of seeing Honghong-er and the unnamed little soldier, and it was important to see Xie Lian fallible and foolhardy, and you gotta appreciate the rudimentary epidemiology (at least, you do if you're me)... it feels like it all just took too long.
That said, the third arc hits the ground running and had me quickly grabbing volume four to continue the story. It feels like so much happens in the "present" arc, including a lot of delightful moments like the lanterns for Xie Lian and his utter freakout about the underwater "kiss"; the second arc really suffers in comparison to that as well, because that's just one thing after the other, adventure leading into adventure... and of course, it also features more Hua Cheng.
In some ways, I feel like there was a similar problem in The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. The character whose mind we most wanted to understand was Luo Binghe, but the narrative sticks close to Shen Qingqiu, who doesn't understand what's going on. Xie Lian is a different flavour of oblivious, but he's still oblivious, and I really want to know what Hua Cheng is thinking.
Not that that relationship is the be-all and end-all -- there's also a fascinating story going on with other characters, which I'm excited to dig into. As ever, the cut-off happens mid-arc, so have volume four at the ready.
That said, the third arc hits the ground running and had me quickly grabbing volume four to continue the story. It feels like so much happens in the "present" arc, including a lot of delightful moments like the lanterns for Xie Lian and his utter freakout about the underwater "kiss"; the second arc really suffers in comparison to that as well, because that's just one thing after the other, adventure leading into adventure... and of course, it also features more Hua Cheng.
In some ways, I feel like there was a similar problem in The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. The character whose mind we most wanted to understand was Luo Binghe, but the narrative sticks close to Shen Qingqiu, who doesn't understand what's going on. Xie Lian is a different flavour of oblivious, but he's still oblivious, and I really want to know what Hua Cheng is thinking.
Not that that relationship is the be-all and end-all -- there's also a fascinating story going on with other characters, which I'm excited to dig into. As ever, the cut-off happens mid-arc, so have volume four at the ready.