I was peripherally aware of the xianxia/danmei boom some years ago, which was led by this series in particular. I remember the hype and excitement when the animated series came out, then when the live action version came out on Netflix. But despite all the hype, I wasn’t that interested; I had other things on my mind then.

Recently, though, one of my close friends managed to talk me into giving xianxia a shot, and after attempting to sell me on a handful of series, I decided to try this one. It was the one that appealed to me most when she started selling me on the genre, and what better place to start than the series that catapulted an entire genre to popularity, right?

And I have to say: I am HOOKED. Not so much on the pairing, though I can see why the entire fandom’s latched onto them and is very invested in them. Wei Wuxian is pretty entertaining, not least because he loves to stir up trouble, while Lan Wangji makes such a wonderful foil for him that the two of them are pretty fun to read about. I wouldn’t say their characterization is very deep, at least not yet, given that this is just the first volume in a series of five, but even if their characterization isn’t all that complex they are still fun to read about, and capable of holding the reader’s attention. 

But what really made me latch onto this series were the world-building, and the plot. I am INTRIGUED by the world in which this is set, which is familiar to me from watching historical wuxia movies, but the fantasy-related touches connected to cultivation make it stand out in a different way compared to, say, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (though technically they belong to two different genres, and not just because one’s a book and the other’s a movie). And the plot is VERY engaging: it’s basically a series of supernatural mysteries, with the resolution of one mystery leading into another, with two or three overarching mysteries that will likely stretch across the entirety of the series. I am a SUCKER for that kind of story, and this book structures them in a way that is basically like candy for my brain, and makes me want to keep going.

Which is what I’ll be doing: I’m hopping right into the second volume as soon as I’ve gotten my mitts on it (which won’t be long, thankfully - this is why I got into ebooks!), and I’m going to keep on rolling with this momentum because I REALLY want to find out where this whole thing’s going! 

While this book did have issues, like using the word "crippled" on 1 page for example, I still really enjoyed reading it! 
I know that people have been saying the translation isn't great, but I think I'm just too dumb to pick up on that... I didn't have an issue with the translation and I thought it had quite fast, but again that might be because I'm just too dumb to pick up on any issues.

Also side note: Lan Wangji seems way less autistic coded in the book than in the live action series and I don't know how I feel about that... He definitely still feels autistic coded, but yeah just less. Kinda makes me sad because I was really hoping he would be even more autistic coded in the book.

Anyway Lan Wangji is autistic and Wei Wuxian has ADHD. Nobody can change my mind about it!