unforth_duckprintspress 's review for:

千秋 Qian Qiu by Meng Xi Shi

4.0

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I simultaneously enjoyed this book more and less than I expected to. Early on, the first few chapters, I was a little worried about how much manipulation would be involved in the relationship between Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi. Those fears were quickly proved unfounded (so quickly that I'm not even going to spoiler tag it). However, when all was said and done, I didn't feel like Meng Xi Shi *quite* managed to complete the "enemies to lovers" bridge. While there's an author's note about why things are handled as they are, I didn't really find it satisfying, and I'll admit I'm already pondering writing a "fix it" that bridges what I perceived to be the gap. That said, I still enjoyed the book, and I thought the political aspects of the plot were handled interestingly, though again, I could have wished there was a little more detail so that it'd feel a bit more "complete." 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence

Minor: Sexual violence

There's some dubious consent kissing between the main two characters, before they're in a relationship.