I could t believe people said this was YA

I like this book so far (spoiling myself rn bc im halfway through) but I do agree with your points, I think my main excitement about it was a polycule who is not shown as a gross yucky thing, and the world seemed interesting. however a friend of mine mentioned that zetian had no positive relationships w other women, and that working class women seemingly didnt exist here which made things click after my first awe reaction. i do agree with both of these points, and it sucks bc supposedly zetian is doing it for all women but the book barely - so far - passes the bechdel test. (or does it)

best book reviewing person !!!!!

taking away a few recommendations from this video, thank you for being so thorough love the way you explained the plots <3

Honestly, I haven’t read almost any dragon fantasy romances and now I want authors to write more because I wanna read them all 🥰 I really need to get to When the Moon Hatched though!! Especially now

One of the best reviews I’ve seen ahaahhaha drinking chocolate milk and immediately falling asleep is very relatable

I'm currently on a book buying ban, but I can't resist watching book hauls! 🤣 I actually had a coworker that was talking about the mindf**k series and was saying it was really good.

Hey!! I saw this video a week ago and I thought let's just give it a try and right now I am on volume 4 😂 because it is soo soo good, literally I save all the art work and I love every scene of xi lian and Hua cheng, volume 2 is my favourite right now but also volume 3, I love all the volumes till now, can't choose one. The art of the gambling den is my wallpaper. Just wanted to say thanks, because I would have never picked it on my own, can't wait to read the rest of the books cry and swoon for their love❤❤ And then watch the show and fall in love with them once again.

Definitely would love 1hr long vlog on little life

Oh A Little Life has been a huge read lately on booktube. Be prepared for some trauma. It is vlog worthy for sure

it took me sooo long to start this book but once I got into it.... life-changing, it is quite possibly my favourite love story ever I will always be obsessed

Hmmm so you dont like flawed characters then. Okay

I have, indeed, subscribed! 💖💖

2:15 - I think people these days are rarely referencing the ending(or the genre/story which lends itself to that type of ending) when they namedrop Romeo & Juliet; they usually just mean the love interests are from different/star-crossed/rival sides or worlds or factions or backgrounds or whatever. 😅🤭😊 🙂 Lol I just came here from your Iron Widow review, literally just discovered your channel, but so far I'm really liking your vibe-looking forward to watching more from you! 💖💖

Wow, a western female author of Chinese descent misrepresenting, and under developing a character loosely based on his historical figure. Where have I heard that one before? Oh well time to go back to reading the poppy war.

AHH I LOVE TGCF SM IF YOU WANNA FINE MORE STORIES LIEK TGCF GO GO FOR THE REST OF MXTX'S NOVELS !!! MDZS IS VERY GOOD IT HAS A LIVE ACTION TOO!!

Recommend you try the animation of Mo Dao Zu Shi. You will love it!

I find it ironic you have Kira in the background while reviewing this book heavily inspired by Wu Zetian lol

This wasn't meant to be about feminism, but power and revenge. MC was based on a real life historical figure and to completely change her character and motivation would be dishonest. The author has even stated she is a villian/anti hero. I think we also have to remember that the series isn't finished, and some of your concerns may be addressed in future books, but I think you missed the point.

I read this book immediately after finishing the entire Wheel of Time series. Once I read the prolouge I knew what my expectations of this book should be (more tell than show, middle grade prose, etc). I was along for the ride and did end up enjoying the book. But, along the way, I interpreted the main character as an anti-heroin of sorts, who was mostly driven by her anger and thirst for revenge, rather than any kind of philosophical convictions. She was messy and that is why for most of the book, through her pursuit to become a powerful woman she became part of the system she hated so much, rather than actually working against it. She started working with the governement, blindly slaughtering the "aliens", and collaberating with a capitalist superpower. She was #girlbossing. I liked the ending a lot because it ultimately broke this framework. She had become a bad guy and she realized the only thing left to do was break the system. Her character inspo is an empress; she is manic and power hungry. Certainly not a true feminist icon, but idk if she was intended to be. If so, then yeah the author lost the plot a bit there. But if not, then I think her character is really interesting actually. edit spelling corrections.

I enjoyed the book in the way that I kept thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and dissecting the characters. However, I clicked your review on purpose because I wanted another viewpoint. I'm grateful for your review because it articulated some things I hadn't fully formed, like how Zetian's rage seemed one note, and how the romance just kinda....appeared. Some other issues I had were that Zetian didn't seem to have trauma happen to her, only her past trauma influenced her (and her rage). In the part where in order to score funding she has to give blackmail, I know the point was to say Zetian has nothing to lose by giving it, but I found her reasoning too fast and too dismissive for someone who should still be working through shame. That's the big thing I think, Zetian just doesn't do any shame work and that's a rly important part of healing imo

YES! your expression after reading FAMINE was my exact one oh my goodness i kept laughing and squealing i just finished it and this literal series sparked my love for reading again!

For me that was the first and biggest/most annoying/hated part: only Li Shimin if he began at 18 years old controlling the Vermilion Bird, at the point, where the story begins, he has already killed 26. At the beginning of the book, she mentions, some of the girls are lucky and can be 2-4 times copilot, before they die. But they still cannot be seen in any scenes. Only 2 other princesses, who have balanced match. At first read I was so frustrated, why she must kill Li Shimin to survive, but after a few reread I remembered, that people most likely go insane in a cell without a book and/or a clock or something. We read these types of going crazy ballads and short novels at high school. And Zetian mentions, she saw the rope being like a snake, trying to encourage her committing suicide. So, I made peace with this killing thrive. If one boy kills 26 girls a year, while piloting, shouldn't there be a punishment, if you murder a girl outside of a cockpit? I do not understand, how could have been an emperor Qin Zheng with so much qi and spiritpower 200 years ago, it could have been discussed more, that maybe those people now don't do war, because they are not rulers anymore and they are tributed and stuff. Was the dragon only piloted by the emperor? How could have been there a balanced match 200 years ago and now only 3 women, who had no chance with that emperor. If it is mostly just genetic, why are they not forcing everybody to take those spirit pressure tests and the highest forced to join the military? If the final age being a pilot is about 25 years old, why would they wait till a girl gets grown up? How old is Dugu Qieluo? According to Wikipedia 20, that would mean, she began at the age of 13 to fight against the Hunduns. How much older is "big sis", because she is dead 3 month prior the story begin, and Zetian is 18 and her unibrow was saving her for being sold. BUT if Quieluo joined the war at the age of 13, Zetian and Ruji were not forced a bit to be good looking and concubines. I do not see the forcing from their parents... Were they twins? Older by 10 Minutes? Because than i would accept more, that they were so close. Now I have my own stories them being like mother and daughter psychologically, because their mom could not fit the role… Most of the book is filled with my fantasies, how the 3 years with Yizhi was like. I do not think monthly a day would be enough for getting so close together, as they supposed to be knowing each other and learning hundreds of characters... I mean Yizhi is a heck of a 15-18 year old teacher to give those lessons about kanji and gravity and use of ipads... And as a parentified child, I can fill some gaps between the siblings; but it would have been more trauma, if there were more children in the family, more girls, because of the small lifespan they have as concubines… The relationship with Shimin is kind of OK, they can share a mindlink, fastest way of information exchange i can image in. I also like, that most damsel in distress are waiting for the prince so much, they ignore all the red flags, while Zetian is doing the opposite, she sees positive side of Shimin, but ignores it completely. The long recharging periods could have given them time to explore each other’s personalities and background more. I hate the parts, that they are tributed, just because they are dangerously powerful. First is pure luck, they get away, the second should have ended in Zetian’s dead… And in the end they got blackmailed anyway... so what's the point of not conquering more areas from that planet, before beginning to be hostile with them? I mean there was an emperor, with 10 times more spirit pressure and they could get rid of him with smallpox... Li Shimin doesn’t have all his liver for god sake. There is a war, there should be constant attacks, this tributing thing should not be in the story. And girls surviving battles should be shown more. Shimin’s “partner” should have been at least in 5 battles to make all that heartbreak acceptable. I mean, if they were trained as Zetian and Shimin, that was a 2 weeklong relationship… And not his first kill.

i agree with this 100%!! I felt like i was one of the only people who didn't like this book cuz everyone was hyping it and i just don't get it

AGHH!! I'm so happy you enjoyed it!!! You should totally read Scum Villain's Self Saving System, as well as Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. I entered the danmei fandom through the Chinese Drama "The Untamed", which is an adaptation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It's so good, a bit more slow burn, but I like the plot better :3

I LOVE TGCF !!!!!!!!! Will you read Erha by Meatbun?? Its another of my favorite danmeis omgg

My favorite of all the MXTX works. I took my time and really enjoyed every moment. Danmei is now so far ahead of most genres it's hard to find anything else that can compare.

I can't buy the books because homophobic parents and I don't have money of my own so it sucks but seeing Heaven Official's Blessing being loved this much makes me so so so so happy because I found it when only the first translation was released and I binged the fan translations in like 2 weeks. I have to say it's probably the most well constructed incredibly gripping story I have ever read and I hope it gathers a huge following and gets immensely popular. I love your excitement omggggg this is precious, have fun and spread the gospel!!! lol

Tessa Bailey first book was a wattpad story called the love hypotheses and it was a raylo fanfic Star Wars

It’s so nice to see Indian booktubers I’m Hispanic and I feel like the only way booktube is going to be better is if it expands type of people in it

❤

Welcome to the danmei fandom!! It's always good to see someone new find these novels and recommending them to other people. To be honest, I haven't read any other book that portray the same amount of feeling than these books have. Specially TGCF! I fell in love with their love. It was just so sweet and tender and UGH! MY HUALIAN HEART! 🤧💖 I recommend for you to read the rest of MXTX books, as well as: •The Husky and his White Cat Shizun (2ha/Erha) •The Wife is First •Lord Seventh (Qi Ye) • Golden Terrace and a whole lot more! I have a couple on my list to read which you can find in Barnes and Noble as well (Stars of Chaos, Guardian, Autumn Leaves, Remnants of Filth). I've heard they're good and I can't wait for the other volumes to drop so that I can start reading them. Enjoy the danmei life!! ❤

I can’t find the physical second novel anywhere :(

I love TGCF but you won't understand pain until you read Dumb Husky and His White Cat... that shit was heartwrenching. I really recommend. Also Remnants of Filth and Mo Dao Zushi

I read the entire series in two weeks 🫢🫣

I DNF’d it about halfway through

I dont think people understand, XiRan was definitely knee deep in Chinese web literature. Moral rightness is the last thing on the list of a typical female mc on this type of literature. If anyone ever read Chinese webnovels. This is the most normal thing ever. Chinese authors especially webnovel authors, being a good person is the last thing on their list of mc Also, it would be more fair if you get to understand the REAL Wu ZeTian a little before jumping to conclusions about feminism. Wu ZeTian wasnt rlly feminism. She is someone who lived in a harem intrigue setting and did ruthless things to eliminate her rivals and survive. And she is ambitous from the start. Girl wants power, period. The real one IS obsessed with power. Theres nothing unrealistic about it bc the real one is. Whats wrong with a girl wanting power? This is better then the drama series that turns Wu ZeTian into a naive, love brain, kind girl who does for love. This is not Wu ZeTian. You should read about some of the things she did to win. It was only after she became emperor did she do anything about women right or was she ABLE to do anything.

Quite honestly I gave up reading from the very begging because I didn't like the language, it didn't feel like reading a proper book; I've since then gotten the plot of it and honestly it sounds like I'm not missing much.

Ultimately it's a story about strength being a separate gender, or strength itself qualifying whoever holds it to be regarded as male. It's not inherently wrong, social phallus theory.

So excited for the new Tia Willams! Seven Days in June was so awesome!

Three books I’m definitely going to read this year: The adhd/neurodivergence book you featured at the end and Somewhere Beyond The Sea. I heard very very good things about House on the Cerulean but never took the time to read it myself, I’m going to change that this year 🫡 Great video as always kk P.s. your editing is really good now, it’s been cool to watch your skills evolve to become super subtle and seamless. (I hope that doesn’t sound condescending 😅)

I am reading A Love Song For Ricki Wilde and I'm really enjoying it and it's doing something I didn't expect!

Hi there! I enjoyed the book and wanted to point out something, particularly relating to Zetian. I think it's easy to forget that she is a product of her upbringing, with her sister's death being the inciting incident that caused the massive change in her worldview. So, to me, her being judgmental and hypocritical while also trying to be a better person presented to me as typical human flaws. Just because her sister died and she wants to fix the injustices for women doesn't mean that all the brainwashing she received up until that point will magically go away. To me, this made her more relatable. Women in this society were kept more in the dark than anyone else. It is unfair to criticize the process she takes to fix things when she is still learning about what has happened. Mind you, the minute she does, she plans to help other women survive by releasing the issue with the seats. It is also slightly unfair to claim she should be running around working with the other concubines, telling them how to survive. 1. as I mentioned, she truly only knew how she managed to do it towards the end, and 2. Even if she did know, how could she communicate that? She was under lock and key for a good majority of the book. And when we see her interact with other women, it is with other Iron Princesses who are already succeeding at surviving. It's okay if this kind of character isn't for you; I know I've felt that way about other characters, but I think saying that she is a lousy character overall because she didn't exhibit perfect feminist qualities is expecting a little too much in terms of where the story is in the first book. I think that might improve in the second book. Those are my thoughts on the character. I agree with you regarding the energy and the Chrysalises needing to be explained better. There were A LOT of plot holes regarding that, and it was a little frustrating. Mainly because they are established things that can't be retroactively explained in the next book. They should have been explained in the first book. I also wish more had been done with the polyamory relationship. I wish the entire section on them doing a media blitz was removed, and we had more character development between the three of them. Missed opportunity for sure!

Reading 1-7 in a month is so real cause that’s me rn. Volume 6 was def so much pain

I enjoyed the book, but I agree with what you are saying. I'm letting the second book decide for me. If the main character (or all characters, really) is as flat in that one, then I will give up on this series. I just want to see what the author does with the potential of the book. Could be good, could be awful.

Thank you so so much for talking about The Way Home Gets Longer, it’s one of the only books I read last year and it was devastatingly beautiful 😭 Can’t wait for your 2024 reading list

I liked the book Pestilence. I thought it was good. I'm going to read the other books in this series.

I think a lot of what you found problematic about the book is the lack of understanding the contextual relationship between the historical figure of Zetien and the book character. Xiran is drawing quite a lot of parallels in the real Zetien’s life to drive the narrative, and I guess because I saw their videos about the historical character before reading the book, I guess I had a better understanding of what Xiran was going for. I don’t know if reading the book before learning about the historical context would have altered my view and I might have leaned more into your interpretation of the text? But I think the lack of understanding the parallels between the historical figure and the book character is what may be clouding your judgment here. Good book review though!

So, I am kind of in the middle: I liked this book, I did not love it, unfortunately, as I was expecting. My criticism is fairly close to the points stated in this video, however, I think that there is also something to be said in defense of this book: a) The historical aspect (please note that I am no historian, all of my knowledge is based on some google research and I am willing to be corrected): That Wu Zetian is appearing as being "not like other girls" and that she is not supporting other girls "enough" may be due to the fact that this book is losely based on a real person, Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of China. Wu Zetians (the book character) slaughtering of men comes fairly close to all of the crimes the emperor was accused of: murdering children, poisoning several people etc. etc. Like in the book, the emperor seems, from what I know about her story, to only focus on her own gain of power, always putting herself first, using even the most horrendous means to get what she wants. As for the treatment of the other female characters by Wu Zetian, I think that the main character, compared to the emperor, was even too nice, since the patriarchal system of concubinage put women into horrendous concurrence with one another, leading to vicious sceeming, intrigues and even violence among the concubines; this it-can-only-be-one scenario does not become quite clear in the retelling, since potentially every girl could become an Iron Princess; but in the reality of the emperors life circumstances, it makes sense that she would not be too concerned with other women. What strikes me as counterintuitive is the almost "textbook feminist" approach of the main character trying to appeal to modern sensibilities by stating in long paragraphs that she does care; it does not really fit in with her interactions with other characters. The emperor that the material is based on, most likely also saw nothing but mere concurrence in the other concubines. While I agree that this is not necessarly feminist in a modern sense, I would not go as far as to say that this undermines the movement. Rather, I think it was an attempt of the author capturing the spirit of this historical figure - and she was definitely cruel and criminal. That is one of the reason why I think that it would have been better to set this book in a historical context and not in a futuristic one, while keeping the magical system it is based on, because to be fair, I enjoy battles and I think that the magic system is very cool. b) How stories should be told: There is a debate to be had wether or not such historical figures should be hailed as example of female strength in a patriarchal world. I get why people say that such people should not be idolized, but that does not mean their story cannot be told. I think the fact that a nun managed to become a female emperor is interesting and deserves to be told and retold, with all of its cruel, bloody and unhinged sides. I also think it is good that the book does not shy away from also showing the cruel and unhinged side of her character. And I have to admit - I kind of enjoyed that vicious back-stabby side of her; I do not subscribe to the notion that good female characters have to exhibit "feminine" vitrous characteristics like kindness and consideration, or else being accused of betraying the whole female side of humanity - especially not when the character is based on real life source material that clearly proves the opposite. We should stop holding women to this unreachable saint-like ideal, when it is clear that they come from an environment that does not foster these traits. BUT: That also means that the character of Wu Zetian does not really lend itself to appeal to modern feminist notions - that is okay, it does not have to. That does not mean one cannot view this story through a feminist lense, after all we retell stories for the purpose of reframing them with modern sets of beliefs, but I think it could have been handeled better: Instead of being a feminist role model she could have been a powerful example of female struggle against patriarchy (yes, those are two different things), trying to agitate within and thrive inspite of an oppressive system, but also being forced or willling to comly with it to some extent. Making the main character really see women as concurrence in the beginning and only come to the conclusion that she treats them almost as horribly as the men she is fighting against, becoming like them in the process, after a long period of gradual introspection. Her feminist framework should devellop gradually over the course of the three books instead of her starting out with them from the get go; that would also solve the tell-vs-show situation, since the three main characters basically tell us ther feminist beliefs before showing them; given the social system they agitate in, it makes no sense for either of the characters to have these modern feminist beliefs develloped in inner isolation from the rest of society, while every other character falls into the manipulation-trap of patriarchy; I think it would have been better to make Wu Zetians inner journey one of gradually "waking up" from the slumber of the patriarchal and heteronormative narrative, the death of her sister only being the first inciting incident of many more to come. I think that would have made her more interesting, and it would not have taken away from the extraordinary achievements of her as a person, or her historical counterpart.

Dear Khushi Kishore, I am KKKK, a follower of your KZfaq channel. I recently watched your video titled "Heaven Official's Blessing has become my WHOLE personality" and found it to be incredibly valuable, especially in relation to the spreading of Heaven's Blessings. I would like to share this video on Bilibili to reach a wider audience. Before doing so, I want to ensure that I respect your copyright and have your permission. If you agree, I will make sure to credit you as the original creator, including a link to your KZfaq channel at the reposted location. Of course, if you have any concerns or do not agree, I completely understand and will respect your decision. Thank you for taking the time to read my message, and I look forward to your response. Sincerely, KKKK