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larryhammerIt's Reading Wednesday, but I don't have much to report on -- I've pretty much (to order of occasional anthology poems) been reading only one thing:
Way of Choices (择天记, also translated as Fighter of the Destiny), Mao Ni (猫腻), a xuanhuan web-serial in translation -- which means Chinese-inflected high fantasy (as opposed to xianxia, which is essentially superpowered wuxia, and qihuan, which is Western-inflected high fantasy). This one sticks close to Daoist worldbuilding -- along with gobs of imperial politics, which means aside from the reified Daoist cultivation practices and a secondary-world setting, it feels a lot like a historical novel. (Which means,sartorias, this might be able to scratch the Nirvana on Fire itch.) The pacing is surprisingly deliberate for a web-serial, but it doesn't feel at all slow. Quite entertaining and addictive so far, which is chapter 144 (out of 1250-odd). The descriptions of Daoist cultivation in action is very cinematic: I can all but see how special effects would render things on screen. Makes me want to see the TV adaptation.
Oh, um, story summary. Mysterious young scholar comes to the capital to prepare for next year's imperial exams, but gets enmeshed in imperial machinations by virtue of an arranged childhood engagement to the star Daoist cultivator of her generation, who is about to be married off to cement an alliance of kingdoms. Interesting complications include becoming the only student of an all-but-extinguished school, the princess next door, and an Empress modeled on Wu Zetian.
A little more than half the novel has been translated so far. Be warned: the translation is by a couple different teams of different quality, with inconsistent handling of names/terms; the current translators are redoing the earlier chapters, but it'll be a couple months before they catch up to where they took over.
---L.
Subject quote from "Woo’d and Married and A’," Joanna Baillie.
Way of Choices (择天记, also translated as Fighter of the Destiny), Mao Ni (猫腻), a xuanhuan web-serial in translation -- which means Chinese-inflected high fantasy (as opposed to xianxia, which is essentially superpowered wuxia, and qihuan, which is Western-inflected high fantasy). This one sticks close to Daoist worldbuilding -- along with gobs of imperial politics, which means aside from the reified Daoist cultivation practices and a secondary-world setting, it feels a lot like a historical novel. (Which means,
sartorias, this might be able to scratch the Nirvana on Fire itch.) The pacing is surprisingly deliberate for a web-serial, but it doesn't feel at all slow. Quite entertaining and addictive so far, which is chapter 144 (out of 1250-odd). The descriptions of Daoist cultivation in action is very cinematic: I can all but see how special effects would render things on screen. Makes me want to see the TV adaptation.Oh, um, story summary. Mysterious young scholar comes to the capital to prepare for next year's imperial exams, but gets enmeshed in imperial machinations by virtue of an arranged childhood engagement to the star Daoist cultivator of her generation, who is about to be married off to cement an alliance of kingdoms. Interesting complications include becoming the only student of an all-but-extinguished school, the princess next door, and an Empress modeled on Wu Zetian.
A little more than half the novel has been translated so far. Be warned: the translation is by a couple different teams of different quality, with inconsistent handling of names/terms; the current translators are redoing the earlier chapters, but it'll be a couple months before they catch up to where they took over.
---L.
Subject quote from "Woo’d and Married and A’," Joanna Baillie.
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Date: 1 November 2017 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 November 2017 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 November 2017 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 November 2017 01:05 pm (UTC)Yup, very long — 1250-odd chapters in this case. For me, at the moment, this is a feature.
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Date: 3 November 2017 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 November 2017 03:07 pm (UTC)I loathe reading fiction on screen, but I got sucked right into this, and bang! Suddenly it skips a hundred chapters. NOOOOOOOOOO!
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Date: 4 November 2017 11:30 pm (UTC)