- #1
If you're looking for a good mystery or court intrigue, this book is not for you. If you're looking for something particularly romantic where most chapters feel like they're actually developing the romantic feelings between the two characters, this book is also not for you. This book relies on some BL tropes and dynamics that were much more popular in the early 2000s than they are now, despite being written much more recent, which I think affects who might be able to enjoy this novel vs who isn't. The shou is pale, sickly, coy, and sassy; the gong is quiet, domineering, easily jealous/possessive, and a bit brutish. I get the impression the goal of the author was for the shou to be an ice queen and the gong to be like a blazing inferno.I picked this up because I wanted something simple to read. Yes, the flow of the novel is very formulaic. There will be a problem, a minor villain, and generally our MC uses his two lifetimes of knowledge to help the emperor solve the current problem. It's not a deep novel. Sometimes it feels like the author forgets what the original premise though because they'll go dozens of chapters before remembering that maybe they should tie in the king of yue and his allies to the conspiracies surrounding the court and country.The first intimate encounter is dubcon at best, which is still technically noncon. There is no interc**rse at that point, they use hands and thighs. I don't fault other readers for being uncomfortable with it. I think the author was going for the trope of the resistant character who doesn't want to admit they do actually consent, but it's poorly written and I'm not sure it technically gets better from there. Plus it's much more in line with how things were written in the early 2000s than the average novel today. My main issue with the intimacy scenes has more to do with the fact the author is trying to write about someone with a chronic, debilitating illness but didn't stop to think about how those things might affect one's libido, or the fact in no way would it ever be considered a healthy, loving relationship when one partner insists on contact that leaves the other party literally sore the next day (and the sick one just pouts and laughs it off), and again, that's all without penetration! The author talks about the characters receiving education about the way two men can do each other shortly before marriage but it's also clear their own education is lacking since I don't think it occurs to them there's ways to be intimate with your partner without needing the other person to physically touch you until you come. I also suspect the text that implies the ML has a lot of stamina is meant to be arousing to the reader, but all I can think of when I read that is that the ML purposely elongates the encounter despite knowing that the MC's muscles will be sore later. I enjoy the scenes where the emperor pampers our MC, I just wish more of them didn't arise because the ML "lost control" and insisted on intimate contact for what sounds like hours despite knowing the MC's constitution.My other issue is how the author insists on describing every single kissing scene. I've read 112 chapters by now and still they describe every kiss as if it's some mind blowing, life changing, hugely poetic first kiss. You could maybe get away with doing that a few times in a book. But not dozens of times. It's tedious. I find myself skipping over the scenes whenever they start to kiss because it's always the same, and it's downright exhausting.Do I like the main characters and their friends? Yes. Am I enjoying the book? Yes. Will I finish the book? Most likely. I've attempted to read stories that are much worse, but I've also read stories that are so, so much better than this one. If you're looking for a simple dopamine hit and just want to turn your brain off for awhile, I'd recommend this book for you, but maybe not to anyone else. This was probably a novel where a lot of the chapters were padded out to prolong the story and the various conflicts in order to earn more money from native readers, and it definitely shows.