I’d definitely want to reread this series so I can get a different experience with what I’ve learned. It’s a happy ending with some bittersweet feelings. The scene that made me actually cry was Wen Ning telling Wei Wuxian that he’s done enough. Wei Wuxian endured so much and gave up everything out of pure selflessness and he can finally live a happy and peaceful life with the love of his life 😭. Also, I love the juniors so much. Even Jingyi, who’s not as fleshed out as the others, makes me laugh every time he’s on the page. And I liked that we saw the families dealing with the aftermath of the events. My top 3 favorite characters: Wen Ning, Jin Ling, and Jiang Cheng. 

 

Criticisms: 

I did like the

Nie Huaisang mastermind reveal, him being a foil to JGY is so interesting.

But it felt like it was missing something. We knew early on

he’s smarter than he looks

but it’s never even implied how

he discovered the truth about Mingjue’s death. Or how he noticed the body was swapped.

 

In general, because the novel is told primarily through Wei Wuxian’s pov, we don’t get the full emotional impact of scenes he didn’t witness. This happened a lot in vol. 3 and 4, the biggest example being when we just found out Wen Ning was aware that Lan Wangji spoke in defense of him and his sister from execution but we never saw it. But I think Lan Xichen revealing the truth about Lan Wangji in the past was done well. 

 

Maybe it’s the translation but the smut was mostly cringeworthy (everything besides their first time  and the Bichen scene should’ve been scrapped). Who thought “hot weapon” and “massive invader“ were a good idea? Also, the first dream sequence from LWJ’s pov has a bit of (tw: violent imagery)

bleeding from anal sex

that was disturbing and unnecessary. Just because the characters liked it doesn’t mean I have to. The good thing is that these scenes are skippable since it’s bonus content. 

not sure what to do with myself now that it's over. I went in for a cute, gay romance, which I got to be fair (slow burn, childhood nuisances to lovers. what's not to love), but I also got this intricate plot, deep characters, commentary on second chances, courage, and other things I never expected here, all while being extremely funny somehow? easily one of my favourite series ever

The series as a whole is great. But sadly the final volume is one of the most underwhelming ones. The main story mostly gets wrapped up in a confrontation that's very exposition heavy, monologue heavy and not super satisfying. 

I do like the way most of the character arcs end though. 

About half of the book is various bonus stories taking place all over the chronology. Some of these are cute, some are **spicy** but really, most of them are pretty skippable and do not add all that much.