#liang yanbei

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: Stars of Chaos (Sha Po Lang), Vol. 2

Author: priest

Genre/s: danmei, historical, alternate history, steampunk

Content/Trigger Warning/s: war, death, depictions of chronic illness and implied mental instability

Summary (from publisher's website): Four years ago, Chang Geng and Gu Yun parted in anger. When fate draws them together again, Chang Geng, a once-awkward teen, is now an elegant and adroit young man.

But storms lie ahead. As Great Liang faces foreign pressure from without, Gu Yun finds himself embroiled in turmoil within the imperial court. Meanwhile, as the curse in Chang Geng’s blood grows, his feelings for his godfather become more painful to subdue by the day. How much longer can he keep Gu Yun from learning his secret…and what will happen when he can hide it no more?

Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/stars-of-chaos-sha-po-lang-novel-vol-2/18879407

Spoiler-Free Review: This was a DELIGHT! The stakes are so much higher now than they were before - both in terms of world events, and the relationship between Gu Yun and Chang Geng.

First, on the happy(?) couple: they are not happy. At all. In fact, they are VERY confused, ESPECIALLY about their own feelings, and it is simultaneously hilarious and DELIGHTFULLY frustrating. Gu Yun is ESPECIALLY guilty of this, as Chang Geng seems to understand his own emotions much better than he did in the first volume. The trouble with Chang Geng is that he has the wu’ergu to deal with, and so frequently has to tamp down his feelings lest they get out of hand - which is certainly NOT helped by Gu Yun having the emotional comprehension of a toddler when anything concerns Chang Geng. This means that he has a tendency to miscommunicate with Chang Geng, who THEN interprets Gu Yun’s statements entirely differently.

This stands in direct contrast to the way they work together during a crisis. Whenever something dangerous or deadly happens, they are in near-perfect synch. Gu Yun stands up front as the feared and revered Marquis of Anding, leader of the Black Iron Battalion, while Chang Geng acts in the background as the mild-mannered, seemingly innocuous Prince Yanbei, using his knowledge and carefully cultivated connections in the jianghu to ensure that any and all of Gu Yun’s plans succeed. Chang Geng’s almost uncanny ability to know what Gu Yun will do next (something that unnerves even Gu Yun himself), and Gu Yun’s own trust and faith in Chang Geng, make this partnership work, as two major events near the beginning and near the end of this volume show.

While Gu Yun and Chang Geng’s interactions are thoroughly entertaining, the events that happen around them and push them to work together are just as fascinating, and really show off the worldbuilding the author is capable of. While there was plenty of steampunk imagery in the previous volume, there is even more of that in this volume, with larger and deadlier machines coming into play, especially towards the latter end of this volume. Interestingly, the consequences are brought sharply into view as well, with the use of the farming machines mentioned in the previous volume playing a key role in the events of the first half of this volume.

There are also clear parallels drawn to actual Chinese history: specifically, that period in history when European colonial powers were racing against each other to “open” China to trade with the West. The author appears to be trying a kind of “what if?” scenario with this series, playing around with the events of actual history and filtering it all through a steampunk lens. And so far, the author seems to be handling it very well, though whether or not Great Liang’s own colonial push in the lands of the “barbarian” tribespeople will be addressed remains to be seen.

Overall, this volume more than lives up to the promise of its predecessor. It progresses the relationship between Gu Yun and Chang Geng in a way that’s supremely entertaining, while also incorporating the progress of said relationship with the events of the wider world they inhabit. With events ending on a bit of a cliffhanger in this volume, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what happens in the third volume once I get my hands on it.

Rating: five iron arrows

[koipalm]

FDCM SPOILERS!

really funny to me that apparently liang yanbei and wen chan supposedly had their big adventure in the first book full of past lives and immortality and gods and demons and then they come back to greet their friend the very boring and uninteresting song ci and hes like. a five tailed fox living on a mountain in the wilderness ordering demons around

[heterophobiclanwangji]

the fact that song ci just let his cousin and friend believe that he was a bandit king and didn’t tell them that a) he’s a demon now, b) he has a male fox demon lover, and c) his fox demon lover is the demon king and they’re both OP as fuck just sends me. like, what is your strategy here, just wait to send them a wedding invite from the demon realm and hope they pick it up from context clues?

[inspiritjun]

When you finish a long novel of 102 chapters and only in the end know it has both prequel and sequel 🙄🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Anyways finished reading Fox Demon Cultivation Manual 📗

It was a nice read! The side arcs were pretty interesting. I truly enjoyed it. Towards the end, it got little confusing but I loved it nonetheless!

[irris30]

Clues emerge on Xing'er ’s possible past. But the pieces don’t quite fit. The princess of Liang secretly visits Wei and runs into Xing'er, her guard recognized her as the daughter of the assassin Lou He. He fought her once. Yan Xun asks Xing'er to run away with him to Yanbei.

[notanotherasiandrama]

Ugh I really dislike Yan Xun’s character, but I cannot deny that his evil look is 100% more attractive to me than his good one. The man is rocking that princely armor and warrior wig. 

On another note Chun Er looked so beautiful in her wedding dress it’s a shame she is going to be our tragic Ophelia type character. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to her but I know it won’t be good. Chinese historical dramas don’t hold back like Korean ones. To be honest if she turns evil after this I would still support her cuz girl deserves better. 

While I love Yuwen Yue I can’t deny that if I were Chu Qiao I would totally just say screw this and take the remaining Xiuli army to Liang and stay with the playful prince there. At least he’s upfront about being a somewhat dishonest and unreliable guy. Part of the reason she is helping Yan Xun is because he promised her a fresh start in Yanbei. She could totally live a carefree life in Liang. The prince would probably let her do whatever she wanted tbh and he likes her the way she is so she wouldn’t have to change either. But to be honest what bothers me most about her is why hasn’t she inquired about her sisters? Like did she just suddenly decide not to care for them when she decided to help Yan Xun? It’s been 3 freaking years and not one mention of them. I bet Yuwen Yue knows where they are and has been protecting them, but come on Chu Qiao even if your one sister was selfish the younger one was willing to kill a guy to protect you. The least you could do is try to see if she is somewhere safe. Chu Qiao was supposed to be this noble older sister, but she abandoned that role as soon as Yan Xun said let’s go to Yanbei. I know they will probably pop up for plot reasons eventually, but you think they would at least mention them somewhere in the time in-between. Ah drama logic tho...