Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 384
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #8
Rating:

Synopsis:

A BATTLE FOR FREEDOM, A LOVE FOR THE AGES

White No-Face’s mask is off, and the final conflict has begun. Deep in the ancient caverns and lava flows of Mount Tonglu, Xie Lian must face the one whose hatred has plagued him for centuries—but this time, he won’t have to do it alone. His beloved, Hua Cheng, has spent his long existence amassing the power to protect him, and now with their feelings for each other out in the open, they have all the more reason to fight for survival.

In this thrilling conclusion to Heaven Official’s Blessing, can Xie Lian and Hua Cheng triumph against an all-powerful foe?

Also included in this final volume are five bonus tales of romance, celebration, and adventure.

And here we are: I’ve run out of volumes of Heaven Official’s Blessing to read and review, unless the revised editions are made available in English. I’d be fascinated to see how much that adds to or changes the story, but I’m very satisfied with how it turns out as it is. Hua Cheng’s love for Xie Lian, and Xie Lian’s slow journey toward accepting it and returning the feeling is amazing — and it’s wrapped around and through a satisfying story about conflict between powerful beings, and the repeated testing of Xie Lian’s resolve to never change, to never be less than he is.

This volume has a few chapters left of the main story, and the rest is made up of extras. The conclusion is a heck of a thing, with some very heart-wrenching moments, and I find it very satisfyingly done.

The extras are a lot of fun, and include some very sweet moments. I must say that I do not understand how anyone can read these English language editions and think that Xie Lian remains a virgin once Hua Cheng returns. It’s blatantly obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense that the two of them are going at it on the regular, including on the altar in the Thousand Lights Temple. If you can’t even read into a thin veil of subtext, then it’s explicitly stated in the amnesia story: Xie Lian’s old method of cultivation is gone because he’s no longer a virgin.

I have no idea why people want to imagine that Xie Lian continues to be “chaste”. This is a man who has been through so much pain, sometimes unrelenting physical pain for years at a time due to his inability to die, and the most violating of situations (which it takes no effort at all to read as metaphorical rapes) — and folks are offended and weirded out if you suggest that ultimately he falls in love and allows Hua Cheng to show him that his body isn’t just a tool or a vessel for pain?

People can read the scene where an amnesiac Xie Lian dreams/remembers having sex with Hua Cheng, and Hua Cheng’s words to him during that memory (“don’t be afraid, Your Highness”), and refuse to understand what’s happening there?

Check yourselves and your homophobia and bizarre purity culture, folks.

I don’t want to end this review on that sour note, so I’ll just reiterate again: Heaven Official’s Blessing is a heck of a journey, a story about a very good (though not flawless) man who reaches great heights and falls, and struggles his way to redemption and then to freedom — with the help of someone who believes in him no matter what, and would do anything for him.

The one standing in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is ‘you’ and not the state of you. 

Rating: 5/5

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 404
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #7
Rating:

Synopsis:

LIFETIMES OF CRUELTY, CENTURIES OF DEVOTION

The Kiln is open, and White No-Face is back to his full power. The past eight hundred years have not blunted his hatred nor his obsession with Xie Lian — he aims to break Xie Lian down to nothing, even if all of humanity and the heavens themselves are collateral damage.

This time, however, Xie Lian will not face him alone. Together with Hua Cheng — powerful ghost king, stalwart protector, and devoted love — can Xie Lian finally reveal the face behind the mask and put an end to the nightmare forever?

It was perhaps a mistake to dash on and read book eight of Heaven Official’s Blessing before I wrote a review for book seven, but here we are, so I’ll do my best! And to be honest, I would recommend reading them that way too. Book seven is back in the “present” (after the flashback in book six), and it’s hurtling rapidly toward a final confrontation which takes up the first half of book eight (the latter half is extras). You won’t want to stop at the end of book seven, especially not given where it ends.

Book seven sees Xie Lian break out of the Kiln, reunite with Hua Cheng, return to the heavenly court, discover the big bad, play hide and seek with his captor around the heavenly court, and then essentially re-enact some Gundam series or other in an epic battle that takes him into Black Water’s domain. It’s full of action, and the end of the book isn’t really a natural break — it’s a cliffhanger moment, and it makes some sense to end a volume there, but as a reader it’s super annoying (and in terms of actual plot, there’s only half a book left).

This volume also sees Hua Cheng and Xie Lian comfortable in their feelings for each other (if not, in Xie Lian’s case, always happy with public displays of affection, or other people knowing about their relationship). More than ever, Hua Cheng’s total devotion is on show — and so is the answering strength his support wakens in Xie Lian. It’s lovely to read.

The story that’s been building over the previous six volumes is so satisfying at this point, with so many threads (which didn’t always tie together yet) coming together. I keep wondering when I’ll rate any given volume five stars, and it’s difficult to say: no volume alone makes me think “it’s perfect”; it’s the whole that gives me that feeling.

Rating: 4/5