If you're into ancient China, martial arts, and epic tales of honor and badassery, this book is for you. Yeah, it can get a bit confusing with the political stuff and the character overload, but overall it's a good novel so far..

Pros:

Engrossing and action-packed storyline

Detailed and immersive world-building

Captivating protagonist with compelling character development

Well-crafted and dynamic fight scenes

Intricate plot with twists and turns

Diverse and well-developed supporting characters

Balanced pacing that maintains reader engagement

Cons:

Overwhelming number of characters and relationships

Occasional repetitiveness in conflicts and confrontations

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Spoiler

And from what I have read so far, it seems that you don't need any prior knowledge of "Red Mansion" to enjoy it. The author does a great job of introducing and developing the characters and the world, so you won't feel lost or confused if you haven't read the other book.

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I enjoyed this novel but a lot of people probably won't. Be warned that this is a smutty harem novel with a lot of girls in said harem. That being said, my biggest problems with the novel is the lack of direction in the novel. It feels like the author couldn't decide what type of novel he was writing. The novel felt like it was divided into a detective serial, a political drama, and a smut fan fic.

In my opinion the cases are the worst part of the novel since... more>> they mostly feel like filler to the protagonist's story. Some cases were well done but most were there to just have people praise the protagonist as a god like detective. A lot of plotlines get introduced but most don't really go anywhere.

Spoiler

A major plotline that went nowhere would be the White Lotus Sect. There's a fairly important character that gets introduced as a potential harem member but due to her ties to the sect, the protagonist doesn't want to get involved with her. By the end of the novel, nothing really happens to the sect and the character so there was no real point to having her be affiliated with the sect in the first place.

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The best parts of the novel was the fanfic aspect since the world and characters was already set up for the author by the original Dreams of the Red Chamber. If the author focused more on the characters instead of devoting so much screen time to the cases and all the one off characters and yamen characters that are only ever there for the case chapters, then the novel would have been better.

The ending also felt pretty rushed. Like I mentioned earlier a lot of smaller plotlines and characters don't really get any closure. The protagonist is really the only one with any real ending with the other characters left to your assumptions. The protagonist's children were largely irrelevant to the plot. The supernatural elements were worthless additions that were sprinkled in just for the hell of it. The worst part was a seemingly important character who was supposed to be the mastermind that orchestrated a lot of the cases that the protagonist solved. You would think that eventually the protagonist and this mastermind would have a confrontation in the same vein as Sherlock and Moriarty but nope at the end of the novel the author just straight out tells us who they are and nothing really happens which is a large part of why I feel like the cases were the weakest element of the novel.

3.5/5 <<less

4.5

Surprisingly enjoyable story. The MC is transferred into the body of a young master of a lower nobility. Through the story so far he is working his way through the constabulary and political hierarchy of the capital.

We get a mix of crime show mu*der mystery, ancient Chinese political conspiracy, and occasional combat.

The MC is almost supernaturally strong (think using a dead horse as an improvised weapon during an ambush, swinging it about like it's a war axe) but everyone else is normal person. But other than that he a reasonable,... more>> sensible and intelligent person. It gets a bit corny sometimes how he instantly solves cases at a glance like he's Sherlock Holmes but his thought process is well described and logical, I'm just waiting for a case that actually stumps him for once.

As pointed out by the Harem tag there is romantic intriguing and entanglements in this novel but it's not the MC primary driving force. There is 18+ content but nothing too graphic.

Primary side characters are well described, have their own personality and goals and fit well into the settings.

My main complaint it that keeping track of who is who is incredibly confusing. For example we get these clan conflicts with multiple people named Jia (something) and as a western reader it can be hard to keep track.

Also there is a lot of contextual, cultural and historical details that just go over my head because I have no clue about the original source material this novel is basing its world on.

All in all, I was attracted my the harem tag stayed for the interesting plots and good protagonist. <<less

Not a bad start, but : harem, r*pe (with the excuse of being poisoned with aphrodisiac, for F sake just find a place to beat your meat and that's it...) and the MC turns from clever to dumb (the guy drinks poisoned wine when "poison" is written on face of the person in front of him. Person he was suspecting of mu*ders and of targeting him in the first place. Who in this world is dumb enough to drink or eat something given by such a person even if it... more>> seems casual???). Overall, the historical setup isn't bad and the cases could be fun buy themselves, but it is not enough to make up for the previous points IMO, so I drop this. <<less

The translation is just edited MTL. So, often there is confusion between first person (I/me), second person (you/he) and third person (they/their). It makes reading quite difficult.

The second issue is that cases aren't exactly clever.

The third issue is some parts where you can't help but go - Why? One example is given in another review. The MC goes to bad guy's house. He knows that the guy is a mu*derer and then sits there to drink poisoned wine - the very basic way of scheming against people during those times.... more>> Dropped. <<less

I like the mystery and political aspect, a lot of it are really well described.

The biggest flaw of this novel is the MC and the characters.

It has the typical OP chinese novel protagonist. MC has the physique of a general with big dong and brain of a modern man with all kind of modern knowledge and he emits pheromones wherever he goes.. Tldr dont expect any character growth. In fact, the character seems to devolve as chapters passed.. Its strange how fast MC personality and modern mindset to be gone.

When... more>> facing MC, other side characters personality and motive also seems to become malleable, easily changed in a chapter or paragraph. The cases and politics also conveniently resolved when MC is there. It's like the world move for his convenience.. Aka plot armor lv99. Overall not a read I would recommend if you are looking for something deep but its an okay read to pass time. <<less