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🧷 decided to make my official danmei reading list post so i can catalogue my finished books. 🫶

next up is qi ye! aka lord seventh 🖤 (art by mtkay13 who as far as im concerned is THEE artist for qy&tyk) this one was DENSE with court drama and politics and references to a lot of chinese literature that probably went over my head at least a little (the footnotes and hyperlinks helped tho)

but its also so CLEVER… i really think priest has some of the most fun ideas when it comes to court intrigue and mythology. her writing shines in QY even if its one of her oldest works. QY is written into a perfect ouroboros and it had me loving a character i disliked when i watched word of honor

i initially started QY because i missed the TYK characters but wasnt going to let myself read TYK without QY… and im Very glad i did because i love beiyuan and wuxi. you give me a scheming fan bitch and i will love him. you give him a crossbow???? im yours. AND THE FATED LOVE TRIANGLE???

giving beiyuan a tragic soulmate he can never be with and waited lifetimes for and reveal slowly that his soulmate is equally obsessed but unwilling to move mountains for him? AND THEN GIVE HIM THE GUY WHO IS WILLING TO MOVE SAID MOUNTAINS?? wuxi’s main power is just how much he will do for beiyuan

and the way this sets the stage for understanding helian yi and how he acts … my god im obsessed with him. hes a caged bird. he loves beiyuan and all his friends but in the end hes alone. and zhou zishu, his only family he could trust, leaves also? AND THATS WHAT SETS UP TYK? Well. ill get there

i wish seven seas would be able to pick up qi ye and tian ya ke because i wholeheartedly believe they deserve to be read by a wider audience. as it is im pretty sure the only complete and still available translations are from chichi on google docs… which isnt the best way to read it (but not bad)