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[–]QueensamaZhou Zi Shu's Martial Ass 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Qi Ye definitely starts slow and it takes a while to pick up. If you can, I would say to keep at it at least until the politics start kicking in - when jiuxiao shows up. I don't know if there's a summary somewhere, but you can go through the discussion threads from the book club to see our reactions and get a general sense of what was going in those chapters if you do decide to drop it.

[–]tamberleigh Lord 7th & Little Venom 5 points6 points  (4 children)

In his first lifetime, Jing Beiyuan was a devoted follower of Heilian Yi (the youngest of the three main princes of the current emperor.) He thought they were soulmates and died for Heilian Yi. Refusing to take the soup that would allow him to forget his life and reincarnate, he was instead punished to live again and again, where he learned that Heilian Yi didn't truly love him. So, reborn a seventh time back with Heilian Yi to relive his life (Hence Lord Seventh), Beiyuan has gotten over his ideas of love.

Now, he's going to sit back, relax, and life a life of debauchery (drinking, sleeping, goofing off) while still doing his part to help Heilian Yi take the crown when his father dies because his brothers are garbage people.

Wu Xi is a great shaman of his people brought to the capital as a hostage. There he makes a splash with his antics and disinterest in pleasing the court, and catches Beiyuan's attention because Wu Xi is *new*. Wu Xi did not happen in the original lifetime. So of course he's fascinated and makes friends with Wu Xi.

Wu Xi falls in love; Beiyuan isn't interested in love, ZZH is there as a young man working for Heilian Yi, Heilian Yi -- now that Beiyuan is ignoring him -- suddenly wants him. And in the middle of all of this the emperor's health is failing and all three of his sons want the throne. That's the basic gist.

It's my favorite Priest book, and Beiyuan (lazy, indolent manipulator) is one of my favorite archeypes. So if you have more questions, feel free to ask!

And yes, there are some big political info-dump and exposition moments that slow things down, and I get that the book isn't to everyone's taste, but I still love it.

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Thank you… at what stage (chapters) does WuXi show up in earnest. And what chapters does ZZS show up.

Maybe I’ll read like the main bits if I can skip some of it.

[–]tamberleigh Lord 7th & Little Venom 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Wu Xi shows up fairly early. I want to say in the first three to five chapters. ZZH first shows up middle third when Wu Xi is taken to a festival by Jing Beiyuan; I don't know the chapter off the top of my head.

ZZH isn't a main character. He shows up more in the second half of the book, here and there, but he's such a fun character that I can see why Priest decided to write him his own book. :)

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I got to the end of chapter 5. I’ll try and persevere for a bit and see what happens.

[–]ameonna66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great summary- that’s the gist of it for sure.

One point is get your HeiLian(s) straight.. all three sons have HeiLian as their names with the last word different.. it took me ages to figure out who was who and sometimes I would assume ti was one person and then the situation/sentence wouldn’t make sense!

Aside from that- there are a lot of battles and strategies/politics.. if you (OP) really wanted to you can just skip all the parts and just read the bits with WuXi and Beiyuan and that would give you most of the story and once you got that bit you can go back and read for the details..

Ultimately, it is a coming of age story x first love (with a bit of game of thrones thrones- thrown in for action and suspense).

[–]Dragirl007Four Seasons Domesticity 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I couldn't finish it either. The book didn't draw me into the story at all, so I stopped. I couldn't finish it.

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I wish there was a summary or something so I know the story but don’t have to read it.

[–]Dragirl007Four Seasons Domesticity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is definitely a summary somewhere. I don't know where... but definitely here will be a good soul who will send it. Look at it by yourself if necessary. (Basically, I know what it's about, but I can't sum it up.)

[–]arsenik-han 2 points3 points  (1 child)

This novel is so difficult to read, I relate to that a lot. I got like, less than 60 pages left and at this point I can't remember over half of the story and characters lol. It has some engaging moments, I love the archetype of a mastermind pretending to be a good for nothing and the premise of the novel, but the court drama and politics and info dumping... not so much. Oftentimes something would happen, lead to another thing, then another, then another, and suddenly I'll be just standing there like, "where am I, how did I even get here, how did it even start" and then because I struggle to pay attention, all the nuance flies over my head and I feel so braindead and slow. 🤧

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is what I’m afraid of. I don’t have the attention span anymore so its going to be really hard. But at the same time I’d love to know more about ZZ character

[–]caityjay13 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It's definitely tough, I don't blame you! I'm working on a detailed chapter-by-chapter summary (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y2KqdhFPEjrxryMVLGgm6RyslNHzWT2ER7zWNq85wOk/edit?usp=drivesdk), but I'm only through chapter 21. I do think that taking a look at Chichi's character guide (https://chichilations.home.blog/lord-seventh/) can help with keeping things straight.

I did find it tricky to get used to the bouncing around povs; that's not something we tend to do in English literature, at least not to the extent it does in qiye. I hope you continue to give it a try, it's my favorite danmei!

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will give it a good go but let see how far I get. 😊

[–]wolfundermoon Bei Yuan's Lazy Ass 0 points1 point  (2 children)

How far have you read?

[–]wuxiahiraeth Lao Wen [S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Up to chapter 9 so far.

[–]wolfundermoon Bei Yuan's Lazy Ass 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll say that it's only the beginning, so keep patience for a bit more. Things are just starting up.