杀破狼

i came for mister monocle man and stayed for mister monocle man!

i swear my brain is temporarily out of order after spl steampunk wartime shenanigans THAT WAS A DOOZY!!! albeit an extremely well-written doozy! bottom line is don't go in expecting a casual read!!

spl started off w a bang and i loved how priest went about introducing the characters, assembling their little squad, building the world (steampunk universe!!). vols 1 & 4 were my personal favorites to read bc i thought they were both very well-paced and developed. i won't lie, vols 2 & 3 do require a comprehensive re-read on my part. i swear those chapters gave me hs history class flashbacks (more like anxiety-induced heat flashes) and a part of me was like NO THANKS. reading about all these incompetent individuals in positions of power w their priorities all out of whack making the stupidest of comments had me internally raging up a storm....

if you're looking for intense political intrigue, this is the book for you. but for me personally it was too reminiscent of current world affairs for me to digest w/o having an aneurysm. then again i do think my reaction is a testament to how well priest captures the pointless discussions and biased decision-making in politics so....it's me, not priest ;)

but the yearning??? ALKSJDFLAJDFLKJ A GODDAMN BUFFET distance truly makes the heart grow fonder (insert intense yearning here) chang geng's yearning was done so well that ngl i almost felt a little disappointed when they officially got together. i mean his yearning doesn't stop but it's a whole different form of yearning, ykwim? XD their first two(?) interactions had me a little hmm... bc i felt like there was so much left unsaid btwn them but once gu yun brought up a few elephant-in-the-room points, i was fully back on board!

with regards to their relationship itself, i think it was done very tastefully. it works for numerous factors but one, gu yun is a pretty shitty at playing the fatherly role, as in he really doesn't know how to take care of others (rather chang geng is the one always taking care of him lol). he's too busy showing off his funeral-worthy off-key dizi playing Face with tears of joy plus he can be such a brat sometimes (i say this endearingly bc i wholeheartedly simp for characters like him but also if i met someone like gu yun irl, i'd 100% have the urge to smack him a few times w a bat). ultimately the only one who can handle him is chang geng (and vice versa) so they HAVE to be together. also i liked how gu yun spent a good chunk of time adamantly refusing to consider the possibility of them being together and insisting that chang geng rethink his feelings. obv it's not the kindest thing to discount someone's feelings for you but if gu yun immediately dropped his things to jump into chang geng's arms, i prolly would've dropped the book. instead, gu yun doesn't develop feelings until years pass and they grow as individuals separately from each other. also chang geng is the op gong w super m tendencies who has his yifu wrapped around his little finger GU YUN DOESN'T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST MR. PRETENDS-TO-BE-DOMESTICATED THIRSTY WOLF LMAO

anyway first half of the novel had me falling in love w chang geng as a character and second half had me doing the same for gu yun (plus i shared a birthday w him this year so ofc we have that kindred connection heh)

and boy did i LOVE the main side characters!!! chen qingxu (one of the best female characters i've read abt in a while. soooo excited to see her in the live action adaptation!!!), liao ran (my fav mute monk who hates bathing hehe), cao chunhua (deserves the mvp award for tricking everyone thru the power of disguise), shen yi (absolute husbando material w the best bromance w gu yun), and ge chen (the cutest and very skilled mechanic/engineer w cheeks you just wanna squeeze). now i just wish we had more moments of shen yi + ge chen nerding out together over new technologies.

but yeah PHEW this is a lot of thoughts coming from my smol baby brain so i'll end it here before my head combusts, but i'd like to say spl is a very worthwhile read and everyone should check it out!!! also make sure to take notes while you read, you can thank me later ;)