Name: Golden Terrace: Volume 2
ISBN: 9781956609967

Cang Wu Bin Bai

Amidst the uncertainty of unrest, the bond between Yan Xiaohan and Fu Shen is put to the test as they are pulled apart due to circumstance. Can they forge a new future with their own hands, or will they fall prey to the harsh realities of war?

Golden Terrace: Volume 2

this is a book i really enjoyed reading. i had a lot of fun and there were some very interesting parts, but there are also a lot of flaws that unfortunately detract from a higher rating.

first of all, the biggest problem is that there's no tension in any of the conflicts that show up throughout the story. the major events that the protagonists find themselves in come and go swiftly, and the author doesn't spend much time recounting them. the most we got were the 2/3 pages where the peace negotiations took place, but it was narrated hastily. afterwards, we're just told fu shen led the army and defeated the enemies, we don't even see how – as a matter of fact, fu shen is hailed as this gifted military commander but we never see him in action, we never see what makes him such a good leader and what makes the beiyan cavalry so powerful, as if the author just pinned that title on him without exploring its implications. yan xiaohan's character is a bit more developed, but in many instances we're also just told "he was highly trusted by the emperor, feared by many" and that was it.

i don't have any issues with strong protagonists, but you have to show us what makes them strong or else it just feels flat. in addition to that, there was barely any character development, which is a pity because there's a scene hinting that their relationship changed them both, with yan xiaohan starting to believe and uphold fu shen's ideals of honour and loyalty to the nation and fu shen finally letting himself be a little selfish and putting his desires first, but then we don't see any of that afterwards. the romance moments were sweet, but in the long run ended up being a bit repetitive.

now, if even the protagonists are this underdeveloped, imagine the rest of the characters. yu qiaoting has no other personality trait other than being the third wheel, and fu tingyi was clearly there only to move the plot forward. this third uncle only appears once in the whole story (at the wedding banquet in the beginning of the book) and later we're told by duan guihong he was the mastermind behind the drug incident, and all along he was silently protecting fu shen. i fully expected him to make a move, but he just... disappeared, or rather, never appeared in the rest of the book. fu shen's sister fu ling, who later on becomes empress, is also wasted potential. she's a passive character that only appears to show how capable yan xiaohan is, and is mostly forgotten by the author – which to be fair is what happened to most of the characters.

the enemies also fell flat. we don't get to know any of the infamous barbarians that threaten the empire's stability, and those that briefly appear in the story are simply there to be cannon fodder for the protagonists. they don't feel like real characters, and as a consequence the stakes didn't feel real. the last antagonist xue sheng also only appears in the last chapters and his only personality trait is hating fu shen.

emperor yuantai started out as an interesting character, but ended up wasted just as well. he's only fished out in the very last chapter as a deus ex machina, wherein he somehow agreed to give this important decree to fu shen, even though he'd always been on guard against him and fu shen had clearly hatched a plot to deceive emperor changzhi... so if anything, it'd make much more sense for emperor yuantai to be on xue sheng's side.

(speaking of emperor yuantai, there's a huge reveal in the first extra about the true nature of his relationship with yan xiaohan. i still can't understand why the author would save such important information that could've enriched the plot tenfold for an extra, instead of using it in the main story and giving more development to both emperor yuantai and yan xiaohan)

as i said, despite all this, i still liked this book. there were some genuinely funny passages, and the extra about the uncles made me really happy. it just wasn't as well-crafted as i had expected, but i don't regret reading it.

this is a book i really enjoyed reading. i had a lot of fun and there were some very interesting parts, but there are also a lot of flaws that unfortunately detract from a higher rating.

first of all, the biggest problem is that there's no tension in any of the conflicts that show up throughout the story. the major events that the protagonists find themselves in come and go swiftly, and the author doesn't spend much time recounting them. the most we got were the 2/3 pages where the peace negotiations took place, but it was narrated hastily. afterwards, we're just told fu shen led the army and defeated the enemies, we don't even see how – as a matter of fact, fu shen is hailed as this gifted military commander but we never see him in action, we never see what makes him such a good leader and what makes the beiyan cavalry so powerful, as if the author just pinned that title on him without exploring its implications. yan xiaohan's character is a bit more developed, but in many instances we're also just told "he was highly trusted by the emperor, feared by many" and that was it.

i don't have any issues with strong protagonists, but you have to show us what makes them strong or else it just feels flat. in addition to that, there was barely any character development, which is a pity because there's a scene hinting that their relationship changed them both, with yan xiaohan starting to believe and uphold fu shen's ideals of honour and loyalty to the nation and fu shen finally letting himself be a little selfish and putting his desires first, but then we don't see any of that afterwards. the romance moments were sweet, but in the long run ended up being a bit repetitive.

now, if even the protagonists are this underdeveloped, imagine the rest of the characters. yu qiaoting has no other personality trait other than being the third wheel, and fu tingyi was clearly there only to move the plot forward. this third uncle only appears once in the whole story (at the wedding banquet in the beginning of the book) and later we're told by duan guihong he was the mastermind behind the drug incident, and all along he was silently protecting fu shen. i fully expected him to make a move, but he just... disappeared, or rather, never appeared in the rest of the book. fu shen's sister fu ling, who later on becomes empress, is also wasted potential. she's a passive character that only appears to show how capable yan xiaohan is, and is mostly forgotten by the author – which to be fair is what happened to most of the characters.

the enemies also fell flat. we don't get to know any of the infamous barbarians that threaten the empire's stability, and those that briefly appear in the story are simply there to be cannon fodder for the protagonists. they don't feel like real characters, and as a consequence the stakes didn't feel real. the last antagonist xue sheng also only appears in the last chapters and his only personality trait is hating fu shen.

emperor yuantai started out as an interesting character, but ended up wasted just as well. he's only fished out in the very last chapter as a deus ex machina, wherein he somehow agreed to give this important decree to fu shen, even though he'd always been on guard against him and fu shen had clearly hatched a plot to deceive emperor changzhi... so if anything, it'd make much more sense for emperor yuantai to be on xue sheng's side.

(speaking of emperor yuantai, there's a huge reveal in the first extra about the true nature of his relationship with yan xiaohan. i still can't understand why the author would save such important information that could've enriched the plot tenfold for an extra, instead of using it in the main story and giving more development to both emperor yuantai and yan xiaohan)

as i said, despite all this, i still liked this book. there were some genuinely funny passages, and the extra about the uncles made me really happy. it just wasn't as well-crafted as i had expected, but i don't regret reading it.

All I can say is: I am so sad this is over. If I could, I would bottle this duology up and inject it into my bloodstream. 

Golden Terrace: Volume 2

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