Name: Heaven Official’s Blessing [天官赐福]
Rating: 4.64406779661017 (59 reviews)

Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Heaven Official’s Blessing [天官赐福]

墨香铜臭

天官赐福 [Tiān Guān Cì Fú]

dija

Hua Cheng said quietly, “Your Highness, I understand your everything.
“Your courage, your despair; your kindness, your pain; your resentment, your hate; your intelligence, your foolishness.
“If I could, I would have you use me as your stepping stone, the bridge you take apart after crossing, the corpse bones you need to trample to climb up, the sinner who deserved the butchering of a million knives. But, I know you wouldn’t allow it.”

The rawest love story i have ever read about i wish i didn't finish it, i want to experience it all again anew.

illya

Even though I did have to work through the cultural shock that is the difference of styles between what I'm used to (western) and MXTX's style, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Where do I start? 

The fantasy element of it is a major aspect of the book, with its action scenes encapsulating the genre of Wuxia in ten words or less: sword fights, people flying, spells, tailsmans, all that good stuff. However, because that genre is heavy on its lingo, the reader needs a lot of crutches to fully understand what we are talking about here. No fear, the translators have you covered, fellow western reader.

The characters are beyond compelling: it is always interesting to see how other cultures work on the take of the fact that Gods have flaws, like the Olympians were in their myths. This time, Gods and Buddhas are mortals that given their range of good deeds, have earned a way to heaven. It is great to see their mortality and flaws glimer still between all the immortality. Gods fuck up. They are stubborn, they are greedy and they don't work for free. They regret, they apologize. They are still somewhat mortal. The whole worshiper/god is HEAVILY worked on in this book which brings me to talk about.

Them.
(view spoiler)[
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. The world has probably never seen a love such as theirs. It's everflowing and all-consuming. It's patient, it's pure and kind and born from the pure need to have someone believe in you. Just one soul is enough for you to be worth it. Even when you get trampled (although you were doing the right thing) by the people you love, even when you do bad things for the good reasons, there's always someone loving you. That's their love. That's trust, and the knowledge that one will always find the other, no matter what. That even the ugliest parts of oneself are loved and cherished. Even when Hua Cheng was this poor bastard, a kid riddled with bruises, bloody and incoherent, a bad solider or a nameless ghost, he was always by Xie Lian's side. 

And Xie Lian, ah a good old unreliable narrator. He tells you half truths, but always in a way where the bad guy ends up being him. When most of the times, he is not. He has taken upon himself to save EVERYONE. Not pick one solution between two: make a third. 

I could go on but this is EXTENSIVE and no one will read it so I'll just quote what I think is my favourite ending ever: 
"They say, in the common world, that there is a Scrap Immortal.

He has the strength to annihilate the world, but the heart to cherish a flower. Yet it is said that if you worship him your luck is guaranteed to be bad.

The also say, in the common world, that there is a Red Robed Ghost King.

Although inhuman, he has many worshippers. But ghosts aren't like gods. If he's happy, he'll help even if you don't pray. If he's displeased, even if you give a thousand gold he will turn away or even take your life. Give your respects, but stay far away.

But it is said, that if you worship the two together, the Scrap Immortal's robes are revealed to be gold not white, and a miracle will happen."

 (hide spoiler)]

Heaven Official's Blessing

Lia Yuliana

Update 29/11/2021

Find my reviews on :  An Ode to Fiction
Buy the book :
 Amazon |  Book Depository



  
    Last time, they spent eight hundred years running towards each other.

This time, it only took an instant to fall into each other's embrace.
  


I'll make this review short. . .

There is no greater story of love, faith, and devotion that can parallel the story of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. A story filled with twists and turns, happiness, tears, and suffering. This five book series has come to it's finality for me as I finally found it within me to finish it. I've held back because I didn't want to see their story end just like that, so I kept stalling and stalling. Now, that it's over. I am nothing but an empty shell of tears. This series has brought me so much joy and tears. Just like Xie Lian, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So, I did both.

It's a series that has become one of my favorite reads this year and I'm excited to collect the English translations that will be released by Seven Seas. Though I'm sad that I am parting with this series . . I want to express my feelings with quotes I highlighted from the story. 


  
    "I pray to never rest in peace"
  



  
    "To die in battle for you is my greatest honour."
  



  
    "There is no banquet in this world that doesn't come to an end."
  



  
    "I am forever your most devoted believer."

Patricia Macías García

No voy a escribir mucho porque como empiece a hacer una reseña de esta novela no acabo. Me ha flipado. Ya está. Solo podría explicar lo mucho que me ha gustado con un audio de 10 minutos.

elif sinem

Fengqing I owe you one. good god... great worldbuilding, some great moments, great gowns but the plot is a first draft. it's ok though. thanks Black Water arc for my life.

finn

4 stars

honestly? this book was really good in several ways. the plot was pretty good, and i was intrigued for most of it, even if some plot reveals ended up being kind of obvious. i was entertained by it all though and i didn’t really mind the predictability that much. it also had some very funny moments i’ll give it that.

what really got to me with this novel, though, was the characters. i loved the main character, Xie Lian, and what the kind of cruel life lessons gave him as a character. when he learned he can’t save everyone even as he had ascended to godhood… that was peak writing to me. book 4 was also a really good arc for him and for ME who loved his relationship with Mu Qing and Feng Xin. Xianle trio i care you…. i care you so much…

side characters, including Mu Qing and Feng Xin, were also really well written. most of the top characters in my personal character ranking are definitely mainly side characters…

as for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng… god. their love really is so good. i love that for them and i haven’t cried to a book in a while (shocking, considering how easily i cry to books), but these two… they got to me. that is enough praise for them though as i have several problems with how MXTX wrote their ~lore~. they’re 800 years old during the main events of the book, so their 7 year age difference is nothing BUT the fact that MXTX had them meet when Xie Lian was 17 and Hua Cheng was 10 didn’t make me feel good. sure, there were no intentions from either side and there was nothing between them until they were literally centuries old (THANK GOD), and MXTX wanted the impact of a young boy devoting his life to a disgraced god, in the end being his only believer. that impact could have easily been made even if Hua Cheng was a little older when they met. book 2 also ended up being WEIRD because of this. i loved this book but i hated this part of it. this book could have been a 5 if mxtx wasnt a weirdo.

very good book though.. the concept of this book is really nice, and i love cliches so a demon and a god falling in love is so good to me.

tldr: good novel, great characters. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were in love and it was beautiful, but MXTX was a weirdo with them and i hate that. so much.

an unexpected fave?!  i think unexpected is just a really good descriptor for this book 😭  i just picked it up to pass the time while waiting/working but i ended up so into it!  i came for the myths and fairytale vibes but got a surprise treat of absurd humor (the amount of times i snorted loudly in public… god) and cute silly romantic bits.  probably my fave mxtx work :’)

jasmine

Autumn 

This book was so wonderful. A lot of people say this is a very sad and torturous reading experience but I only cried twice and I cry easily so they are exaggerating. 
I really liked the lore behind this story. 
It's official! eastern fantasy is just better! 
Although if you look at it with western standards you are definitely going to misunderstand the book and you won't enjoy it. 
warning for major violence and horror themes.

Pamela Alvarado

4.5 JUST because it was so fucking long. But this novel is also so beautiful and I can't be TOO mad about the word count since the ending made up for all the time spent reading it!

Heaven Official’s Blessing [天官赐福]

Reviews

Highlights