Okay hi hello I have actually read the chapters now, and I need there to be more!!
My main impression so far is that I am, predictably, obsessed with Bian Jin.
I mean, her first appearance is ruthlessly wielding a whip made of bone against her own shimei (but don’t look too closely at how her hand trembles) and her second appearance is as a presumed traitor tortured/beaten to what seems like well beyond ordinary human endurance, and these are my two favourite states for a character to be in, so.
(The fact that her next appearance is casually confident in her ability to do a royal murder, having just plucked a dagger from where it was hidden on someone else's body, only adds to the whole situation).
Also there’s the whole weaponisation aspect, which is a trope I love dearly, and I’m really enjoying what we’ve been given of it so far. The way Bian Jin is the ‘blade of the empire’, with exceptional combat skills and a largely cybernetic body, promised retirement and instead repaired and sent back to war, broken but mending faster than any normal human would, and brushing off any concern for her injuries… and yet also there are so many moments that focus specifically on (Shen Ni perceiving) her flesh-and-blood humanity. The way Shen Ni can tell how much pain she must be in from the quiet whimpers of pain she can’t quite suppress as she’s being carried. The way Shen Ni’s fingerprints linger on her skin and Shen Ni wonders if her skin always marked so easily. The strands of hair clinging to her skin and the way she flushes with exertion as she relearns how to walk. Obviously some of it is just Shen Ni being very physically Aware of her wife shijie, but especially given the setting it feels like something that could be used as a way to play in that deliciously angsty space of weapon-or-human.
Shen Ni is intriguing to me as well, especially in terms of making me curious about what happened in the six or so years between The Whipping Scene and now: how she defeated the virus and earned her reputation as the top mechanist, her relationship with the emperor, and how she went from the somewhat rash and undisciplined girl Bian Jin remembers to the seemingly controlled (though not without a flair for the dramatic, it seems) and charismatic woman she is now. She is clearly also obsessed with Bian Jin, and I’m definitely here to watch how exactly that plays out, beyond just what the preview/intro has given us.
Beyond the two leads, I’m very intrigued by the worldbuilding of course, and what flavour of cyberpunk we end up going for. I’m also interested to see more of both of the lady emperors introduced so far (enemies-to-lovers sideplot? Probably not but a girl can dream). I want to know more about Zeng Qingluo, and who she offended to get herself blacklisted from government office (I love a competent second-in-command who turns out to be easily as unhinged as whoever they’re serving, just quieter about it; too early to say if that’s where we’re going with her but I feel like there’s potential).
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My main impression so far is that I am, predictably, obsessed with Bian Jin.
I mean, her first appearance is ruthlessly wielding a whip made of bone against her own shimei (but don’t look too closely at how her hand trembles) and her second appearance is as a presumed traitor tortured/beaten to what seems like well beyond ordinary human endurance, and these are my two favourite states for a character to be in, so.
(The fact that her next appearance is casually confident in her ability to do a royal murder, having just plucked a dagger from where it was hidden on someone else's body, only adds to the whole situation).
Also there’s the whole weaponisation aspect, which is a trope I love dearly, and I’m really enjoying what we’ve been given of it so far. The way Bian Jin is the ‘blade of the empire’, with exceptional combat skills and a largely cybernetic body, promised retirement and instead repaired and sent back to war, broken but mending faster than any normal human would, and brushing off any concern for her injuries… and yet also there are so many moments that focus specifically on (Shen Ni perceiving) her flesh-and-blood humanity. The way Shen Ni can tell how much pain she must be in from the quiet whimpers of pain she can’t quite suppress as she’s being carried. The way Shen Ni’s fingerprints linger on her skin and Shen Ni wonders if her skin always marked so easily. The strands of hair clinging to her skin and the way she flushes with exertion as she relearns how to walk. Obviously some of it is just Shen Ni being very physically Aware of her
wifeshijie, but especially given the setting it feels like something that could be used as a way to play in that deliciously angsty space of weapon-or-human.Shen Ni is intriguing to me as well, especially in terms of making me curious about what happened in the six or so years between The Whipping Scene and now: how she defeated the virus and earned her reputation as the top mechanist, her relationship with the emperor, and how she went from the somewhat rash and undisciplined girl Bian Jin remembers to the seemingly controlled (though not without a flair for the dramatic, it seems) and charismatic woman she is now. She is clearly also obsessed with Bian Jin, and I’m definitely here to watch how exactly that plays out, beyond just what the preview/intro has given us.
Beyond the two leads, I’m very intrigued by the worldbuilding of course, and what flavour of cyberpunk we end up going for. I’m also interested to see more of both of the lady emperors introduced so far (enemies-to-lovers sideplot? Probably not but a girl can dream). I want to know more about Zeng Qingluo, and who she offended to get herself blacklisted from government office (I love a competent second-in-command who turns out to be easily as unhinged as whoever they’re serving, just quieter about it; too early to say if that’s where we’re going with her but I feel like there’s potential).
Can't wait for more!