Chapters 15-16 This week's theme of brotherhood over family jumped out at me. Chapter 15 began with Liu Bei telling his "brothers" from the Peach Garden Oath an old saying: "Brothers are like arms and legs; wives and children are merely garments that can
Nights 104-121 The long story nears its climax, only to take a sudden break. The witch finally kills Sharkan! Half-brother Dau swears vengeance! But before he goes to battle, he asks for someone to tell him a story to help him feel better. That brings us to a
Chapters 13-14 The Emperor is so miserable in these chapters that we sympathize with how he turns to Cao Cao. We see the Emperor fleeing from armies and find a town with no room for him at the inn. As his courtiers escape by tying silks together so they
Nights 87-103 The long story of Nights 45-145 feels like it is coming to its end: a “holy war” (p. 420, night 87) where the “Army of Islam” (p. 459, night 101) fights against the heathens (the Christians). The writers enjoy smearing the Christians. Literally! Before battle, the
Chapters 10-12 These three chapters start very strong. Chapter 10 is one of my favorites so far, showcasing the different characters of Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and Liu Bei: after Cao Cao’s father is killed pointlessly, he goes after the wrong person for revenge. Then Liu Bei intervenes
Nights 70-86 It looks like we are nearing a happy ending, but we’re not quite there yet. Prince Dau and Princess Nuzhat are reunited when she recognizes her brother by his poetic laments about how much he misses her. This reunion is followed by a more somber one:
Chapters 8-9 Great stuff here. These chapters belong to Diaochan. She is the woman who seduces both Dong Zhuo and his general Lu Bu, causing Dong Zhuo’s death. Diaochan is among the most well-known of the Magic cards from Portal: Three Kingdoms. As one of the only
Nights 52-69 We start with a surprise death: Ghabdan kills off a character. And so far, he gets away with it! Our attention shifts to the prince and princess, before landing on Princess Nuzhat for most of it. She gets what is becoming a somewhat standard role reversal in
Romance, Chapters 5-7 I enjoyed a lot of the episodes in these chapters. I’m hoping that I’ll continue to like the book as much as I have so far! In this part, the structure and tone felt like reading the Iliad (or a more extended narrative of
Nights 35-51 This section contains three stories. They are all “problematic” in some ways, especially around sex. The first involves two lovers, but the woman is a slave. The story does a good job of making their love look consensual and inevitable, despite the power imbalance. When “he sucked
The plot continues at a fast pace, but I can still follow it. I am grateful that I know some of the characters from Magic cards. When a new character appears, I can assume they will stick around for a while if they’ve got a card associated with them.
Chapters 1 and 2 Romance contains a lot of plot in each chapter. There is just too much for me to summarize it in each blog post. In just the first chapter, we learn about how the Empire is mismanaged, meet the three hero “brothers,” see them take their oath,