MEIK0TO's Manga

Alright. I wanted to see what all of the hype was about. And first of all, I’m sorely disappointed.
In fact, I bet the reason why that nobody thinks badly of this Manhua, is simply due to the reason that the list of cons is too big to bother with writing a bad review on it. Or perhaps the amount of bile slung at anyone who dares to criticize it. With a word count of 720k how could anyone even begin to list all the bad things about this Manhua? Even someone like me who has written innumerable paragraphs of complaints has trouble even thinking of where to start..

First of all, this Manhua is just eye-candy. Don’t even bother to read it if you want a story that makes sense. Read the novel, it only has..244 chapters. That’s what I did, and halfway through the third book I thought, “I could’ve spent all this time reading Dostoevsky!”

Oh.. can the heavenly officials save the TGCF novel from its pacing issues? The author herself, MXTX, made it clear that she never intended to write more than 36k words. Yet somehow we ended up here. Before TGCF, I faithfully believed that book size is not an indicator of quality. The book meanders from chapter to chapter. The constant info dumps don’t contribute to the world building at all, instead it dilutes the impact of all the information we’re being given. Always hearing about the backstories of other people, ghosts, gods, heavenly officials, demons.. etcetera etcetera. The world building is simply flat and I expected it. When creating a story with time skips and constant flashbacks. The writer must always remember that the world within their story is ever changing. And MTXT dug her own grave by making a time span of 800 years, to which she must fill with interesting events whilst all the while making sure the story isn’t dragging out. MXTX failed to do that. Nothing feels purposeful because of it, and details end up being forgotten. TGCF cannot show, it can only tell. And what’s really the worst is that important plot points are often in the middle of unnecessary information. It makes the story unsatisfying to read, and I often find myself skimming the pages. The entire third book needs to return to its draft and manuscript stage to be rewritten. And it hurts me to say something like that to an established writer.

The first book was alright. The Ghost Bride and wedding scene was very, very boring to me. And it was a miracle that I even managed to get through it. But the Ban Yue arc made a good enough impression on me, so I spontaneously downloaded the second book.
The second book is my favorite out of the three that I read. The Gambler’s den scene was good, and I found the flashbacks to be enjoyable even. Then came the third book.

Let’s talk about the characters;
Xie Lian is self-sacrificing to an unbelievable degree and doesn't really make mistakes that significantly hurt anyone other than himself. He's bad at cooking and... that's about it. Honestly, you could argue that he doesn't make mistakes at all; he just gets punished for being a good person. Hua Cheng is all-knowing, all-powerful, and literally only has one weakness: calligraphy. He's also been completely devoted to Xie Lian for centuries. Phrases like “HuaLian invented love” are false by the way. No worries, I fell for it too. We don’t even see Hua Cheng and Xie Lian falling in love with each other. The whole thing is just really awkward because Hua Cheng is already madly in love with XL and that’s that.

Nobody sees an issue with that? I know why HC is so devoted to XL. But don’t even get me started on the 10,000 statues that HC built of XL, that’s just straight up creepy. Besides the fact that HC literally stalked XL but that doesn’t matter because he’s the all powerful & ruthless ghost king.

I find Xie Lian to be very bland despite how much time we spend in his perspective. He’s kind and selfless, I suppose. Hua Cheng is a douchebag to everyone except Xie Lian. What annoys me the most is that when everyone is warning XL of HC’s red flags, XL is just like “Huh? What? Where? How?”..
Qi Rong is a character that was probably created to make HC look like a good person. But I can defend that QR’s vicious energy brings a life to him that the revered ghost king HC could never emulate with all of his purported power.
At some point, Qi Rong started insulting XL and I was amused because once I got past all of his cursing, he.. was actually making a lot of sense to me..? Like I was agreeing with him! Yes, Xie Lian is a hypocrite! Thank you for stating it explicitly, Qi Rong!
I have many things to say. But I don’t believe that I have the right to say them.. nevertheless, I did enjoy HuaLians relationship and parts of the story itself.
The Black Water arc, the Ban Yue arc, and the Gambler’s den scene were all entertaining. Although the rest of it was a blur.

TGCF’s plot is convoluted, poorly executed, and extremely lengthy. However, author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu writes beautifully in the meat of the story. Whilst reading, I even wished that I could read Mandarin because I heard that she writes very poetically.
Tian Guan Ci Fu is flawed, and although I criticized the world building, I still think that it is an immersive story and I would recommend it to readers.. if they have a very specific description closely resembling TGCF.. I am afraid that TGCF is my least favorite story from MXTX’s work.