I recently read seizing dreams/ doumeng and since it's so underrated i wanted to do a review of it so more people read this masterpiece so here's 10 reasons why you should read Seizing dreams :
1) Money is a recurring theme in it
Rarely do I see romance novels or any novels that talk so much deeply and sincerely about money. Both of our protagonists are from the opposite spectrum of economical status. Yu Hao , our MC is an orphan from the start of the novel and he has no one else but himself to depend on for money whereas Zhou Sheng, or ML is only son and future heir of his millionaire father's company. I know it sounds like a very kdrama cliche type of story with this setting but the way they handle and portray the struggles of both people from the opposite spectrum is beautiful. We see Yu Hao struggling with part time work when he's in college, we see him struggling with finding a job, we see him struggling working with minimum wage after college to follow his passion. Whereas we see Zhou Sheng struggling to understand what he wants to do in the future. Struggling to understand whether he wants to be the heir or not. Struggling to live like a middle class person with Yu Hao cuz he's never lived like that. There's an arc where both the main characters are struggling with internship and it's shown so realistically that yes internship makes you work the most with the minimum wage in exchange of "teaching" you. There's also a character struggling with a start up. The novel also depicts Pyramid schemes and you name it. Ofc the novel has ideologies about money too and the characters constantly discuss their ideal way of using money. Most of the time i see in romance novels characters just fall in love and live together and how they are making money is never mentioned that much. So i very much appreciated when this novel shows how big of a struggle it is to earn money in a third world country with a psychology degree for someone who doesn't have rich parents. I just love this aspect of the novel the most.
2) The main couple knows how to communicate well
Like I said above, they come from different worlds so they have different views on a lot of topics. Usually, if it was a kdrama maybe the girl would've went " we can't be together because we are from different worlds" but not our Yu Hao . He wants to do his best to be together with him especially because they come from different upbringings. Because of their differences , they clash sometimes and fight especially with money matters but those fights are always peaceful and there are no misunderstandings and both of them communicate well and it's just so beautiful to see a couple who KNOWS what communication is haha
3) Both leads are super complex
Like it's rare to see such complexity even in danmei for me. Both of the characters are so well written and just …they act like actual human beings. So they might annoy you a bit but their growth is super amazing. Both of them fight their inner demons throughout the story and their journey of becoming better humans both individually and as a couple is such an immaculate experience. At first, Yu Hao may come across is this goody-shoes kind of boy who doesn't know how to step up for himself but later we see him become more mature, witty and having more self confidence. Zhou Sheng also comes across as this clown kind of person who's very annoying and possessive but this behaviour of him manifests from his insecurities. He just has a different way of hiding his insecurities. When You Hao shuts himself from the world so he won't get hurt by people, Zhou Sheng makes their clown persona so people won't hurt the real him. Both of them are struggling in their own way and when we slowly get to see them peel off their masks and be proud of their own skin. It's just ahhh so beautiful.
4) The side characters are well written too
The side characters are just as complex as the main characters and i think that's such a feat. I don't wanna reveal too much since it'll be spoilers but the side characters are of all kinds of sexuality, gender and stories. They feel like real humans and just arghh it's all so beautiful
5) The genres are mixed very well
so the main genres of this would be slice of life and adventure cuz like they go to other people's dreams and it's pretty adventurous but the slice of life aspect of it is also very much present and both of these genres are mixed so well. Like I'm a slice of life gal so i don't like adventure stuff that much but here I loved the dreamscapes so yeah it's blended very well.
6) The CP
The yearning the main characters have for each other in the beginning, the pinning, the fluff when they do get together.
7) Friendship
The story gives very big importance to the friendships the characters have and i feel like friendships are rarely celebrated this well so it's always a treat when a story does this.
8) Psychology
The main character studies psychology in his college so there's a lot of discussions around that and even outside of it, the novel is filled with the psychology of self and so much more . If you love psychology like me, it's a must. If you are a psychology student like me and Yu Hao, it's more of a must!
9) The smut
Tiref of reading censored and faded out sex scenes danmei ? Worry not! Cuz this novel has explicit sex scenes and they are written super well and with full detail. I know a lot of people get turned of by this so this is also a warning ? But you can always skip those chapters of you're uncomfortable. Anyways, i love some good smut in novels so if you're like me, you're gonna love this!
10) Because i said so
what more reason do you need ? Go read it now!
Carrd link : https://seizingdreams-info.carrd.co/