Review: Golden Stage
The notorious imperial court lackey and the meritorious military general were well-known for their mutual dislike, a pair of arch-enemies se
Hello, I'm here with another review I need to get out of my system.
So first, everyone around me hypes this novel up a whole lot and perhaps that had set my expectations too high?
Don't get me wrong. The novel started off really strong. The moment I got into the first few chapters I felt I was in for something promising. But in my opinion, it fell flat in the second half. The reviews I've seen of it praise it to the sky, which I'm genuinely confused by, so I really appreciate the handful of reviews that have resonated with me.
[SPOILERS ALERT]
✨ What’s great about it ✨
Amazing, strong start to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author introduced us to Fu Shen, his family background, and his achievements prior to that unfortunate incident.
The ambiguity of Fu Shen's relationship with Yan Xiaohan progressing into something more concrete and certain was a delight!
Mature relationship between the MC and ML
I LOVE that arc where the author shows us how the main CP first met, their interactions, how they grew closer, and even that 'betrayal'. It was super fluffy and there was a lot of tension that kept me on my toes.
Let's not lie to ourselves, the arranged marriage trope is just fucking tasty
😞 What I was disappointed about 😞
The "enemies-to-lovers" trope was very misleading... I don't know about the novel's fans but I expected enemies to lovers. To me, YanFu felt far from that...? In this case, they weren't enemies to begin with. They presented themselves as rivals at court, even though in private they had a far more amicable relationship. Even though Yan Xiaohan's 'betrayal' was a thorn in young Fu Shen's heart, it's revealed at some point in the novel that Fu Shen had already rationalised this 'betrayal' when he grew older. By the time the pair were married, what was left was some remaining tension that gradually gave way to them affirming their romantic attraction to each other. So actually, I feel it might be more accurate to portray this novel as one where the main CP grows closer with the trials and tribulations they go through together, including the political scheming they have to overcome with each other's help.
Towards the end, the plot generally fell kind of flat and the narrative became rather bland. Perhaps there wasn't enough explanations for some of the things that were happening. In addition, the conclusion felt slightly rushed with little build up.
While the novel gave us lots of sweet moments between MC and ML, I did not feel like there was any significant developments to their relationship, which was a bit of a pity but hey, main CP does have a strong and mature relationship, which is definitely a plus in my books! ❤️
I read this some time ago and I have an extremely poor memory so I don't remember much of it now. Rather than some glaring faults, I think it's probably the narrative style that didn't quite make the cut in my books. However, there are lots of people who enjoyed this novel, so it might still be worth a try for any interested folks out there! 💪