I’m a bit worried about Crain’s plan to just have a *business relationship* with the Jotun family. Will that be enough to avoid the Count's jealousy? The Count didn't even care that the engagement was with Crain specifically, just that his 'prize' was taken away. This feels like the biggest gamble in his new plan.
2 I love the idea that the gold coin is real, and Xia Li plans to sell it. That’s a smart way to incorporate a fantasy reward into a modern setting. It also creates potential problems: he has to explain where he got gold without a paper trail. That could be a plot point later.
I really appreciate how the author doesn’t make Jiang Zao a saint. She openly admits that if Fu Yanci dies, she’ll get to be a widow with a good persona; if he’s a fool, she’ll just coax him; if he recovers, she’ll have a sham marriage. That’s cold, but also realistic. She’s not pretending to be in love, she’s playing the cards she’s been dealt. That kind of amoral calculation makes her interesting and keeps me guessing what she’ll do next.
I feel so bad for the protagonist when even the goblins are dissing her for being too skinny. The line "Looks like a real unfortunate human" hit hard because you can tell her self-esteem is already in the gutter from her previous life. The humor is dark, but it also reveals how deeply her trauma affects her, even in a fantasy setting. That's some layered writing.
The world-building is sneaky good. We learn about the Xuan Shu Association, the rules against using powers on ordinary people, the existence of exotic beasts, and the alternate dimensions—all through natural conversation and internal thoughts. There’s no “as you know” exposition. Gu Qingyin remembers her past jobs, mentions the association regulations, and we piece together the system. The twenty-year time jump also implies that the modern world has changed, but the supernatural elements remain. I’m curious how the two worlds coexist now.
The dialogue in the Liu Jun scene was a bit stiff. The whole “I’ll double the total project cost” and “If you can’t do it, I’ll make you vomit out every penny” sounds like something out of a movie script. Real people don’t talk like that. Still, it was entertaining.
1 I wish the story had spent a bit more time on the Blue Bay flying boat itself. That century-old ship with mottled traces and 80,000 passengers sounds like it has so many stories. It felt like a missed opportunity to set the mood or introduce some side characters. It just got glossed over.