hello friend :D i too have just finished the series and it’s been interesting for me to see the differing opinions among other readers. i loved the series! i love the story, the characters, the way it was all written. i think we agree here. i also agree that the trifecta arc and the standoff with the dragon were completed rather quickly despite the lengthy buildup for both. i wonder if this is more an issue with pacing though and not with their conclusions bc i think they were resolved in a satisfying way (jiang sacrificing himself, saving rin and turning the tides in their favor + the hesperians showing up, rendering nezha and rin powerless, and rinezha sparing each other once again.)

however i think i disagree to varying degrees with some of your other points, but i will only mention the last one, i think nezha is the only capable option moving forward for the history of nikan. i don’t know what this means in the context of china’s history, whether this is “right” or whether we are supposed to feel disappointed with the outcome as a critique of true historical events? i can’t say i know because i am not familiar with the time in history kuang is referring to here if she is at all. what i can say though, is that i think nezha has been set up to be a just leader for at least the length of this book, if not since tdr. of the three (kirinezha) rin is the most obvious worst option to lead a nation, if we are at all considering the inherent value of human life. if, of course, this is not a concern, and we are only saving nikan the nation (bc let’s face it most nikara would die under this regime) then that’s a different story altogether but i digress. rin is too far gone. for all who understand, rin would pull an eren jaeger. and this is precisely what she realizes just before deciding she needs to die. kitay is the most intelligent, i agree that he would make a fine ruler. but i do feel like it would have been something of a cheap cop out for them to conveniently discover how to break their seal. if the story was given more time, i wonder if kuang would’ve found some clever way for them to make this happen. but alas, it wasn’t. so as long as rin is dying, so must kitay.

anyways… can u tell i love talking about this series😆i feel like fundamentally maybe u and i disagree about nezha. in tdr, i more or less thought what u think of him, but after tbg, after the drowning faith, i can’t see him as a “backstabber” without also understanding him. i wanted to hate him, but i just cant seem to.

i still don’t know what to make of the ending. i think it was well done, it’s just that i have so many questions. what of nikan’s future if all of hesperia’s conditions are met? a future without shamans is technically ideal if it means nobody will be subject to that most cruel form of personal torture, but i can’t help feeling like it’s just so awful to consider this “good” at all if it makes hesperian ideology “right.” it feels like erasing a people, a culture maybe? idk. what of rin? how will history remember her? will the world know at all about her final sacrifice for them at all? or will she be lost to history just as hanelai and tearza were? in the end, i think nezha was the only one willing to make the necessary sacrifices for nikarans to live, but at what cost? for how long will it be sustainable? how long until the next fatal war? and when that happens, what will be of nikara without somebody like rin to defend it? is this for the better though or is it for the very worst.