Guardian (Zhen Hun) Danmei Novel Review

Please note that all reviews aim to be spoiler-free, while analyses often contain spoilers.

Summary

Guardian is a solid 5/5 novel for me, one of my favorite danmei reads so far.  It’s a fast-paced urban fantasy, rich with Chinese creation and underworld mythology.  This is an action-packed book, fast-paced and in constant motion, with a fun found family of side characters and an incredibly intense romance between the leads.

Romance and Main Characters

I love Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei for so many reasons.  Their personalities seem to leap off the pages, at times feeling larger than life but in a way that’s coherent, consistent, and highly entertaining.  We see most of the book from Zhao Yunlan’s perspective, and he is confident, charming, and also barely hanging on at times.

Shen Wei is more of a mystery to the reader, as he is to Zhao Yunlan.  His enigmatic actions are confusing at first, but over time become clear.  The attraction between the leads is also palpable, and the obstacles they have to overcome to be together, once fully revealed, are heart-wrenchingly delicious.

Secondary Characters

The found family aspects of Guardian easily elevate it for me.  The cast of characters that have come together at SID under Zhao Yunlan are delightful, with different backstories motivating them that come in to focus throughout the story.  None of these characters are fillers; each add something important to the narrative, and they each go through their own arcs despite the whirlwind pace of Guardian.

I particularly loved the comic mix of grumpy wisdom and curiosity in Da Qing, the fat black cat, as well as the everyman entry into the narrative provided by new recruit Guo Changcheng (I plan to write more of an analysis on his character one day; I think it’s an incredibly clever inversion of that narrative device).

Plot

As I’ve said above, the plot here is non-stop.  There are no real slow moments, which is par for the course with the urban fantasy genre even outside of danmei.  I also loved how the plot started relatively small and contained, and then grew to be more encompassing as the story progressed.  There are lots of surprises and reveals along the way, and they kept me on the edge of my seat.  The experience of reading this felt a little more like watching an action movie sometimes, but in the best possible way.

Worldbuilding

I loved the world that priest created in this story, which is mostly like our own modern world with magic and mythology interjected throughout.  There are a lot of Chinese mythological references, and as someone less familiar with Chinese creation myths I did find that I had to pause sometimes to look up references.  Seven Seas does a great job providing summaries in footnotes and end materials (seriously, they’re awesome at this), but even so I did find I wanted to read a few Wikipedia articles to help contextualize the information more.  For me, this was a positive—I want to see Chinese cultural references throughout my danmei and learn something while I read.

The world here feels consistent, even if priest never really gives us much time to just sit in it without something else happening just around the corner.  As magic expanded and secrets were revealed, they never seemed incongruent with what I’d already learned.  I loved spending some time in this alternate version of modern life.

Writing Style & Translation

priest has a wonderful writing style, descriptive when needed, action-oriented when called for, sensitive to emotions and character voice throughout.  Guardian is no exception, and really showcases her talents well.  The translation is also impeccable.

Spice Level

3 peppers—everything is fade-to-black, but what’s implied before and after those fade-to-black scenes is outré and smoking hot.  I’m going to write a follow-up post soon with some fan fiction to fill in some of those scenes.