Sunday, August 04, 2024

Peerless vol 1 by Meng Xi Shi: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Peerless vol 1 by Meng Xi Shi

Peerless starts a new danmei series by Meng Xi Shi. According to the back cover text, it’s set in the same world as their Thousand Autumns series, but in this first volume the connection is mostly the jianghu, as the author calls their martial arts world. Here, jianghu only plays a secondary role though.

The main characters are Feng Xiao and Cui Buqu, leaders of rivalling secret agencies of the new dynasty. Feng Xiao is a martial arts expert, beautiful beyond belief, and self-centered in a way that’s both aggravating and amusing. Cui Buqu doesn’t know any martial arts and he’s sickly and weak, but his mind is sharp. He’s on a secret mission on a remote border town, working under cover when Feng Xiao arrives to town to investigate a murder of a foreign emissary.

Feng Xiao immediately suspects Cui Buqu, who seizes the opportunity to hinder Feng Xiao’s investigation. But soon, the two must start working together. There isn’t love lost between the men, but some kind of respect forms in between the endless bantering.

This was a fun start to a series, and very different from Thousand Autumns. The beginning was a tad confusing, as it was told from the points of view of random characters, and it took several chapters before Feng Xiao and Cui Buqu came to fore. The main plot is a murder mystery, although a convoluted and highly illogical, the suspects springing up at random. The men manage to explain everything in the end though. The start of their relationship is rocky, but very entertaining, each holding their own. And the next mystery is already waiting for them. Looking forward to reading it.

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