Sword Snow Stride

How to Shape Your Heir’s Future without Him Knowing

Picked this up on a whim after reading some of the reviews here.

It’s basically a walk of growth of the ML Xu Fengnian, the heir of King of Southern (eh was it northern?) Liang. He was against the idea of succeeding his father, Xu Xiao, and practicing marial arts, until he heard the death of his travel companian, the groom Old Huang, who is also the world reknowned swordsman Jiu Jian Huang. Only then did he realized he needed power and martial capability to bring back his Old Huang’s sword box from the walls of Wudi City, and his sisters and brother whom Xu Xiao sent away in order to strengthen ML’s heir position. Thus upon agreeing to be King of Liang’s successor, his father told him to go on a quest to visit his siblings in various regions outside Northern Liang, during which the ML inadvertently acumulated martial art in the various assassinations that he was subjected to.

Xu Xiao is probably most unpredictable king-cum-father figure I’ve ever seen. He looked formidable enough to make people cower around him but in the presence of his heir, he was not ashamed to cower under ML even in the presence of others, just to quell Xu Fengnian’s dissatisfaction. Everything he did was calculated to the minute possibility of Xu Fengnian diverting off, and i would say it looked brilliant at first, but later appeared too staged. Despite being a loving father who dotes on his heir, Xu Xiao was so ruthless that he would not mind having his heir almost killed if it meant for ML to survive with better prospect of kingship later. Looking at their love-hate relationship, i can’t help but thought about Fated Hearts’s ML relationship with his father the emperor. If only Susha emperor was a bit more like Xu Xiao, the broken relationship with his heir wouldnt have been so. And that is why Xu Xiao earned my respect even more!

I am also surprised at how meticulous the makeup team is. Lord of Jing’an’s son was slapped by ML when his assassination attempt failed, and several scenes later the red mark still apparent on the right side of the cheek. It was not an obvious red like most would do, but a faint hue of redness like a real slap would look like.

The songs were great. I love the CGI too, those adorable baby hukuis were definitely better than Legend of Shenli’s cartoonish chicken-looking-phoenix despite SSS being produced earlier.

However, the choreograph is rather mediocre especially when they rely too much on inner strength battles than the actual physical battle. I also failed to ship the Fengnian-Jiangni relationship. Honestly they looked like brother and sister rather than couple attracted to each other. Jiang Ni looked too childish while Fengnian too cunningly predictable. Predictable in a sense that all his actions are laid upon this particular sense of fake righteousnous that seemed out of this world for the era he was in. It’s like seeing Joy of Life’s Fanxian with his quirky acts but in a different setting. I just felt like the writers got his surface personality mixed up with the from-the-future-Fanxian.

It was the supporting cast appearances that kept me interested, really. I was thrilled to see Little Fanxian appearing here! That boy’s acting was superb in Joy of Life, I really liked him. And I was also excited to see Ah Mai from Fighting for Love, Zhang Tian Ai as Nangong Puye. Too bad her scenes were just in those first few episodes. how I wished for her to follow ML’s journey instead of the death guard Qingniao just so i can see more of her. And boy was I feeling giddy when Liu DuanDuan’s Zhao Kai made an appearance. He is definitely one of my favourite actors, i always get curious with the roles he takes up, cuz they were always of the eccentric kind. Like here Zhao Kai was infatuated with ML’s sister and keep telling people that she was his wife, but at the same time had no problem going on a rampage killing for his future brother-in-law’s life. What a disturbed mind.

I liked the plot up to the last 10 episodes when they started to intensify Fengnian-Jiangni relationship. Also the way Fengnian eventually found himself right back into the trajectory that Xu Xiao has planned for him looked too damn staged that my interest started to wane. I enjoyed Sword Snow Stride but I dont think i’d be eager to watch season 2. I might even skip it altogether 🤷🏻‍♀️.

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sentimental, sacred, survival and swift

I love the constant battle in wanting to be ruthless but also life saving. Nobody ever says I love you so far but the humanity for each other and sacrifices reinforces that it’s not what you say but what you do that exemplifies love. All characters are excellent, they all help keep the story moving….the scheming and power plays we’re unpredictable at first …. I like the fantasy animals. So far an excellent cdrama…it does not disappoint at all.

The relationship between the prince and general is like nothing else ive come across in other cdrama. It’s rather manipulative but caring at the same time.

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Beware if you didn't like Joy of Life . .

I gave this a chance because I really appreciated Joy of Life's production and cinematography even though I couldn't get into the plot. Yet, here I am again, bored. There is no tension.

Xu Feng Nian, our main lead, is destined for triumph, and the show makes this clear from the beginning. Clever, strategic and good hearted, beneath a playful exterior is a deeply capable person. Determined to be a 'better man,' than his father he twists and turns to avoid his fate to inherit his legacy as a military leader and martial arts talent.

What is the point of watching? Perhaps for some, there is satisfaction in watching a world where everything has a reason, and talent paired with a good heart always wins in the end.

There is good acting, lots of memorable side characters and very high production values . . . but bland themes and no tension do not hold my interest.

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A Bit of a Drag

Based on reviews as well as being recommended by other reviewers who has somewhat similar opinions of other series, I was super excited to embark on this one. And while I can still force myself to continue watching due to it potentially getting better, there's just nothing intriguing enough to keep going even after 10 episodes in.

There's no real major flaw to highlight and there was quite some potential of being a unique undertaking of "royalty" in the beginning. Instead of the usual elegant and noble demeanor of royals , it was quite interesting to see the more "normalized" relationship with leaders that weren't born into it that type of restriction/upbringing. Although they did take it a bit too far and some scenes were just awkward.

While there were many great actors and characters in the series, the one that I just couldn't bring myself to like was the main protagonist, Xu Feng Nian. Even if his character was supposed to "pretend" to be narcissistic and spoiled (and despite them trying to paint him as some sort of kind soul deep down who refuses to kill anyone), he still comes off strongly as a narcissist and is quite abusive to those closest to him for that matter. His level of intelligence isn't believable enough either for it to balance out. As for the plot flow, while the story does move along with setting changes and introduction of new characters, it also somehow feels circular. There's too much emphasis on Xu Feng Nian and not enough on the supports. There's a lot going on but it really isn't going anywhere. So for these two reasons, I decided to do the drop.

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Awesome

I will rate this a 10. The narrative and the characters are awesome. I will put this right in the bracket with the general and I which is one of my favorites. The Actors are portraying the characters pretty well they’re giving you something to watch and wait for the next scene. It’s not all swords and fights. The young prince gives you something to laugh and smile about using his head his mind as often as he does to solve problems it’s amazing.. I would really love to see more of these storylines that does not include so much blood and fighting. To the writers the producers and everyone I said thank you for giving us such a beautiful drama I can’t wait for the next episode until January 11 I look forward to everything that comes out.

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if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance

There was so much hype for this and for Joy of Life, but unfortunately, both of these shows Zhang Ruo Yun gives the impression of basically acting the same character in the same story-- i.e., an invincible protagonist who pretends to be weak, conquering a world where everyone is stupid and no one knows what's going on except for him. And that includes the audience, because the plot straight up doesn't make sense.

Why should a young powerful prince leave home and pretend to be a beggar without fighting skills for 3 years just to evade an arranged marriage, then come back... without really having evaded it, or indeed any of his bloodthirsty political enemies?
Why does a top martial artist who enjoys roast chicken, coincidentally the man who rescued the Prince's life a decade ago, live underwater in the middle of a lake?
Why should the prince's father, coincidentally the most powerful man in the military, pretend to be stupid and spend all of his effort trying to outplot his own son by e.g. installing martial artists in his harem?
Why should a princess, coincidentally the last of an almost extinguished noble line, put aside learning real life skills in order to alternate trying to assassinate the MC and working as a maid for him?

After asking questions like this every single episode, and never getting any answers, we start to suspect... that the answer to all of our questions is simply, 'because this way it the protagonist gives off an air of mystery as he shows his superiority during epic feats of deus ex machina'.

It's fine to have a show that builds mysteries within mysteries, enigmas within enigmas. But if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance, no core. It's like the author tried to think of the most badass character settings possible, and had some inspirational scenes in their mind, but got tired before they could actually write the story. For one, we never find out what exactly what Xu Fengnian and Xu Xiao really did wrong to motivate all these assassinations that are the core driving force of the plot -- except for holding too much military power.

The icing on the cake is 'strong women leads' like Jiang Ni and Nangong Pu She who are meant to look beautiful and cool respectively, but basically have no brains and follow the protagonist around. It doesn't help that the acting for these female leads is basically the weakest in the show.

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refreshing historical drama

I liked Zhang Ruo Yun His acting is natural and carefree. There are many likable qualities about this actor. I loved Joy of Life and Wang Juan's writing styles....this should be a good drama.

In the beginning, I was confused about the plot. As the story unfolds, it became more and more interesting.

The costumes are simple, yet elegant. It does not lessen the quality of the drama.....I am looking forward to all the upcoming episodes.

This is just an added.....I saw his wedding photos with Tang Yixin. They looked truly well matched and very happy.

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enjoyable

I have a love/hate relationship with this drama but in a good way.., I don’t hate it because it’s bad or something.., but because it started so intimidating politically so I thought we are ahead with a great political drama
then boom the surprise, everything changed by episode 5-6 when Xu feng(protagonist) started his “journey to cultivate” where he will become a better version of himself and challenges the upheaval world

so the shift in tone from politics to journey caught me off guard

still didn’t change how entertaining the show was from the beginning until the end
I love the world and the characters so much
like literally all the characters are insanely good and lovable ,, how they interact, help love,hate each other was so good

the show has politics(tho little) , schemes and mind games, fighting scenes (so good) , power shifting and betrayal etc

it’s just unique, I haven’t watched something like it
and if anyone thinks it’s similar to joy of life then sorry you clearly haven’t watched both of them and don’t understand the difference between them
because they are not similar at all except for some characters and how they interact

both have that “witty” style

Anyway I am in love with “jiang ni” , she’s my favorite
way better than “lin wan” of joy of life

“waiting for season 2”

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Absorbing tale of political intrigue with interesting characters and elements of wuxia

Political intrigue is not everyone's cup of tea, but this series does it in a way that will be appealing to a lot of people. There are plenty of conniving characters in the story, but it's not the kind of story that will leave one with a dreadful sense of cynicism or the idea that people are all merely making use of one another to achieve their own aims. Instead, there are characters we can appreciate, even those who are not on the side of the protagonist.

For a story that involves so much scheming, it surprisingly has a subtle central message about kindness. Xu Feng Nian is a reluctant potential heir to his father's important position, one which the ruler is both dependent on and heavily guarded against. His father is a master of covert plots and can be merciless with his enemies, but is essentially not a bad person. Xu Feng Nian is actually very similar, but he is reluctant to sacrifice the people he cares about for "greater" ends like peace in the country: basically he wants to have his cake and eat it. Nevertheless, it seems that his attempts to do something different from his father end up being whatever his father has planned for him to do in the first place.

If the story is not handled properly, we might just end up with a bland story with a lot of scheming characters we don't care about. But in Sword Snow Stride, the protagonist is bent on tempering his actions with kindness. So while the political intrigue is an unfortunate aspect of his life (and the lives of all the other characters), the solution, it seems, is not to run away from it but to be great at it without losing one's kindness and sense of justice. Quite importantly, though it is not overly emphasized, Xu Feng Nian is saved by his/his late mother's kindness at a critical juncture towards the end.

One thing that strikes me as being particularly well done is the sentimental aspects of the story, particularly the protagonist's relationships with the other characters. Surprisingly romance is not given a whole lot of attention although it is there. Instead, Xu Feng Nian's relationships with his father, his siblings and even his deep friendship with a servant who dies early on in the story are finely blended into the story of what he has to/wants to do before he succeeds his father. Almost every character who plays a relatively significant role has a distinctive personality (and mind you, there are many, many characters). This is a sign of a really well written script.

There are more treats for the audience. The wuxia elements of the story practically ventures into xianxia territory, and the fight/swordplay sequences are beautifully choreographed (even if perhaps not altogether innovative). Some might find the sequences of the greatest martial arts masters a little over-the-top, especially when they can affect nature or open some celestial gate, but I don't think it mars the story in any way. Perhaps it is related to the theme: the most powerful masters of martial arts are mostly not the ones who wield power or connive whereas the masters of political schemes do not always have physical prowess; eventually a balance of both may be necessary even for noble political aims.

There is likely a second season given the viewership ratings that the series has garnered. On its own, however, this season ends satisfactorily. It is certainly possible for further developments: who is the woman who helps Xu Feng Nian several times while purportedly wanting to kill him, what is happening with the Wudang Sect guy at the end of the story, will the two baby tiger "monsters" that Xu Feng Nian has adopted have an important role to play, etc? Despite all the loose threads that can lead to a Season 2, Season 1 ends in a surprisingly satisfactory way. It does not give the sense that it ends in the middle of nowhere or resort to some sort of bizarre cliffhanger that makes us doubt our understanding of the entire season. It is not an easy feat to strike the perfect balance between having proper closure for Season 1 while keeping things just open enough for a Season 2 (so that Season 2 will seem like a natural extension), but this series has managed it.

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EPIC Storytelling Worth Your Patience

This drama is deceptive, esp. if you grew up on CGI/lowest common demoninator storytelling. The screenwriter/director is in this for long haul - three Seasons, and that gives you an amazing amount of time to tell a story right. Consequently, that's why you'll read reviews that say there's not enough fighting or "is it a wuxia?" or "where's the romance?"

Look closer. There is great fighting, eventually romance and omg yes it's a Wuxia/Xianxia.

I want to look back at the end of Season 3 and see all the overlayed spider webs and the long, long road it took to find the right kind of love & partner (and to find a third option). This is one of the few dramas where I didn't read ahead to protect my heart & allowed them to play me, and I was so very glad I did.

I figured out around Episode 6\7 that *I* was a participant in this drama: they play your assumptions and knowledge of tropes constantly. By the end you're suspecting every mention of a character - even if you didn't see them...or if you do see them, you'll be asking *who* sent them and what is their role for which side?

Like...a new character is introduced in the last 2\3 episodes that I KNOW will show back up in Season 2\3 to probably go against our ML for the sole reason that he's going to become the very thing this person is trying to stop - even though he's currently an ally.

The ML's Jianghu progress, fight scenes, cultivation, honoring a friend, schemes....it all feels like wuxias in the vein of Legend of Condor Heroes or Journey to the West. But...I think this drama has more heart & soul.

I'm a barely passable writer and thus, a story snob. I'm horribly picky about stories. While researching how to write a fight scene, I came across a great explanation by R.A. Salvatore. He dissected that amazing fight scene in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon where Michelle Yeoh grabs a long, heavy weapon that she can't lift. So she drags it across the floor until they both kinda laugh about it. Her action has a greater purpose: the give YOU a chance to stop, breathe and process the action.

There is a scene towards the end (which I will not spoil for you but I want you to remember to look for it): ML is on a quest to honor a friend and retrieve something. He and this friend sang a song while tapping a beat. The song will cause the hair on your neck to stand up shockingly straight. It's haunting and tells much about a swordsman at the end of his days. The retrieval comes smack in the middle of a hella fight scene *and* assassination attempt #1,947 (no, but it feels like it).

The action comes to a screeching halt for our ML to sit down and beat that rhythm on the item. And gives you a chance to cry along with him.

Then we're back in the hella fight scene. The same technique in CTHD: stop and give your brain a chance to process the action.

That attention to classic wuxia storytelling has kinda been lost in our gradual decline in making, basically, Nickelodeon Wuxias for a Tik Tok generation (and why I pink puffy heart LOVE the cast and crew of Blood of Youth for setting out the right the ship and TELL BETTER STORIES WITH BETTER ACTION).

The only thing that really bugged me about this is the FL is....they really didn't do her justice, esp. as I hear the FL in the novel is a bad ass.....this FL just seemed pouty and whiney most of the time. Consequently, I think she will not be in the sequel.

There are also a couple of borderline cheesy proclamations by our ML - complete with stirring background music - that we could have probably done a bit better job....but it really doesn't distract from the overall "I see what you're doing here" of it all.

Our ML is all about connections: at the end of this, tally up all the Masters\teachers\Sects\Kingdom alliances this guy is making for himself and Beiliang. Then count up how many cdramas take the time to tell a layered story like this (Nirvana in Fire, Story of Ming Lan and The Story of Yangxi Palace come to mind fairly quickly. Otherwise....????)

So, in my opinion, don't really listen to all the "meh" reviews out there. Carefully look at what they are setting up....hang in there for all *three* Seasons....and look back at it all at the end.

I think you'll be glad you gave it a chance.

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Could have given it a high 9 but....

I love the story line, and the production is fairly good. I don't even mind the bleached out look. The Jiang Ni character is quirky and provide a fairly good comedy relief to the funny side of the drama. The one thing that bring my rating for the drama down to 8 is the sword fighting scene, there are too many of them shot in slow motion and that breaks the momentum of what could be an excellent sword fighting scene. The director and cinematographer is trying to show something that is done to death by other Wuxia.. its nothing new and why shot in slow motion? And also some of the fighting scene takes too long in setting up the scene, and only leaves one frustrated instead of feeling the excitement and anticipation. Why can't they do a perfect drama, they have all the right script, story, actors, and instead it let us down with the fighting scene, which is the second most important element of the drama! I hope the second season they will do something different with the fighting scene, as long as don't over do the slow mo.

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