Sherayith

I read the novel prior to watching the drama, which in hindsight was probably a mistake. The book was so good that my expectations for the drama were extremely high, even though I knew there had to be changes and omissions. However, what I didn't expect was how much they would change, and how much I would be disappointed.

Overall, the drama is an inferior adaptation the book with a lot of it's depth and intensity unfortunately stripped away to the show's own detriment. Many of the novel's dark moments are softened or erased in the drama adaption, making the emotional impact of the story so much weaker. They really play up the romantic moments in the drama with excessive slow motion shots, but in the novel it's much more subtle and I wish they had invested more time in the military aspects of the story than the romance. We really didn't need two separate slow-motion scenes of He Yan making sugar candy for the two men who love her.

Anyway, this is one of those rare times where the 40 episode limit is really harming the story, because they basically took a knife to the story and sliced out huge chunks of it. By the time I got to episode 30, I was not even remotely enjoying it anymore, and finished the remaining episodes on 2x speed to get them over with. My conclusion, the drama is in the "not bad, but I am disappointed because it could've been so much better" category for me, and I will never watch it again.

I made a list of every change from the novel that I could remember. If you're only interested in my review, you can stop reading at this point.


1) Xu Zhiheng, He Yan's duplicitous husband from the novel, doesn't exist in the drama, as a result He Yan doesn't get pregnant or carry the grief of losing her unborn child like she does in the novel
2) He Yan's adoptive family He Sui and He Yuansheng, who play a prominent role in the novel, were removed from the story because she's no longer reincarnated. As a result, a lot of the setup of He Yan's character prior to entering Xiao Jue's military camp is missing from the drama.
3) Unlike in the drama, He Yan's reason for joining Xiao Jue's army camp in the novel is because she has to flee the city after killing a higher-ranking nobleman who tried to r*pe and kill her
4) He Yan never met Xiao Jue's father in the novel, she only knew Xiao Jue and only when they were both teenagers, they never met as adults prior to her rebirth.
5) Two doctor characters from the army camp are removed from the drama: Lin Shuanghe and Shen Muxue (who is a love rival for He Yan).
6) He Yan's identity as a woman is exposed to Xiao Jue much later in the novel, and many people in the novel assume a homosexual relationship between her and Xiao Jue prior to her identity reveal (but I wasn't surprised this was changed because of Chinese censorship).
7) Cheng Lisu is not a doctor in the novel, just Xiao Jue's nice but rather useless nephew; the scriptwriters merged his character with Lin Shuanghe for the drama.
8) They dumbed down Wang Ba's character in the drama, they made him the dumb big strong guy; I'm not a fan of this change. I liked his character a lot more in the novel, he had much more depth.
9) Lei Hou was not released after the attack on the garrison in the novel, he was executed as a traitor (I'm still shocked they made him a sympathetic character in the drama).
10) In the novel Chai Anxi was a member of He Yan's army, not Xiao Jue's father's army. Chai Anxi was the only survivor of the senior officers who knew He Yan as He Rufei, and he was a traitor who helped the real He Rufei arrange the trap that caused the deaths of the other officers. I don't know what it is with this drama turning bad guys into sympathetic figures but it's really grating on me.
11) Cheng Lisu and Song TaoTao never get together in the novel, they stay as frenemies. TaoTao actually marries He Yan's adoptive brother He Yuansheng.
12) He Yan was already blind and married to Xu Zhiheng before Xiao Jue's father fell in battle, she was not responsible for the late reinforcements like they wrote it in the drama. Also, He Rufei ended up with her sword, not Xiao Jue. It's one of the things she wants to reclaim from her evil brother.
13) They changed the love story of Liu Buwang and Princess Mengji, completely removing the junior sect sister who contrived to separate the lovers out of jealousy, and created a misunderstanding between them that lasted 20+ years.
14) The drama version of the battle for Jiyang is significantly different from the book. The Wutou actually attacked by land and sea; He Yan led a group of warriors on a dangerous night mission to sabotage the Wutou fleet, while Xiao Jue led the land troops. Xiao Jue did save He Yan from drowning in the novel, but it's so poorly executed/explained in the drama!!!
15) Yang Mingzhi...they of course messed with this too. In the novel, he wasn't the lover of the courtesan lady...the real story is essentially when they were teenagers, Yang Mingzhi, He Yan, and Xiao Jue all assisted her in running away to marry the man she loved, but the marriage failed due to her husband's parents' prejudice against her background.
16) They have changed General Yan He's introduction in the drama, he was part of the story arc with the courtesan lady. He's also a much more abrasive character in the novel, he has a rivalry with both Xiao Jue and "He Rufei"; the only time he's truly nice is when he's around, or talking about, his wife.
17) The drama creates unnecessary angst when He Yan does not immediately telling Xiao Jue that her brother was responsible for the delayed reinforcements. This never happened in the novel, Xiao Jue and He Yan don't have a falling out over her identity as He Rufei because Xiao Jue in the novel knows He Yan's character well enough to know she would never do something so dishonorable.
18) They changed it so Li Kuang was one of He Yan's warriors, whereas in the novel he was actually always a regional ruler who He Yan respected and fought beside.
19) They kept the Rundu conflict the same (for the most part), but the drama changed the fate of Qin Luo. In the book, Rundu was completely out of food supplies, so Li Kuang resorted to cannibalism, killing his own wife Qin Luo and trying to force the rescued women captives to willingly sacrifice themselves as food for the people. He Yan was able to save the other women, and Rundu was saved that same day by Xiao Jue's arrival with Yan He's army. Li Kuang was forever shamed by his decision to sacrifice the woman he loved, and his friendship with He Yan was ended.
20) They changed Chu Zhao/Zilan's backstory too. His mother was a beautiful but poor woman who had a dalliance with a handsome nobleman, who was a notorious womanizer. Zilan's mother ended up in a brothel and he was raised there by her, until she sent him to his father in hopes of raising his position. His father took Zilan in because of his good looks, but Zilan was scorned and hated by his step-mother and step-siblings.
21) They removed He Yan's handmaid Qing Mei from the story as well, and she was the love interest for Fei Nu, Xiao Jue's bodyguard.
22) As of episode 30, they've clearly removed the court intrigue story arc. In the novel, the emperor had three children, his eldest son by his Empress, and a son and a daughter by his beloved consort. The Emperor had not declared a Crown Prince, leaving the line of succession in question. The eldest prince was a cruel and vindictive man who was secretly in league with Xu Jingfu and the Wutou (and was responsible for the death of Xiao Jue's father). The second prince was a much more honorable man, who eventually decides to compete with his brother for the title of Crown Prince because he knows his brother is unworthy. Shortly after He Yan's identity as a woman is revealed to the court and she is promoted to marquis, the emperor's health begins to decline, and the need for a Crown Prince to be chosen becomes more urgent. The oldest prince, knowing his father will most likely not choose him, ends up strangling his father and declaring himself the next emperor. Xiao Jue and He Yan are able to discover the truth because the young princess witnessed the murder, and they rise up in rebellion to overthrow him. (OBVS this is removed because...y'know...no emperor murder allowed in c-dramas!)
23) Zilan never assisted Xiao Jue and He Yan in taking down Xu Jingfu and He Rufei, he saved himself by making sure he wasn't implicated, and revealing through "investigation" the names of other co-conspirators. He then aligned himself with the eldest prince (which of course didn't go well either).
24) He Yan didn't march into the Yan residence to find evidence, she snuck in at night to find and steal it, and her mother saw her there but didn't know it was her. He Yan never truly reconciled with her mother; in the novel, He Rufei confined He Yan's mother to her courtyard and slowly fed her poison. Knowing she was dying, she brought the evidence of He Rufei's treachery to the emperor with Xiao Jue's help.
25) Zilan's maid didn't die in combat in the novel; Zilan sent her to serve the eldest prince, who favored her due to her beauty. However, when the eldest prince began to suspect Zilan would betray him, he viciously beat the maid then imprisoned her and poisoned her. Zilan found her already dying, and gave her a merciful death at her request.