kitty10

That's a tough one, I don't honestly know. Maybe Chen Xingxu if we're looking at younger actors?

Yikes, my sympathies. Reading should hopefully tide you through.

Go for it. I am reading as well and enjoying it. I like novel Xu Fengnian a lot, he's intelligent and perceptive, and has a much better grasp of his situation and circumstances, and what he needs to do. There's also a streak of ruthlessness in him that I think is so far not present (or not as visible) in the drama version.

Yeah no, I can't see Chen Kun as Xu Fengnian, time jump or no. The girl definitely has to be replaced.

In book form, it's three parts. Part 1 has six volumes, Parts 2 and 3 have seven volumes each, making a total of 20 volumes. And yes, the books merge chapters, but it is still a massive work. The first volume, for example, contains 16 chapters, which amounts to 81 chapters online.

Online, it is broken into four parts. The first part has 210 chapters, second and third parts have 173 chapters each, and the fourth/last part has 427 chapters. There are three extras at the end, making a total of 986 chapters.

And if he's filming Joy of Life season 2 (and maybe 3) after this, unlikely he has time for two more seasons of Sword Snow Stride until maybe 2023. And he might want to branch out into other types of roles in the meantime. But I guess one can hope he'll do them all, yeah?

Should there really be an actor change, who would you suggest might be possible to take over?

Hmm... yeah for sure they'll have to cut a lot. I don't know how ambitious the production crew is or whether they plan to adapt the whole thing. Some indication would be nice.

I'm thinking at least three seasons too. Right now, I can see where they've compressed things and it's giving me some wtf moments, but I roll with it for now. Zhang Ruoyun is keeping me interested, it's so nice to see a c-actor of his generation who can act and who understands his character.

It's 8.2 now, but maybe it'll go back up later.

The source novel is a massive work and one season isn't enough to cover it ... that is if they plan to adapt the entire thing.

Yeah, the actor-scriptwriter combo has drawn a lot of comparisons with Joy of Life, so sometimes expectations are raised like that. But even some Douban comments have said this is not right because they are different stories and the protagonists are not the same. Friends who have watched both say the vibe is different as well. Yet in this comment section and elsewhere, there are still quite a few posts saying Xu Fengnian reminds them of Fan Xian, some have also drawn up a list of similarities between the dramas.

That said, there are a number of Douban comments praising Zhang Ruoyun's performance, saying that one is naturally drawn towards his portrayal and he has brought Xu Fengnian to life, so that's one big positive.

Yeah, the stupidity is astounding, but what do we know? 😂

The monsters can eat Yu Youwei instead, lol. The cat is cute.

Thanks!

Zhang Ruoyun is definitely a much better actor than Wang Yibo.

For heaven's sake, can you pls put your comments in spoiler code? Some people don't want to scroll past details that may reveal stuff they haven't seen.

It hasn't even aired...

I don't know about billions of views, I don't keep track of viewing stats or watching habits, maybe people put it on while doing other things, who knows? What I do know is that from the Chinese articles and comments online I've read about this drama, most agree that this drama hasn't lived up to expectations and there are criticisms about Li Gengxi's acting, the directing, the martial arts choreography and some story developments.

You might want to put some of your comments under spoiler code.

Yes, 鳳 is the male phoenix (凰 would be the female). In fact, all of Xu Xiao's children have animals/mythical beings as part of their names - the two daughters are 虎 and 熊 (tiger, bear), while the two sons are 鳳 and 龍 (phoenix, dragon).