天涯客 [Tiān Yá Kè] Faraway Wanderers (2025)

I've become obsessed with Chinese dramas or c-dramas on Netflix. I have three that I keep on constant rotation now: 'Untamed', 'Who Rules the World', and 'Word of Honor'. I have seen the whole 36 episode show 3 times now.

I have been reading books by MXTX, but Priest, the author, hasn't got anything translated in English yet at this point. I still wanted to read this book. I searched online for an unofficial translation a fan had done. On Wattpad, I found a translation of the book called 'Faraway Wanderers' and I began to read the story.

I know the story of the show very well by now, so all the differences in the book were easy to spot. I do have to say that the show completely gets the spirit of the story and the characters are true to themselves and many lines are still ripped from the book.

I will say this about Priest's writing. She takes a mix of salt, itching powder, hot spices and ground up glass, makes some slashes on your skin and then proceeds to rub in all that pain, in a good way. I was surprised, as the show is so beauty based, at how ground in reality the book is. Priest brings up farting a whole lot in this and other things not in the show.

I think the whole thing works because of Wen Kexing and Zhou ZiShu, throw in some Gu Xiang and Chengling and it works. KeXing comes off as a predator, but only to a point. I have to say from experience, that I was young and went to clubs and guys can be very aggressive to woman and as long as it doesn't go to far, people take that as okay. KeXing is that kind of guy. He just has an eye out of ZiShu. Once he latches on, he doesn't leave his side.

The best part of the novel is to read the shameless flirting KeXing gives ZiShu and how ZiShu will make fun or him, or simply ignore it. There was one scene where KeXing is joking about cuddling with ZiShu and ZiShu says something like, I would rather cuddle a box springs as flat as your chest is, all bones and no cushion.

This is an adventure tale and a revenge tale. No one has a happy past really and everyone is trying to free themselves from their past and start fresh with happiness. ZiShu comes from what is essentially the elite CIA. The only way to get out of that is to put nail into your body that will kill you in 3 years. Chengling is a child whose whole family is murdered by a raid and he is now an orphan and he clings to ZiShu like a master/new dad. KeXing has a hidden past and he figures out he wants a life with ZiShu. Gu Xiang grew up as KeXing's apprentice and she decides she wants a normal life and maybe love. Will any of them get it with the glazed amour that will open a treasure trove of martial arts secrets out there to be won by all the people. It's a dangerous time.

There are so many differences in the material, but it is mostly the same story. Some characters are doing different stuff and the events order is different, but it's a good book.

I will say that the translation I read was mostly good, but there were a few chapters that were very rough and I didn't know if I could keep going. I do hope they will put out an official English translation at some time.

The book does not go into details, but it also doesn't shy away from sex, especially sex between 2 men. It's discussed and sort of glossed over. We do get kissing in the book which there isn't any in the show. Chinese censorship be damned.

If you're a big fan of the show, it might be worth your time to check this translation out. I am going to read more by Priest. I'm impressed. She is a gifted author with a strong voice.

Reread review…. Why am I writing this again you ask?? Because I just love it ♥️♥️ Also upping it to 5 star this time 🤩

To be honest, I don’t know why I decided to reread it. A reading slump is definitely one reason, but I guess I was also missing ZZH and reading the book is definitely less painful than watching my favorite drama Word of Honor.

I think I really loved and appreciated this book more this time around. When I first read it few months ago, it was during the broadcast of the show and my goal was to just rush through the book because I needed to know what was gonna happen. Despite the many differences between the source material and the adaptation, one major event towards the end of the book remained the same and it probably helped reduce my anxiety as well as tears when the relevant episode aired. Now however, I knew everything that was gonna happen, so it was time to just enjoy the dialogue and banter and get throughly entertained.

Because I’m reading this now after having read Qiye, I think I really got to understand Zhou ZiShu’s character better. He is someone who doesn’t really regret the actions he has taken for what he thought was the betterment of the country, but is tired of it all because the people he cared about are all gone. The author really captures this loneliness, exacerbated by his condition, and while we might consider his past questionable, it’s also easy to sympathize with him now.

Wen Kexing on the other hand is so over the top that I couldn’t help but giggle at his antics, and sympathized even more with ZZS because who could really handle WKX without feeling like hitting him a little. But it’s the small moments of vulnerability that made me love him more, when he shows his sincere feelings or when he feels distraught at seeing ZZS suffer and his impending death.

Chengling, Gu Xiang and Cao Weining are all equal parts brave and sweet and their stories will never not make me feel bittersweet. While we did get to see more of ZCL’s thoughts and grief here, I thought my beloved side couple didn’t get enough page time here - atleast not as much as in the drama. On the opposite side, Beiyuan and WuXi had more of a presence in the book and it was such a delight from the moment they appeared. Their plotline in the book and ZZS’s reaction to Beiyuan are much different here and I think I had forgotten that. But Beiyuan’s calculating but sweet nature, and WuXi’s jealous but extremely competent personality make this book even better.

I definitely enjoyed the drama much more the first time around but this book is brilliant in its own way and I have to say hats off to Priest for creating many memorable character moments that will always be etched in my heart. This reread only made me wish more and more for a Qiye adaptation but I know that will never happen after the recent crackdown, which is just unfortunate. But I’ll keep this wish in a small corner of my heart.

First Read

I ofcourse discovered the cdrama Word of Honor because I saw so many on my Twitter timeline gushing about it. I was completely hooked within just a couple episodes, and decided to read the novel as well. I’ve heard so much about the author Priest but having never read any of her works and only seen one other adaptation of hers, I was very excited to dive into this one.

I’ve heard quite a few people mention that Tian Ya Ke is an older and not very popular work of hers, but I think I really liked that it was straightforward and relatively simpler. The characters of Zhou Zi Shu and Wen Kexing are very memorable and I loved how the author starts them off being flawed and having done regrettable things in the past, but trying to be better. The banter between them is super fun, the relationship development is slow and sweet and I also adored their found family bond with Zhang Chengling and Gu Xiang. I ofcourse kept picturing the actors while reading, as well as recollecting some of the cool action sequences, which made for a very fun reading experience. There were some twists which I did not see coming at all and considering how emotional I felt while reading, I’ll probably be a sobbing mess if they happen in the show.

In the end, this was a cool wuxia adventure but I definitely loved it more because of the wonderful characters. The translation on novelupdates was also extremely well done and I could follow along very easily. Now I just want to enjoy the drama and see all my favorite scenes on the screen, but the episode schedule is horrible and I hate waiting for every episode. Thankfully, it’s all worth the wait.

“你身上……有光，我抓来看看。” - Priest

I must confess that I picked up this novel because I started watching its drama 《山河令》(Word of Honor). As of today, the drama has aired 28/36 episodes and I am completely enthralled. Impatient for the ending, I sought out the novel the drama was adapted from and read it whilst watching the drama. And yes, this is a BL martial arts (武侠) novel and it’s available on 晋江文学城 (JJWXC).

Set in ancient China,《天涯客》or “Faraway Wanderers” tells the story of Zhou Zishu (周子舒), the leader of a top-secret, elite special ops organisation, Window of Heaven (天窗), that serves the Emperor. Having lost all his family and friends, Zhou Zishu decided he’s had enough and wants to quit, but there’s no turning back once one has entered the Window of Heaven. The price to pay for quitting is to suffer 7 poison nails that will slowly rob away one’s 5 senses, eventually succumbing to death in 3 years’ time (七窍三秋钉). With these grave injuries, skills impaired, but a newfound freedom, Zhou Zishu left the service of the Emperor and decided to spend his remaining 3 years wandering about and doing whatever he felt like doing. Along the way, he meets Wen Kexing (温客行), a highly skilled individual whose identity is as mysterious as his agenda. After rescuing an orphaned child from a prominent sect, they get embroiled in the politics of the pugilistic world.

This is my first Priest novel and one of her earlier works written from 2010 to 2011. She is a well-known Chinese author who has written quite a number of web novels that have gotten published and also made into (or are in the process of being made into) TV dramas. Her writing is beautiful but also difficult to read (for my standard of Chinese, that is). I think all historical Chinese novels are difficult to read to some extent because of the language style. The words are often truncated and a lot of meaning are expressed in very little characters, with lots of idioms, ancient euphemisms, and poetry being used as well. I spent quite a bit of time consulting the dictionary and googling lines of poetry and still I’m probably only able to appreciate about 80% of the novel. Like you know, you get what it means overall, but to really appreciate the words in its finer details, that’s a little tough. But when you DO get it, wow, you just get bowled over by the beauty of those expressions.

The themes of this story are rather typical of the wuxia (martial arts) genre - upping one’s skills for a myriad of reasons although usually to seek revenge for loved ones, hunger for power and status, etc.

This is supposed to be a book review but I’m finding it a bit difficult to focus on just the novel because the drama pretty much BLEW my mind, making the novel seem a little blander in comparison, although it is still good. There are notable differences between the novel and the drama and I felt that the drama script writer enhanced quite a bit of the original story, especially in giving life to the characters’ backstories, including minor characters. I must admit that this is one of those rare instances where I favoured the drama over the novel, but this by no means meant that the novel was not good. I still enjoyed it a lot :D

Reviewed on 17 Mar 2021.

Quedé super soft, no me hablen. Luego escribo la reseña, pero es que quedé lo más soft de lo soft. Que pedo, priest, qué autora. YA QUE LA TRADUZCAN.

https://www.neapoulain.com/2022/06/fa...

La sinopsis dice que este libro trata de una historia sobre el ex líder de una organización especial servida bajo la realeza, que ahora deja atrás su vida pasada e involuntariamente se involucra con el mundo marcial. De verdad que hacen unas sinopsis terribles en esto del danmei, a ver si a mí me sale un poquito mejor. Es cierto que el protagonista, Zhou Zishu, es el ex líder de una organización especial que sirve a la realeza que un día dice ya me cansé, voy a dejar esta vida, me voy en mis propios términos, renuncio, adiós y acaba muy involucrado con las conspiraciones del mundo marcial (le encargan a un huérfano, Zhang Chengling, cuyos padres murieron en extrañas circunstancias, y un tipo guapo llamado Wen Kexing, misterioso y con los mismos principios morales que él, o sea, básicamente ninguno, lo sigue a todos lados).

Es una novela de aventuras, algo así como dúo desastroso adopta a un niño por accidente. Al niño se le acaban de morir sus papás porque el mundo marcial es, de por sí, un desastre de conspiraciones. Así que allá va el dúo desastroso con todo y hermana menor que acaba de conseguirse marido y niño triste recién adoptado a vivir aventuras. La novela es wuxia (que ya hablamos de qué es en la reseña de Mo Dao Zu Shi o The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) y tiene muchas influencias poéticas (estoy super convencida de que a priest le fascina la poesía), taoístas y budistas. Ya he hablado de las influencias del wuxia en otras ocasiones, pero siempre me gusta remarcarlas, porque creo que son muy importantes para la manera en que estas historias se refieren a la vida, la muerte, la reencarnación, el duelo, la redención, el bien y el mal e incluso la venganza o en dejar el pasado atrás.

Para empezar es una novela traducida de manera amateur, la autora usa el pseudónimo de priest para publicar en china y no sé sabe más de ella; publica desde el 2007 y tiene bastantes títulos; además es muy versátil en cuanto a géneros y ambientaciones, lo cual siempre es interesante. En inglés la traducción de chichilations está a punto de concluir y es la que les recomiendo en ese idioma (traduce muy bien), en español leí la de DarKitty, que está muy bien, muy cuidada, me gustó mucho, subrayé muchísimas cosas y guardé muchísimas citas. Ahí les puse los links para que las encuentren.

Zhou Zishu empieza el libro dejado su trabajo al mando de Tianchuang, una organización de asesinos al mando del emperador (y para dejarlo se mete unos clavos que lo van a matar como en tres años al cuerpo, pero bueno, nadie dijo que renunciar fuera fácil). No porque se arrepienta de todos sus actos o quiera reformarse, sino que se atisba una sensación de cansancio en ser un títere en la corte, ese mundo lleno de conspiraciones. Parece que ansía libertad y ha pasado demasiado tiempo en un mundo donde la sinceridad es escasa y las apariencias lo son casi todo (que se nota, porque en cuanto a romance, le cuesta identificar cuando la gente va en serio o sólo está jugando). Wen Kexing, en cambio, no conoce la vergüenza, lo mueve la venganza, es extremadamente directo en cuanto a sus afectos y, con la moral torcida que carga al ser el Jefe del Valle de los fantasmas, entiende bastante bien a Zhou Zishu. Y esos son los protagonistas.

Los acompañan Zhang Chengling, un niño medio torpe, mal alumno en general porque no es muy ducho para las artes marciales y además está triste porque se acaba de quedar huérfano; Gu Xiang, que sirve a Wen Kexing pero que todos sabemos que es la hermana menor que adoptó en el Valle de los fantasmas, y Cao Weining, que pertenece a una de las sectas reconocidas en el mundo marcial y decide, no más, al ver al dúo de asesinos caóticos, que le caen bien y los va a ayudar en lo que necesiten. Quiero hablar un poco de este grupo caótico porque, además del romance (tema que ya tocaremos), la familia encontrada es uno de los temas recurrentes en Faraway Wanderers.

La familia que encuentras en el camino

En ese momento, ambos estaban despiertos, pero guardaban silencio. Mientras la noche interminable se deslizaba por la ventana, el tiempo y el dolor parecían incomparablemente prolongados, tan prolongados que exigían ser tallados profundamente en los huesos como un recuerdo.
[...] Durante el día, deliberadamente se ponían trampas y hacían bromas para molestarse; pero por la noche, eran así, como si sólo se tuvieran el uno al otro. ¿No era esto muy errático?

No tarda en decidir que quiere pasar el resto de sus días con Zhou Zishu si este se lo permita (y decididamente va a intentar que se lo permita de todas las maneras posibles, porque Wen Kexing no conoce la vergüenza, el pudor y su forma de ligar es molestar a Zhou Zishu de todas las maneras que se le ocurren). Y alrededor de ellos se empieza a formar un pequeño grupo que acaba actuando como una familia, donde nadie es particularmente excepcional (y esto me encanta de los personajes de priest) y Zhou Zishu y Wen Kexing, además, tienen tanta cola que les pisen que nunca hacen juicios sobre el bien y el mal en todo el embrollo en el que están metidos por accidente.

Wen Kexing deja claro un par de veces que le parece que le mundo marcial está lleno de hipocresía, con la manera en que se manejan las sectas y como definen el bien y el mal. Zhou Zishu nada más se mete porque adoptó a un niño accidentalmente al morir sus padres y quieren saber qué pasó y quién lo provocó. Me parecen personajes muy interesantes por lo que construyen a su alrededor sin darse ni cuenta (cierta sensación familiar) y cómo muy pronto se descubren iguales ante los ojos del otro y se tratan como iguales. priest es muy cuidadosa en cómo va construyendo su relación y digo cuidadosa cuando quiero decir que es sutil; la manera en la que Zhou Zishu es sincero acerca de lo que puede ofrecer y lo que no puede corresponder y cómo Wen Kexing va descubriendo que no sólo quiere cometer actos atroces, sino que también quiere y puede cuidar de otros. (Otros: Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang y a veces un par de personas más, tampoco anda tan magnánimo).

El maestro Wen del Valle había pensado que el día en que tuviera que cocinar personalmente la cena de Nochevieja nunca llegaría en su vida. Zhang Chengling solía ser un joven maestro, y aunque deseaba exhibir su piedad filial, desafortunadamente era torpe y no podía cumplir con estos deberes como deseaba. En cuanto a Zhou Zishu, solía ser un Lord, y todavía seguía holgazaneando como uno ahora.

Se explora su relación con Gu Xiang, a quien adoptó en el Valle y justo una de las partes que más me gustan de la historia es cuando por fin habla de manera sincera con Cao Weining sobre lo que Gu Xiang significa para él y por qué quiere que tenga una buena vida (tanto como para prometerle una dote que equivalga a dos calles). En general, creo que si buscan un libro que aborde justamente el tema de la familia que haces en el camino y a la que eliges cuidar en el camino, este libro es un gran libro para ello. Sí, se centra mucho en el romance también porque es una novela romántica ante todo, pero la atención que priest le pone a sus protagonistas es muy bella.

A cambio de no ponerle tanta atención a los secundarios (y la entiendo: los personajes son, al fin y al cabo, herramientas; como escritor usas sus vidas para contar algo o transmitir una parte de una historia, los usas en manera que te sean útiles para la historia, en que creas que tienen algo que contar o en que quieras expandir las perspectivas sobre ellos), se centra muy cuidadosamente en la pequeña familia (o bueno, círculo) que forma (y en la cual acaban por hacer cameos personajes de una novela anterior, Qi Ye, Beiyuan y Wu Xi) y en su manera de ver y enfrentarse a la vida.

―En realidad, ella no es mi criada... aunque nos dirigimos uno al otro como amo y sirvienta, nunca he tratado a esa chica como una extraña, es como mi propia hermana menor. [...] Si tuviera que aparentar algo de edad... la vi crecer, así que es casi como mi hija. El lugar en el que nos alojamos cuando éramos más jóvenes no es un lugar destinado para que vivan los humanos. Yo también era un niño y tropecé muchas veces durante el proceso de criarla. Le quemé la boca la primera vez que la alimenté con congee; que A-Xiang sobrevivierá hasta ahora no fue fácil para mí, pero a decir verdad... tampoco fue fácil para ella.

En muchas novelas, especialmente en fantasía, la lucha por el poder es central, pero poco se habla de mantenerlo y lo que significa. Poco se analiza por qué se quiere y cuáles son las consecuencias de ese deseo (al menos, cuando es explícito). Muchas obras son muy engañosas al hablar del bien y el mal como términos absolutos y, al pararse uno a verlas un momento, descubre que en toda la violencia que presentan, la única diferencia entre el bien y el mal es que la narración pretende convencerte de que una parte de los personajes son los buenos por... razones. Venganza, justicia (qué mal servicio le hacemos a lo que sea que creamos que es La Justicia con mayúsculas cuando no pensamos en quienes sufren cuando la buscamos y cuáles son nuestras responsabilidades allí), rebelión. Muchas veces parecen razones válidas, pero nunca se habla de lo que ocurre después, del camino recorrido, de mantener el poder siendo fiel a los principios (creo que, aunque no me gusta su desenlace en todos los sentidos, El rey que fue y será de TH White, al menos hasta el cuarto libro, habla de manera muy interesante de los vicios y las omisiones que se hacen desde el poder).

―¿Por qué crees que soy Maestro del Valle?
Zhou Zishu le lanzó una mirada y dijo con indiferencia: ―Porque eres infinitamente capaz.
Wen Kexing sonrió levemente. Esa sonrisa suya era un poco forzada y, sorprendentemente, tenía algo demente vagamente acechando en ella.
Dijo: ―Soy el Maestro del Valle porque no pueden hacer nada al respecto. [...] Al pie de la montaña Fengya no hay moralidad ni justicia. O devoras a los demás o eres devorado. Nadie puede hacer nada respecto a mí. Puedo matar a quienquiera que desee matar, y por eso soy el Maestro del Valle Fantasma. Por el momento, no tienen la capacidad de matarme [...]. Aún así, esto no significa que no quieran matarme.

Faraway Wanderers empieza, como ya dije, con Zhou Zishu renunciando a su trabajo o, quizá, también un poco, huyendo del poder. Representa una antítesis parta muchos protagonistas de su mismo género que inician desde abajo y van escalando poco a poco, buscando hacerse un lugar, tener influencia, lograr sus objetivos (salvar a alguien, salvar al mundo y todo lo que podemos encontrar allí). Fue un Lord y tuvo a su mando a una organización muy poderosa, de la que nadie puede escapar indemne y ahora es tan sólo un vagabundo solitario que va por el mundo escondiendo su verdadero rostro, tomando licor y disfrutando sus últimos días (y, sinceramente, parece más feliz de esa manera).

Wen Kexing quizá está en la cúspide de su propio mundo, el Valle, pero aquel lugar es tan solo una herramienta más para llevar a cabo su venganza y, cuando habla abiertamente de su posición, reconoce que la tiene porque otros no pueden hacer nada al respecto y arrebatársela. Nos recuerda que quienes suben al poder quizá no lo hacen por ser los mejores, los más buenos o ni siquiera los más malos o los mejores conspiradores. Lo hacen porque otros no pueden hacer nada al respecto. En cierto modo, algo entre Zhou Zishu y Wen Kexing es una huída del poder. Al fondo de la novela, sin demasiada importancia, otros se deshacen y se matan por él y los protagonistas sólo ven y oyen de las piezas caer, una a una, mientras se plantean la idea de construir algo entre ambos.

Y, finalmente, WenZhou

―¿Dijiste que quieres mantenerme contigo?
Zhou Zishu se rió y dijo: ―No importa en qué sitio estés. Una vez que uno ha sido atrapado por un lugar en específico, cualquier otro lugar se siente incómodo. Este sentimiento...

No encontré que otro título ponerle a mis conclusiones. Quería hablar de ellos al final, de por qué recomiendo la historia. Si buscan romance, van a encontrar a una pareja de iguales que están bromeando con el otro todo el tiempo y que no tardan en entender lo que sienten. Aquí no van a encontrar una relación de slow burn en la que una de las partes nunca se da cuenta o malentiende todo. Quizá su desarrollo sí es más lento de lo que esperan, pero es también porque son personajes que se dan el tiempo para definir su relación. Y una vez que lo hacen son muy divertidos.

También adoro cosas de cómo priest maneja que mutuamente se digan esposa (mis partes favoritas son cuando Wen Kexing hace cosas para Zhou Zishu porque el ex lord es medio inútil, lo molesta y luego procede a decirse esposa a sí mismo). Me gusta ver ese tropo reinterpretado de muchas maneras, sobre todo porque detesto verlo con nada disimulada misoginia (eso de que a quien llaman "la esposa" es siempre cualidades que asociamos a lo femenino porque también asociamos lo femenino con lo débil, como la sumisión), pero es muy divertido jugar con él cuando vemos un romance entre iguales (especialmente iguales que se molestan mutuamente, que se dicen esposa mutuamente y que amenazan con dejarse viudos todos los días).

Sí les recomiendo mucho Faraway Wanderers; si la leen ahí me cuentan. Como dato, diré que es el danmei más corto que he leído. Mi documento contabilizó el equivalente a 650 páginas si fuera un libro impreso. Por si eso anima a alguien, porque el danmei siempre es enorme. Y ya nada más nos quedan esperar a ver si la licencian en algún idioma.

"you and i shared a love that burned like fire:
two lumps of clay in the shape of desire
molded into twin figures. we two.
me and you.

in life we slept beneath a single quilt,
so in death, why any guilt?
let the skeptics keep scoffing:
it’s best to share a single coffin."

— the song of you and me, guan daosheng

all right!!! i didn't WANT to write a review for this one because it's a highly uh. personal book to me but i'd forgotten that its live action (if you're an animanga fan, you must realize what volume of ire i say this with) got popular-popular which has. led to more people reading it and er. me getting blasted with other people's opinions whether i want to see them or not!!! full disclosure you should have read 七爷 Qiye Lord Seventh before you read Faraway Wanderers - 天涯客 as the books are part of a duology. with all of these things (and my aggravation) out of the way, here are my two cents.

first off, qiye & tianya ke are both ABOUT subverting their genres (palace politics & wuxia respectively). if you've read qiye you'll have noticed that it doesn't give a rat's ass about the reincarnation plot for 70-80% of its run and its take on scheming to put your preferred ruler on the throne is a depressingly bloody one. qiye turns its focal point, its soulmates trope, over its head. i have so many problems with it & it's a really badly written historical drama (and perhaps priest's most melancholic book) if you take into account Priest's later works but both of these books share a singular theme, and it's emancipation from genre. the biggest act of rebellion in these books is your main characters striving to erase themselves from the narrative, and ruminating over how much they succeed (or don't) in their pursuit.

tianya ke's jianghu subplot is secondary (really it will point out a particular hypocrisy and move on. it does not CARE. the one which does is qiye tbh) to the themes it really wants to explore, which are asking:

♦ is sincerity between people & human connection more important than your traditional villain redemption arc?

♦ is power worth it if you are made miserable in its pursuit? how does your relationship with wanting/not having wanted it but acquiring it all the same/thirsting for it but not getting it/rejecting it come into contact with how you treat people? how does your fate get affected by your relationship with it?

♦ how much of you is caged by the notion of freedom that you're lusting after? you can change the chessboard, change the rules of the game you inhabit, but can you change your heart? and what of the people you've grown to unwittingly care for in your journey toward that freedom, how much of the bond that you share with them is a shackle? and is it a shackle you are glad to bear, regardless of the tragedies that beckon in its conjunction?

♦ are you a weapon of mass destruction wholly utilized or are you the one who chooses to not bring it into the world (or better yet, gets domesticated by the power of community as they do it)? are you someone who needs to tell their truth in order to be saved from the destruction of their vengeance or are you someone who will ask for permission from others before they choose to save them?

all of this is to say: tianya ke is under no illusion of being righteous. the vengeance quest (as apropos of a trademark wuxia story) is never glorified. it takes characters (dearest criminals!!) who would traditionally be measly SIDE CHARACTERS of a tertiary subplot and then puts them on the foreground of its own story. tianya ke (and its characters) could not care less about its trad wuxia plot, and it sort of. mocks you if you did. one of the things i love about it is that it never asks you to forgive any of the aforementioned heinous criminals, instead it asks how one should live with the crimes. it asks how having had a choice in committing yours factors into loving people who did not, and are both types worthy of the same grace, the same compassion? how does your affection for each other, your shared guardianship of kids you dearly love, kids who are AFFECTED by your ties to said crimes, come into play?

truly. it asks that you try to live with whatever it is that haunts you, and live well.

tianya ke is a deeply cynical book, sure, but it values love and the people entrenched in its wiles above everything, and it's. very dear to my heart.

now, i KNOW you're thinking this: why not a higher rating?

it's one of priest's earlier works, and so it doesn't have the same level of execution skill that i'm normally accustomed to seeing from her as someone who's read a LOT of her later works. there are loads of character parallels in tianya ke that aren't obvious to you on your first reading of it, and i think it's a flaw because of how SMOOTHLY her later works use it as a narrative device. the book's thematic culmination hinges on its protagonists becoming complete narrative foils, and for wen kexing's part it happens in speed run. i'm accustomed to seeing her do this while allowing the writing to BREATHE, and this doesn't happen for tianya ke. but i am inclined to give her a lot of leeway here, since once again, it's one of her earlier works.

and characters! in short: i was of the opinion that zhou zishu should have gotten violently murdered by the time i was done with qiye, but after tianya ke i think i like him all right. he should definitely be in a maximum security prison but i also love him loads so i'm glad that he isn't. the world is unfair, at times cruelly so, but in tianya ke it's KIND in its simultaneous rejection of quid pro quo and indulgence of sincerity. this is the one instance where i actually WANTED it to be unfair (and surprisingly, it was, and the kindness of it sure screwed me up). there's a found family of orphans brought together by the treachery & cruelty of the jianghu at the heart of it that steals YOUR heart whether you're inclined to give it or not, which says all that needs to be said, in my opinion.

“some people reflect light, some deflect it, you by some miracle, seem to collect it.”

— Mark Daniel Dawidziak, House of Leaves

tl;dr, i for one think that Faraway Wanderers - 天涯客 is Priest's most romantic book to date, and its way of grasping at kindness broke something in me while i was reading it. it's also a deviation in that most of priest's protagonists have a shared past/have known each other for ages, but everything in Faraway Wanderers - 天涯客 is fleeting and not to its detriment. think the way Pride and Prejudice was a deviation from Jane Austen's preferred romance frameworks, if you will. it's not a book i'd recommend if you want to be impressed with her writing chops (and they sure are. something) but if you'd like her to restore your faith in humanity, i think Faraway Wanderers - 天涯客 is a great starting point.

read it (or LISTEN TO IT!! the audio drama is a gorgeous production!) over here

Rating: 3/5

"With my incurable illness, I won’t live on for much longer; what good will it do to bind yourself to this slowly dying soul?"

Disclaimer: I have not watched the drama Word of Honor before reading this book, so therefore this review is not influenced by how good the show is said to be.

First of all, with fan translations, I usually try to detach the actual novel from the translation when rating it and I am going to do my best for this one too. But I will have to let everyone know that the translation of the first 30 chapters is... Let me phrase this nicely, difficult to comprehend and filled with glaring grammar errors. I respect all the translators that offer their work for free but would also like potential readers to know that I seriously struggled at the start.
However, I'm glad I pushed through because after those first chapters it does get a lot better.

It's important to point out that while I guess you could still class this as Xianxia, Faraway Travellers has more of a Wuxia character. Meaning: martial arts are a major aspect of the plot. The fight scenes are elaborate and while not as long as with some Wuxia novels, certainly longer and more frequent than any Danmei I have read before. We get a bit of detail on techniques used and moves made that bring the fight scenes very much alive.

Coming back to the specifics concerning Faraway Wanderers, I will divide my review into three main parts, plot, characters and world.

The plot: Pacing wise, this book suffers a lot from uneven pacing. The start as well as the ending was absolutely gripping. Especially at the start, there is so much going on, which pulled me straight into the story and world, setting the stakes extremely high. And while I thought I predicted the main ending of the book pretty well, this turned out to be rather minor. The book manages to keep the stakes high until the very end. However, on the way there, the side tangents occasionally seem excessive, confusing and at times lost me completely. What kept me going in the middle was certainly not the plot but the characters. If you like the relationship between the main cast there is still a lot to get out of, which brings me to the next point.

The characters: Now this is where the strength of this novel lies. While not every character is memorable, I am looking at those side characters whose names I could barely remember by the end of the novel but our main cast. Firstly, we have, of course, our two main guys, our massive flirt Wen KeXing and the one constantly annoyed by him Zhou ZiShu. It took me a long time to feel the spark between them but that was a good thing, I really grew to like them slowly. What I also really enjoyed is that NEITHER of these two is a clueless virgin or ever too flustered by anything. In fact, their relationship feels very mature and, joking and fooling around aside, surprisingly mature. I liked that A LOT. Zhang ChengLing is an absolute cutie and probably one of the best-developed characters in this book. He definitely has the most character development going on since we see him grow up from a sheltered child into someone, to put it in words I could imagine Zhou ZiShu saying, less useless. I am going to leave it here.

The world: The world is dark and quite brutal and this is established from the very start. I really enjoyed that we got to follow our MCs as they mostly are on the road, travelling various places. If you do not enjoy travelling stories, maybe skip this one, there is a lot of walking around going on. Despite being very Wuxian in character, we do get a lot of cool fantastical creatures and maybe not so human human-like people.

Overall, I just really wish the plot wouldn’t have lost me so frequently otherwise I would have enjoyed this a lot more. I will certainly try some of the author’s newer works since I have heard that those are a lot better. I could see this working perfectly on screen though, which is exactly why I will now be starting to watch the adaptation Word of Honor.

I thought I was done with Tian Ya Ke but it's not done with me. When I first read the beginnings of this novel two years ago, the premise hooked me in. The head of a state spy gathering organization Tian Chuang Zhou Zishu decides he's weary of it all and wants to quit. However, he holds too many secrets and is still scarily capable so he plants nails into his body meridians ensuring a certain death within two years. This is to put at ease the heart of his sovereign Lord Beiyuan, a ruthless calculating ruler so he'll release him from service. Zhou Zishu (henceforth ZZS) decides to spend the rest of his remaining lifetime as a free man drinking wine wandering exploring places (hence the Chinese title meaning wanderer/guest traveller). He changes his name to Zhou Xu, travels incognito and being a master of disguise, puts on a sickly yellow unappealing visage.

By chance, he bumps into Wen Kexing (henceforth WKX) and Gu Xiang. Perceptive WKX immediately notices ZZS as an outstanding hidden beauty with formidable fighting skills and style. He flirts outrageously with ZZS, testing him at every turn. They come across a sect being decimated and rescue an orphan boy Zhang Chenling and therein begins their adventures in the jianghu world full of chivalry, brotherhood and betrayal. While reading and watching this, I kept savouring the classic wuxia elements: a treasure that everyone in jiang hu wants to get a hold of, typically a rare manual (here it's liu he xin fa and yin yang che), sword or treasury; the different sects (Wudang, Huashan, Beggar Sect) and alliances (here called Five Lakes Alliance) with jostling to become supreme leader; the blurring of 'good' and 'evil' sects; discovery of hero's real birth story. Flavours of classics such as LOCH, Tian Long Ba Bu, Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre and Xiao Ao Jiang Hu (Smiling Proud Wanderer). I love the creatively named ghosts of the Ghost Valley- Hanging Ghost, Joy Sorrow Ghost etc.

There's discussion that because this is one of Priest's earlier works (she wrote this while studying in university), it's not as fully developed and rich as her later works. What really impresses me and makes me feel like a cultural ignoramus is how crammed full of classic poetry allusions and references, imagery, Chinese idioms this work is. I think the closest western parallel may be a Dorothy Dunnett novel. To fully appreciate it, one has to know the history and dense references alluded to in text. Some are just gorgeous imagery such as Four Seasons Manor with its accompanying phrase of flowers blooming in all four seasons. Others are the multiple layers of meaning embedded both in their given and chosen names (I learnt yesterday the Song Dynasty poem 題西林壁 by 蘇軾 Su Shi that Zhang Chenling's name is based on). Most of WKX's utterances are classic poetry allusions with love and yearning poems in the majority directed at our hapless ZZS. And of course WKX literally cutting off sleeves like it's not obvious enough. Idioms like 螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后 (the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind) are bandied about. Even the name of the drug 醉生夢死 is dreamily poetic.

I really like the concept of 知音 or 知己 soul-mate/kindred spirit depicted here. Someone who understands you in this world without you having to explain. On the same wavelength. I remember the two seniors in 笑傲江湖, one from the 'good' upright sect and one from the 'evil' demon sect, who called each other musical soul-mates 知音, quit jianghu amid great clamour to compose and play their quintessential joint composition together but alas jianghu wouldn't leave them alone to play their music. Here in Tian Ya Ke there's a similar quartet, The Anji Four Sages, from different sects withdrew from jianghu to play harmonious music together. Reference is made too to musical 知音 duo legend Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi . Priest does an excellent job of demonstrating to us that WKX and ZZS are 知己. For example, early on in their acquaintance, WKX starts going on one of his meandering stories about a lady with beautiful butterfly bones (scapula in medical lingo) he had once seen many years ago & deduced she must have been a great beauty and ZZS interrupts him with the seemingly non-sequitur 節哀. In the novel, it's explained that ZZS figures if WKX can remember the exact details of a corpse's appearance after so many years, it must have been someone important to him. In the drama, WKX says while under the influence of the hallucinogenic drug "Mom's butterfly bones are the prettiest" so likely ZZS deduced from that. Either way, ZZS always displays this instinctive compassionate empathy with him, often hidden, worthy of a 知己. It's worth noting that ZZS's character in the connected novel Qi Ye (Seventh Lord) is actually much more conniving and calculative in his actions (chronologically he's still under Beiyuan's employ then). And WKX protecting ZZS from Ye Baiyi is one of the sweetest ever. His sorrow and bitterness ('my timing is never right') on learning of ZZS's impending demise was just so wrenching. Priest's poetic lines for him fit the mood perfectly.

Also heart-warming is the concept of home and found family. For Zhang Chenling, he lost his entire family, manor and sect brothers but got adopted by two bickering shameless dads. For WKX, Gu Xiang (name homophone to old hometown) saved him from losing his last shred of humanity in Ghost Valley and ZZS is his oasis after going at it alone plotting revenge and surviving for so many years. ZZS was planning to just float around the world being free trying to absolve himself for his past deeds when he met these two 'sticky' people forming a family. Gu Xiang and the innocent earnest Cao Weining, I was in disbelief. But it's actually quite similar to what happened to Xiao Fu and her inflexible Emei shifu in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre.

One of the wonderful offshoots of the explosive popularity of Shan He Ling is the fandom and kind souls willing to explain some of the finer points of Chinese classics literary references. The English online translation by volunteers is very much appreciated too, especially whoever commissioned the last ten chapters to be translated dovetailing nicely with the airing drama.