I have mixed feelings about this one. Went to watch it because of the really high Douban ratings. I was a bit disappointed though, probably because I expected more. It's by no means a bad show at all. I see people comparing the ML to Mei Changsu and the show to Nirvana in Fire, but I can't see how? This is so heavily based on romance and then suddenly becomes more focused on the political stuff in the second half (which wasn't THAT well done. In fact I would say it's one of the less complex Chinese costume dramas with political intrigue I've seen). NIF is a master in its genre.

The acting was good and Gala Zhang did do a great job. Everyone else was good too. I just didn't root for any of the characters. My favourites were Chang ge and Jiang'er and I cried when they died (even though it wasn't clear to me how they fell in love). I feel the show tried to grapple with concepts that have been done well in other dramas. The wuxia/political stuff is amazing in shows like NIF, Joy of Life and Word of Honor (and many other shows) but it falls short here. Zhu Yan's story was very similar to Yan Xun's in Princess Agents - and even though Princess Agents has many problems, I thought it showed Yan Xun's turn to the dark side very, very well. I felt like in LIB, Zhu Yan's turn to the dark side is externalised by this 'other' side to him in his head. He would just snap in and out of that alter ego whenever it required him to. I felt that was weak writing, instead of actually making us see what that grief and trauma of losing his family drove him to. He just battled in his head and woke up being evil after a while.

The show is shot very well. I absolutely love the music for the show. I think the real problem is the writing. None of the love stories were convincing to me - especially that of the ML and FL. They were just so terrible as a couple. There was no mutual understanding but just some sort of chemistry which brought about a lot of angst and lies. That would probably work in a xianxia, but wasn't expecting to watch it here. Wasn't too fond of the Man Qing wedding storyline which created a misunderstanding between her and Si Yuan. It didn't really add to anything. Just added one more angsty couple to the list. Therefore I thought Chang ge and Jiang'er were the best couple. Started out very well but trailed off after ep 10-ish.