Banyue - Blog Posts

Parallels between Sinner's Pit and the Heavenly Parade

Re-reading TGCF is interesting. Someone has probably said this, but here I go anyway.

During the Banyue arc, I had a bit of an epiphany. Hua Cheng catches Xie Lian, keeps holding him while fighting Kemo, and tells him not to be worried.

In the flashback at the end of the second volume, Xie Lian catches a then unknown child, keeps holding him during the staged fight with Mu Qing, and tells him not to be worried.

Even the first time I thought ‘It’s dirty’ is an odd excuse for not setting Xie Lian down. I mean, they’ve travelled through the desert by funnel cloud, they’ve had a building collapse right near them, and had an intermezzo with the mud face. I’m sure Xie Lian’s clothes weren’t exactly pristine any more. But that isn’t what it was about: He refused to pass up the opportunity to recreate their first encounter with reversed roles. It was just too good to let go.

This is really, really well done.

(Pictures from the Seven Seas novels 1 and 2.)