The Essence of the Play Author: Fuhua | 扶华 Chapters:97 戏精穿进苦情剧 Melodrama: As long as the heroine forgives with tolerance and kindness, gives without complaint, retreats and forbears until the bad guys who bullied her are old and can't do anything, they will get a happy ending. When Shui Yin is dressed as the heroine of a Melodrama... forbearance? Pooh. Desperate heroine, changes her fate online. [Disclaimer: I don't speak Mandarin, this review is MTL based so things may be wrong or missed. Also sensitive themes ahead,] When I decided to read 'The Essence of the Play' I wasn't expecting anything. Quick Transmigration stories are my guilty pleasure, but I also must admit that most books in this genre are not good. Usually they are written as a self-fulfillment fantasy of the author with characters and world-building with brainless common-sense, and a romance that either gives you an healthy amount of cavities or makes you regret your life decisions. I was pleasantly surprised by 'The Essence of the Play' because it was neither. Other than the world-hopping, it shares nothing in common with the traditional QT. It's a rare gem within the genre and honestly i'm shocked that no one has at least spoken about this one. Why is 'The essence of the Play' so amazing? 1. Strong Female MC I feel like so many authors don't know what strong characters are like, specially female characters. Shui Yin (or Mercury like ol' google Sensei translates) doesn't have 'phoenix alluring eyes' that can seduce men in a radius of 100m or a powerful space, but she's probably one of my favourite MCs. At first glance, she fits the prototype of a cold and ruthless MC,but her personality is gradually deconstructed by the author as the story goes and you realise that she isn't just a 'ruthless' Mary Sue. As a person who had to crawl from the very bottom of the pile to conquer what she has, her many life tragedies shaped her views of the world, for her to learn she actually failed a lot before becoming the badass she is in the timeline the novel starts. 2. The system is handled in a very ugly but realistic way One of the most refreshing elements in this novel it's how realistic the system is described and Shui Yin's relationship with it. At first, you think the system is not bad. Just doing it's job to help MC becoming a better person like in most novels, right? Except that for this System standards a 'good woman' is So according to the system, because MC is ambitious and self-reliant not a doormat who depends her self-esteem on a partner, she's not a good woman hence the reason why she's bonded with it. It gets more messed up as you read further and realise what kind of missions she has to do. Shui Yin refuses and in retaliation the System attempts to destroy her will, thus her fight for her own freedom and body autonomy starts. 3. The Author doesn't shy away from criticizing patriarchy and the system I couldn't find when this novel was published, but it's probably around 2018-2019, however it aged like fine wine, considering it has good criticism against Child Policy Laws, if we stretch a little, also Texas Abortion Laws. In novels such as 'Quick transmigration: Cannon Fodder Records of Counter Attacks' and countless others, they do criticize patriarchy and the effects of the one child policy, however this is the first time I'm reading a webnovel where the criticism is much more bolder and indepth, it connects with the central theme of the novel which is «Freedom». On how the government interventions in the body autonomy of people, specially women, aggravated problems that are rooted from a society that still values Confucious Patriarchy such as human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other issues such as adultification of children. 4. A dystopian setting One of the few things I disliked in the novel was how the author handled the setting of the real world. Not because it was bad, but because I wished that more was shown. What do we know about it, is that Shui Yin lives in a time Systems can be created, but despite the technological developments, patriarchy still lives strong. I don't want to spoil more, I'll just say that her life in this kind of society shaped her character. 5. No brainless Chauvinism The one issue i have against chinese webnovels is when the author, tries to appeal to their audience by being patriotic, this most of the case means reading xenophobic lines about certain groups of people. This isn't the case for 'The Essence of the Play'. There's even a war arc, so we learn the view of our main character. And according to Shui Yin, "In war there's no good or bad people, right or wrong. Everyone has their own selfishness. As someone who was born in the village, she felt repulsed by the invaders and so would fight. But that is her own selfishness as well. " 5. No 'We Hate Men' campaign Though this book is filled with Feminist ideas, it doesn't fall in the category of 'all men must die'. Instead, its the opposite. The men may be the culprits of the tragedies bur so are the women. Every single character has flaws. Their gender is irrelevant in dictating who's the good and the bad guy. 6. Not only the side characters are impacted by MC, MC is also impacted by the side characters Though Shui Yin's refusal to follow the plot impacts the other characters, some of the characters she meets also change her. Specially the ones who end up being helped by her, they do become somewhat of her weakness as she is forced to remind herself that neither are real but illusions from the System to bend her will. Throughout the novel, she becomes more ruthless, towards herself and others, for her 'freedom' she sacrifices many things, in the end its barely enough. Why 'The Essence of the play'? According to google sensei, the title of this novel would be The essence of the play goes into the bitter drama. In my interpretation, The Essence of the play only, its way better because it captures what the novel is really about. I'm one of those people who believe characters are the most important part of a work of a fiction, in fact, more important than the plot itself. Without characters we don't have a story. Shui Yin's refusal to play the role given to her nullified the plot, it completely changed the illusionary worlds, influenced the decisions of the supporting characters thus changing the destiny of everyone, sometimes for the worst. Wrapping up this ideas with the social criticism in this novel, 'The Essence of the play' can also be 'The Essence of Society' . The Essence of every society are its people, we are the ones capable to change our lives but we forget the power we hold and instead are constrained by what is considered socially accepted, by gender roles, or even our own governments. To the very end, Shui Yin always fought against this constraints, never allowed herself to be manipulated by the system, even stuck in the those worlds, she was still 'free' because she chose not to follow the plot. Thus the Essence of the play changed. Even when her life was being threatned, she never gave up her freedom, no matter what temptations appeared on her way. Last thoughts: The reason why i didn't put this novel in the requests, first, its easy to read the MTL, second I don't think its a type of novel will be very popular in NU, so I don't think people will get interested in translating it. I posted in here in hopes to convince another brave soul to read it. It's very gritty, heavy themed, despite not even reaching the 100 chapters mark its a strong novel meant to make the reader think. It's an open ending, and most importantly, the heroine doesn't always win, she doesn't have a ML who is constantly saving her ass, and she fails every single mission. Most of the arcs end very badly, sometimes for her, all the times to the other supporting characters. Still, its a very satisfying read, which is why I highly recommend. Spoiler: Other reviews from Weibo: /SPOILER]
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