To the Sky Kingdom

This book was obtained as a Kindle first read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I, as a rule, don't read this kind of book. It entertained and delighted me, I also feel like I learned some cultural things that I was ignorant about. With the completion of this I may just have found a new and worthwhile genre. Thank you Tang Qi!

This is among the most perfect of all the books. Goddesses and mortals, clashing battles, eternal loves and betrayals in a massive visual masterpiece.The Prologue to this book drops you into this world with no preparation whatever; you are as blind as Su Su, condemned to give her eyes to the woman who betrayed her. It leaves you shocked and confused.Do not hesitate, but continue reading. The images that unfold guide you to understanding, and what images they are! Author Tang Qi places your hand in that of ancient goddess Bai Qian, whose 140,000-year history unfolds at your feet. Unfolds a lot, because the goddess gets so lost she can barely find her way from door to bed. And you can be forgiven if, halfway through, you return to that prologue and reread it with eyes awakened to its poetry.It is an amazing tale, where each story's kernel is wrapped inside another story, and another, and another, until the scope of its telling consumes all of Ten Mile Orchard's jars of peach wine, and all the tea leaves on Mount Kunlun. You experience love as deep as the bone in whose protection you gladly suffer three months of lightning strikes. Battles that threaten the universe, where everything is sacrificed.Don't take my word for it. You have those of Tang Qi and Poppy Toland, vastly superior to mine. Hide a jar in your sleeve and enjoy the ride.

The biggest tragedy of Peach Blossom comes when it ends. Western fiction, especially fantasy, has become very repetitive- generally retelling the same stories or same characters over and over again. We in the west have once again become obsessed with heroes and heroines who are flawless and idealized. Our heroes and heroines are perfect, brilliant, amazing, the best at what they do, they do no wrong-- and that makes for a very tedious, boring read.What made Peach blossom stand out was that it embraced a heroine who had strong points and weak points both; she could be clever and witty, she could be vain and proud. Her charm and wit sometimes saving her, and her faults often lead to disaster. In the end, the story's tragedy comes not from some generic outside villain like in contemporary western fantasy, but rather because of the faults of the two leads- Quian's pride and Yen Hua's deception.The story follows along a beautiful dramatic arc- moments of tragedy are painful because they are contrasted against moments of humor, moments of heartbreak are painful because they are contrasted against moments of love. Rather than following the stale pattern of contemporary western fantasy novels where a perfect, flawless hero has to go up against an evil foe only to come out victorious in the end, Peach Blossom follows a painfully human trajectory of mistakes, successes, loss and redemption. This is truly an epic adventure, and the first book that has made me cry in a long, long time.Through its rich world building, a westerner can catch glimpses of the rich world of Chinese folklore- rituals of Taoism, the disciplines of Buddhist teachings, and ancient Chinese myths play a large part in the story and catches the imagination and curiosity of any westerner who might not be familiar with those things.As I said, the tragedy in Peach Blossom comes when you realise it's over. After being given a glimpse into the remarkable world of Chinese fantasy and mythology, one yearns for more- but unfortunately, there is a great lack of Chinese fantasy novels and romances available in the western market.If this mere glimpse into popular Chinese literature is anything to go by, then clearly it has so many wonderful and unique and amazing qualities that most Westerners will never have access to. As western writers have made an impact on the world with stories like Harry Potter and Robin Hood that have crossed the boundaries of countries and introduced foreign nations to English folktales, imagine how far Chinese authors might go in introducing the world to China's beautiful and unique literary voice and rich literary and mythological heritage.There are Western writers who have tried to write stories about Chinese legends or set in China, but the written Chinese voice is inimitable. There's a cadence unique to the Mandarin writer or the Cantonese writer that, when well translated, carries across the ocean. It is a beautiful, unique voice. And if western fantasy is currently lacking in anything, it is very much lacking in beauty and uniqueness.The bitterness that comes at the end of Peach Blossom is not just because of the story's bittersweet end, but because we don't know how long it will be until another Chinese novel of this quality might be made available to us.I have read that this book is plagiarized. I have read that this book isn't even among the best Chinese fantasy has to offer. Right now, this is among the best (and only) examples of xianxia romance literature available to the English market. If there is more, better, then please- let all the happy, excited reviews show how eager we are for more Chinese fiction!

In this book mortals had to give up all earthly pleasures, etc. to ascend to heaven, but the gods were very immoral and doing all manner of things. Example: The Sky Emperor gave his concubine to his grandson. Deviant behavior. The protagonist overindulged in drinking and, in her mind, because of memory lost, had premarital sex with her fiancee. Plus she lied everytime she opened her mouth most of the time. What's up? Guess these gods are like the Greek and Roman gods. Just calling it how I see. Everything else was good. Very original world. Want to go back. Had me guessing to the very end.

An interesting and captivating story of magic and love among immortals. The story reads like a Chinese fairy or folk tale. It revolves around the love between an immortal goddess and the immortal heir to the Sky Emperor. While I didn't find the main character always likeable, I couldn't put the book down as the writing and storyline made we want to discover what happened next. This is not for people who like a lot of action and suspense in their stories. It's a slow love story filled with suppressed memories, misunderstandings, miscommunication, and the ultimate triumph of love, all in the setting of Asian mythology and folk tales.

I could not love this story more. I was hooked from the very first page and am so glad I found it in one of my Kindle recommendations. This is a beautiful love story between Bai Quian and Ye Hua. It is also a fantasy filled with gods, goddesses and other immortal beings. I love that it has magic but not over the top magic. It's a story that spans thousands of years and shows love, loss, anger, betrayal and forgiveness. I don't usually go for romance or am even interested in reading about it but Bai Quian and Ye Hua had me INVESTED! I was rooting for them and their love and was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would end. Also can we just talk about Ali or Little Sticky Rice Dumpling??? He is just the cutest child ever and always provided comic relief when it was most needed. I loved him. I have not heard anyone talking about this book and that is criminal. I highly recommend this for fantasy lovers who like their stories without heavy-handed romance. So good!

This had me devouring bits at a time and just when you think the story is about to be sorted- there's a new layer. 100% recommend

Read this after seeing the drama which I loved and have seen several times now. I've read this twice, I was a bit disappointed as I didn't think it flowed like the drama, which showed things in order, it was written from Bai Quai perspective, so there seems to be a lot of holes in the plot, which the drama filled extremely well. This was really a short novel, which surprised and disappointed me considering the drama was 58 episodes, it felt like a précis of the drama. Still a good read, could have been better, the main thing was even though the story was great it was not as clear as it should have been, it didn't describe what Ye Hua was feeling, it left you guessing about what the characters were feeling and experiencing, its a shame the writer didn't put more effort into writing this book, it could have been as brilliant as the drama interpretation which redeemed it. I gave it 4 stars for inspiring a great drama, and hopefully a great move, ( to be released July 2017)

This is an Eastern story-style, so quite winding – it drops back into the past at regular intervals with snippets of background story, which is a style I like; not everything is told immediately, and we get touches of different events. I obviously lose some aspects through not knowing much about the etiquette and conventions; the effect is similar to the Western fairytales, so if someone didn’t have a background then they’d lose nuances of particular interactions. That doesn’t affect the story; there are still some very sweet scenes and it’s still obvious what the emotions and situations are. The mythology is nice, too; everyone has their fights and squabbles and stories and jealousies, and they all play into the day-to-day affairs.However, overall, my summary of this would be “muddled”. The translation is nicely done, so I think it’s probably a facet of the original story itself. I found it hard to follow why Bai Qian was acting as she was; situations are awkward but are made more so by Bai Qian’s attempts to get out of awkwardness, which just seem unnecessary…and the twists and turns seem additionally convoluted by extra people, scenes and information. Part of my problem with it is that I am used to the Western style of storytelling, with a very direct and action-based flavour, so the more ambling style and extra details sits strangely anyway. But…I don’t know. I liked the detail and the style, but the story itself was hard to follow. So; an interesting read, but for anyone used to Western style stories and who isn’t too bothered about reading more widely, I don’t think this is worth it.

watched the series on Netflix and LOVED IT!Got the book and hoped for more inner details and added scenes that they have in the book rather than the drama (books usually have more details and scenes that the movies cut out).I’m only half way through the book and even tho I am enjoying it, every single thing that happens in the series, it happens in the book.? I was expecting more excitement. The only backstory or detail they added in was where the tree spirit originally came from.I think you should either just watch the drama or just read the book- no point doing both like me, waste of time 🙄the book also cuts off bits of the romantic story between Phoenix Nine & Emperor Dong Hua . - which is another great love story in the series which is not spoken about much in detail in the book.

I love this book that's why I need peper format. I'm a fan of 10 mile of peach ... I know there is a sequel named "The pillow book" I can't find it... I need to know if are there any future plans to publish in English version ? 😍

This has everything you want from a story - fantasy, violence, plus a little sex ( without being too graphic :)I could picture many scenes in a film.Found it a tiny bit difficult to get into at first, but I'm really glad I persevered. Absolutely brilliamt