I wasn't going to post a review, but some friends on Discord asked me about my thoughts after finishing vol. 1 (especially if they should read it) and I ended up writing a fuckton so I'm just gonna copy and paste all of it here and people can make of it what they will.

Okay, so if you're familiar with Romance of the Three Kingdoms it's kinda a hilarious delight. Basically no one in Rot3K has a happy ending (I mean, it's history, or at least pseudohistory (like, history in the same way The Iliad is history) and it was a very messy, very protracted war/series of conflicts, so basically all the men ultimately die by violence.

So the tragic aspects aren't really a surprise even tho I wasn't familiar with the Sun family much because my favorite characters to play on Dynasty Warriors are Lu Bu, Guan Yu, and Xiahou Dun (read: none of these people are in the Sun family faction, though I do like playing Huang Gai and he is, and is a decently prominent character in the book.)

I bring up the Iliad with a lot of intentionality. I read that for school, and when I did so we talked about how in ancient Greece, the Iliad was building on an existing foundation of (mostly) oral tradition about the Troy war, and that there were way WAY more stories about everyone involved in the Iliad than what we see on the page in the Iliad. The Iliad is, in many ways, a "greatest hits" of Big Troy War heroes, and it would have (according to my English teacher, circa 1997, who didn't put it this way but this is how I remember it now) each had their personal favorites, and all those random side characters in the Iliad who come and go in a flash that a modern reader is like "oh, new guy, who is he, oops now he's dead oh well" would have had fans, who when listening to the Iliad, would have been like "KYAAAA OMG IT'S MY GUY!"

(disclaimer/note: we are talking about a high school class I attended 30 years ago and I have done zero scholarship on this since and it is not my field. It's possible I'm misremembering and/or that current Iliad scholarship doesn't match this even a little.)

Anyway, I've thought about that re: the Iliad a lot since I started getting deeper into Chinese stuff. I have not read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but I've played various versions of Dynasty Warriors (a video game based directly on the book) since like 2002, and I circle back to it every few years because I like it. I've also now read a decent amount of Rot3K source material in simplified versions via DuChinese, and it's all matched what I'd learned from Dynasty Warriors so I think the game is a decently faithful adaptation for all that the main gist of the game version is "play as Person, collect weapons, try to get your kill counter up over 1000 while swaggering around the battlefields like a badass, run away from Lu Bu if he comes for you because You Will Die (or play as Lu Bu and dominate.)"

With the understanding that I've reached this conclusion based solely on vibes and guesswork and have done 1000000% zero actual research, I get the same vibe for Romance of the Three Kingdoms as what Mr. Gern said about the Iliad, with the key difference that whereas "the ancient Greek Iliad fandom" is basically dead, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms fandom has effectively survived for a little under 2,000 years (with the book itself as a codified version of those stories and traditions dating to the 14th century - I just checked, lmao).

I have been a vaguely distant side member of said fandom for almost 25 years, having been introduced to it with Dynasty Warriors 3, which came out in 2001. I have my own favorite characters, I've got folks I've been less interested in, I've even written a single fic, ot3 for the sworn brothers Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu, because I think they're cool. I hate Cao Cao, but I love some of the members of his faction. I could go on.

With all that as preface: Twin Jades of Jiangdong is utterly and completely and inextricably Rot3K fanfiction. Unabashedly, even.

In the same way that if I wrote a fanfic for any fandom I was in, like a long one, I'd throw in cameos, I'd do big reveals of characters who I know are fan favorites, etc. - that is how Twin Jades is written. I've been posting some in the Forum for it on Pagebound.co, and like. Reading this feels like sitting with Fei Tian Ye Xiang as he twirls his hair and bats his eyes and kicks his heels and explains to me that out of all the dozens of prominent characters in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, his favorites are Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, and especially Zhou Yu, and this two-volume book is his love letter to why Zhou Yu is his specialist blorbo and his pitch for why Zhou Yu should be everyone else's favoritest blorbo too --

-- but that he recognizes that Zhou Yu ISN'T everyone's favoritest blorbo so here's a cameo with Lu Bu (and did he mention that Lu Bu thinks Zhou Yu is SO cool???) and Gan Xingba (and did he mention that Gan Xingba helped Zhou Yu out at a critical moment?) and Cao Cao (and my blorbo Zhou Yu saved Cao Cao's life by the way) and and and.

As someone familiar with Rot3K? It is fucking hilarious to be honest. I am not actually (as I mentioned) specifically familiar with Zhou Yu or Sun Ce. I remembered what happened to Sun Jian (Sun Ce's dad) and I had the vague sense that I've seen the name Sun Quan (Sun Ce's younger brother) way more than I saw Sun Ce, but I couldn't have told you more than that. But this entire book is Fei Tian Ye Xiang writing a love letter to these two characters he stans so so so so hard, and then throwing in nods to a lot of other major players in Rot3K, all while making it clear that Zhou Yu is still the absolute bestest and coolest and that all those other characters recognize that too actually.

I think, honestly, it'd be utter gibberish or close to it for people without at least a passing familiarity with Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

But with that familiarity? this is so fun. Truly. I'm finding it delightful. I'm traveling for work right now but as soon as I'm home and I can get my hands on our Switch 2 I'm gonna play through the Sun family's set of battles in Dynasty Warriors 9.

So that's my views on the general book. As to whether it has a ship...

it's clearly not danmei in the literal sense. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce marry sisters. Fei Tian Ye Xiang did not write a canon divergent fic as far as I can tell - I'm not familiar enough with the source to say for sure but this reads like fill-in canon compliant fic to me. He wrote a story filling in the blanks about his faves (while ensuring that Zhou Yu especially gets to do All The Cool Things and that anything he did that might have looked wicked on the surface He Actually Had a Very Good Reason And Was Completely Justified) but as far as I can tell, based on my granted limited knowledge, he did that hung around the framework of the actual moments these characters are prominent in the source material. He took those appearances and built a coherent narrative connecting them. And like. These historical figures, we know they were married and who they married. He didn't change that.

BUT.

The subtext is, in my opinion, deeply queer. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce are childhood friends and they are utterly devoted to each other. Zhou Yu ditches all his filial responsibilities repeatedly to go be at Sun Ce's side. They share a bed constantly, bathe together, are very touchy-feely with each other, and like, actual quote:

"Whether we live together or die together, both can be considered a happy ending."

further, every time someone points out a woman to Zhou Yu, he more or less completely ignores her and wanders off to find Sun Ce. I think if Sun Ce said he wanted to be lovers Zhou Yu would start stripping before the sentence was out of his mouth, not even because he wants it because if Sun Ce wants it, he's there with bells on. The topic of marriage has only just come up early in vol. 2 and Zhou Yu's response was basically "oh bae wants to us to marry sisters? I guess I can do that if he thinks it's a good idea." The only person in Zhou Yu's head 24/7 is Sun Ce, and Sun Ce isn't much better.

I don't know that "utter devotion to the point of self-immolation" is quite the same as an on page romance, but I will say I sure as hell don't think it's straight.

I mean like. In Chinese history there are The Four Great Beauties (like. think Helen of Troy, to throw back to my Iliad comparison). One of them, Diaochan, is from this time period, and she shows up in book 1.

Diaochan flirts with Zhou Yu (because, Fei Tian says, my blorbo is the best and of course everyone who sees him would want him).

Zhou Yu doesn't even notice and spends his entire time during that period trying to figure out how to get to Sun Ce.

Is it danmei??? well, uh. technically no??????

is it gay? oh yeah. yeaaaaah.

(but ymmv.)

anyway sorry this is probably way more info than you'd want but I'm genuinely enjoying this book and it's given me Thoughts (obviously) so here, have a dump of those thoughts.

I love everything Alexandra Vasti, and this book is another fabulous addition to her catalog! Scandal of the Summer is a delightfully offbeat summer historical romcom with an impressive cast of characters. I read a lot of historical romance, so I am truly impressed when I come across a unique premise, especially with such an excellent execution.

Our main character Ruby is so relatable and endearing, and I could imagine her in the twenty-first century just as easy as the nineteenth. Ruby is intelligent and assertive, but she knows society and her family value a very specific archetype of a woman. Ruby was so easy to root for, and her vulnerabilities felt very modern. (But aren't women throughout history just trying live their life despite societal demands?) She can be silly and flirtatious and absolutely be taken seriously, too. Her friendship trio was actually a perfect balance, and I really look forward to reading the supporting characters' own books. I really adore a found family moment, and these supporting characters all came together in a believable and very touching way. Our love interest was also lovely, and I really appreciated his character arc and growth, as well as his investment in Ruby's fulfillment. Their banter was actually fun and not just enemies-to-lovers drivel and the chemistry was palpable.

This book is a shining example of no third-act break up (a pet peeve of mine), yet a compelling story even after the couple gets together! Vasti was able to keep together multiple storylines and pace the action. The plot had just the right amount of silly to keep me intrigued and entertained while developing a believable romantic connection. There were just the right amount of puppies and emotional moments to keep the story moving. The world felt period-typical in the best way while nicely incorporating queer elements without too much fuss.

If you've liked Alexandra Vasti's other books, you will certainly enjoy this one (and I appreciated the reference to Vasti's Belvoir's Library series). If you're looking for a fun and heartfelt summer romance (even if you are not typically into historical romance!), I think you will like Scandal of the Summer. I can't wait to read the next in this new series and anything else Vasti writes!

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for the arc!