Marine Betrayal and Romance in the Art of TGCF v.4 Hardcover

What a great book mail week for me!  I received the hardcover Heaven Official’s Blessing vol. 4 published by Seven Seas, To Rule in a Turbulent World vol. 1 published by Via Lactea, and Nanchan vol. 1, Coins of Destiny vol. 1, and Global Examination vol. 1 all published by Rosmei.  I decided to take this opportunity to review the quality of the physical volumes.  We’ll start with hardcover Heaven Official’s Blessing vol. 4 today. You can see my review of the Rosmei volumes here, and keep an eye out for the last (but very much not least!)To Rule in a Turbulent World physical book review later in the week!

Just a quick note before I get going here.  While this is a review of the physical book and not a review of the story, I do include notes about the art that may contain spoilers if you haven’t read Heaven Official’s Blessing yet.  If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, I recommend you check out our spoiler-free review of the series.

Dust Jacket and Cover

This is an absolutely gorgeous volume.  The dust jacket illustration by Arisk_k is an exquisite compilation of several water themes.  It includes Hua Cheng and Xie Lian kissing in the top third of the illustration.  This may be a reference to their underwater first kiss in vol. 3.  That was an awkwardly romantic encounter in which Hua Cheng shares air with Xie Lian after the latter jumps in to the water to escape an evil spirit’s malicious attacks.

A tangle of winding, raven-black locks obscured his sight, though nothing could be seen through the splashing water and schools of air bubbles. Xie Lian blinked, trying desperately to bat away the thousands upon millions of lingering crystalline bubbles. Then he found himself caught by a pair of strong arms. One hand circled his waist, and the other grasped his chin.

In the next second, something cold and soft covered his lips.

However, the dust jacket illustration isn’t only concerned with this scene.  The heavy prominence of bone dragons is inescapable, both in terms of placement around the cover and under the title, but also in terms of perspective.  The lower bone dragon appears to be the closest element to the viewer, creating an inescapable tie between the different water encounters between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng.  The bone dragons don’t show up during that first kiss scene, which takes place in a lake apparently uninhabited by anything nefarious.

The bone dragons make their appearance in vol. 4, during the Black Water arc.  Xie Lian and Hua Cheng encounter them when trying to seek out He Xuan’s lair, and then later when trying to escape the island.  On the righthand side of the dust jacket illustration, we see Hua Cheng swimming towards Xie Lian. While at first glance this might appear to be a reference to the kissing scene mentioned above, this assumption isn’t born out by further inspection.  For one, we see Hua Cheng swimming up to Xie Lian, presumably after they’ve both fallen in the water, not down to share air.  We also see Xie Lian’s sword Fengxin drifting down as well, presumably caught in the currents.

That’s not the only delightfully awkward romantic scene in the Black Water arc.  There is also an attempted escape from the island that involves hilarious dialogue and interplay between the leads in a cramped coffin.  However, the dust jacket illustration of the bone dragons doesn’t feel like a delightful or sexy recall of that moment, but rather a dark reminder of the conclusion of that arc.  

Endpaper Illustration

This is reinforced out by the solemn and melancholy endpaper illustration by huaepiphany.  This piece shows Shi Qinngxuan on the top right side with his back to us.  His hair streams behind him, as do his robes.  While we can not see his face, the flowing ripples make it appear that he is in motion.  He appears to flow with the water motifs surrounding him, highlighted by the light blue tones of a rising sun that centers him.

In contrast, He Xuan is pictured in the lower left portion of the illustration.  He faces the viewer in clear profile.  His expression is stern but without remorse, the tilt of his head downcast.  He Xuan is shown clothed in the darkest colors of the piece.  He is still, steady and unmoved by the flowing water.  In his hand he holds Shi Qingxuan’s spiritual weapon, a fan with the Chinese character for wind, 风/fēng on it.

This illustration frankly took my breath away.  The juxtaposition of the two characters—their colors, the movement or lack thereof, He Xuan’s expression, the fan in his hand is all frankly a work of heartbreaking artistic genius.  The artists and publishers are not packing any punches here.

Stunning Details

These two pieces are reason enough to buy this volume alone, but if you’re looking for more, here are a few additional stunning details.

Additionally, interior artist Zelda corrected one mistake that sharp-eyed readers have noticed since the first Seven Seas release of vol. 4: the lack of cursed shackles around Xie Lian’s neck in the bathing scene.  For this edition, bandages have been added in.  The printing of the interior artwork is also a slightly better quality, as seen here.

And a few additional pictures:

Conclusion

This is a gorgeously printed volume, clearly created with the collector in mind.  While I already had an ebook and a paperback copy of this book on my shelf, I don’t regret sending yet more money Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s way with a third purchase.

If you want to order a copy for yourself, you can grab it from bookshop.org here (please note that I am an affiliate and might receive some recompense for your purchase) or check out my guide for where to buy Seven Seas books in the U.S.

Want to see more about the books I’ve purchased? Check these out: