This is a beautiful Xian Xia drama that I would recommend anyone who loves Romance, great acting and beautiful costumes. I have not watched a Chinese drama for years until Youtube inserted a beautiful edited video of Ashes of Love into my playlist. I immediately fell in love with the tragic love story between the three main leads, the gorgeous cast and the marvelous shots.

I will quickly run through my 7 criteria (definitions below the review):

1. Emotional rollercoaster: 5/5 ★★★★★
Oh yes! This drama had so many up and downs, melting moments but also tearing scenes between the two main leads that it was bad for my heart. I deeply fell in love with Deng Lung who played Feng Huang as he all to well embodied this proud, strong, loving and later on hurt and nonchalant phoenix. Also hat down to the acting skills of our female lead Yang Zi and Male Lead 2 Leo Luo. Both of them really make the characters alive.
There is a famous climax in the middle at which Jing Mi said: "never" to our ML - this one of the most heartbreaking scenes in a romance drama I have seen.

2. Sleepless Nights: 5/5 ★★★★★
I binged-watched this drama from begin to the end

3. Natural and intelligent Storytelling: 4/5 ★★★★☆
Most of the part the writing is logic and convincing. Only that towards end, some actions of Run Yu felt a bit too farfetched. Though I completely understand the reason behind his "turning-evil", his actions sabotaged his real character, which is still kind and loving. It felt slightly unnatural for me.

4. Loveable supporting Roles: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
There are a 1-2 very succssful supporting roles, esp. Dan Zhu, played by Xia Zhi Yuan, is my favourite. His acting is very natural. Despite playing a young man by look, his performance really reminds me of a old man. The demon princess, casted by Yukee Chen, also caried out well. However, for most part, I find most supporting characters realtively one-dimensional and not deep enough. That goes for our FL2/anti-hero, Sui He, the heavenly couples and Mu Ci. Thus they feel very much like medium to carry the story forward as opposed to personalities the audience can empathize with.

5. Proper Pacing: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
With 63 episodes, this is once again a drama that could have been shortened. Towards the later half of the drama, there is a lot of air time for the love story of demon princess and Muci, which felt draggy. Though both actors don't lack in acting skills, there was little chemistry between them, and the audience cannot really relate to their tragic story.

6. Technicalities: 4/5 ★★★★☆
For most of the part, I think the CGI has been executed well. The sets are a bit bright and too colorful, but overall it depicts the XianXia vibe well. The main song is also beautiful, is just that it was played too often - I wished they had more variations when it comes to background music.

7. Solid Final: 4/5: ★★★★☆
The ending of this drama was beautiful and sweet. The scenes at which finally all misunderstandings were resolved and the evil doings of the antagonists were revealt provided a lot satisfaction.
I just wished that the last 1/3rd of the drama could have been shortened. Also, the scenes before the ending, the acting/character design of Feng Huang showed a bit too much sorrow. But that's my personal taste.

Ashes of Love is and will remain a legendary drama for me as it has punched me back into the Chinese drama land, which I will be forever grateful. This is a work of art no-one should miss.

----------------------------------
Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
2. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI etc. I try to grade this in relation to the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.