Akage Girl
Northern New England
Warning: You won’t like my review if you haven’t read the book
Last year my love for Guardian and The Untamed led me to find Priest and MXTX. Both are excellent writers with a fabulous sense of character and world building. Is it any wonder that I’ve read more of their books? For MXTX I like Heaven’s Official Blessing best and I am anxiously waiting for the release of season 2 of the animation series. Priest….she’s a goddess of the genre and I love her books (yes…I wrote a whole article about her). I was excited for Word of Honor (based on Priest’s Faraway Wanderers).
This book wasn’t my favorite of Priest’s and neither were Zhou ZiShu and Wen KeXing my favorite characters. What I did like about the book was that these two nasty, morally grey characters joined forces to do some good and right some wrongs. Word of Honor started out the same way. Two not so upright and forthright characters join forces to right those wrongs. It was exciting to watch the very sketchy Wen KeXing and all the viciousness…..just like the book! And Zhou ZiShu was the pretty assassin from the very first scene…..LOVED IT!
The introduction of the characters of Gu Xiang, Cao Wei Ning, and Cheng Ling was just perfect. Zhou Ye, Asher Ma, and Sun Xi Lun played them just like I pictured them in the book……..thank you. Ye Bai Yi’s story line was different than the book, but I got the same feeling from Huang You Ming’s performance (he must have read the book too). The Scorpion King was actually more sympathetic in Word of Honor than the book and I actually liked it. Truth be told, Li Dai Kun’s portrayal of the Scorpion King was rather compelling and towards the end, my favorite part of the show…..even though it wasn’t true to the book.
This is where my good feelings about Word of Honor ends. I understand Chinese censorship (wrote an article on it) and I get what they can and can not show on TV. Since I’ve read the book, I also know that pretty much the entire book can be televised in mainland China with the exception of some of the things the Scorpion King does and the final bit of the book detailing the type of relationship the two main characters have and how Wen KeXing came to be in the ghost realm. In fact, in Word of Honor, Wen KeXing says and does a lot of things I didn’t think would get past censors.
So why why why why why did they have to whitewash Zhou ZiShu like they did? Does censorship include not having characters with a history of bad deeds? Isn’t that Wei Ying in The Untamed? Maybe he was toned down a bit in the end compared to the book but why Zhou ZiShu? He went from being the very hot morally ambiguous man to a Boy Scout and long before the end of the show. It happened right there, in the middle……gone was the vague good guy who’s only difference between him and the bad guy was his refusal to seek power and instead seek a comfortable life for his last days. By episode 24, he had ceased being Zhou ZiShu as written by Priest and became someone else……I blame the screen writer for this.
Zhang Zhe Han and Simon Gong were phenomenal as the leads and at no point did I question the type of relationship they had from the moment they started traveling together. The flirting, the looks, the body language……MUCH MUCH more overt than any other c-drama I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started on their portrayal of Lord Seventh and Wuxi…..completely did away with their relevance and their purpose……I hated that because I LOVE THE BOOK ABOUT LORD SEVENTH!!!
However, I won’t be giving this the highest marks….because how far it strayed from the book. Please know this was a wonderful show (not as good as The Untamed if you’re interested in the comparison). Watch for the fun of it, but if you’re looking for the real Faraway Wanderers………..you’ll only find that in the book.
This book wasn’t my favorite of Priest’s and neither were Zhou ZiShu and Wen KeXing my favorite characters. What I did like about the book was that these two nasty, morally grey characters joined forces to do some good and right some wrongs. Word of Honor started out the same way. Two not so upright and forthright characters join forces to right those wrongs. It was exciting to watch the very sketchy Wen KeXing and all the viciousness…..just like the book! And Zhou ZiShu was the pretty assassin from the very first scene…..LOVED IT!
The introduction of the characters of Gu Xiang, Cao Wei Ning, and Cheng Ling was just perfect. Zhou Ye, Asher Ma, and Sun Xi Lun played them just like I pictured them in the book……..thank you. Ye Bai Yi’s story line was different than the book, but I got the same feeling from Huang You Ming’s performance (he must have read the book too). The Scorpion King was actually more sympathetic in Word of Honor than the book and I actually liked it. Truth be told, Li Dai Kun’s portrayal of the Scorpion King was rather compelling and towards the end, my favorite part of the show…..even though it wasn’t true to the book.
This is where my good feelings about Word of Honor ends. I understand Chinese censorship (wrote an article on it) and I get what they can and can not show on TV. Since I’ve read the book, I also know that pretty much the entire book can be televised in mainland China with the exception of some of the things the Scorpion King does and the final bit of the book detailing the type of relationship the two main characters have and how Wen KeXing came to be in the ghost realm. In fact, in Word of Honor, Wen KeXing says and does a lot of things I didn’t think would get past censors.
So why why why why why did they have to whitewash Zhou ZiShu like they did? Does censorship include not having characters with a history of bad deeds? Isn’t that Wei Ying in The Untamed? Maybe he was toned down a bit in the end compared to the book but why Zhou ZiShu? He went from being the very hot morally ambiguous man to a Boy Scout and long before the end of the show. It happened right there, in the middle……gone was the vague good guy who’s only difference between him and the bad guy was his refusal to seek power and instead seek a comfortable life for his last days. By episode 24, he had ceased being Zhou ZiShu as written by Priest and became someone else……I blame the screen writer for this.
Zhang Zhe Han and Simon Gong were phenomenal as the leads and at no point did I question the type of relationship they had from the moment they started traveling together. The flirting, the looks, the body language……MUCH MUCH more overt than any other c-drama I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started on their portrayal of Lord Seventh and Wuxi…..completely did away with their relevance and their purpose……I hated that because I LOVE THE BOOK ABOUT LORD SEVENTH!!!
However, I won’t be giving this the highest marks….because how far it strayed from the book. Please know this was a wonderful show (not as good as The Untamed if you’re interested in the comparison). Watch for the fun of it, but if you’re looking for the real Faraway Wanderers………..you’ll only find that in the book.
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