I just reviewed RISE OF THE PHONEXIES with a sad ending. This wuxia drama focus on spies and behind-the-scenes fighters who gave their lives to fight the war for their kings. The conflicts and theme in this wuxia genre is different from Palace drama.

1. Overall plot is about the struggles and lifes of spies and assassins. Two assassins from two different sects meet, fight, argue about their ideals. Finally, they fall in love, married and carried on their duties, without regret to continue to fight the war. The kingdoms involved can switch sides and be enemies or friends. So volatile.
2. The drama shows the comradeship of the closely-knitted members. And how they solve issues.
3. The 40 episodes can be divided into 3 arcs. First arc focus on the romantic story between the two main characters. The 2nd arc focus on the ways to get good diplomatic relations between kingdoms. With the hope to avoild war. The third arc is about the feelings of the characters when facing possibility of death. When war and deaths are unavoidable. The sad ending with so many deaths shows the desperation of the situation and make me believe in ancient times, this did happen.
4. I gave it an overall rating of 8.5 because of the story and the acting. I like Liu Shi Shi's acting in this drama as she plays a matured adult role. I have watched a few of her dramas, and I like this role the best. Liu Yu Ning has good acting skills. Great supporting casts.
5. Excellent fighting and battle scenes.

Watch out for the last scene of the drama and decide if the ML and FL has descendants or is it just a dream?