(tldr: i'd probably skip all the romance and just read the first 70 chapters lol)

How do I say this. This novel is both good and bad, but it's about different issues.

What's good is the first arc - The 'East Palace is Coming' is really good. It spans around 70-ish chapters and the whole arc; how it spans out, the logistic behind the idea of the series and everything that goes into that storyline is amazing.

I highly recommend you guys read this novel just for that first arc. I'm... more>> so thoroughly impressed -- maybe not so much in the first read, but in my second-read I was so incredibly blown away by how good the core of the film is, and how innovative it is to set it up as a character-driven tv series that blew up due to tangible and carefully portrayed charisma the MC locks into the character of Li Xu. It's like how Jack Sparrow became an icon of the Pirates of the Carribean franchise due to his portrayal -- but it's incredibly hard to actually portray that in a novel without making it seem nonsensical, especially the necessary weight to make it credible.

This novel - once you look at it with a critical eye -- actually did manage to capture and show how he blew up this character step by step. And I just think it's incredible -- especially since it doesn't specifically need 'good' acting (although he does have that, and it is a plus) -- it just needs a lot of charm and charisma. And that's the main core of why he's famous. Anyways, this arc was especially good. The others are sadly gisted over and didn't have the same keen attention to detail and investment -- but, nevertheless, the career-line of this novel is at least somewhat ok.

What's substandard is -- well, the irl portion of the novel.

After chapter 90 onwards -- in terms of pacing, it becomes a filler model. There's a lot of chapters that are just 1 single day, maybe spanning 3-5 chapters. A lot of it is small mouthfuls of emotional development for the romance-line. Which in itself isn't a bad thing - until you consider how these emotional developments doesn't have a very clear out-line and leads in circles to nowhere. There are a few significant moment of actual progress!!! Which is commendable, so clap clap clap!! But most of the time it's not those moments, it becomes messy after a while....

Characterization wise, it's not bad in terms of the context of the story (circus). But it's definitely bad when it comes to 'objectively, is it done well' -- regretfully

Some characters can definitely come across as shallow and insensitive; careless about others (which isn't a bad thing) -- even while being well-intentioned. Madam Yan's interference in certain matters (her oldest son's romance) is a prime example of this. She seems bold but she always seems to undermine the MC/ML's feelings. She seems to care, but she's always shown to be very careless in regards to respecting their choices, feelings and decisions. In any way that matters, the contradiction between what is being portrayed (warm feelings, care about one another) and what is the subtext/implication/what is shown instead (focuses on their own individual purpose/goals, regardless of others.) seems to be at odds to one another. It's hypocritical. And this is not intentional design. It's caused by contradiction and un-resolved issues with the inner workers, sadly it's not addressed in time.

What's even cheaper is that the MC's character is clearly the opposite. He's well intentioned, his thoughts/actions aligned and he does address this. He's here to point out the flaw in Madam Yan's characterization, but it doesn't make his character any better or more complex in anyway. It's just lazy that Madam Yan is characterized like this, and they could both be/do better. But they weren't chosen to do that, they weren't designed to be better. This problem was never addressed, there was no consequences. And nothing was discussed in the novel about this issue. There was no point.

Even after clear direct communication between the two, as soon as the ML shows signs of progression/development, she's back to being who she used to be with absolutely no consequences or opposition to of her behaviour. It's almost like it doesn't matter whether that communication happened or not, it doesn't matter to her because she would still do what she wants anyways. And this characteristics are quite prevalent in a lot of the character's choices and story-line. The only difference is they all go through different emotional consciousness, but in the end - it seems almost the same -- 'it doesn't matter'. Lmao

This is all quite confusing in terms of just how to evaluate her character (or any characters actually, on any deeper level) and in a story-logic makes no-sense. It's quite frustrating.

And it's this flip-floppy behaviour that isn't just exclusive to her either - but with a lot of the characters in this story in regards to their own feelings/actions they took as well. I think the emotional logistic in this story isn't all that kinked out and isn't meticulous enough. Not even in a 'this is alright' way - but in a 'this is a failing grade if I see it' way.

2nd point) This is the one story that actually requires emotional intensity. It's a deliberate stylistic choice to keep the irl portion light-hearted, perhaps to counteract the dogblooded-ness of the movies/series. While that's perfectly fine as a statement on its own, unfortunately it has other factors in the story that would require more emotional dealings and careful handlings about this topic. Although I came in thinking of this as a 'silly novel you shouldn't take seriously (just for enjoyment) ' - I realized you can't enjoy the story without wondering about the serious neglect on the author's part of the handling of the characters and their emotional plotline.

Outside of work, these characters lack the necessarily intensity + emotional development to go through what the plot is putting them through. Let me explain!

Say for example:

You have the ML's younger brother YYX -- who is also in love with the MC. While this is 'spicy!' at the beginning, it was never addressed as a serious issue. The relationship between YYX, Madan Yan, YQC was never clear about this infatuation he had with the MC. In fact, besides YQC knowing about it and keeping an eye on him, this issue of the younger brother liking MC was never seen as a serious emotional plot-point -- the way Madam Yan kept pushing YQC and MC together (disregarding/ignorant of YYX's affection) was never addressed. This is dogblood, let me spell it out. It has angst, logically this would be the emotional line to take. But because the author adamantly refuses to lend the story into deeper emotional territory, it was never addressed and this knife slice to YYX was never clarified.

You can't just brush it off? This is an entire plot point, that you can't just make it into a non-consequential 'filler' of the story that doesn't seem to affect the MC, ML, or any other characters in the story in any tangible sense. He exists in this universe, in this circle, and is an integral part of the relationship of every side-characters to this story. Yet? This was never addressed? It's quite distressing how badly emotional situations are handled in this story. Not just for YYX situation as a case, but for every single character -- MC and ML included.

It's?? It's really illogical, even if it's a stylistic choice to 'keep' things light-hearted and as a silly love story. The emotional logic line does not make any sense. Which can make alot of the characters come across as crude, callous and a bit clumsy. These are resulting from the choices made by the author in order to facilitate a happy and more light-hearted tone to the story. While I don't have to like it, I have to point out that it's more hurtful to the writing/brings it down, instead of helping it in anyway.

In conclusion, I like this story overall. It's still readable to me (but I can understand other's frustrations). An easy fix would be to actually allow the emotional line to flourish and wrangle/handle it back to what you want it to be, instead of denying the plausibility of emotional development at all. See no evil hear no evil doesn't work when it comes to writing. You have to address the different issues and logistic to make it make sense. Focusing on just the main 3 won't work. You have a cast of characters that are half made, but ignoring them/their issues isn't helping setting the background/scene. Forcing light-heartedness and 'happiness' will only make it feel somewhat fake/plastic/insulting. It's negligence, I think. So it's somewhat disappointing and a shame that some issues aren't addressed in time.

Still... it is what it is. And it's a 'light-hearted' 'silly' novel about a love story. If you enjoy it then you enjoy it, I'm like talking about the writing. I quite enjoy the first arc anyways, I hope you like the story of Li Xu too! <<less

The novel is pretty good in showing development of film or shooting which really helps keeping a timeline. The male lead is pretty clear in what he likes and what he dislikes. I didn't like the fact that the MC kept saying I am 1 and so I can't be such and such person. I am not a person with same sexuality so maybe that part was written right but I didn't understand it well. It got a bit boring and I had to drop it for some time but... more>> I picked it back up and completed it. <<less

Overall, this novel was very sweet, but also a bit long and draggy. I read all of the chapters up until Yan Yaoxuan’s extras because I got bored of the novel, and I wasn’t in the mood to read about a relationship full of red flags, as the translated put it. Speaking of the translator, the only reason why I gave this story 5 stars was because of them. Although I did see one review about the grammatical mistakes and such, I felt like the translator was doing their best... more>> plus those mistakes didn’t affect my reading enjoyability. I also appreciated the translator’s thoughts at the end of each chapter. Otherwise, I would have probably rated this novel 4 stars.

One thing of note in this story is the lack of obvious cliches, such as a villainous stepmom, and the lack numerous brain dead cannon fodder. While there was that one brain dead black powder, she was frankly so insignificant that I barely remember what she tried to do to the MC.

Anyway the novel was very good overall. <<less

So good omg, I even managed to MTL to the very end!!

It's a slow romance but very very sweet. The dramatic shift in the relationship is very realistic due to this. I also like the characters and particular shoutout to the "Bai Yuguang".

... more>>

Spoiler

I don't like how many stories will easily villainize characters into cannon fodders. Here, BYG also hates MC at the start, but we see a lot of complexity in his character and he struggles a lot too. His relationship w MC is very interesting, very causal, as it says in the last few chapters.

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I also like that they delve into topics like family estrangement through the lens of "movies" and the familial relationships.

Also, MC does get prettier due to external help of the system, and it's mentioned a lot, but it never feels like that's what makes him OP. As an actor, beauty is never everything, and later on it seems more like it dug a pit for him instead lol. Fortunately this isn't one of those stories where everyone loves him because of his flawless beauty etc etc.

The only thing I'm a lil upset about is shan cheng. I still think he's way too pushy, and idk I feel SC's partner deserves a lot more fluff. And ML's "competency" omg, as it's classic in Chinese fiction MC's always gotta hurt and want to avoid ML's prowess. I'm personally not a fan of this troupe, although this story is better than many at least. At one point I thought we were gonna get a queen bottom MC, but that kinda went nowhere....

In my dreams, I see ML bottom. lmao. <<less

This book has made me tear up so many times ?. Its also made me laugh. I've read the mtl and I can't wait for the whole book to be translated because parts of the mtl were confusing.

Its such an interesting take on transmigration and celebrities/acting. The MC gets really into the characters he portrays and their stories become substories of the actual book. I was really confused in the begining as to where this book was headed and who was the ML.

I really recommend this book if you enjoy... more>> acting and transmigration as tags! <<less

A transmigration story with a cute system, slowburn romance, and basically MC struggle to become a winner in life.

At first this story keeps me going by making me confused about the ML. One second I'm sure then another second I'm not so sure anymore. And finally the ML turns out to be my first guess lol.

This is a sweet story but I'm not really a fan of slowburn romance. When I reach ch 105 I felt bored so I'm gonna stop at ch 108.

But don't let my review keeps you... more>> from reading it because it really is a good story. And I agree with darkangel268 that this story is so underrated! <<less

I understand why this is one of the top rated novels on JJWXC. Or however it goes - sorry. It’s a very solid entertainment danmei novel. The system elements are not too forceful and it makes sense.

Ultimately, I quite like the slow burn. Usually it’s quite obvious who the ML is and that it’ll be inevitable the NC will get with them - making the plot have to differentiate. But this is one of the ones where I felt romance was a very good main plot. The acting stuff didn’t... more>> feel like a subplot either - the movies and the dramas being described in a very solid and fleshed out way.

i think it’s a very well rounded novel. As for the complaints from others about the portrayal of gay men, it’s unfortunately how gay men are in the CN web novel genre. This is far from the only danmei to describe them like this, nor is the author particularly wrong about Mainland culture. <<less

I'm temporarily stopping here.

The novel is interesting enough, but it kept bugging me how shallow it felt. I get that the MC's appearance was important to him since it limited his acting career before transmigrating. Still, it could've been approached in a way that felt less shallow, and the appearance buffs (as in what part of the MC's looks were improved) were a bit too silly/objectifying. Maybe it gets better, but the initial buffs make me feel uncomfortable.

The MC and ML aren't also very interesting as characters. I actually like... more>> the novel's original MC because the dude stands out compared to other OG MCs. I feel like his relationship (Friends? Enemies? Frenemies?) with the MC is probably going to be the highlight of the novel, at least for me. Giving it 4 stars instead of 3 for him and their relationship (and since it might be my preference affecting how much I dislike it).

I feel like the novel has its good points, but the high focus on appearances isn't is a bit overboard. The plot and characterization of the MC+ML also wasn't riveting enough to keep me reading (it was interesting but not enough for me to overcome my discomfort). Might come back someday though. <<less

Haven’t read the extras but read the main story. Like how ambitious and career focused MC was. And how supportive ML was towards MC (later in the story). Love the movie and tv show descriptions, it was stories upon stories, so good. I first read the manhua and became interested in the novel which was my first Danmei. It opened my eyes to the culture and it was really interesting as a first read although that MTL could be choppy at times.

Highly recommend as a chill read.

So entertaining I enjoyed it. Love ZQ mother the most.

All the characters are so unique and nice

Very good entertaining novel. The first movie the MC worked on after his transmigration is very moving and can be a stand alone novel in its own.

5 yrs is too much of an age gap for me but I had to continue reading to see if how the ml’s feelings are reacted to by others improves.

it does not.

the author is either someone who can’t take rejection and gets mad at whoever rejects them or they’re just a very immature person. why is it that once the ML starts liking the MC, we keep seeing things like “serves you right” or the ML even thinking he wronged the MC or the ML regretting how he treated the... more>> MC before when the ml’s reactions back then were normal and the expected reaction of someone who doesn’t like someone romantically? let’s not f*cking forget the old MC kept harassing the ML and got naked on his bed and bit him, which is practically assault. he had a terrible attitude in general and also kept bullying an artist who just happened to be under the ml’s company and wouldn’t listen when he said he didn’t like him and had no relationship with him. I don’t get it. this isn’t a wife chasing crematorium lmao; the ML did nothing wrong and didn’t wrong anyone. he said something out of impulse but was what he said wrong? the MC at that time was so insecure, acted like he and the ML had a thing so the ML was obliged to clarify his relationship with another man, unruly, disrespectful, and completely selfish. he deserved the treatment that he got, he’s not some pitiful white lotus. not to mention, the ML tried being as much of a gentleman as he can, not even being harsh to the old MC in public until he reached his bottomline and had to say something. what’s the purpose? to add drama? for comedic effect (whenever his mom thinks of this) ? to vent because the author is a fujoshi who wants a pairing to end up together no matter whether the other party is a harasser or unreasonable person who doesn’t even respect the feelings of the person he supposedly likes or not? it was a mistake for them to add that kind of sentiment or those kinds of comments from characters because it’s a strange reaction to have. no one needs to vent for the old MC. he was a horrible person.

now for the others complaining about the author’s bu*t kink. you’re so f*cking right, say it LOUDER. however, don’t reduce the story to just that because before the ML started liking the MC, the first 70 chapters are of the new and actual MC establishing himself in that world and getting rewards from the system which is, guess what, getting a more beautiful appearance and getting sexier features. like the title says, he gets prettier but with every reward from the system. the author is a little too obsessed with the mc’s ass, but don’t make it sound like that’s all the story is ever about. it’s not like every person starts acting unreasonable because of his ass anyway, they just admire it. though I admit the way they admire it is also very cringy like what’s with his friend wanting to stare at it and even asking him to stand still so she can see? does this author have no sense of boundaries or something? you don’t ask that of your friends or anyone, really, unless they’re your partner and don’t mind it. geez.

anyway, completely personal rant, over. for the real rating and review:

• plot & pacing: 2/5. horrible, not even just below average. before the ML starts liking the MC a.k.a. where i’d say the romance starts to bloom but doesn’t actually start yet, the plot is well... it was okay to read at first because the MC is new and he’s in a different world yadda yadda yadda. I enjoyed reading through the first 30 or 40-something chapters. the drama the MC was shooting at that time was good, but I had to eventually skip parts that were all about the drama because a chunk of the first 70+ chapters were practically scenes in the drama and they were too long for a story which has a focus that, well, isn’t that drama. in summary, these 70-something chapters are some passages about the MC and his feelings, interactions with others, his thoughts, etc. and the rest are netizen comments, fans talking with each other, and whatever is happening in the drama as the cast act it out, which, if you ask me, is very skippable. you won’t miss out on much if you skipped except for the chapters where we get crumbs of the ML starting to develop feelings. there’s not much plot development because the MC has always been a good actor and even won an award before he died. it’s primarily him acting, raising his favorability with bai what’s-his-face, and getting rewards that improve his face and body. (but also, seriously, he picked always having black hair over having good and bouncy skin even when he’s a senior citizen???? you can always dye your hair but you can never get your skin back, mc!!!) MC also establishes good relationships with other characters so good for him. I actually liked this part that had no interference from the love interest. it gave the MC a life before him, which is good, and important to building a healthy relationship. it’s also good for his career.
• romance: idk how to rate this. more than slow burn, the pacing of their relationship was actually normal and better than the pacing of the larger plot. I think it was appropriate and not even slow burn, because considering their circumstances, they really needed time to change their dynamics. but, I guess the slow burn everyone’s talking about is because the ML starts one-sidedly pining for the MC at the start of the buds of the story’s romance.
• characters: the MC is quite upright and a passionate actor. I like that he gets a chance to have a good and improved appearance while also being on his way to becoming a possibly even more successful actor than he was in his previous life. he really seems to deserve this chance. he tries to behave a bit better and treat those the old MC disrespected or wronged more decently. I also like his move of making a clean break with the ml, setting boundaries, and being respectful but not at all distant with him in the beginning and next few chapters. he was able to clearly show the ML that he (the body of the MC at least) no longer liked him romantically but didn’t treat him as a stranger. despite the author’s weird convictions in some instances, they were actually able to write a character who is likable and admirable. on the other hand, I have no idea what’s with the obsession with abstinence or asceticism because that’s what’s used to describe the ML in his first few appearances over and over, he’s almost reduced to just that until he gets more screentime lolol. after that though, he’s actually just a very restrained person but he isn’t cold or overbearing. I like that he isn’t the typical domineering ceo or president type but somewhat in line with that in a refreshing way. he has the best parts of that archetype without its annoying sides. he’s powerful, rich, gentlemanly, firm, and decisive but respects how much the MC wants success for his career and wants to see him shine, doesn’t force him whenever it involves matters related to him (companywise and relationshipwise), separates work from private life like a responsible ceo, and even keeps his feelings a secret in fear of losing his chances, secretly pining for the MC but never taking advantage of him to comfort or relieve himself. all the more reason for me to feel wronged when he gets stuff like “you deserve it” when he starts liking the current MC after the old MC treated him so horribly and exactly the reason for my big rant at the beginning of this review haha. he’s such a good man, why act like he was such a jerk, author?

i’ll take a pause at chapter 83 because it’s agonizing to just see a repetitive and completely predictable pattern of mc’s pov, what the MC is acting in, mentions of the white moonlight bai, ML pining and not doing anything, and netizen and fan comments. you get tired of reading it after 80+ chapters, trust me. i’ll update my review once I reach... 100-something chapters. this is just excruciatingly long and dragged out tbh like what happens after the 90 chapters after 100?? this isn’t even a quick transmigration novel. <<less