Personally i do enjoy reading TTNH. It feels like a mix of xianxia and wuxia.
What i like about TTNH is that unlike most xianxia novels, it primarily focus on court politics, cunning & guile, stealth, assassinations, scheming & undermining, strategy & tactics and especially subterfuge. Some readers might find this boring as it lacks head on confrontations, hardcore fighting & flowery martial techniques as well as the exponential increase in power as you level up your cultivation that are rampant in the xianxia genre. It is out of the norm and feels totally different from xianxia novels like CD, CSG, MGA, ATG etc. Review by fact12345 below addresses this issue and is accurate. Therefore do note this novel is not for everyone. I love these unorthodox elements so this novel was a perfect read for me.
What disappoints me though are: the MC(character wise), romance(drama) and sidekick(sword spirit). The first point is not really that big of a deal, i actually like his character as being ruthless, brutal, cunning schemer, amazing tactician and an intellectual individual however he has a very strong sense of justice and exceedingly high moral values. The irony and contradiction. How can you be a grand schemer and strategist when you are not willing to make sacrifices? It is not realistic. A leader and strategist cannot see things as black and white, they need to see everything in shades of grey. There is no right or wrong, good or bad answer, only solutions. Victory is measured in blood, your's and your enemies. Author has chose to suppress this fact thus the MC is portrayed to be a naive hero. Though everything always works out in the end of course since he is the protagonist. I was also hoping that at least the author throws in impactful consequences of his morally upright decisions but alas it is not to be. Really a shame...
Now the romance, in summary, they tend to get in the way of the plot and pacing. Extremely annoying. Why? Too much drama. Don't get me wrong, i like the romance in TTNH but unfortunately it turned into a friggin jap/korean/chinese soap opera. Which end up killing the mood and pacing of the story more often then not. Here we are in the middle of an epic battle to decide the fate of the universe and the characters are still wholly concerned only on their friggin love affairs, love triangles, unrequited love, lovers misunderstandings and whatever else. This happens frequently throughout the novel as if to serve as a constant reminder to readers.
Lastly, the sidekick which comes in the form of a Sword Spirit inside him. He is basically a one stop solution to every problem/obstacle in the novel fiction/lore and every defect in the writing.
Don't understand something? Sword Spirit is an encyclopedia with all the answers to the world.
Need something? Brother Sword Spirit is a factory/warehouse.
Enemies too strong? Come, let uncle Sword Spirit possess your body and roflstomp your enemies.
I thought he couldn't be resurrected? Grandfather Sword Spirit 'suddenly' has revive skill.
Shit is going down? Great-grandfather Sword Spirit can perform miracles!
Wait, i thought this was explained to be impossible early on in the novel? Haha, well not anymore, ancestor Sword Spirit can defy all logic and paradox!!!
You can see where this is going? Its counter intuitive to the character progression, plot buildup as well as storyline. Its so bad that every question, mystery, plot hole, obstacle etc all points to 1 answer and reason, Sword Spirit.
Overall, TTNH is a good read, mainly because its unique. If you're looking for something with plenty of fights then you're barking at the wrong tree. The 3 cons i've mentioned does bring down the score a lot as they get unchecked and widespread later on in the novel which is pretty much aggravating.
(-42)
