As my ever growing bookshelf can attest, I'm a danmei fan. Many series are total angst fests, provoking tears and anguish. When I asked my wife for a breather, she directed me to the English translation of Golden Terrace from Peach Blossom House. This review covers both volumes, because I read them back-to-back.

Raised in the vaulted noble classes of Great Zhou Empire, Fu Shen has dedicated his life to securing the northern border as the Marquis of Jingning and commander of the Beiyan Cavalry. When a simple mission goes horribly awry, rocks crush Fu Shen's legs, and his active military service is at an end. He returns to the capital, licks his wounds, and receives worse news: the Emperor demands he marry his long time nemesis, Yan Xiaohan!

It’s SO FLUFFY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Golden Terrace is indeed a balm for the heart after the likes of MXTX, Meatbun, and Priest ground it to dust. The story really focuses in on the characters, their relationships, and their interior worlds. The summary may position Fu Shen as the sole main character, but Yan Xiaohan receives equal depth, backstory, and POV sections. These two grow together wonderfully, like watching a plant learn to twine its vines. The prose itself is superb. The translator did fantastic work. Scenes are incredibly vivid in my mind a year later, especially the wedding scene.

What impressed me most is the treatment of disability. The exact medical nature of Fu Shen's disability isn't made explicit. He can't walk without aides, experiences chronic pain, and feels fatigue easily. The novel refuses to gloss over the new challenges in Fu Shen's life. He needs a wheelchair, and the lack of ramps in fictional ancient China is a Problem. He rails against his "useless" legs and becomes depressed. Concurrently, the narrative frames his disability as an opportunity for others to express care. Fu Shen's disability gifts Yan Xiaohan many, many opportunities to dote on Fu Shen and express his hidden love. Yan Xiaohan's initial introduction is as a fearsome, ruthless head of the Feilong Guard. That image is instantly complicated when Yan Xiaohan hires carpenters to make his house fully accessible to wheelchair users. There must be hidden depths to a guy who re-designs his whole bathtub so Fu Shen can wheel in and out!  Before you go off thinking Fu Shen is totally infantilized, he's very much a force to be reckoned with. His power may look different than a non-disabled person's, but it's very much there. The Emperor fears Fu Shen with good reason.

Speaking of the Emperor, he is dumb, and it's on purpose. For a good chunk of the story, I thought I was going bananas because why would a smart person do what the Emperor is doing. He's just. Written like that. Very nerfed. Golden Terrace convinced me to add "play politics-heavy tabletop games" to my arsenal of writing advice, because WOW, if this Emperor played one Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle, he'd be so much better at his job. My two other quibbles are more minor. The cast is a total sausage fest. The few women are either stupid or evil. Unfortunately, that's pretty standard for danmei. The battle scenes focus too much on Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan being cute, and not enough on the action. No author can be good at everything.

Overall, Golden Terrace sent my heart pitter-pattering with squee. A total comfort read! Do recommend! I hope Peach Blossom House publishes and E. Danglers translates Cang Wu Bin Bai's wuxia novel Chun Feng Du Jian.