On the whole, this book was probably the most fun I've had reading in a while. It is very funny without detracting from the dramatic or emotional scenes. I found the characters engaging and the court politics interesting without being too convoluted to follow. It's a great example of its genre that I'd definitely recommend if you like isekai media - but with a major caveat. The disability representation in this book is...not good.

One of the main characters has been unable to speak from birth. The first thing I noticed in how the book handles this is that his main form of communication is his manservant, Wang Xi, interpreting for him based off his body language and expression. This seems extremely unrealistic. Even if you've been with someone for most of their life, there is still bound to be miscommunication, but Wang Xi's interpretation is both never wrong and more elaborate than body language can really communicate.

The book sometimes refers to Tianchi making "gestures", but it is unclear whether this is signing or just hand movements. Chinese sign language has been around since the Tang dynasty, so I know the setting is not the reason why it does not explicitly feature. It may well be that Tianchi simply does not know anyone who signs and so was never able to learn. Given the ableism of the court, this is certainly likely. But even then I would expect some kind of personal shorthand sign to have developed between Tianchi and Wang Xi at the very least, even if no one around him cared enough to learn it.

Given the whole process that went into writing in this setting, I can understand why written communication is not the primary mode of communication, though it is still used.

Even if you can wave all that aside as "it's fantasy, it doesn't have to be realistic", I have a huge problem with the fact that Tianchi's disability is "cured" by the end of the book. It sends a message that a disabled character cannot have a happy ending that includes them remaining disabled. I think that's a terrible message to give both disabled and non-disabled readers.

So while I did really enjoy the rest of the book and found it incredibly entertaining and easy to read, I cannot in good conscience recommend it without laying out this huge shortcoming. This would have been a 5 star book for me without those aspects.