So I am going to ignore the ending - which would totally change the review - and just review the rest of the drama.

The best part of the drama was the acting. The FL played the character as smart and a little naive but never annoying or silly. The ML was the typical stoic lead, aka boring, but at least you saw personality and feelings in his portrayal. The second ML had the biggest growth in character from silly, playboy type to angry captain, to cold hearted and unbending person, and the actor did a good job.

I really liked many of the secondary characters and wished they had more time on screen.... especially the Yuan Song the 13th prince, even his crazy sister, Prince Nan Liang, and the the MLs best band and body guard (we was my favorite)

For some negatives (besides the ending) is that the story was a little confusing and characters were not always fleshed out. People would come into the story, then disappear to either never be seen again or seen like 20 episodes later wen I did not even remember who they were. It may be odd to say, but the one episode which changes the life of the second ML (trying not to add spoilers) was the best few episodes. In general there are a lot gf bad people that seem to win, but in the end the bad people get their just rewards although a lot of non-bad people also end badly. I am still traumatized by the body guard / best friend of the male lead.

There were times when the drama was slow and I found my interest waining. The FL is often not any where near either ML but I just look at this drama as more political intrigue with some action and some "romance" but it really is a political power struggle drama. This would have been OK if there was an ending with a payoff and instead there is the cliff hanger of all cliff hangers and no season 2. By now all of the actors have moved on and it was soooo long ago I do not see it continuing and if the replace all of the actors, what would be the purpose.

Would I rewatch - probably no. Would I recommend - maybe.