This sprawling historical saga spanning thousands of years, is rich and luscious in its story-telling. The war, the love, the tribulations among the immortals and mortals are depicted with detail. Characters and plot are not one-dimensional. Most of them are easy on the eyes, even the villains. It would have been a 10 if it weren't for the female characters in the story, being given less redeeming qualities than their male counterparts. The female characters (even the good ones) are shown as duplicitous at worst, and unreasonably obstinate at best. While the male characters come across as the more forgiving, and more understanding partners. It was nice to see role reversals even at that time - the man cooking for the woman even if he was the crown prince, but this does not negate the fact that the women were given a harsher brush stroke. Bonus: if you don't even like the story, Mark Chao's acting is worth the 58 episode watch.