I wanted to read this before starting book 3, as this is labelled as 2.5, and though very short at only fifteen pages, these alternative scenes have convinced me that I seriously need to reconsider my perception of this trilogy. The writing within these few pages is so beautiful and engaging that I can't help but feel I have done the series so far a huge injustice by listening to the audiobooks.
The fact is, I can't stand the way the narrator reads these books, but for some reason, I listened to them anyway. It's nothing against the narrator herself, but personally, there's just something about her slow, languid style of reading that grated on me. It made exciting books feel like a cure for insomnia. And don't get me started about the character voices. Over the top, high-pitched squeaks for females and laughable, and at times cringy, deep voices for the males. It makes the characterisation cartoonish and very difficult to take seriously. Like a child's impersonation of their parents.

I remember a lot of what happened in book one, and due to a bunch of tropes that aren't my jam, I don't really want to reread it. But because of the horrible narration, I barely remember a thing about book two except the ending. In reading this short I finally see how amazing Kuang's writing is and I really feel I need to give it a proper chance and physically read the book again before moving on to book three.

Nazha was always my favourite from previous books anyway, but maybe he wasn't narrated in such a goofy way. Maybe that's why he became such a stand out character for me. This is definitely something I want to investigate. Some books just aren't meant to be narrated, and I would definitely not recommend listening to this series if you want to take some of its very powerful themes seriously.
If this series of short scenes have done nothing else for me, it's shown me that there's still a chance for me to love this series.