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fruittea_che) wrote2019-11-14 07:47 pm
fruittea_che) wrote2019-11-14 07:47 pm
(novel) Mo Dao Zu Shi
Yes... I finally caught up to the hype haha.
Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Translation by ExR
On a fleeting whim I decided to try out the novel and was entranced. Love, love, loved it! You can really see how much planning the author MXTX put into it and I love me some complex characters. I love having visuals (and so many things are amazing unsaid), but novels just have so much room to put in other details! This novel has so many things I love about stories so it's definitely going on my shelf, although I can't understand the original text it literally scratches all my itches. The line between angst and edge is tricky and it pretty much nailed it for me! I can definitely see my tastes now aha.
I do so hope that it gets an official English release one day! In the mean time I already went and snapped up some official merchandise. The worst thing about missing a fandom in its heyday is missing out on the convention artist alley opportunities to get merch haha... especially since the copyright control on this series is so tight. I'm definitely looking to get art though! I have already scoured for the audio dramas and donghua/live drama soundtracks as well haha!
So many of my friends were into it but for some reason I find it hard to get into things that are trending... When it blew up not to be rude but a lot of my really young/immature friends and also some people I kind of had tense relationship with kinda... killed my interest in it for the time being. And it was just awkward to see so many people become China-boos in such a short time. And honestly I don't know if it's just bad luck but every CNovel I have read so far came with an annoying ML who is too possessive and controlling, and who basically is a stalker with no consequences so I was pretty exhausted of that. Thank god I ignored my gut this time!
I had already been reading the manhua and saw a little bit of the donghua but honestly it hadn't really sucked me in. I had no idea there was a novel and mixed up the names bc the novel and comic had different title translations. ("Founder of Diabolism" vs "Grandmaster of Demon Cultivation" haha. I was even laughing in my head like wow there are so many similar series nowadays...)
I have attended a mini-gathering arranged by my friend, but I only went because I wanted to hang out with my friends. How could I take the spot of someone who truly loved the series? I'd already been somewhat spoiled, and I had a basic gist of characters (or so I thought) from reading the manhua. I quickly skimmed over the wiki so that I could understand a bit more and not stand out to badly haha...
We all watched a few episodes of The Untamed ahaha.
So as I said before, I really enjoyed it! And the translation team did a great job. I also really like the writing style of the author.
Im so impressed with the amount of planning put in there which turns in that delicious heart melt (or heart hurty...)later on. This one is the edited version, so I think the author put a lot of effort into cleaning up confusing points. Certainly paid off.
The action was also amazing! Normally during action scenes I'm just like woah and you can kind of zone out because it's really hard to tell exactly what's going on, but I could really imagine things without the novel being bogged down by descriptions. I hope that makes sense.
I love the complex feelings and just the messiness of the whole situation. It hurts so much to see them like that, but at the same time it brings so much more to everyone! I was surprised to see so much vitriol when I started looking at fandom stuff. But I think that goes to show how well the characters were portrayed. Part of the appeal of this novel was that truly nobody was entirely black or white (I mean except a few characters but you have to have at least a few of those). Especially about Jiang Cheng (well personally I love him but yeah...). I'm so glad that he could finally make some peace with his brother.
Amazing. I couldn't stop smiling through the whole thing, even when I wanted to cry!
The mystery started innocuously but built up and the tension could cut. I don't know how to eloquently shower my praise upon this novel... but maybe in a few days I'll have some more complaints aha.
Of course I'm sooo soft for all the relationships. Not just our main pair (mm that delicious slow burn), but also the many platonic ones. The found families. The broken families. Friendship. Betrayal. Tragedy. Comedy. Something something it's so poetic.. The chemistry is just explosive!
As much as I love WangXian I have to say the ChengXian pair also has so much potential!! But I do want to respect the author's wish not to ship others with Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi... *struggles*
But the romance was pulled off well too. I had so many questions about little tid-bits, and so much was answered. Man I cannot imagine reading this serialized I would have been thirsty. I like how much of the time was spent developing relationships and the whole cultivator plot, and this couple naturally developed as a part of the story.
Although the sudden amount of smut at the end threw me for a loop since it was hardly in the story, but I guess given the two's personalities they would throw themselves into consummating like that once it was mutual haha. It was cute and the worst dangers were over, but it really felt like a tone shift. I love their lovey-dovey ness though! Shameless!! Exactly what the people want haha!!!
I don't even know how to talk about my feelings without rambing too much...Here are some of my favorite scenes or arcs:
- the hunt where Jin ZhiXuan opens his eyes and realizes the appeal of sweet Jiang YanLi, and also where Lan WangJi secretly kisses Wei WuXian
- the entire portion of Phoenix Mountain, when the disciples of different sects are forced by the tyrannical Wen sect to go to the mountain and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian fight the Xuanwu turtle
- the subsequent fall of Lotus Pier. I hated everything happening but that was one of the most gripping parts to read and I could feel the emotional turmoil of all the characters involved and it's effects on the characters now
- Maiden A-Qing's Empathy in Yi City, and finally her contributing to Xue Yang's defeat
- the Young Disciples getting along in Yi City
- the part about the Wen survivors and their community on Burial Mound (sniffle....)
- when Jiang Cheng finds out how Wei WuXian gave up his golden core for him after the fall of Lotus Pier (sob) and later finally lets out his feelings and basically makes up with Wei WuXian (SOB)
- Wei WuXian finally confessing to Lan WangJi and them finally coming together and kissing properly
- any part where WWX realizes LWJ loved him back then and was biting back his jealousy or did something loving and teasing LWJ (ie recognizing WWX because he played the song LWJ wrote in image of them as a couple LOL, rabbits, making WWX spicy foods, Emperor's smile, LWJ's gentle eyes etc...)
Okay but my SQUIK! With a t/w!!!
This is basically the last chapter and the extras so it's pretty much the end of the story which is why this double whammy hit me... Before this there were some pretty gruesome gorey violent segments and really light as a petal fluffy moments. Now I don't really mind that so much...
But then at the very end BAM the smut happened. And it was passionate but like it never described them using LUBE and also described how someone would be in pain and bleeding and that is just a serious turn-off for me. Like all it takes it LWJ using some medicine salve or SOMETHING. I know they're clueless gays but I just how LWJ is described this whole time he is overly sensitive to making sure WWX doesn't get hurt but he's alright decimating WWX's ass and having it bleed.
It also felt OOC for the characters to not care about that and perform rape. Present Wei WuXian obviously kind of has a kink for it but ehh... they did some extras where basically he and Lan WangJi dream travelled to when they were 15 and WWX raped LWJ. I know the first sequence was a repressed fantasy and it kind of demonstrates how much LWJ cares about WWX's words (not the rape itself but *sigh* other story reasons bc WWX once lamented not started to have sex with LWJ when they were younger lol and such...).
Also constant "rape!!! ahhahahaha!" from WWX really bothered me and turned me off. Like it's not that I mind forceful kinkiness and bondage but after developing this couple and showing how much love there is and going thru the plot eh... it's a nah from me. Like it's one thing for the older them who have developed their relationship this way but it's just weird for the past when they haven't yet become a couple and also your 35+ self having raping 15yr young boy even if its your partner in the future? Noooo thank you...
But it's a fantasy and an extra so I let it go :| Rape jokes aren't that funny, even coming from person as shameless as WWX. That's not really the sort of shameless we're looking for go back to flirting and provoking LWJ's animalistic desires instead haha. I know it's an overseas author so they may also not be as sensitive about this but eh.........
Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Translation by ExR
On a fleeting whim I decided to try out the novel and was entranced. Love, love, loved it! You can really see how much planning the author MXTX put into it and I love me some complex characters. I love having visuals (and so many things are amazing unsaid), but novels just have so much room to put in other details! This novel has so many things I love about stories so it's definitely going on my shelf, although I can't understand the original text it literally scratches all my itches. The line between angst and edge is tricky and it pretty much nailed it for me! I can definitely see my tastes now aha.
I do so hope that it gets an official English release one day! In the mean time I already went and snapped up some official merchandise. The worst thing about missing a fandom in its heyday is missing out on the convention artist alley opportunities to get merch haha... especially since the copyright control on this series is so tight. I'm definitely looking to get art though! I have already scoured for the audio dramas and donghua/live drama soundtracks as well haha!
So many of my friends were into it but for some reason I find it hard to get into things that are trending... When it blew up not to be rude but a lot of my really young/immature friends and also some people I kind of had tense relationship with kinda... killed my interest in it for the time being. And it was just awkward to see so many people become China-boos in such a short time. And honestly I don't know if it's just bad luck but every CNovel I have read so far came with an annoying ML who is too possessive and controlling, and who basically is a stalker with no consequences so I was pretty exhausted of that. Thank god I ignored my gut this time!
I had already been reading the manhua and saw a little bit of the donghua but honestly it hadn't really sucked me in. I had no idea there was a novel and mixed up the names bc the novel and comic had different title translations. ("Founder of Diabolism" vs "Grandmaster of Demon Cultivation" haha. I was even laughing in my head like wow there are so many similar series nowadays...)
I have attended a mini-gathering arranged by my friend, but I only went because I wanted to hang out with my friends. How could I take the spot of someone who truly loved the series? I'd already been somewhat spoiled, and I had a basic gist of characters (or so I thought) from reading the manhua. I quickly skimmed over the wiki so that I could understand a bit more and not stand out to badly haha...
We all watched a few episodes of The Untamed ahaha.
So as I said before, I really enjoyed it! And the translation team did a great job. I also really like the writing style of the author.
Im so impressed with the amount of planning put in there which turns in that delicious heart melt (or heart hurty...)later on. This one is the edited version, so I think the author put a lot of effort into cleaning up confusing points. Certainly paid off.
The action was also amazing! Normally during action scenes I'm just like woah and you can kind of zone out because it's really hard to tell exactly what's going on, but I could really imagine things without the novel being bogged down by descriptions. I hope that makes sense.
I love the complex feelings and just the messiness of the whole situation. It hurts so much to see them like that, but at the same time it brings so much more to everyone! I was surprised to see so much vitriol when I started looking at fandom stuff. But I think that goes to show how well the characters were portrayed. Part of the appeal of this novel was that truly nobody was entirely black or white (I mean except a few characters but you have to have at least a few of those). Especially about Jiang Cheng (well personally I love him but yeah...). I'm so glad that he could finally make some peace with his brother.
Amazing. I couldn't stop smiling through the whole thing, even when I wanted to cry!
The mystery started innocuously but built up and the tension could cut. I don't know how to eloquently shower my praise upon this novel... but maybe in a few days I'll have some more complaints aha.
Of course I'm sooo soft for all the relationships. Not just our main pair (mm that delicious slow burn), but also the many platonic ones. The found families. The broken families. Friendship. Betrayal. Tragedy. Comedy. Something something it's so poetic.. The chemistry is just explosive!
As much as I love WangXian I have to say the ChengXian pair also has so much potential!! But I do want to respect the author's wish not to ship others with Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi... *struggles*
But the romance was pulled off well too. I had so many questions about little tid-bits, and so much was answered. Man I cannot imagine reading this serialized I would have been thirsty. I like how much of the time was spent developing relationships and the whole cultivator plot, and this couple naturally developed as a part of the story.
Although the sudden amount of smut at the end threw me for a loop since it was hardly in the story, but I guess given the two's personalities they would throw themselves into consummating like that once it was mutual haha. It was cute and the worst dangers were over, but it really felt like a tone shift. I love their lovey-dovey ness though! Shameless!! Exactly what the people want haha!!!
I don't even know how to talk about my feelings without rambing too much...Here are some of my favorite scenes or arcs:
- the hunt where Jin ZhiXuan opens his eyes and realizes the appeal of sweet Jiang YanLi, and also where Lan WangJi secretly kisses Wei WuXian
- the entire portion of Phoenix Mountain, when the disciples of different sects are forced by the tyrannical Wen sect to go to the mountain and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian fight the Xuanwu turtle
- the subsequent fall of Lotus Pier. I hated everything happening but that was one of the most gripping parts to read and I could feel the emotional turmoil of all the characters involved and it's effects on the characters now
- Maiden A-Qing's Empathy in Yi City, and finally her contributing to Xue Yang's defeat
- the Young Disciples getting along in Yi City
- the part about the Wen survivors and their community on Burial Mound (sniffle....)
- when Jiang Cheng finds out how Wei WuXian gave up his golden core for him after the fall of Lotus Pier (sob) and later finally lets out his feelings and basically makes up with Wei WuXian (SOB)
- Wei WuXian finally confessing to Lan WangJi and them finally coming together and kissing properly
- any part where WWX realizes LWJ loved him back then and was biting back his jealousy or did something loving and teasing LWJ (ie recognizing WWX because he played the song LWJ wrote in image of them as a couple LOL, rabbits, making WWX spicy foods, Emperor's smile, LWJ's gentle eyes etc...)
Okay but my SQUIK! With a t/w!!!
This is basically the last chapter and the extras so it's pretty much the end of the story which is why this double whammy hit me... Before this there were some pretty gruesome gorey violent segments and really light as a petal fluffy moments. Now I don't really mind that so much...
But then at the very end BAM the smut happened. And it was passionate but like it never described them using LUBE and also described how someone would be in pain and bleeding and that is just a serious turn-off for me. Like all it takes it LWJ using some medicine salve or SOMETHING. I know they're clueless gays but I just how LWJ is described this whole time he is overly sensitive to making sure WWX doesn't get hurt but he's alright decimating WWX's ass and having it bleed.
It also felt OOC for the characters to not care about that and perform rape. Present Wei WuXian obviously kind of has a kink for it but ehh... they did some extras where basically he and Lan WangJi dream travelled to when they were 15 and WWX raped LWJ. I know the first sequence was a repressed fantasy and it kind of demonstrates how much LWJ cares about WWX's words (not the rape itself but *sigh* other story reasons bc WWX once lamented not started to have sex with LWJ when they were younger lol and such...).
Also constant "rape!!! ahhahahaha!" from WWX really bothered me and turned me off. Like it's not that I mind forceful kinkiness and bondage but after developing this couple and showing how much love there is and going thru the plot eh... it's a nah from me. Like it's one thing for the older them who have developed their relationship this way but it's just weird for the past when they haven't yet become a couple and also your 35+ self having raping 15yr young boy even if its your partner in the future? Noooo thank you...
But it's a fantasy and an extra so I let it go :| Rape jokes aren't that funny, even coming from person as shameless as WWX. That's not really the sort of shameless we're looking for go back to flirting and provoking LWJ's animalistic desires instead haha. I know it's an overseas author so they may also not be as sensitive about this but eh.........