Reading roundup, for once on a Wednesday
Jul. 9th, 2025 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anehanI appear to have read a bunch of danmei lately.
Legend of Exorcism vol. 1 by Fei Tian Ye Xiang
A bit meh about this. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not my cup of tea. It appears to be going in the direction of found family, so this might be a good fit for people who like that trope. It's not particularly a draw for me, which might explain my lukewarm reaction. Still, I'll probably read the next volume, too.
Ballad of Sword and Wine vol. 4 by Tang Jiu Qing
There are two ongoing danmei series where I always read the latest English release as soon as I can. This is one of them. I like military and court intrigue, and this one delivers.
Peerless vol. 4 by Meng Xi Shi
And this is the other series I always want to read ASAP. Also a plot-driven one with plenty of political intrigue, though this one is more focused on the mystery aspect -- figuring out what's going on with all these rebellious plots -- whereas Ballad of Sword and Wine has the main characters themselves right in the middle of all the plotting and rebelling.
How to Survive as Villain vol. 2 by Yi Yi Yi Yi
This novel has about as much dramatic tension as a worn-out rubber band. This is a transmigration novel that leans quite heavily into a kind of absurd humour which, you probably guessed it, is not my thing. By the end of vol. 1 I thought it was moving towards more serious direction. You know, "character transmigrates into a novel, treats is as a bit of a game, eventually realises that these people are real, things get more serious". Well, it didn't happen. Within a few chapters, vol. 2 was back to the silliness. Pleasant enough reading when you just want to hang your brain out to dry and relax, though. And luckily only three volumes long.
In addition to all the danmei, I also finished this:
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
This is the second part of the Radiant Emperor duology, the first one being She Who Became the Sun. I have conflicted feelings about this. On the one hand, Parker-Chan created some very interesting characters in the first part of the series. On the other hand, I think having so many major characters and trying to follow them all and tie them to the plot is also its weakness, which became clear in this second part of the series. There isn't space to devote enough time to them (except maybe Zhu Chongba, who I unfortunately find the least interesting), so they are rather two-dimensional. It's tragic character after tragic character after tragic character, which becomes a bit repetitive.
Also, to me the most interesting relationships and the ones with the most interpersonal tension were the ones that revolved around Esen-Temur. (Warning: major spoilers for She Who Became the Sun follow.) Highlight for spoilers! *And then Esen-Temur died in the first book. To me, it was the most emotionally satisfying moment in the whole book. I thought the build-up and the resolution to the story-arc was really well written. But without Esen-Temur, much of the interpersonal conflict that drove Ouyang and Wang Baoxiang lost its dynamism and became stagnant. They felt the after-effects, to be sure, and it was those after-effects that drove them in this second book. I just don't think they were enough to carry these characters.*
There were good parts in this book too, sure -- I really liked the story arc with Wang Baoxiang and the Third Prince -- but IMO they weren't quite enough. YMMV.
With books like these, I often keep thinking about the things they didn't do well, and that is reflected here as well. That gives a distorted view of the books. Makes it seem like I think less of them than I do. And yet the reason I keep thinking about the weaknesses is because books like these are interesting enough to hold my attention. Mediocrity doesn't do that.
So, let me state this: even though it didn't quite live up to its potential, I thought this was an interesting book and a good debut series. I look forward to seeing what Parker-Chan does next.
Legend of Exorcism vol. 1 by Fei Tian Ye Xiang
A bit meh about this. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not my cup of tea. It appears to be going in the direction of found family, so this might be a good fit for people who like that trope. It's not particularly a draw for me, which might explain my lukewarm reaction. Still, I'll probably read the next volume, too.
Ballad of Sword and Wine vol. 4 by Tang Jiu Qing
There are two ongoing danmei series where I always read the latest English release as soon as I can. This is one of them. I like military and court intrigue, and this one delivers.
Peerless vol. 4 by Meng Xi Shi
And this is the other series I always want to read ASAP. Also a plot-driven one with plenty of political intrigue, though this one is more focused on the mystery aspect -- figuring out what's going on with all these rebellious plots -- whereas Ballad of Sword and Wine has the main characters themselves right in the middle of all the plotting and rebelling.
How to Survive as Villain vol. 2 by Yi Yi Yi Yi
This novel has about as much dramatic tension as a worn-out rubber band. This is a transmigration novel that leans quite heavily into a kind of absurd humour which, you probably guessed it, is not my thing. By the end of vol. 1 I thought it was moving towards more serious direction. You know, "character transmigrates into a novel, treats is as a bit of a game, eventually realises that these people are real, things get more serious". Well, it didn't happen. Within a few chapters, vol. 2 was back to the silliness. Pleasant enough reading when you just want to hang your brain out to dry and relax, though. And luckily only three volumes long.
In addition to all the danmei, I also finished this:
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
This is the second part of the Radiant Emperor duology, the first one being She Who Became the Sun. I have conflicted feelings about this. On the one hand, Parker-Chan created some very interesting characters in the first part of the series. On the other hand, I think having so many major characters and trying to follow them all and tie them to the plot is also its weakness, which became clear in this second part of the series. There isn't space to devote enough time to them (except maybe Zhu Chongba, who I unfortunately find the least interesting), so they are rather two-dimensional. It's tragic character after tragic character after tragic character, which becomes a bit repetitive.
Also, to me the most interesting relationships and the ones with the most interpersonal tension were the ones that revolved around Esen-Temur. (Warning: major spoilers for She Who Became the Sun follow.) Highlight for spoilers! *And then Esen-Temur died in the first book. To me, it was the most emotionally satisfying moment in the whole book. I thought the build-up and the resolution to the story-arc was really well written. But without Esen-Temur, much of the interpersonal conflict that drove Ouyang and Wang Baoxiang lost its dynamism and became stagnant. They felt the after-effects, to be sure, and it was those after-effects that drove them in this second book. I just don't think they were enough to carry these characters.*
There were good parts in this book too, sure -- I really liked the story arc with Wang Baoxiang and the Third Prince -- but IMO they weren't quite enough. YMMV.
With books like these, I often keep thinking about the things they didn't do well, and that is reflected here as well. That gives a distorted view of the books. Makes it seem like I think less of them than I do. And yet the reason I keep thinking about the weaknesses is because books like these are interesting enough to hold my attention. Mediocrity doesn't do that.
So, let me state this: even though it didn't quite live up to its potential, I thought this was an interesting book and a good debut series. I look forward to seeing what Parker-Chan does next.
