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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 2 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
9 reviews
_persephone's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Suicide, and Blood
Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, and Trafficking
nmcannon's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
We’re back with the second volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System! The boys are fightinnnnngggggggggggggg, hahahahaha.
After Luo Binghe’s fall into the abyss, Shen Qingqiu thinks he has five years to prepare for the worst. He sets his scholarly affairs in order, tends to his mushroom, and grieves at Luo Binghe’s grave. The other sect leaders worry about their colleague and friend, and eventually hit upon something he likes: weird ass monsters! A plague has hit Jin Lan City, and it’s a demon’s doing. Off they go on an adventure, not knowing that Luo Binghe eagerly awaits his reunion with his shizun. Miscommunication and disaster dog the footsteps of our heroes at every step. For reference, this volume also contains the water prison “first date,” the plant!zun rebirth, playing with Sha Hualing in the borderlands, being captured as a vessel for Binghe’s monthy qi release at Huan Hua Palace, witnessing Binghe’s Bedroom Battle with Liu-shidi (featuring SQQ’s corpse), dream kiss.
Like I noted in my Volume 1 review, re-reading Scum Villain provides an all-new experience. I really felt bad that everyone had to constantly adapt to such a willful SQQ-shaped ping pong. The remainder of the review will be full of spoilers while I gush.
I was breathless when Liu-shidi held out his hand:
“Shen Qingqiu, what’s the meaning of this?" Liu Qingge asked suddenly. He stared at Shen Qingqiu as if he’d suffered some enormous disgrace. "The Bai Zhan Peak Lord is here, yet you throw yourself at another’s feet before him?”
Goddamn, he’s in LOVE love. Deeper into the angst meter, Luo Binghe brought tears to my eyes when he asked Shen Qingqiu if he was strong enough—a moment I totally missed the ramifications of previously. The deepest heartbreak was Shen Qinqiu’s suicide. My first reading experience was utterly absorbed in Shen Qingqiu: his disassociation with his body, his confidence that committing suicide was unavoidable and the best option, and his assurance that he would survive. On re-read, I much better understood the gravity of what was happening. Shen Qingqiu literally chose to kill himself instead of have a conversation. From an outsider’s perspective, Shen Qingqiu’s antics are contradictory, cruel, and devastating.
Towards the end of the volume, Shen Qingqiu finally, finally realizes that the people surrounding him are flesh and blood. On a thematic level, Shen Qingqiu’s growth here digs into a major criticism of the stallion and transmigration genres. Authors and fans don’t treat characters remotely like people, just as Shen Qingqiu refuses to treat Luo Binghe as his own person. Instead, characters are objects—often sex objects—for the overpowered protagonist to manipulate and consume as he wishes. Fandom even refers to love interests as “capture targets.” This tendency comes down hard on female characters, though we don’t see it in Scum Villain. Smarter people than me have written essays on how novels can reinforce real-life harmful cultural narratives and systems, so I won’t get into here. More relevant to Scum Villain and MXTX’s point, objectification makes boring storytelling. Proud Immortal Demon Way may have been popular in its moment, but not all of Shen Qingqiu’s fanboy critiques seem unjustified. From what tidbits we get, PIDW sounds like an erotic pulp that’s dime a dozen online, with stale plots and forgettable characters. It failed to add anything noteworthy to greater cultural conversation. It was created to put food on Shen Qinghua’s plate and that’s what it did. Because of all this genre baggage, Shen Qingqiu’s recognition of Luo Binghe’s personhood was incredibly cathartic. We love character growth in this house!
Speaking of serotonin, I got a huge dollop picking up Volume 3 immediately off my bookshelf. See you there!
Review of Scum Villain Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f797e4a5-9dc6-4810-bedd-0b2704a871b0
Review of Scum Villain Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f797e4a5-9dc6-4810-bedd-0b2704a871b0
Review of Scum Villain Vol 3: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a3156dc1-eaa9-45ef-8a33-96febcee9cf2
Review of Scum Villain Vol 4: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4426ae1a-2105-4c8e-b4ce-94e2793b5501
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
drtx_bwt's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Torture, and Murder
mermay's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Confinement, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Stalking
loveyoulike's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
lbh you are a mystery to me
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Body horror, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
raypaws's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide and Blood
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
mdride's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Self harm, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
skylarkindareads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, and Trafficking
Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment
rensreading's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
hoooo boi did everything go to shit in this volume. i’ve read the OG translation already so i had an idea of what i was getting into, but i truly did not feel very prepared. so much was jam-packed into this. it wasn’t necessarily hard to keep track of, but some of the minor details being changed in later scenes did trip me up here and there.
i missed luo binghe so much and his unhinged era? to die for, literally. the misunderstandings trope was used to the fullest here though so if that’s not to your liking, just know its resolved 70% of the way through the volume and isn’t going to reappear in the next three volumes thankfully. im not a huge fan of it myself so i was getting annoyed that they just wouldn’t TALK to each other instead of pointing fingers.
shen qingqiu being terrified for the better part of the story was concerning, to say the least. it definitely made sense when you think of how lbh treated the original goods, but sqq failed to factor in how his ooc-ness would cause ripples in the story. specifically when it came to the kind of person he had helped mold lbh into becoming when he was his disciple.
i still find it strange as hell that lbh fell for the closet thing he had to a father figure in his life though. that’s taking daddy issues to an extreme, especially when he just keeps throwing himself at his shizun hoping that sqq will finally hold onto him. they have the potential to be great but lbh absolutely needs to learn what the fuck consent is and how to abide by it. sqq’s glass closet was funny to watch but also sad as hell. i feel like someone definitely shoved comp-het shit down his throat as a child and its stuck with him ever since.
as for the majority of the content warnings, i cant even begin to explain them so i won’t. just know they’re a part of this and if you can’t handle that, skip this book and move on with life. this is one of mxtx’s funnier novels but the tone shift in this volume has left little room for humor. its reads a bit like a soap opera, which isn’t bad. just means its extra dramatic in front of a crowd when it really doesn’t need to be.
oh and lqg? i would die for him. its so obvious he has a crush on sqq. and the fighting with lbh because they’re jealous? very obviously a shitty wife plot point sqh cooked up and i will not be thanking airplane for that
once again, fuck the system!
i missed luo binghe so much and his unhinged era? to die for, literally. the misunderstandings trope was used to the fullest here though so if that’s not to your liking, just know its resolved 70% of the way through the volume and isn’t going to reappear in the next three volumes thankfully. im not a huge fan of it myself so i was getting annoyed that they just wouldn’t TALK to each other instead of pointing fingers.
shen qingqiu being terrified for the better part of the story was concerning, to say the least. it definitely made sense when you think of how lbh treated the original goods, but sqq failed to factor in how his ooc-ness would cause ripples in the story. specifically when it came to the kind of person he had helped mold lbh into becoming when he was his disciple.
i still find it strange as hell that lbh fell for the closet thing he had to a father figure in his life though. that’s taking daddy issues to an extreme, especially when he just keeps throwing himself at his shizun hoping that sqq will finally hold onto him. they have the potential to be great but lbh absolutely needs to learn what the fuck consent is and how to abide by it. sqq’s glass closet was funny to watch but also sad as hell. i feel like someone definitely shoved comp-het shit down his throat as a child and its stuck with him ever since.
as for the majority of the content warnings, i cant even begin to explain them so i won’t. just know they’re a part of this and if you can’t handle that, skip this book and move on with life. this is one of mxtx’s funnier novels but the tone shift in this volume has left little room for humor. its reads a bit like a soap opera, which isn’t bad. just means its extra dramatic in front of a crowd when it really doesn’t need to be.
oh and lqg? i would die for him. its so obvious he has a crush on sqq. and the fighting with lbh because they’re jealous? very obviously a shitty wife plot point sqh cooked up and i will not be thanking airplane for that
once again, fuck the system!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexism, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Torture
internalized homophobia, comp-het themes, body horror, weapons, (forced) blood drinking, (false) allegations of rape, (false) implied allegations of necrophilia, minor description of being buried alive, major character death, and teacher/student relationship. the self-harm is of a mental kind, not physical by the way
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