Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Is it even necessary to write this review? All the amazing features of this novel have already been said. I'm going to do it anyways, because I intend on being critical as well. I'm currently on my second reading of MDZS (I've seen most of CQL, all of the donghua and all of the manhua).

Themes: 9
Queer Representation: 7
Writing Quality: 8
Enjoyment: 10
Comedy: 9
Character development: 10 (2 for women)
Romance: 10
Slowburn: 100
Angst: 100

Let's start with the positives for those who have yet to read it. The writing is wonderful. It always kept me guessing, especially with the time skips. If you enjoy novels that you will appreciate even more on a second reading, this one is for you! So many twists and turns that re-contextualize the story every time. It leads to a truly rewarding experience. The writing in general is a lot of fun. The author knows how to balance the humorous and dark tones without making a scene seem tonally inappropriate. MXTX uses a lot of Chinese literary references throughout the novel, which are enjoyable even to those (like myself) who don't speak the language and haven't read much Chinese literature. I don't know how she does it but she knows how to balance the shameless, funny scenes and the dark, tense scenes perfectly.

The romance is also good. For those who enjoy fanfiction tags and trope descriptions here are a few: rivals? or idiots to lovers, major character death, love interest falls in love first, SLOWBURN

Spoiler

they confess around chapter 80-90 of the main 113 chapter novel

, long separations, angst, NSFW, devoted love interest, mystery, first love, xianxia, cultivation, historical, etc.

It is VERY slowburn, which I personally enjoy torturing myself with. It is done very well, their dynamic matches perfectly with the themes of balancing good and evil, reputation, etc. Their romance isn't an addition to the story later, it is woven into the very themes. The misunderstandings aren't unreasonable (as a lot of novels rely on the misunderstanding trope in very unrealistic ways). You can clearly tell WHY they care about each other, WHY they love each other and it makes their confession very rewarding.

The comedy is GREAT. Personally, I enjoy the historical homophobic jokes (as a lesbian myself). Wei Wuxian is incredibly shameless and funny. It makes it easier to get through the angst and dark portions of the novel. If you're someone who will subconsciously put off novels when they get too depressing (like me), this one will be easier to get through. I enjoy watching Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian be incredibly shameless and torment the straight characters. :)

The villains are just... *chef's kiss*. As you can tell, I am a Jin Guangyao enjoyer. Even beside him, the other villains are amazing. Wen Ruohan is powerful and intimidating, Su She is pathetic but well written, Jin Guangyao is perfect and complex, and Xue Yang is tragic and complicated. If you're a villain gay (as I am), there is plenty of great content for you here.

Now onto the negatives. I'd like to preface that I might sound harsh, but these negatives are something that have not affected my deep love for this novel.

First, I would say that the women in this novel are unfortunately poorly written. This has become less of an issue with TGCF as she has improved a lot, but it is a bit of an eye sore in MDZS. She can not seem to write a three-dimensional female character to save her life. Their character completely depends on how they interact with the men in this story. If they are unable to contribute anything else to the men in the story, they die. I mean really. The death toll for women in this novel is insane. I think maybe three made it to the end? MianMian and the prostitutes are the only ones that come to mind.

Jiang Yanli is sweet, don't get me wrong, but her entire character relies upon being a sister archetype. How can she serve her brothers' character development? How can she provide their moral core? How can her death affect them? In the end, her death was not hers, but her brothers. How sad for them that she died! But what does it truly say about her as a character? Nothing. Not to be rude (because a lot of MDZS stans become incredibly angry if you criticize a character) but she served soup, was a sister archetype, and then died. This is not a three dimensional character. I struggle so much to think of a single complex female character in this novel. There is no excuse for MXTX. She's a woman!

Second, sorry to be an anti, but the r*pe fetish is extremely tasteless. Before the 30 year old pro-ship fandom moms break down my doors screaming "fiction doesn't affect reality!" (it does), I am someone who enjoys dark fiction. For f*cks sake, my favorite novel is Exquisite Corpse. I know how to critically consume media! Fetishizing r*pe is extremely tasteless and disgusting. It doesn't help that this is a gay novel. R*pe and predatory behaviors have been wrongfully associated with gay men for decades. Writing other characters to view them as predatory (everyone in the novel who hates Mo Xuanyu for being "predatory" and "inc*stuous" when he wasn't) and then actually making them into r*pe is just so homophobic it's unreal.

Other than that, I think this novel is generally perfect. It happens to be my favorite MXTX novel, even though TGCF has more quality writing. The themes are beautiful and woven throughout the entire story. Everything foreshadows something in the future (The whirlpool scene foreshadowing how everyone will act during the Guanyin Temple scene) so well. The nonlinear storytelling was an amazing choice for this style of writing and she clearly knows how to use it effectively.

Aside from the predatory r*pe fetishism in this novel, I think she wrote a wonderful representation of queerness. Their confession isn't the final point of them understanding their identity. Their "coming out" isn't for anyone but themselves. It's personal, not perfect, and not the final culmination of their identity (as a lot of straight people thing it is). They don't need everyone's approval. They would've confessed without others there anyways. It is just very refreshing to see a gay novel where a confession or coming out is not focused on the straight people's reactions.

Overall, the romance is amazing, representation is generally good, amazing imagery and literary references, great storytelling and use of foreshadowing, etc. It's a truly amazing novel that should be consumed critically. Authors are not gods, they are not impervious to criticism. Keep that in mind when you read MXTX novels, and cnovels in general.

Content Warnings

booksxjournals's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

worldexplorer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

yves's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this novel is awesome !

i really love MDZS and it got me into reading more xianxia. if you aren't the biggest romance fan, you can still enjoy this novel! it's so entertaining, i was hooked on how MXTX writes the story out (opinions on the latter will vary depending on which translation you read from, ofc)**
I LOVE LOVEDD Wei Wuxian's character, his character was the most memorable for me, he was highly relatable & i often empathized with him.

some people recommend to read this after the film adaptions, but I disagree. I read this first, and here's why: due to censorship & for time constraint, the film adaptations have several details left out & at times the plot is noticeably changed (if you read the novel first, you'd notice while watching)
NOTE: if you have a hard time grasping names, especially when characters have several different titles & courtesy names, then the film adaptions first would be ideal for you~~
MAY be triggering for some readers, please read all the potential triggers before reading the novel.

**i didn't like exiled rebel translations, so i went with these:
https://mdzstranslation.wordpress.com | https://tamingwangxian.wordpress.com/
now, i have only wonderful things to say about fanyiyi & tamingwangxian's translations. although they're not all complete, it contains the most beautiful prose, and the part which i enjoyed the most: it retained cultural & historical connections, even elaborating further on in footnotes. absolutely amazing !
as what translations i used for the rest of the novel, here is a guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/1njZCYtlztZn3Tcqkcm0tnyeEHbYZ6jitosTotueBgPk/edit

Content Warnings

szuum's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

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