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Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
24 reviews
tonyaisadyingweasel's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
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
Humorous, comical, exhilarating.
Those are the three words I’d use to describe SVSSS. I finished this book in 4 days (a record time for me!) which says a lot about how much I love this story already. I picked up this book when a friend kept sending me snippets of it. I was intrigued, but my expectations weren’t that high. After all, my main motive for reading is just to forget the emotional damage I felt after the black water arc in TGCF.
Oh, gurl was I wrong. It made me read it non-stop from morning to night, even when I’m in the middle of school. Another way to describe this book is “crack treated seriously”. Whenever I read, I always get feel-good chill vibes. Tbh, SVSSS’s writing style reminds me a lot of how fanfics are written (in a positive way!). It never fails to cheer me up with hilarious plotlines and ironic situations. Funnily enough, even in sad scenes, I couldn’t help but still laugh.
However, as much as I love the whole cast of characters (which I’m very attached to) and the (extremely hilarious) plotline, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. A few friends expressed bewilderment and disgust when I mentioned it involves a student x mentor relationship. The parts which contain r*apey scenes and misogynistic language might also trigger a lot of people, so read at your own discretion! :D
In conclusion, it’s a solid 10/10 for me, and you should give it a shot.
Those are the three words I’d use to describe SVSSS. I finished this book in 4 days (a record time for me!) which says a lot about how much I love this story already. I picked up this book when a friend kept sending me snippets of it. I was intrigued, but my expectations weren’t that high. After all, my main motive for reading is just to forget the emotional damage I felt after the black water arc in TGCF.
Oh, gurl was I wrong. It made me read it non-stop from morning to night, even when I’m in the middle of school. Another way to describe this book is “crack treated seriously”. Whenever I read, I always get feel-good chill vibes. Tbh, SVSSS’s writing style reminds me a lot of how fanfics are written (in a positive way!). It never fails to cheer me up with hilarious plotlines and ironic situations. Funnily enough, even in sad scenes, I couldn’t help but still laugh.
However, as much as I love the whole cast of characters (which I’m very attached to) and the (extremely hilarious) plotline, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. A few friends expressed bewilderment and disgust when I mentioned it involves a student x mentor relationship. The parts which contain r*apey scenes and misogynistic language might also trigger a lot of people, so read at your own discretion! :D
In conclusion, it’s a solid 10/10 for me, and you should give it a shot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual content
ocheeva's review
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Though this is MXTX's first work, I'm glad I waited to read it until I knew both her and the danmei and xiania genres better — as a parody of tropes common in the Chinese web novel sphere, I simply wouldn't have understood it without first coming to learn those tropes.
With that in mind... though you can tell this was written by a young person, it does show hints of how she came to grow as an author. Her deep understanding for her characters' motivations is palpable and the intimacy with which she writes Shen Qingqiu's denial of his own feelings, whether they are about physical sensations or his attraction to another man, makes my heart ache. His characterisation is also wonderful; he is incredibly annoying but his internal monologue shows such great care for the people around him even when he first transmigrates and views them only as characters.
Even characters whose POV we don't get to enjoy are easy to understand; MXTX is fantastic at showing how people feel through their actions. Luo Binghe's internal conflict is kept from us and filtered through SQQ's perception of him and it still bleeds through in everything he does. The same goes for the other characters we get to spend time with and it makes every reread a treat as you get to know them better and better.
With that in mind... though you can tell this was written by a young person, it does show hints of how she came to grow as an author. Her deep understanding for her characters' motivations is palpable and the intimacy with which she writes Shen Qingqiu's denial of his own feelings, whether they are about physical sensations or his attraction to another man, makes my heart ache. His characterisation is also wonderful; he is incredibly annoying but his internal monologue shows such great care for the people around him even when he first transmigrates and views them only as characters.
Even characters whose POV we don't get to enjoy are easy to understand; MXTX is fantastic at showing how people feel through their actions. Luo Binghe's internal conflict is kept from us and filtered through SQQ's perception of him and it still bleeds through in everything he does. The same goes for the other characters we get to spend time with and it makes every reread a treat as you get to know them better and better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Violence
moonmagister's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was the last MXTX book I had left to read so far and it’s the first one she wrote. As such it’s a shorter and more chaotic read and probably won’t be to many peoples tastes. Lots of people say this is a lighthearted novel, and it is, if you happen to have dark sense of humour. This is romance but much more in the style of a messy queer dark romance than anything more wholesome. So if that isn’t up your street then I wouldn’t bother trying.
I personally really enjoyed this novel, despite flaws in plot and translation. I’m looking forward to continuing the official translation in the following months!
I personally really enjoyed this novel, despite flaws in plot and translation. I’m looking forward to continuing the official translation in the following months!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
yushihuang's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
breemeup's review
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ultimately, scum villain is an answer to the age old question: what if we gave a giant overbearing demon puppy man acute separation anxiety and a crippling Oedipus complex and set him loose on a milfy repressed redditor who is assigned final girl at rebirth?
Joke's aside, here are my messy thoughts about the novel:
1. I think that if people had made it more clear that scum villain is a dark comedy psychosexual horror story rather than pretending that it's a romance novel, I probably would have gotten into it a lot sooner.
2. By giving shen yuan so much agency and such a rich inner voice, mxtx builds such a fun exploration of like the inherent horror found in so many heterosexual romance novels and the ways in which we take for granted the mistreatment of female love interests in these novels. I adore binghe but his love is so monstrous and all consuming and terrifying in such a classic bodice ripper romance novel kind of way!!! mxtx masterfully uses framing and the protag's awareness of romance tropes to subvert/satirize this romance dynamic that women are subjected to
3. And that's not even getting into shen yuan's epic genderification arc and how the fact that he's subjected to this horror both makes him feel trapped but also gives him the liberty to experiment with and explore his relationship with gender and feminity and sense of self. (Transfem shen yuan real!!)
4. the way women in this novel become their own people/are given the freedom to be less classically "feminine" and instead become selfish/brutal/even a bit ugly because of their exclusion from binghe's desire? WOW... liberty from the inherent horror of compulsory heterosexuality methinks.
5. This book is about gender!!!!! It's about the complex intersections between sexuality and gender identity and it's absolutely incredible. I was NOT expecting that a AT ALL. I'm blown away. Like you know how that dude gave a copy of undertale to the pope? im gonna do that except it's gonna be Judith Butler instead of the pope and im giving them a copy of svss instead of undertale
Anyway, I really thought that this was gonna be my least favorite mxtx book I thought I was gonna be put off by the romance but oh my god the fact that the romance is DELIBERATELY off putting has made this one of my favorite novels ever. I'm going to be thinking about it for a long long time
Joke's aside, here are my messy thoughts about the novel:
1. I think that if people had made it more clear that scum villain is a dark comedy psychosexual horror story rather than pretending that it's a romance novel, I probably would have gotten into it a lot sooner.
2. By giving shen yuan so much agency and such a rich inner voice, mxtx builds such a fun exploration of like the inherent horror found in so many heterosexual romance novels and the ways in which we take for granted the mistreatment of female love interests in these novels. I adore binghe but his love is so monstrous and all consuming and terrifying in such a classic bodice ripper romance novel kind of way!!! mxtx masterfully uses framing and the protag's awareness of romance tropes to subvert/satirize this romance dynamic that women are subjected to
3. And that's not even getting into shen yuan's epic genderification arc and how the fact that he's subjected to this horror both makes him feel trapped but also gives him the liberty to experiment with and explore his relationship with gender and feminity and sense of self. (Transfem shen yuan real!!)
4. the way women in this novel become their own people/are given the freedom to be less classically "feminine" and instead become selfish/brutal/even a bit ugly because of their exclusion from binghe's desire? WOW... liberty from the inherent horror of compulsory heterosexuality methinks.
5. This book is about gender!!!!! It's about the complex intersections between sexuality and gender identity and it's absolutely incredible. I was NOT expecting that a AT ALL. I'm blown away. Like you know how that dude gave a copy of undertale to the pope? im gonna do that except it's gonna be Judith Butler instead of the pope and im giving them a copy of svss instead of undertale
Anyway, I really thought that this was gonna be my least favorite mxtx book I thought I was gonna be put off by the romance but oh my god the fact that the romance is DELIBERATELY off putting has made this one of my favorite novels ever. I'm going to be thinking about it for a long long time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder
sarahconnor89757's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content
saikiren's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
I liked how everything clicked in place at the end though, Shen Qingqiu really did fulfill all plot holes and as the reader i was able to finally be informed on some of the character's backstories. it still didnt right the original Shen's abuse towards the og Luo but it gave an understanding of where his envy had been brought up from, and made me switch up my mindset about him a little bit. I love this book so much, its my go-to comfort novel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent
phenomenarwhal'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and War
vvayl's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Slavery
nmcannon's review
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Gore and Blood