Welcome to Litsy!

#BookMail
The final volume of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation arrived. I ordered the special edition which includes several short stories. It also came with a notebook, bookmark, stickers, postcards, and two posters. 😍 Wonder what the Spouse will say if I stick them all over the bedroom wall like a teenager. 🤔😂

#ManicMonday time!

Book: GRANDMASTER OF DEMONIC CULTIVATION by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (honourable mentions to A GAME FOR SWALLOWS by Zeina Abirached and THE GENTLE ART OF FORTUNE HUNTING by KJ Charles)

Author: Neil Gaiman? Kieron Gillen? It‘s a tough call.

Show: Gilmore Girls or The Good Place? Another toughie.

Band: Goo Goo Dolls

Song: Loreena McKennitt‘s version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. It‘s SO CREEPY.

Grandmaster of demonic cultivation Also known as MDZS, the blockbuster danmei/Boys‘ Love novels from China that inspired comics, animation, and the live-action series The Untamed--which amassed billions of views on Netflix.

I found my love for boys love in 2020 when lockdown happen.
I am grateful to found the series untamed, it's has filled my heart with so many beautiful feelings.

5 stars also are less for the book. I love this novel so much I wish I had an original copy of the book. First I watch the series based on this novel and I was completed in love with the series and then I just wanted more of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying so I went forward and read the book.the series and book don't have much difference. The romance part was so funny and beautiful. The love of Lan Zhan for Wei Ying is so damm heart touching.
Absolute love

Funniest thing in the new English edition is the character guide. Everyone's weapon is described, even if the character has a none. The book has a rather disconcerting heterosexual soup motif, which is funnily acknowledged here.

#BOOKMAIL !!!!

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu has official English editions! Is she getting a cent of this? No idea, since she has disapeared from public life in 2019. But these editions are gorgeous, full colour, with index and character bios, and glossary. They are so heavy. They will hurt my hands when I read them, but it will be well worth it. These are just the first volumes. The one on the left has 5.

FREAKING EXCITED FOR THIS TO COME OUT. CANT WAIT TO READ IT!

Great news! All three of Mo Xian Tong Xiu's novels will have official English translations, with all new artwork, starting this December. I personally recommend tagged and Heaven Official's Blessing, but a lot of people love Scum Villain's Self Saving System too.
http://sevenseasdanmei.com/

Presenting a no-frills list of my favourite 2020 reads. It was a weird year with TONS of great stuff—but I read all but three of these books in June or earlier. I did read five of them in a single month, which has never happened to me before, so I guess the universe decided I‘d hit my quota.

The tagged book was my fave, even though it‘s miles away from flawless. I also can‘t stop gushing about HERE FOR IT or BLUEBERRIES AND APRICOTS.

I always read awesome stuff in June. Sometimes I discover a great new author, or a stellar series, or my best book of the year. It ALWAYS happens.

But I‘ve never had a June with 5 5-star reads. Not even in a series year.

Along with the tagged (MY PRECIOUS), my 5-star reads were:

•SLIPPERY CREATURES by KJ Charles
•HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi
•HERE FOR IT by R. Eric Thomas
•THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Litsy, I‘ve missed you these past few days. First I was reading, reading, reading, then I was dealing with the inevitable hangover.

Because THIS BOOK, Y‘ALL. I‘m not sure if I‘d have stuck with it if I hadn‘t watched the show (THE UNTAMED) first, but I‘m glad I did because it‘s probably my favourite thing I‘ve read this year. It ain‘t flawless, but I love it so much I don‘t even care. 5 stars. Hell, let‘s make it 6 stars. I‘m brimming with love.

There‘s a lot of spicy food in this book. I took that as a sign I should eat shrimp noodles with chili paste while I read a couple more chapters.

For the record, I‘m now on page 1001/1652, and I‘m not remotely tired of reading this. Most of the relationships have proper meat to them this far in. I‘m fully caught up in the story, too, even though I experienced it in another form less than a month ago. That‘s unusual for me.

Yesterday afternoon I settled down outside to race to the end of THE GRANDMASTER OF DEMONIC CULTIVATION—except something felt wrong. Either the book ended way more abruptly than the show or I didn‘t have the whole thing.

It was the latter. My Scribd copy was only the first 45%. Luckily, they also had the complete text, with a cover attached and all. Looks like I‘ve got another four days of reading ahead of me.

Cake + book.

Yesterday I said I like the show better than its source, and I stand by that—but I should also tell y‘all I can‘t put the book down. It‘s always interesting to see a beloved story from a new angle. I‘m having a blast with the inevitable compare-and-contrast thing, and I‘ve spent maybe too much time thinking too-long-for-Litsy thoughts about narrative structures and all the stuff adaptations have to change to make it all FIT.

I made it three weeks before I started the book THE UNTAMED is based on. Look at me, being a model of restraint.

So far, I‘ve spent a lot of time considering why I like the show better. It‘s quicker to develop the various relationships, which are absolutely my favourite part of the story. Also, it‘s been ages since I loved a character as much as I love Wei Wuxian, and all my favourite things about him take waaaay longer to come out in the book.

#lockdownlowdown @veritysalter
❶ Angloland, Ontario
❷ Tagged. It's stuck with me, hard.
❸ I don't know? Not 900 pages?
❹ Tag, your it! @gissy @carolynM @megabooks @batsy @joscho @@he7 @@ramsfan1963 @readordierachel 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘 😘

Lan Wanji looked up behind him, his white robes and forehead ribbon fluttering in the cold wind. The night had passed. The sun in the sky was about to rise. And the sun on the ground was falling.

The fan translation of the original novel here: https://exiledrebelsscanlations.com/novels/grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation/

The novel is very good! The mysteries are engaging. The embedded flashbacks structure was well done. Very good wuxia on the grandest of scales. And the romance is top notch.

The fan translation is haphazard, understandably. She is not a professional. Mandarin is hard. English verbs are hard. If you can get over that, go!

Oups. Readers, I've fallen into a new fandom. Hard. My knees are scuffed.

So far, I've read the fan translation of the novel+extras (tagged, great book but terrible translation), watched the 50-hour drama, the 20-hour special edition, most of the fan translated manhua (manga, but Chinese) and a couple episodes of the dongman (anime, but Chinese). I still have to track down the spin-off movie in a version I can understand.

And there is fanfic.

I got to the point where they kiss. That scene. ⬆️ Chapter 44. It's a slow-burn, people.

I'm reading something that's not Star Trek Fotonovels!!! Ok, have no life and I'm exhausted, but if I don't start reading for fun, I'll flip a swich. So, I'm reading the unofficial translation of Mó Dào Zǔ Shī, the most popular Chinese BL novel of the last few years. The tv series is The Untamed on Netflix, really good but no BL in sight because Chinese tv. The translation is ok, but that's fine for what it needs to be. The novel is loooong.

Watching The Untamed on Netflix got me so excited to read the novel. It has been fan-translated into English....If you love some boy-love situation (could include racy situations too so watch out!), I'm sure you will adore this story.
Here it starts at Ch 1: https://exiledrebelsscanlations.com/gdc-chapter-1/
But also, if you have no background, maybe learning about the sects and clans will help!