Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 1

Pretty solid start for a series. There's a huge cast of characters who have various forms of address so it can be difficult to keep track of everything in the beginning.

The dynamic between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji is hard to describe of only because you don't know the whole history they have yet, nor where it will go in the future. So far, one is basically a class clown/jock type while the other is a stoic nerd type and I'm having a great time with it.

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fran_buesa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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mustnotblink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

I am a western reader with no language knowledge beyond English so I can not attest to the quality of the translation. However, as someone new to this genre, I did read some cultural guides (provided by the non-western portion of fandom) and some general xianxia background and tropes so that I would have a better understanding of the novel. I'm a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi so I am used to being thrown into the deep end of new worlds, but I firmly believe that having this background knowledge made my reading experience 100% better.

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is very talented at crafting characters that people love. I can attest to that; it was very easy to start loving Wei Wuxian. His narrative is very much unreliable but there is a careful balance between his humorous antics, telling bouts of intelligent problem solving, and the extremely insightful moments of darkness that makes him a joy to read. Lan Wangji holds his cards much closer to his chest, yet allows enough glimpses over time that soon he too became a treasured addition to the shelf of characters I would fight a bitch for.

Do l desperately wish that this book was not split into three volumes so I could read the rest? Absolutely! However, I do think volume 1 did a good job balancing world/character introduction with the mystery plot progression AND flashbacks.

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booklover_zzz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

#9 on the NYT Bestsellers List!? This is well-deserved!

Now, I will proceed to write a full-length review. So, hold on tight folks because this review has been a long time in the making.

Let's start with the good things since social media is so good at focusing on the negative things:
- The images in the book were stellar!! I finally understood why Lan Wangji was so obsessed with Wei Wuxian's buns. 0.0 There were so many pictures of WWX's buns and it was huge! I was honestly shocked.
- The cover design is beautiful and glossy in the right places, up close.
- The cover texture is sturdy and smooth. I also loved the flaps! I accidentally put a drink on the cover earlier this week and guess what?...no water stain on the book! *applause*
- The typesetting and interior layout is beautiful?! XD I'm paying for a physical book so this was the least I was expecting!
- The extra illustration on the inside by moo is amazing and one of my favorite parts of the book.
- Character Guide was hilarious! Enough said.
- The Glossary and Pronunciation Guide are pretty alright for anyone who's never picked up a danmei before--or watched The Untamed or MDZS donghua--but wants to hop on the train for the first time.

I think it's important to start by saying that I advise anyone that hasn't already to watch the MDZS donghua (Chinese anime) and/or the live-action series--The Untamed. This is more just so that you have the world and characters set up when coming into the book. I first read the book after having watched The Untamed & read the manhua (Chinese manga) and felt like that helped a lot as far as setting me up. I'd advise the same (or any other adaptation) for anyone.

The book has a rating to 17+ and I'd advise anyone wanting to hop on the MDZS train to check out content warnings b/c this is a content warning heavy work. There's everything from homophobia to ableism to corporal punishment to verbal abuse and the list goes on.

This translation is unique to itself just like the other three translations before it were unique to themselves. I understand why it was necessary to make this one unique to the other three. MXTX is making money from this one and the other three were FREE online--and still are free in some parts of the dark web probably? I congratulate 7 Seas for their hard work and dedication to the fandom and the author to do what they could to make this a success.

The titles in the book didn't really change (ex. Chief Cultivator vs Cultivation Chief...not really a big difference; Yin Tiger Tally was used in Taming Wangxian's translation). Though I don't understand Chinese, I did find this translation--compared to ExR Scanlations (or the most popular, free version that was online that's no longer online...If you want to get into other danmei I advise searching other translations groups or just waiting for the official English translation of works since they seem to be in the coming now...ExR group have really shown their bad sportsmanship/true colors these past few months but you can go to social media to find out more on that gossip)--this translation was clearer and more detailed which I appreciated and was something I was hoping would come out of this translation. I can't give a review on the accuracy of translation since, again, I don't know how to read Simplified Chinese but I’ll assume this is accurate, with one or two errors from the curse of first printings at most--I say this since all books will always have errors. However, exceedingly minor errors and flaws are easily and quickly fixed in any book so I’m not worried. Just note: there will never be an errorless book as much as anyone believes it's errorless; just an attempt at an errorless book.

Anyway, I like that the Seven Seas team chose to keep MXTX's literary devices! Great choice to stick with the !!!!!!, ?!, and AAAAAAHHHHHHHH. These are the things that make us remember Wei Wuxian in that ridiculously silly light.

Few times I thought a sentence could have had a word moved around or added for clarity in English; however, from what I read on social media (DanmeiTWT, Reddit, etc.), some folks that could read the simplified Chinese version of MDZS said that the English translation tried very hard to stick to the original Chinese translation which could be why these sentences read that way. Chinese isn't a Germanic language so it's understandable that not everything might translate over smoothly if it's trying to contain the same meaning (if it can at all as there were times when certain idioms and jokes didn't and were just explained as footnotes--I liked that choice.) Me, the very (very) few awkward lines, I think a word could have been moved/added without changing the meaning but, again, I've never read the original Chinese so I can't say if it would change the context--to move the order of words around. Translation is a tough business so either way, I commend Suika for her hard work--while also working on Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 1 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù at the same time--and Pengie for the editing. My buying decision was based on not just the fact that this was one of my fav works by MXTX but also the translator that was chosen for this project--Suika! I loved her translation style of Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 1 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù and decided that I needed to buy it and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 1by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù when they came out since she was translating. I don't regret it for a second.

For the most part, other than a scattered very, very few select sentences, I thought it was pretty great, overall! :) I can't wait for the next one and have already pre-ordered it! And I plan on buying a later edition of this exact book. XD

So if you were to ask me...Is it worth the hype? My answer? ABSOLUTELY!!!

I could reread Wangxian all day...and, now, I can and with pictures of WWX's buns!

EXTRA NOTE: Also, Meatbuns Doesn't Meat is getting 2HA published in English (with YUWU in the talks as well) and I'm crossing my fingers it's 7S!!!

(Note: I'm not Chinese and I can't read Chinese so this review is purely based on my reading of the book and prior knowledge of fandoms adaptations & multiple translations + the fact that I myself have a history of translating books (not from Chinese to English but in other languages)).

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