Reviews with content warning for War - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 2

This volume was a bit slower paced since it was mostly flashbacks for different POVs that are filling in the backstory of what happened while Wei Wuxian was gone. I do like non-linear story telling but when the present timeline is such a brief slice in between two rather large portions of the book it felt like it was missing something.

I think this set the tone for what is to come as well and built on the foundation of the relationship with some realizations and playfulness in the shorter bits of the present timeline.

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welgan's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

As the second book in the story, it lives to the expectations set by the first one.
It's heavy in flashbacks, especially flashbacks without the main characters, we see them a bit less.
That one first flashback is also absolutely brutal in the horror it narrates, big AAAAAAAAA Time.

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raypaws's review

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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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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cturn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

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saltycoffee's review

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adventurous dark lighthearted 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

4.25

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tomas_lw's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Both the main story, with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, and the two rather long flashback sequences are very well written, engaging and thrilling. But the pacing of the book as a whole is quite odd. One story line just kind of stops in the middle of the action and then a hundred page long back story flashback plays out before the initial story continues. As I said, all the stories are *great*, but the pacing is sometimes terrible.

That being said, I absolutely love the characters. Especially Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, but the supporting cast is also great, Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng, Lan Yuan and many others are *great* foils for the main duo.

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becah's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

I think the story improved quite a bit in this book. I still have issues with the writing style but two books in and I've gotten used to it. The plot is connecting in interesting ways, characters I thought were irrelevant has turned out to be pretty important. The romance has stepped up as well, I'm starting to enjoy the character interactions as they happen. Definitely much better than the first book!

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ashlikes's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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