Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

I am writing this without read the extras, so my thoughts maybe will change.

How I can describe this story? Weird possibly is the word for me... because that's how I felt reading the whole story, but not in a bad way of weird ... more like a ´ wtf is going on? This is so cool´ form of weird.

If i need to be honest even when i understood all the story I felt like I was losing something, perhaps was the translation that I read (I am not complaining ... thanks for the translation) or maybe was me that had the mind in the clouds.

I really like the story, was fun to read, specially was new to read for me, I really enjoyed read about Shen qingqiu and all his complaining, I enjoyed so many characters ... Liu Qingge was so far one of my favorites.

Luo Binghe was adorable but excuse me my Spanish Como me sacaba de quicio este pana... but i love him.

I would have love that the author explore more the relationship between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (romantically talking) because i felt (maybe again ...I was lost in translation) that the development was so fast (specially the development in Sqq).

The CHANGE between the female characters in the main story and in the Sqq story was so BIG and cool ... 1point for that

Content Warnings

streetlights's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

What is this book about?
Scum Villain's Self-Saving System is a tragedy dressed up as a comedy presented as satire. It is about a young man named Shen Yuan, who dies and gets isekai'd into the webnovel he hate-read in its entirety, Proud Immortal Demon Way. Shen Yuan actually really loves the potential of PIDW, especially its main character, Luo Binghe. Only, the webnovel squanders all of it in the end and turns a promising novel into an trashy male power-fantasy harem extravaganza!

Shen Yuan is unfortunately transmigrated into the body of Shen Qingqiu, the beautiful villain of the novel who abuses Luo Binghe and meets a tortured demise. To avoid his cruel fate, Shen Yuan — now Shen Qingqiu — works to get into Luo Binghe's good graces and fix the terribly written plot of PIDW! Except... why is Luo Binghe no longer getting his harem? Why is Luo Binghe no longer admired and adored by everyone? There are hidden plots not written in the book?! Is he messing up the plot for Luo Binghe?!

Genre, Adaptations, Translations
Because of the meta-nature of the novel, SVSSS works through a whole host of genres. The original PIDW is a male power-fantasy and a harem novel where Luo Binghe is always cool and always gets the girl. SVSSS is a xianxia danmei novel where SQQ and LBH end up together. Both were written as a serialized webnovel.

This novel has been adapted into a donghua. It's very funny and captures the humor of SVSSS really well!

The fan translation by faelicy and lily is excellent, and the they also worked on the official english translations. Please buy them when you can!

Review
SVSSS is a fun read! For the first third of the novel, it's very easy to read with lots of meta humor. Shen Yuan is an unreliable narrator in the funniest way. He is smart, perceptive, but creates the most wildly inaccurate conclusions from his observations, which further creates misunderstandings. He is extremely Wrong Genre-Savvy. He is the protagonist of a danmei book, parading as the villain in a male power-fantasy novel for survival, not knowing that he is bound by the genre he is actually in to fall for the male love interest.

The best way I can describe Shen Yuan is this: he was written to be an extremely online millenial, but he is kind. He is unwaveringly kind. He likes to complain in his head, he likes to think he's deluding himself, but his actions speak louder than his words. He is the most unreliable narrator MXTX has ever written. He will convince you that he does not love Luo Binghe (not in that way, because everyone just loves Binghe, right? Everyone loves the protagonist!), that he betrays him in the worst way and deserves his anger, that he would be happier as an NPC. And he will tell you all of this in the funniest way, and you will get hooked, and it's only on a second reread (or if you're doing a very close reading) do you realize that Shen Yuan has hoodwinked you, the reader, into the lies he spins for himself to make sense of the world around him and to avoid his sexuality? gender? crisis.

And it is for this reason that it's easy to dismiss both Shen Yuan's and Luo Binghe's true feelings. Don't let Shen Yuan suck you into his unreliable narration. But he is fun to read, for sure. Shen Yuan is an incredibly queer character mired in comphet and with an incredible personality. He is loveable, he is a red flag, he is kind, he is a twitter antifan / reddit bro. This guy has layers. You will for sure be entertained with him as the narrator.

PIDW, despite all its trappings, is a bleak and tragic work. You will realize this when you find that if Shen Yuan was not the narrator, the story will always sound tragic when told by anyone else. It's a testament to how funny Shen Yuan is and how he makes the best of his situation.

The best way to enjoy SVSSS is to remember that it has a meta narrative. It's a satire of male power fantasies and a commentary of the genre and of stallion novels in literary form. The male gaze vs the female gaze as Shen Yuan creates a genre shift and turns PIDW (unknowingly) into a danmei novel. There's breaking down of character tropes, finding hidden backstories that were never written, and there's even commentary on writing for profit (for survival) vs writing for art. If you love meta humor, SVSSS operates on so many levels of meta that the whole novel will be candy for your brain.

It is MXTX's first work and therefore it's not her most refined work. However, even though it doesn't have the same grand undertakings as MDZS and TGCF, SVSSS on its own is very good. And because of its premise, of how Shen Yuan always finds himself confronting the poorly written mess that is PIDW, even though SVSSS is not the most polished work, it is full of charm. It is full of heart. Not being as tightly written as the other two books adds more to its charm than it detracts from it.

Summary
If you love meta narratives, if you love millenial humor, if you love messy queer characters, if you love unreliable narrators, I would definitely recommend reading SVSSS. It's a fun romp, and even if the romance doesn't convince you, I'm sure you'll find yourself entertained by the story regardless!

Content Warnings