Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Box Set

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Box Set by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

23 reviews

ocheeva's review against another edition

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.

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moonmagister's review against another edition

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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!

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yushihuang's review against another edition

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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

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breemeup's review against another edition

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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

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sarahconnor89757's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

3.0

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saikiren's review against another edition

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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

loved that the system would constantly interfere within certain situations making them worse, or progress further in an unexpected way. Shen QingQiu's reactions were hilarious, there were many scenes that I couldnt help but laugh at or suddenly pause to reread since it was so unexpected. I still feel horrible for the original Binghe but was it necessary to have him in for just a couple paragraphs before he vanished away? and how was he able to transfer over to the current world into Luo Binghe's dreamscape in the first place? (im curious but im reading too much into this..)
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

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