Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

20 reviews

karambit's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and War

Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, and Trafficking

yves's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this novel is awesome !

i really love MDZS and it got me into reading more xianxia. if you aren't the biggest romance fan, you can still enjoy this novel! it's so entertaining, i was hooked on how MXTX writes the story out (opinions on the latter will vary depending on which translation you read from, ofc)**
I LOVE LOVEDD Wei Wuxian's character, his character was the most memorable for me, he was highly relatable & i often empathized with him. 

some people recommend to read this after the film adaptions, but I disagree. I read this first, and here's why: due to censorship & for time constraint, the film adaptations have several details left out & at times the plot is noticeably changed (if you read the novel first, you'd notice while watching) 
NOTE: if you have a hard time grasping names, especially when characters have several different titles & courtesy names, then the film adaptions first would be ideal for you~~
MAY be triggering for some readers, please read all the potential triggers before reading the novel.

**i didn't like exiled rebel translations, so i went with these:
https://mdzstranslation.wordpress.com | https://tamingwangxian.wordpress.com/
now, i have only wonderful things to say about fanyiyi & tamingwangxian's translations. although they're not all complete, it contains the most beautiful prose, and the part which i enjoyed the most: it retained cultural & historical connections, even elaborating further on in footnotes. absolutely amazing !
as what translations i used for the rest of the novel, here is a guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/1njZCYtlztZn3Tcqkcm0tnyeEHbYZ6jitosTotueBgPk/edit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, and Torture

Minor: Incest and Rape

szuum's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Gore, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment and Medical trauma

Minor: Bullying, Rape, Confinement, and Child death

manderkay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

verlayne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

lycheehee's review

emotional funny mysterious

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Incest, Rape, Ableism, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

spiritedfaraway's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Self harm, and Ableism

Minor: Incest, Rape, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, and Child death

Sexually explicit scenes are in chapters chapter 95, chapter 111, and chapter 112 and those chapters can be easily skipped if you'd rather not read them. Also, work/death camp-like setting, very dubious consent, and corporal punishment.

purrfectly's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Obviously this is a translated work. Atm the only completed translation I know of is exiled rebels, which is a decent and understandable translation and I think conveys the details of the world and plot without error while still being an easy read.  The translation I think does assume a certain familiarity with translated danmei and xianxia that the popularity of mdzs/cql has made this a less certain assumption. I would recommend the in progress translations of mdzstranslation.wordpress.com (more idiomatic and slightly more cultural referece)  and tamingwangxian.wordpress.com (focused on retaining the original intent). For people more interested in the romance I would recommend reading mdzstranslation -> exiled rebels, for people interested in engaging with the cultural elements I would recommend reading all three. Regardless I recommend taming wangxian's meta if you plan to engage with the text at all beyond the romance.

Other reviews I think speak to the well done world building, characterization, and central romance. Any translation you read will have will convey these elements and all of them are worthwhile. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Homophobia, Incest, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide

MXTX tends to have heavy themes in her books but her POV characters never dwell on them. Nothing is sat with for a super long time or dwelled on imo.

talismangoes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the best books I've ever read. It has a happy ending don't worry! Also please keep in mind Chinese culture when reading this. Translation found at exiledrebelsscanlations.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death

eva333's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Torture, and Sexual assault

Minor: Incest