Scan barcode
earthtotess's reviews
186 reviews
How to Survive As a Villain by Yi Yi Yi Yi, 伊依以翼
3.75
okay this book honestly had moments of GENIUS in it that i absolutely adored. the drunken kiss scene, the granary scene, xya coming to terms with the reality of the world he’s now in after losing hong xin, everything that happened while xya & yhq initially separated (& everything that happened when xya surrendered & they met again— /god/, that tension & the choices they were both forced to make), the entire mountain scene where they met once more & yhq rediscovered his identity, xya finally choosing to make the ultimate sacrifice. it excels IMMENSELY at everything to do with angst & longing.
unfortunately, though, i just wasn’t a huge fan of how everything in between those moments were written. it seemed like there was an attempt to put in a lot of humor in the in-between sections to try & balance out the more serious parts of the book, but it ended up just coming across as disjointed & strange. certain sections were written so incredibly beautifully, & then you’d immediately switch to a section with a hundred million thousand exclamation marks in it, & a weird tonal shift that seemed to throw the whole story off for me.
i still really adore so much of this book— i loved all of the side characters, i loved xya & yhq & their incredible devotion to one another, i loved all of the scenes i mentioned above— but i just wish that it had kept some more of its seriousness throughout.
unfortunately, though, i just wasn’t a huge fan of how everything in between those moments were written. it seemed like there was an attempt to put in a lot of humor in the in-between sections to try & balance out the more serious parts of the book, but it ended up just coming across as disjointed & strange. certain sections were written so incredibly beautifully, & then you’d immediately switch to a section with a hundred million thousand exclamation marks in it, & a weird tonal shift that seemed to throw the whole story off for me.
i still really adore so much of this book— i loved all of the side characters, i loved xya & yhq & their incredible devotion to one another, i loved all of the scenes i mentioned above— but i just wish that it had kept some more of its seriousness throughout.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, Vol. 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
4.0
:’))))
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
4.25
This is honestly (very surprisingly) my favorite of MXTX’s novels that I’ve read so far!
I love the way that it pokes fun at the genre while still providing ample amounts of angst & emotional depth to the story, & I absolutely adore SQQ as a main character & his developing relationship with LBH even more!
Was not expecting very much from it considering so many regard it as MXTX’s least polished series, but it has absolutely exceeded all of my expectations & then some.
Very excited to see where the rest of this series goes!
I love the way that it pokes fun at the genre while still providing ample amounts of angst & emotional depth to the story, & I absolutely adore SQQ as a main character & his developing relationship with LBH even more!
Was not expecting very much from it considering so many regard it as MXTX’s least polished series, but it has absolutely exceeded all of my expectations & then some.
Very excited to see where the rest of this series goes!
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu, Vol. 4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
4.25
This is absolutely my favorite of the volumes I’ve read so far!
Things started clicking for me both plot-wise and character-wise, it felt significantly more cohesive than the previous three volumes, and the humor started landing for me as well, in a way that didn’t take away from any of the darker plot lines that were explored throughout this volume.
Things started clicking for me both plot-wise and character-wise, it felt significantly more cohesive than the previous three volumes, and the humor started landing for me as well, in a way that didn’t take away from any of the darker plot lines that were explored throughout this volume.
Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
DNF @ 15%— couldn’t get over the weird age relations between the MC and her love interest. Very strange to me that he, as a grown man, indulged her at age 16 in the ways he did.
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
2.25
I think the thing that’s throwing me off about this whole series is that there’s just no overarching plot so far. It’s all just kind of ramblings about small event after small event after small event with no actual goal or larger conflict or storyline or anything, which makes it really difficult for me to… care, at all. I do appreciate the characters to an extent, and I like seeing Hua Cheng and Xie Lian interact when they do, but we’re three books in now & I still don’t know what the point of this series is or what Xie Lian’s driving force is or what we’re really supposed to be rooting for or looking forward to as readers.
It honestly just reads as a documentation of this guy’s daily life, completing random quests and such, without anything tying it together or giving it any type of substance.
Especially with the way the volumes are broken up, which personally makes no sense to me as arcs within the story are split between volumes, resulting in a really disjointed final product where there isn’t even a smaller storyline to follow within each book. They just start abruptly and end abruptly and have random things occurring in the middle.
It honestly just reads as a documentation of this guy’s daily life, completing random quests and such, without anything tying it together or giving it any type of substance.
Especially with the way the volumes are broken up, which personally makes no sense to me as arcs within the story are split between volumes, resulting in a really disjointed final product where there isn’t even a smaller storyline to follow within each book. They just start abruptly and end abruptly and have random things occurring in the middle.