#transmigration once again but maybe villain harem???? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

veliseraptor · 2 years

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hello!!!! could i ask, which cnovels have you read? do you have any you recommend?

oh man I feel like I'm a fake cnovel fan because I really haven't read hardly any. do I have a list a mile long of ones I'm planning to read? absolutely! but the list of ones I've actually read is like. five books long, and I've enjoyed all of them to various degrees. but I guess to give a little more detail about that

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) by MXTX. I still feel like I can’t fully assess this novel since I’ve only read it all the way through once and my response to it is tied up in a lot of complicated things having to do with a combination of fandom and translation factors, but it does have the distinction of having all of my most favorite characters in it, so. And I am writing an essay based on it. I feel like if you’ve heard anything about cnovels you’ve probably heard about this one - it’s the one that starts with the resurrection of the formerly dead protagonist (Wei Wuxian), and it moves back and forth between his attempting to solve a mystery in the present alongside his old schoolmate Lan Wangji and the past events that led up to his original death.

I would recommend it, I’d say, and this and the next two are definitely the easiest to access as far as translations since they are being released officially, though the entire novel is not yet published.

Heaven Official's Blessing (TGCF) by MXTX. My absolute favorite MXTX novel and probably my favorite cnovel I’ve read so far as it’s been translated (more on that later); it’s long as shit so be warned about that, also coming out a volume at a time in published book format (there are two volumes out so far, at the time of me answering this ask).

This one features Xie Lian, once favored prince of a realm, then favored god. He fell in disgrace 800 years before the story starts, only to ascend once again at its beginning. The story unwinds involving several episodic, loosely interconnected arcs as Xie Lian gets to know the notorious ghost king Hua Cheng, who seems to be acutely interested in him. Meanwhile, problems in the heavens - never insignificant - are only getting worse. There are also flashbacks, again, to the events that led to Xie Lian’s original downfall.

I love this one so much, for a lot of reasons, and one of them is definitely its ensemble cast - this is I think the book where the background characters feel most developed to me, but maybe that’s also because it’s the book where they get the most space to develop, and with a protagonist who is not quite as in-his-own-head as either Wei Wuxian or Shen Qingqiu.

But yeah. Xie Lian is my favorite MXTX protagonist and Hualian is my favorite MXTX main pairing. I love this book a normal amount.

Scum Villain's Self Saving System (SVSSS) by MXTX. Personally my least favorite of the three MXTX books but honestly still recommend it because it’s a lot of fun and it’s doing some very interesting meta things, and I think is probably the funniest novel. I think it only falls short for me because I didn’t personally find the characters as interesting on the whole, and I do think it shows that it’s her first novel chronologically, but thematically and narratively I like a lot of what it’s doing.

This one is about Shen Yuan, who transmigrates upon dying into the world of his favorite/least favorite webnovel, a sprawling harem novel with a superpowered protagonist who goes from pure and innocent to...not that. But the character Shen Yuan has entered the novel as is the titular “scum villain”, Shen Qingqiu - the main character’s abusive teacher who goes on to die horribly. Which is something that - for obvious reasons - our transmigrated protagonist would like to avoid.

Clear and Muddy Loss of Love (JWQS) by Please Don’t Laugh. The one and only baihe (f/f) novel on this list, and also the one I talk about least out of a combination of (a) there’s less fandom for it around these parts and (b) I found the ending a little less than personally satisfying. That being said, this one still ripped my heart out and stomped on it while providing me with a whole bunch of delicious favorite tropes and also the problematique f/f enemies to lovers romance I have actually never read before. So that all on its own was exciting.

The story here is about Qiyan Agula, prince of the Grass Plains. Her family is killed and her tribe destroyed when the Wei Kingdom invades to take over the territory. Taken in by a mysterious figure with a vendetta against the Wei Kingdom herself, Qiyan Agula becomes the young man Qi Yan of the Wei Kingdom, and sets about infiltrating the palace to bring it down from within. She is not expecting to end up married to the Princess Nangong Jingnu, the Emperor’s favorite daughter - but she’s not going to let that stop her revenge mission! Of course not.

Qi Yan in particular is a fantastically kind of awful protagonist, she does a whole lot of awful things over the course of the story, she’s very smart and very ruthless and I love her.

Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2HA) by Meatbun. So you know how I said above that TGCF was my favorite cnovel “as far as it’s been translated”? That’s because this one might end up being my favorite once it’s not hampered by the fact that I read it in chunks and the back half in (edited) machine translation. My reading experience of things can be...dramatically affected by the prose and how it feels to read, and that makes machine translations kinda rough for me. But even so, this one is really good. Even longer than TGCF I’m pretty sure! But oh it’s juicy. I mean, content warnings everywhere including for rape and dubcon, and a teacher/student romance (no more so than SVSSS and unconsummated until they’re both adults) but...

Basic plot here is that the story starts with the protagonist (Mo Ran) as pretty much all powerful evil emperor, killing himself as his enemies close in on his palace, only to be transported back in time to his fifteen year old body, where he has the chance to fix some things. And then it gets complicated.

it’s so good. and so ouchy. I cried. and promptly ran off after finishing to read a whole lotta fanfic.

This one is...supposedly getting an official translation (no details on that yet) and also supposedly getting a drama adaptation (though it seems to be in some kind of limbo).

access to these translations can be...complicated, particularly for the ones that are mid-publication, but a little rooting around will generally turn up results. some translations are also locked or password protected, and might require some hoop jumping to get access, including proof of purchase on the UX nightmare that is JJWXC (the site where most of these webnovels are originally published).

as far as future reading material goes...now I'm working on Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire (LHJC), which I'm very much enjoying but doesn't have a complete translation yet; I also have on my list Faraway Wanderers (TYK, the book Word of Honor was based on), Thousand Autumns (Qian Qiu), and Stains of Filth (Yuwu).

also I think there's others I'm forgetting (at least one other Priest novel I believe I've been recommended?) but at the moment that's what my list looks like and that's quite enough to be going on with.

#conversating #anonymous #jesus this got long i guess

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eldritch-elrics · 3 years

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svsss: journey through the mausoleum (plus, zhuzhi-lang is a himbo)

got to chapter 65 last night!

as usually i have a lot to say i guess jkdhgsds i think putting stuff under cuts makes people scroll past these posts more? but also i don’t really want to be too annoying with my Many Reactions so cuts are a good way to go

tldr: loved the mausoleum arc, big fan of tlj, communication is good, and i have a new favorite scene in the book

binghe is extra as FUCK for bringing in all those rhino pythons

so i maintain that tianlang-jun should have been foreshadowed more/is introduced too late in the story, but other than that i think he’s a really fun villain and i’m a fan

for one - he’s the only one who’s able to hurt binghe :0 harm the protagonist...

which creates some Very Good Tension

count number one of zhuzhi-lang being a himbo: trying to sacrifice himself for tlj while being threatened

“is zzl really a himbo” you ask. well, yes. is he dumb? very much so. is he nice? absolutely. is he hot? well, i have no idea. i forget if he’s described as attractive or not. but, i think he can be if he wants. does being a little bit evil negate his himbo-ness? idk! i’m sticking with my assessment

i think i have a bit of a soft spot for evil henchmen

zzl also protects sqq from the corpses <3 good for him

it’s always fun to me when the system is like “wooo yay you fixed the storyline! cut the filler!” because 1. love seeing sqq lay waste to pidw and 2. the implications?? once more i am wondering WHY is the system so interested in making pidw a better story. (and the fact that it’s still calling his adventures in this world a story.) are sqq’s adventures being written down and serialized in the real world? are we as readers supposed to believe that scum villain, as a text, is a direct result of sqq’s “editing” of pidw?

uh, back to the plot

binghe wasted spiritual energy trying to preserve the mushroom/plant body :( come on man...

i really like the whole stretch of plot when binghe’s unconscious. it’s just so tense!! really well-done in my opinion - this is the first time in a while we’ve got a sense that lbh is in danger, and sqq is also running low on energy and stuff, so they’re both in bad places and the stakes are high

PLUS the hurt-comfort of it all. sqq trying not to hurt lbh’s body :(

the whole part in the coffin!! excellent. and the convo with meng mo... sqq calling himself lbh’s shizun finally...

cuddles <3

dying at lbh’s fuckin. boner. and the system’s REACTION it’s so EXCITED i am just. holds my head in my hands. i can’t deal with this novel

the confrontation with qiu haitang and the old palace master was very cool and intense. though i have to say i’m not really a fan of either “angry unreasonable woman” or “bitter disabled person” as tropes/archtypes (especially how sqq was reacting to the palace master’s condition). and poor qiu haitang! i have no idea if there’s any way to set her mind at ease other than revealing the whole transmigration thing. i do hope she’ll turn up again and get a better ending?

so the plague city sqq callout party is once again not directly lbh’s fault! the old palace master is the one to blame!

SO ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS IN THE BIT I READ LAST NIGHT. is. sqq realizing that he could utilize lbh’s plot armor to his advantage. but then deciding that he doesn’t want to take that risk. doesn’t want to use lbh’s body as a prop!!!

character development :D

he’s really starting to see lbh as a person as opposed to a character! and being less selfish/survival-oriented...

man. sqq, almost beaten, lying on the ground holding binghe in his arms........ :(((

so is the implication that lbh injured/took revenge on the old palace master because the palace master was being creepy to him about his mom? it’s a bit vague but that’s my theory. weirdo old man...

speaking of people lbh killed. maybe it will be revealed that gongyi xiao is actually alive too :( i’m still salty about that

SO MUCH DEMON BLOOD. poor sqq

so i don’t think i got how sqq was able to free himself from zzl’s blood manipulation? was it because binghe woke up and subdued it?

binghe waking up was a lil deus-ex-machina-y lol i would have liked to see some sort of trigger for it (even a cheesy one). like i get why he’s ok and no longer hurt (protagonist powers!) but like, gimme a reason for the shift to happen at that precise moment...

but AAAAAA FINALLY THEY ARE TALKING

lbh realizes how much sqq went through to save him :( and he’s so happy he didn’t get abandoned!!!! aaaaaa my poor boy

i like crybaby lbh much more than i like cold/cruel lbh lol

i do agree with sqq’s assessment though - lbh keeps doing the thing where he cries and apologizes but doesn’t actually change. he’s slowly getting better about it but that’s some development i’d like to see

so tlj.... DOESN’T want lbh’s body? i stg his motivations change every 5 minutes. that’s one other thing i don’t really like about him. is the “trying to steal lbh’s body” thing just gonna go nowhere? f...

ALSO SQQ GETTING OUTRAGED ABOUT TLJ CALLING HIMSELF MORE HANDSOME THAN BINGHE

binghe dumbass moments <3 gave him the sword...

..........zhuzhi-lang vore.......

zzl, while healing sqq’s plant arm: don’t worry i don’t want to fuck you unlike LUO BINGHE.

sqq: OKAY??? THANKS

i really hope there exists shipfic of sqq and zzl. like i don’t ship them at all but they just get into so many Situations that i cannot help but think about it. like it would make a funny crack premise

you know what? sqq deserves his own harem. it could consist of lbh, lqg, sqh, zzl.....

SQQ CANNOT CATCH A BREAK. TLJ IS A FAN OF RESENTMENT OF CHUNSHAN

modern au tlj is the dad who is way way way too supportive and thinks sqq would just be a wonderful husband for his son~~

interested in tlj’s intention to unite the human and demon worlds. like on the surface it sounds like a good idea right? peace and harmony and reconciling differences and stuff. but tlj’s plan is certainly not well-thought-out, and i’m sure his intentions also skew towards a sort of “merge them so they’re both easier to rule over” thing - which i don’t think is confirmed or anything, it’s just my suspicion

both tlj and lbh have a sort of entitlement thing going on - “i’m powerful so i can do whatever i like / take for myself something i love (whether that be humans or sqq).” which is then backed up by the power the system allows them as final boss and protagonist respectfully

speaking of lbh taking whatever he wants: stop kissing sqq without asking him aaaaa!!!! we know you love him and it’s sweet but please bro

him going all that way to reunite with sqq though <3

and then zzl comes in and i just.

this scene is simply the best

the slapstick of it!!!! i wanna see it animated so bad holy shit

the scene was good when it was just “sqq hides lbh under the bedcovers and he’s having none of it” but then it just kept escalating...

sqq and zzl’s convo is so suggestive too...

zzl himbo moments again?

AND THEN TLJ WALKS IN

“no need to explain, i understand everything” OK BRO.

LIU QINGGE IS HERE <3

tlj fanboying over him a little lmao

tlj, upon realizing that lbh had been in the bed with zzl and sqq: oh, you guys were having a threesome?

i cannot deal with this. i’m gonna do some sketches from this scene it’s so funny

#my post #svsss #finn reads scum villain #svsss spoilers

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