#someone give this man heavens official blessing or grandmaster of demonic cultivation please

[jade-len]

do you guys think tianlang-jun would've enjoyed reading colleen hoover books or would even that be too much for him

[libreramune]

Booklist

My current booklist, with a little over 200 books total, some of which I am currently reading and two that I've finished. Everything will be in alphabetical order and below the cut because this is gonna be a long one.

Please also keep in mind that there may be issues with the listed writers or books that I don't know (I don't really inhabit spaces where I'd find this information out and googling every book or writer I find to see if they're controversial is depressing and I'm not doing that). I'd still like to know though so if you see someone on my list give me a heads up.

A

🤎 A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa

🤍 A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin

🤎 A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

🤍 After the Sun by Jonas Eika

🤎 Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

🤍 All Flesh Is Grass by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

🤍 All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

🤎 All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thompson Mathews

🤍 Annhilation by Jeff Vandermeer

🤎 Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum

🤍 August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White

B

🤎 Before the Coffe Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

🤍 Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

🤎 Borne by Jeff Vandermeer

🤍 Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens

🤎 Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

🤍 Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

🤎 Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

C

🤎 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

🤍 Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka

🤎 City by Clifford D. Simak

🤍 City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer

🤎 Cold Enough For Snow by Jessica Au

🤍 Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (COMPLETED)

🤎 Coraline by Neil Gaiman

🤍 Crying in H Mart by Michell Zauner

D

🤎 Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer

🤍 Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano

🤎 Devil House by John Darnielle

🤍 Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

🤎 Dishonored: The Corroded Man by Adam Christopher

🤍 Dishonored: The Return of Daud by Adam Christopher

🤎 Dishonored: The Veiled Terror by Adam Christopher

🤍 Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

🤎 Don't Say We Didn't Warn You by Ariel Delgado Dixon

E

🤍 Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

🤎 Edenville by Sam Rebelein

🤍 Edge Case by Yz Chin

🤎 Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

🤍 Enchanted Pilgrimage by Clifford D. Simak

F

🤎 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (COMPLETED)

🤍 Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson

🤎 Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin

🤍 Fire Season by Leyna Know

🤎 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

🤍 Flux by Orion Carloto

🤎 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

🤍 Funny You Should Ask by Elisa Sussman

G

🤎 Ghost Forest by Pik Shuen Fung

🤍 Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth

🤎 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🤍 Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

🤎 Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang

🤍 Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #1 by Mō Xiāng Tóng Xiū

🤎 Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

H

🤍 Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🤎 Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami

🤍 Heaven's Official Blessing #1 by Mō Xiāng Tóng Xiū

🤎 Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh

🤍 House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

🤎 Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky

I

🤍 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

🤎 I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-Hee

🤍 Idol, Burning by Rin Usami

🤎 If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

🤍 Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

🤎 Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan

🤍 Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn

J

🤎 Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang

K

🤍 Kamikaze Girls by Novala Takemoto

🤎 Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

🤍 Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

🤎 Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

L

🤍 Laserwriter II by Tamara Shopsin

🤎 Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

🤍 Letter to a Future Lover by Ander Monson

🤎 Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

🤍 Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

🤎 Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

🤍 Loteria by Cynthia Pelayo

🤎 Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

M

🤍 Made to Kill by Adam Christopher

🤎 Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

🤍 Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer

🤎 Memorial by Bryan Washington

🤍 Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

🤎 Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West

🤍 Mister N by Najwa Barakat

🤎 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

🤍 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. by Robert C. O'Brien

🤎 Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami

🤍 My Year Abroad byChang Rae-Lee

N

🤎 Never Whistle At Night by Shane Hawk

🤍 Night Film by Marisha Pessl

🤎 Nobody Is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey

🤍 Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🤎 Normal People by Sally Rooney

O

🤍 O Beautiful by Jung Yun

🤎 Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

🤍 Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint by Sing Shong

🤎 Our Wives Under the Sun by Julia Armfield

P

🤍 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

🤎 Paradise Rot by Jenny Hual

🤍 People From My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami

🤎 Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

🤍 Popisho by Leone Ross

🤎 Postmarked the Stars by Andre Norton

🤍 Pretend I'm Dead by Jen Beagin

Q

R

🤎 Revival Season by Monica West

🤍 Ringworld #1 by Larry Niven

S

🤎 Saltwater by Jessica Andrews

🤍 Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

🤎 Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

🤍 Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow

🤎 Send Nudes by Saba Sams

🤍 So Bright the Vision by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 Solo Leveling #1 by Chugong

🤍 Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

🤎 Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

🤍 Speak, Okinawa by Elizabeth Miki Brina

🤎 Stories from Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Rofena

🤍 Strange Weather In Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

🤎 Supper Club by Lara Williams

🤍 Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

🤎 Swimming In the Dark by Tamasz Jedrowski

T

🤍 Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel

🤎 Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki

🤍 Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

🤎 The Vietri Project by Nicola DeRobertis-Theye

🤍 The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul Tremblay

🤎 The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

🤍 The City Inside by Samit Basu

🤎 The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

🤍 The Deep by Rivers Solomon

🤎 The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

🤍 The End of the Moment We Had by Toshiki Okada

🤎 The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada

🤍 The Fallen by Thomas E. Sniegoski

🤎 The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

🤍 The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

🤎 The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oli

🤍 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

🤎 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

🤍 The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada

🤎 The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

🤍 The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Davila

🤎 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

🤍 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

🤎 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

🤍 The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

🤎 The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

🤍 The Local by Joey Hartstone

🤎 The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

🤍 The Midcoast by Adam White

🤎 The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

🤍 The Nakano Thrift Store by Hiromi Kawakami

🤎 The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected In the Water by Zen Cho

🤍 The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

🤎 The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin

🤍 The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

🤎 The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

🤍 The Rig by Roger Levy

🤎 The Rock Eaters by Brenda Peynado

🤍 The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mō Xiāng Tóng Xiū

🤎 The Secret History by Donna Tart

🤍 The Stange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer

🤎 The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

🤍 The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

🤎 The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

🤍 The Visitors by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber

🤍 The Werewolf Principle by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 The White Book by Han Kang

🤍 The World After the Fall by Sing Shong

🤎 They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

🤍 They Walked Like Men by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

🤍 This One Sky Day by Leone Ross

🤎 This Weightless World by Adam Soto

🤍 This World Is Full of Monsters by Jeff Vandermeer

🤎 Those Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

🤍 Time and Again by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

🤍 Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

U

V

W

🤎 Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

🤍 We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

🤎 Weather by Jenny Offrill

🤍 Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo

🤎 Welcome to Nightvale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

🤍 What Is Not Your Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi

🤎 What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

🤍 When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

🤎 When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

🤍 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

🤎 Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes

🤍 Where the Evil Dwells by Clifford D. Simak

🤎 Why Call Them Back From Heaven? by Clifford D. Simak

🤍 Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

🤎 Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

X

Y

🤍 You Have A Friend In 10A by Maggie Shipstead

🤎 You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

🤍 Yvinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Z

[dangermousie]

Mousie’s absolutely subjective, very biased Top 10 web novels list

Please note that this is hardly aiming to be objective, if one can even be properly objective about a work of fiction. It is 110% based on my preferences, which means this list is heavy on the angst and has nothing set in the modern day. It is also heavily danmei-centric, even though I read way more het romance than danmei, because for whatever reason, most of the danmei I’ve read has been insanely good.

10. Return of the Swallow - one of the two non-danmeis on this list. Smart and nuanced and with a large cast of characters. Our heroine is a long-lost daughter of the family that is brought back in and has to cope with familial struggles, crazy royals, court intrigue, invasion et al. It’s SO GOOD! There is romance with the sexy smart enemy general but honestly, it’s the heroine that is the main selling point for me.

9. Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - the only other non-danmei novel on this list, this was my very first web novel and what drew me into this insanity. This is just a ton of fun, probably the lightest novel on this list, not an ounce of angst to be found. But it’s hilarious and features competent heroine and tsundere hero and I will always love it for opening a new world to me. Anyway, our heroine transmigrates into the novel as the female lead. Unlike the original lead though she doesn’t want to seek adventures and angst - she just wants to comfortably live with the wealthy, nice husband heroine has. Alas, said husband is no longer nice since he has previously lived this story where he was betrayed by FL and then transmigrated/reincarnated into the past. Oh well, the heroine opens up businesses and makes friends. And eventually, her husband realizes his wife is way different this time around. This actually doesn’t have much romance, not until close to the end, but this is so fun I don’t care.

8. Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

7. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) - oh come on, how are you even on this tumblr if you don’t know MDZS/The Untamed? This was my very first danmei and it’s so much fun! I love everything about it - the unreliable narrator, the looping structure, the main OTP, Wei Wuxian’s laidback, traumatized insouciance, everything. Anyway, the plot in the event you somehow transported here from 2005 is that the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian, was defeated by the righteous sects over a decade ago and fell of a cliff to his death. Only now that same Wei Wuxian opens his eyes in another body and everything that was supposed to stay in the past starts again.

6. Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) - people either love its meandering narrative, picaresque structure and cast of thousands, or find it a detriment compared to much more compact MDZS. I love it even more than MDZS for those very qualities. It does have a rock-solid, darling OTP, but what really elevates it to me are the MXTX trademark combo of snarky/light tone hiding a ton of trauma underneath, the insanely intricate world-building, and what it has to say about the nature of grace and goodness. Xie Lian is one of my top 5 web novel characters and probably in top 10 from anywhere. Oh, and while MXTX’s stuff is not as angsty for me as Meatbun’s or even Priest’s, there are always exceptions, and there is one chapter in this novel that pretty much broke me and sometimes I still flashback to it and feel unwell.

Anyway, what is it about? There is a commotion in the heavenly realm - Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, has ascended to Godhood. That in itself is not so exciting. However for Xie Lian this is the third time (!!!!) as he’s ascended and lost his godhood twice prior. And now, the biggest joke of the divine realm is back, throwing the heavenly realm into chaos. And elsewhere, Hua Cheng, one of the four most powerful demons of that Universe, sits up and takes notice.

5. Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is also finding the middle path between their two very different philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of “if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

4. Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

3. To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two take up farming, get involved in the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

1. The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

[razberryyum]

So you’re done with The Untamed and want more, what now?

Reposting this since I’ve updated it with new info/links. Again, I entered the fandom via The Untamed so I’m by no means a MDZS expert, just tried my best gathering all the resources I can which I hope will help some new Untamed/MDZS fan out there. If you spot any errors, don’t yell at me, just let me know and I’ll correct it as best I can, especially for any future reposts.

READ THE NOVEL

Read the original web novel the show was based on: The Untamed (aka “CQL” or “Chen Qing Ling”) was adapted from the BL web novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (aka ”MDZS” or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (”MXTX”). Yes the novel came first, CQL is only an adaptation. In the novel, you get the uncensored romance of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, where they are canonically married and living happily ever after. The novel goes full into R18 territory so please tread carefully.

All four volumes of the novel can be purchased from the original publishing site, JJWXC. The site’s in chinese but here’s a tutorial on how to navigate it and purchase the books:  JJWXC Tutorial Link.

There’s also the option of purchasing the physical copies from Yesasia which might be easier but it’s also more expensive since they’re the middle man: Yesasia MDZS Link

It would be wonderful if you can support MXTX-laoshi by actually buying the books, especially since the cover art is so beautiful and the extra chapter volumes come with a lot of awesome extra goodies, but of course there’s also the option of reading the fan translations graciously provided by the Exiled Rebels Scanlations team at their site:  

They translated all the novels including the bonus chapters in their own free time and are providing the fanslations for free so please give them some love for all their hard work.  

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

Watch the anime based on the novel: The donghua was released before The Untamed. Two seasons are already available (23 eps total) with a third season in production and a special chibi version of the donghua in production as well. The Eng-subbed donghua can be seen using the WeTV app or on Youtube:  YT MDZS Donghua Playlist

Grant it, the donghua is even more censored than The Untamed, but the donghua team still managed to sneak in some easter eggs (f.e. WangXian naked bathing scene in the cold springs from the novel...in The Untamed they were fully clothed) and more importantly, the animation is just gorgeous so it’s absolutely worth a watch despite the censorship. 

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

Read the manhua which is ongoing and is being officially translated by WeComics, available on their app for free. Search under the name “Mo Dao Zu Shi”.

Unfortunately, the official translations are more than 20 chaps behind the raws and there have been complaints about the quality of the translations in the past, but I believe they’re starting to improve so since they’re official, it’s always better to support the official source.

The raw untranslated manhua can be found on the Kuaikanmanhua app. Other than being in Chinese, some of the chapters (f.e. the most recent ones) are behind a paywall, but here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the chapters, provided by @chiharuzushi on Twitter:  Kuaikanmanhua Tutorial

The chapters are quite cheap...I purchase 1000 KK coins for 10 rmb ($0.14) and each chapter is only 68 KK coins so even if we end up with 500 chapters it’ll still be...er...quite cheap overall (don’t make me do the actual math). The most painful part is figuring out how to set up the Kuaikanmanhua account, but otherwise, if you can read Chinese or know enough of the story by now that you don’t really need to read the words, the manhua is definitely worth reading because it’s less censored than The Untamed and the donghua. 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

Listen to the audio drama, which is at this point the most faithful and LEAST censored adaptation of the novel we will probably ever get! Wei Ying’s voice actor in The Untamed is the voice actor for his audio drama counterpart. (Yes, almost everyone in The Untamed is dubbed by a voice actor, EXCEPT for Nie Huaisang. Ji Li, the actor for NHS, was the only one who used his own voice. Lan Zhan in The Untamed shares the same voice actor as his character in the donghua). 

Each episode art of the audio drama is AMAZING. Google Translate works well on the site, you’d want to see the listeners’ comments cuz they’re just adorable and hilarious.

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

The audio drama was supervised by MXTX-laoshi, the author of the novel, so a lot of love and care went into the production, and it shows. The audio drama is behind a paywall but I remember it’s relatively inexpensive. Here’s the tutorial on how to purchase the audio drama from the Maoer FM site:  Maoer FM Tutorial Link

Ngl, it was tough at first navigating all that, Google translate helped, but once I figured it out, it was all so worth it because in addition to the MDZS, the site houses a lot of other wonderful audio dramas. There are also MDZS fan songs on the site that are near professional quality and oh so good.

Suibian Subs have kindly translated the episodes and their translations are available here:  Suibian Subs MDZS Audio Drama

Show them some love too for translating the episodes, but please if you can, purchase the episodes so you can support the audio drama team which have done an amazing job.

There’s even a Japanese audio drama which the Chinese AD team helped spearhead, available on the MIMI FM app. Here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the eps (half of the first season is out): MIMI FM Tutorial

It’s in Japanese but just follow the pictures. I’m hoping that the Japanese audio drama will end up being the MOST uncensored version of MDZS since Japanese BL dramas are not afraid (and allowed) to go all the way to R18. XD

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

Lastly, if you’re just thirsting for more Untamed content, there are two spin-off movies you can watch. The first one, The Living Dead, is kind of centered on Wen Ning and Sizhui post-CQL. 

The second one, Fatal Journey, is focused on the Nie brothers, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, with a cameo by Jin Guangyao. It takes place prior to Wei Ying’s return from the dead.

Of the two movies, I definitely recommend Fatal Journey more. Both movies are available on the iQiyi app, which offers a one month free trial for first members. Each month afterwards for VIP is $6.99.

You can also go on the WeTV app for even more Untamed extras: WeTV put out a special edition cut of the show which tightened up the story AND features the original ending that was intended before censorship forced the production team to come up with the more ambiguous one we saw in its original run. It was a simple matter of rearranging certain scenes and getting rid of the separation part, but imho it really made all the difference to the ending.

There’s a ton of behind-the-scene cuteness that you can watch and also concerts with the cast in Thailand and Nanjing. VIP subscription to the WeTV app is $5.99/month and the Nanjing concert is for rent for 3 months at about the same price.  

The show also put out two official soundtracks, one for the vocals and one for the score. Both are available on Amazon and iTunes. For Amazon though, you can search under “The Untamed” but they did this weird thing where the vocals one is listed as “The Untamed (Chinoiserie Music Album)” (wtf) while the score is just listed as “The Untamed (Original Soundtrack)”.

Finally, most of the male members of the cast took part in a fan meet and greet at the start of the show, before it became hugely popular. The entire meet and greet is available on youtube subbed: The Untamed Fan Meeting

That’s it for The Untamed and MDZS. If you end up liking the novel enough to want to read more by the same author, MXTX-laoshi has also written two other BL novels, The Scum Villain Self-Saving System (aka “SVSSS” or “Scum Villain”) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (aka “TGCF” after its Chinese title). Both have been fully translated by fans (but always try to buy the original if you have the means, as a way to support the author!): 

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

As with reading any BL novel (aka “danmei novel” for Chinese BL books), please heed the warnings and if it’s not your cup of tea, just exit out of the page and move on with your life. No big deal, right? 

Anyway, hope all this info dump helps someone! If you’re brand spanking new to this fandom, welcome, and I’m so jealous of you! Would love to relive stepping into the world of MDZS/MXTX/danmei novels all over again since I feel like I’m already running out of stuff to read and I’m beginning to panic a little. 

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[conking]

So hey con, what's this new anime/manga thing I see on your blog that you've been nonstop posting about? Looks actually pretty nice and the kinda thing I'd be into but I want to look a little more into it and find things out, like it's name for example, before I go diving into the cesspool of the internet for it

this is gonna get long so, tldr: ancient chinese gays! comedy! action! mystery! good meta! immortality! gods!

non-tldr: welcome to hell. specifically, mxtx hell, where a bunch of people yell really loudly about three different novels written by the same author (Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, aka, mxtx). it’s not actually all the same thing, she just has some very specific aesthetics for her main couples dsfkjgsdfghs here’s a good way to differentiate them.

anyway i’ll give you a summary of the novels and if you find one interesting, please do enjoy your gateway drug because i’ve Never seen someone only read one of these once they start.

first up, Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Founder of Diabolism (it’s got a lot of names, i’m sticking with mdzs)

question: what is MDZS about?

a goth and a prep mutually pining for each other while fighting zombies and solving murders, accidentally adopting a riot of awkward teenagers along the way. 

an uncomfortable look into the ethics of humanity, struggles with internalised homophobia and self-hatred, our stances both as a whole and individually on the complex issues around vilification, what counts as ‘the greater good’, the difficulty of forgiveness, and how ‘doing what’s right’ doesn’t always mean the same thing for different people.

magic and flying swords and family

answer: all of the above and hot damn is it fun. this is probably the one you meant when you said anime, cuz guess what? it has one and it’s GORGEOUS.

10/10. be warned, you WILL cry, you WILL want to fight the author, and you WILL love it. it’s incredibly angsty at parts and incredibly funny always and the romance kills me dead every time i think about it. slow toasty burn, with a super good plot that gets deeper and deeper as it goes. if you re-read the novel after you finish it you’ll find so many things you thought were insignificant on the first pass suddenly kicking you in the chest.

warnings for [SPOILERS]: dubious consent kissing, drunken touching, consensual rape kink. also starvation, slavery, genocide, gore, and body horror. mentions of incest and it’s consequences.

read it HERE, watch it HERE, listen to the audio drama HERE, watch the live action HERE

my favourite of the three is Tian Guan Ci Fu, or Heavenly Official’s Blessing.

tgcf is about a sexy demon pirate tagging along with a trash collecting disney princess who is very bad at staying in heaven (where he belongs). they go around systematically digging up every single piece of dirt on everybody ever - including, unfortunately, themselves. //sips tea/ delicious. 

it’s basically an action/detective novel, heavy on the comedy and angst. read this for introspection, self acceptance, growth, forgiveness, endless torture, incredible pain, suffering like you’ve never known, the effects of war and genocide, results of abuse, beautiful imagery, Gundam, endless devotion, unconditional support, and the knowledge that hualian exists and invented romance. to put it another way:

if you like plot filled slow burn with healthy dynamics and a lot of trust, this is the series for you. 10000/10 i will take this novel to my grave PLEASE read tgcf. did i mention it’s also getting a donghua sometime soon?

warnings for [SPOILERS]: gore, cannibalism (kinda), plus child abuse and lots of body horror. gaslighting and manipulation feature pretty heavily in places (especially books 4 and 5). severe depression, anxiety, suicide, and self-depreciation are all dealt with as well.

read the first 21 chapters HERE, and you can find the rest on @ yummysuika ‘s pinned tweet, including the extras! the manhua is starting in a few days, and the donghua will be out next year!! wOOO

finally, we have the first book mxtx published, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (i’m not touching the cn phonetics for that, we’re going sv for short).

to quote a tweet i saw one time, sv is about a shitty millennial litcrit who gets sucked into the novel he hates as the main villain, and how he struggles to survive while his overpowered disciple crytypes his way to true love. this is the fun one! [thinks about meta] …….the fun one [thinks about any character other than the mc] f-

it’s got a lot more web novel tropes and is generally an easier read. sv is full of hijinks and shenanigans and the tortured screams of a 21st century man who really just wants to lie around and eat good food, but keeps being dragged into everything against his will. comedic misunderstandings galore up in this bitch, character development and relationship growth gets Much heavier towards the end, and if you’re looking for a fun read to pass the time! this is the one! just don’t think about it. because it’s written from the perspective of an idiot with 2 braincells total, we also get to enjoy the Epitome of unreliable narrator syndrome.

overall 8.5/10, would recommend. it sets up and breaks a Lot of stereotypes, and the satire is *chef’s kiss*. don’t be fooled by the way the mc sees the characters, ya gotta look at it from their pov too. it’s getting a donghua in 2020, and the manhua will be out (again) sometime soon as well! yehaw!

warnings for [SPOILERS]: student-teacher relationship, forced kissing, some kinda dubious-consent touching, and a scene where one character thinks the other is going to rape them (nothing happens). additional warnings for violence, mentions of gore, slavery, bullying, and child abuse. (i haven’t read the last few chapters, but unless something Wild happens, that should cover things.)

read it HERE

one thing all mxtx novels have in common is the awesome side characters. you’ll probably end up loving a couple of them more than the protagonists and that’s just how it be. we’re all crying here. another thing they have in common is good plots. whether you’re interested in characters, plot development, deep conceptualisation, romance - it’s all there. just don’t go in looking for hot gay smex, cause that really ain’t what it’s about.

all of these are easier to get into if you have some knowledge of xianxia/wuxia/xuanhuan tropes, but it’s not a must! the translators provide great footnotes, so just google a phrase or refer back to them if you get stuck. you can read them in whatever order you want, they’re not connected at all, but if you’re new to the whole thing i’d recommend starting with the mdzs donghua or sv. as much as i love it, tgcf isn’t the best choice to start with.