Random Reading
Feb. 23rd, 2022 01:59 pmI finished Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. I have some thoughts about it for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
boxofdelights who had it on the TBR pile. I will put my 'light review" under the cut, for those who want ZERO spoilers. (And maybe you do too? In which case, please skip.)
( Read more... light plot spoils )
I tried and bounced out of about four other books that were on my TBR pile. I would name names, but I try to never read too much into these 'rejections.' I don't know about you, but so much depends on my mood. I will probably check out some of these books again, try them, and they will hit just the right note.
But, last week, nothing was sticking.
I decided that my problem was that what I wanted was something as light as my previous reads (the aforementioned Winter's Orbit and the delightful The Midnight Bargain.) Since I had also made plans to meet up my now C-Drama obsessed anime friend tonight, I decided to see how far I could get through the first volume of the light novels of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. (The novel/properties also being known as Mo Dao Zu Shi and by the fan acronym MDZS. If all of this sounds only vaguely familiar to you, you may perhaps know it by its TV series of a completely different name: Untamed.)
I had been avoiding this particular book for a number of reasons.
First, I am no stranger to light novels, being a long time anime fan, and so I have come to expect a certain level of... mmm, most of the ones I've read previously, to be fair, were fan translated so I was going to say "clumsy writing," but perhaps I just mean "amateur translation"? So, I was surprised to find MDZS to be fairly easy to read. There are still a lot of sudden POV shifts which, as a Western reader, I find hard to track, but I knew to expect those going in, which helped.
Second, I have consumed a lot of this franchise already. I've read the manhua, which I LOVED (my review of it is here: https://mangakast.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/the-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation-by-mo-xiang-tong-xiu-luo-di-cheng-qiu-and-mao-tuan-xiao-jian-jian/) and the "anime" (or donghua [?]) which I also loved.
My friend is obsessed with the live-action, and I discovered that I am just not into 3-D boys. Which is just as well, since there are a zillion and a half episodes of "Untamed."
Third, all the cool kids are into and that instantly makes it less attractive to me, you know?? I am a terrible person.
That all being said, to my great surprise, I've been enjoying it. I'm a couple of chapters from the end of this first volume and will probably read the next four as they come out.
So, I am just finishing that. I have no idea what I should read next... perhaps tomorrow I will post another list of my options. What about you all? Reading anything fun this week?
boxofdelights who had it on the TBR pile. I will put my 'light review" under the cut, for those who want ZERO spoilers. (And maybe you do too? In which case, please skip.)( Read more... light plot spoils )
I tried and bounced out of about four other books that were on my TBR pile. I would name names, but I try to never read too much into these 'rejections.' I don't know about you, but so much depends on my mood. I will probably check out some of these books again, try them, and they will hit just the right note.
But, last week, nothing was sticking.
I decided that my problem was that what I wanted was something as light as my previous reads (the aforementioned Winter's Orbit and the delightful The Midnight Bargain.) Since I had also made plans to meet up my now C-Drama obsessed anime friend tonight, I decided to see how far I could get through the first volume of the light novels of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. (The novel/properties also being known as Mo Dao Zu Shi and by the fan acronym MDZS. If all of this sounds only vaguely familiar to you, you may perhaps know it by its TV series of a completely different name: Untamed.)
I had been avoiding this particular book for a number of reasons.
First, I am no stranger to light novels, being a long time anime fan, and so I have come to expect a certain level of... mmm, most of the ones I've read previously, to be fair, were fan translated so I was going to say "clumsy writing," but perhaps I just mean "amateur translation"? So, I was surprised to find MDZS to be fairly easy to read. There are still a lot of sudden POV shifts which, as a Western reader, I find hard to track, but I knew to expect those going in, which helped.
Second, I have consumed a lot of this franchise already. I've read the manhua, which I LOVED (my review of it is here: https://mangakast.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/the-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation-by-mo-xiang-tong-xiu-luo-di-cheng-qiu-and-mao-tuan-xiao-jian-jian/) and the "anime" (or donghua [?]) which I also loved.
My friend is obsessed with the live-action, and I discovered that I am just not into 3-D boys. Which is just as well, since there are a zillion and a half episodes of "Untamed."
Third, all the cool kids are into and that instantly makes it less attractive to me, you know?? I am a terrible person.
That all being said, to my great surprise, I've been enjoying it. I'm a couple of chapters from the end of this first volume and will probably read the next four as they come out.
So, I am just finishing that. I have no idea what I should read next... perhaps tomorrow I will post another list of my options. What about you all? Reading anything fun this week?