Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) by MXTX | Book Review

“Thanks,” he said in a hoarse voice.

He wasn’t scared of falling. He had fallen many times over the years. But hitting the ground still hurt.

[…]

How wonderful it would be if there was someone there to catch him.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX)

LENGTH: 2,000 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Seven Seas

RELEASE DATE: 21 December 2021 – 2 May 2023 (originally serialized online and in Chinese in 2015)

BOOK DESCRIPTION OF VOLUME #1:

This historical fantasy tale of two powerful men who find each other through life and death is now in English, for the very first time.

Wei Wuxian was once one of the most outstanding men of his generation, a talented and clever young cultivator who harnessed martial arts, knowledge, and spirituality into powerful abilities. But when the horrors of war led him to seek a new power through demonic cultivation, the world’s respect for his skills turned to fear, and his eventual death was celebrated throughout the land.

Years later, he awakens in the body of an aggrieved young man who sacrifices his soul so that Wei Wuxian can exact revenge on his behalf. Though granted a second life, Wei Wuxian is not free from his first, nor the mysteries that appear before him now. Yet this time, he’ll face it all with the righteous and esteemed Lan Wangji at his side, another powerful cultivator whose unwavering dedication and shared memories of their past will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them.

My Review

“Who was it?” another boy asked.

Wei Wuxian cleared his throat quietly.

“The Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian,” Lan Sizhui replied.

Wei Wuxian cleared his throat again. “Um, why him again? Can we not talk about something else?”

No one paid attention to him. Lan Jingyi waved him off anxiously.

This book. This monstrous, gigantic book. I love it. It has its flaws, of course, but on the whole, I think it’s an amazing story.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, originally known as Mo Dao Zu Shi, and almost always shortened to MDZS, is a (very long) Chinese historical danmei fantasy novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (otherwise known as MXTX). And it’s a great book.

Also, it’s gay.

It’s also notable that it’s spawned numerous adaptations. There’s an animated series adaptation that I adore, a live action version known as The Untamed that I don’t give a crap about (I have absolutely zero interest in watching it), a graphic novel adaptation and an audio drama. So yeah, a lot of adaptations. I personally discovered this novel through fanfiction, and have thoroughly enjoyed it ever since. (It’s how I knew I’d like the book.)

But yeah, this book is a long one, too. And as a result, I have more to say than I normally would. So, I’m gonna break this up a bit.

The Characters

“Because that’s just how you are,” he continued with a smile. “To put it nicely, you’re chivalrous and free-spirited. To put it bluntly, you offend people wherever you go.”

To me, the characters are the heart of MDZS. Yes, the plot is fantastic. And everyone loves the romance here a ton. But I think the characters are what hold it all together.

🖤🪈 Wei Wuxian is our protagonist here. The book is told in third person perspective, and it’s pretty much just him. He’s a fun main character to follow – Wei Wuxian is smart, funny, kind and utterly without shame, and I enjoyed his personality and perspective. He’s also the character archetype that I affectionately the stupid genius, because he’s also one of the most oblivious characters I’ve ever seen.

🤍🗡️ Lan Wangji is the deuteragonist, and spends the novel supporting Wei Wuxian. He’s reserved and kind, and will do everything he can to make sure Wei Wuxian is happy and healthy. Lan Wangji is also the love interest. (This isn’t a spoiler – it’s very obvious he’s in love with Wei Wuxian from the beginning. Well, to the readers at least – Wei Wuxian is another story.)

I also really enjoyed all of the supporting characters to some degree, though there are far too many to talk about. My favorite dynamic in the novel, however, was between Wei Wuxian and the juniors. I really liked the teaching role he took with them – and not just because it made world building and exposition feel very natural.

The Plot

“One step at a time,” Lan Wangji said.

“How did you recognize me?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Think for yourself,” Lan Wangji replied.

Speaking of the plot, it’s definitely one of my favorite things about MDZS. I loved the gruesome mystery that gradually unfolds with the mysterious disembodied arm that appears the day of Wei Wuxian’s rebirth, as well as following where it went. 🎁📖 The present plot was my favorite of the book, and I feel that it’s the stronger of the two that exist within.

⏰📃 The other plot, because I wasn’t kidding when I said there were two, takes place as an extended flashback, and covers all the stuff leading up to Wei Wuxian’s death, as well as his revival thirteen years later. I felt that this plot was necessary to understand the full scope of the novel, but I definitely enjoyed it less than the current plot. (This isn’t unusual for me, though. Whenever there’s a current plot and a past story told in flashbacks simultaneously, I pretty much always enjoy whatever is going on in the story’s present. The flashback stuff is why I gave Volume 3 four and a half stars, though.)

🗺️✨ The world building was also fantastic. As I mentioned above, it really came across very naturally because of the way it was presented to the reader. Making Wei Wuxian a bit of a teacher was a great decision for the exposition of this novel.

The Romance

“Or, in other words – I fancy you, I love you, I want you, I can’t leave you, I whatever you.”

I really enjoyed the ❤️‍🔥 slow-burn ❤️‍🔥 between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. It was generally well written and has a sweet conclusion. These two have a great dynamic and good chemistry. MDZS also features my favorite love confession that I’ve ever seen, and I think one of the best ones I’ve ever read, objectively.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this relationship were the sex scenes. Now, I don’t like reading smut or about sex to begin with, so I’m a bit biased there. But I didn’t like the smut here at all. Some of it definitely has to do with the fact that sometimes the consent seems a bit dubious to me, but that’s neither here nor there. And the less said about the incense burner dreams extra, the better. (Please, for the love of God, just skip that extra/chapter if you ever read this book. My eyes.) (I think you can guess why I only gave Volumes 4 and 5 four and a half stars. Though with Volume 4 it was also the flashback stuff.)

The Writing

“No one can walk along a single-plank bridge their entire lives and never fall,” Wei Wuxian explained. “It can’t be helped.”

Since this is a translation, it’s nearly impossible for me to comment on the writing and prose. But I can certainly talk about this novel’s translation itself. Which ranges from… not the best to generally okay. (The Exiled Rebels translation found online is said to be better, but I also found it to have its own issues. Different ones, but I think they both have problems. It’s a very good translation for free, though.)

Not gonna lie, the translation for MDZS starts off rough. Like, Volume 1’s translation is straight up noticeably awkward and clunky and not the best. Volume 2’s is a little bit better, but there’s still something to be desired with it. The quality of the translation is specifically the reason why I gave the first two books four and a half stars. Because they had a lot of my favorite arcs, and would’ve otherwise been five stars.

In Volume 3, the translation felt like it had a noticeable improvement, to me. Even from the get-go. And Volumes 4 and 5 were slightly better than 3, which was great. I just wanted to warn anyone interested that the translation starts out rough, even though the story itself is definitely worth it. (Or you can just read the free translation online.)

The Extras

Wei Wuxian easily derailed this argument with some nonsense of his own. “Don’t you go trying to intimidate people with Lianfang- zun’s name. Furthermore, Little Apple is a steed that Hanguang-jun gifted me! Why would you guys bring Little Apple down the mountain to a Night Hunt? And allow it to be injured too?!”

“Liar!” the Lan juniors responded as one. They refused to believe that Hanguang-jun, with his taste and class, would pick such a steed as a gift. Even though Lan Wangji didn’t refute the statement, they vehemently refused to believe it.

MDZS features some short stories at the end of it. I enjoyed most of them, and thought they fleshed out the world and characters a bit more. (Hated the extra sex scenes, though. All of them. Especially the incense burner extra. Never going near that again. Whoo boy.)

My favorite extras were the ones with the night hunts, though I also enjoyed the one with the villains just hanging out. Most of the others were pretty good or at the very least okay, however.

Final Thoughts

“Lan Zhan,” he called. “Look at me. Quick, look at me!”

Wei Wuxian was calling to him with a smile on his lips. Just as he always had, Lan Wangji looked at him.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is a masterpiece. I loved almost everything about it, and had trouble putting it down. I read this entire 500,000+ word monstrosity in five days ’cause I liked it so much. It’s a really engaging story.

Like One Piece, however, I find it a bit difficult to recommend simply because it’s so long. Well, not as difficult, because MDZS is still far shorter and much less time consuming to get into. But it’s still long. So if you can handle long fantasy novels and enjoy LGBT+ relationships in fiction, as well as good character writing and world building, then I can recommend this. Just mind the translation.

Also, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the art here. It’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful, and it’s ultimately the reason I decided to go with the official translation. The book covers are pretty and vibrant and the illustrations within the volumes themselves are also very lovely.

But yeah, as always, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day/night.

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

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The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin | Book Review

“I’ll go,” he said. “And when I wake up, I’ll try to figure out what the devil is planning on doing to Novo-Svitsevo.”

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

LENGTH: 414 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Random House Canada

RELEASE DATE: 7 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Set in a Jewish folklore-inspired reimagining of 19th century Eastern Europe, this queer dark fantasy debut pits two estranged husbands and a daring spymaster on opposite sides of a civil war. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, C.S. Pacat, and Katherine Arden.

Dimitri Alexeyev used to be the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Now, he is merely a broken man, languishing in exile after losing a devastating civil war instigated by his estranged husband, Alexey Balakin. In hiding with what remains of his court, Dimitri and his spymaster, Vasily Sokolov, engineer a dangerous ruse. Vasily will sneak into Alexey’s court under a false identity to gather information, paving the way for the usurper’s downfall, while Dimitri finds a way to kill him for good.

But stopping Alexey is not so easy as plotting to kill an ordinary man. Through a perversion of the Ludayzim religion that he terms the Holy Science, Alexey has died and resurrected himself in an immortal, indestructible body—and now claims he is guided by the voice of God Himself. Able to summon forth creatures from the realm of demons, he seeks to build an army, turning Novo-Svitsevo into the greatest empire that history has ever seen.

Dimitri is determined not to let Alexey corrupt his country, but saving Novo-Svitsevo and its people will mean forfeiting the soul of the husband he can’t bring himself to forsake—or the spymaster he’s come to love.

My Review

How will I know the Name? Dimitri fought to be practical, even if the pain in his body was enough to drive him mad.

Just as your sins are written on your bones, the angel replied, so will you bear the name of God.

So, like, I wanted to like this book. I really, really wanted to. It had such an interesting premise and the cover was absolutely incredible. Plus, I really love the title; The Sins on Their Bones – it just sounds so cool and unsettling at the same time!

But I didn’t. And I’m not saying that it’s a bad book, because I don’t think it necessarily is. I just don’t think it was for me. And that’s because of the almost constant horniness. And smut. Sorry everyone, I’m just not into that stuff! Plus, since it was constant there, it was difficult to skip past it without missing important parts of the story. I couldn’t stand it, it was so annoying. I hate it when books get hypersexual or horny, it’s just something I don’t find very interesting or engaging (it’s also the thing I hate the most about the ACOTAR series).

Another thing I didn’t like was some of the characters. I hated Dimitri at the beginning of the story. I found him and his whining to be annoying to follow. Yes, I understand that he was extremely traumatized. But did he really have to be that whiny? After his big character moment about halfway through, however, he ended up becoming my favorite POV character to follow. And that’s again due to the aforementioned horny stuff.

I don’t understand how Alexey could possibly be as sex driven as he was. Like, he was revived in a demonic ritual, and his body and all its processes were all altered and messed up because of that. His body temperature was cold and his blood was discolored. How the heck is his libido functioning that well?! And he was horny like, all the time. It was basically constant during his chapters. And he was supposed to be this evil mastermind type of guy that can’t be fooled, but the second (SPOILER) shows up he gives him access to everything. Because Alexey is just that horny.

I found Vasily to be pretty annoying too. But like, in a different way to Dimitri annoying and Alexey annoying. Well, not quite different to Alexey annoying. I hate pining when it’s constant. And Vasily was constantly – and I mean constantly – pining for Dimitri. It was so much that it felt like it eclipsed everything else about his character, because I’m having trouble remembering other aspects of his personality. I guess he was clever? I don’t know.

I liked Dimitri’s close-knit group of friends, though. I liked their dialogue and the way that they all interacted with Dimitri and each other. It was pretty natural sounding, and I found the interactions to be sweet. Their personalities were all pretty defined, which was nice to see after forcing my way through some of the POVs.

The only other thing that I really liked was the mythology and world building. I haven’t really read books with Jewish inspired aspects like this, so it was very interesting and refreshing to read. I found it to be pretty unique. But yeah, that’s all that I really liked about the novel.

The Sins on Their Bones is an interesting book with great world building and some great characters. But everything else about it bothered me in some way (it’s the horniness and sex – it’s always the horniness and sex). I think that other people who like unique fantasy based settings and smut will enjoy it, though, so I recommend it for you guys.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who decided to read this. I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Conversations I Liked a Little

“Who gave you the right to tell me what to do?” Dimitri asked sulkily, trying to bat Mischa’s arm away.

“The Lord our God, and also you, you ass,” Mischa said.

“I’m scared,” he finally admitted, his voice gravelly and hoarse. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to lose another person I should be keeping safe. I don’t want to lose any of you.”

“That’s the curse of ruling, my darling.” Annika ran her thumbs across his cheeks, wiping away his tears the way his own mother never had. “That’s the weight of the crown you wear. Loving the tools that you use to protect your empire. And some of those tools might break.”

“Ah.” Vasily chewed his lip. “You can’t pay in money. You have to pay in pieces of yourself.”

“Stop the carriage right fucking now.” Mischa made for the carriage door, but Vasily blocked them with an arm. “There’s no way I’m letting any of us cut off pieces of ourselves to read a book.”

“The boy’s the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo,” the head said suddenly.

“Yes, yes, you said something about that,” Aleksandr grumbled. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he can’t bleed on any of the books.”

“I know,” Vasily said, gripping Dimitri’s knee harder. “I know. But there’s nothing we can do for the dead. All we can do is try to save the living.” Dimitri shook his head.

“I agree,” he whispered, except he didn’t sound like he did.

MY LINKS:

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Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco | Book Review

One didn’t steal from the devil and go unpunished.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

SERIES: Kingdom of the Wicked (Book #1)

LENGTH: 372 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 27 October 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series…

Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost–even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked–princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

My Review

“There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life.”

Hey all. Sorry for the somewhat late review and post. I had intended to have this out by last Friday before we went out of town, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. I also struggled to find a moment to work on it this weekend (while out of town), so I just decided to post it this week. Sorry about that.

Anyway! I didn’t really care for Kingdom of the Wicked. Not that I expected to really like it a ton, but I did expect the writing to be better. Just because it’s YA doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to have standards! Like, how was this published in the form it was? I definitely needed a couple more rounds of edits.

This book also made me hungry, which wasn’t super appreciated either. I did however, really enjoy the talk of cooking and ingredients and restaurant stuff. I also love to cook and bake, so it helped me immerse myself in this world bit. It’s also the reason this book is rated so high – otherwise I might’ve rated it two stars or probably less. But that was where the immersion ended.

This wasn’t the book for me. I hated Emilia not just as a protagonist, but as a character in general. I was prepared to like her – or at least, I didn’t mind the character that she was at the beginning. She was kind and quiet, and she loved to read. Emilia was also a bit of a dreamer. She’s also pretty cautious, which I don’t see very often in the MCs of the novels I read, which felt like a breath of fresh air. (I didn’t last. Trust me.) Though not on the level as her sister, Vittoria, whom I honestly ended up preferring by the end. Even though she was dead.

But these established aspects of Emilia’s personality and character are completely obliterated almost entirely when Vittoria is murdered. Then she immediately turns into an angry, bitter person, entirely obsessed with revenge. Like it becomes her whole personality. Which is stupid. She also forgets that she has an entire family whom she (allegedly) loves unconditionally, and who loves and cares for her unconditionally. Which is also stupid. Like, the book even tells us – in Emilia’s voice no less! – that even though she and Vittoria used to be close when they were eight years old and younger, they’ve since grown apart, and aren’t really close, anymore. So Emilia’s very sudden and very extreme reaction didn’t make sense to me. Oh, and that cautiousness, that refusal to take risks until she had more information about stuff? Utterly gone. Maniscalco could’ve done so much with this and other aspects of her character without making the established person the protagonist started out as becoming completely unrecognizable. Such bad writing.

I also hated Wrath, both as a love interest and as a portrayal of one of the seven deadly sins. He doesn’t even act all that wrathful! Heck, whenever he’s with Emilia, he acts more lustful than anything else. You’re supposed to make me believe that this guy is supposed to be a hundreds, probably thousands, of years old nonhuman who’s that horny?!? And that he has some completely different agenda and goals of his own? I don’t see it. Whatever character you were trying to push isn’t what ended up on the page. Also, his and Emilia’s banter was annoying and their dialogue wasn’t that natural (and I’ll talk about the dialogue in general soon, don’t worry), and they had no chemistry. At. All. I hate them both.

The last big, and probably most important thing – in terms of a good book, that is – that I didn’t like about Kingdom of the Wicked, was the dialogue. And the way that the narrative in general was written. The dialogue sounded a bit too modern, which is something I don’t always hate, but in this case it was too much and it took me out of the story. Emilia’s POV in general – AKA: the narrative – also had this problem. (It was kind of the opposite problem I had with Children of Ragnarok, which I DNF-ed.) Not to mention they had plumbing. What year is this, author? You left it entirely ambiguous.

So yeah, I didn’t end up liking this book. Sorry for the review being a bit rant-y, but so much of this book bothered me, I just couldn’t help it. I’ll probably never read another of Maniscalco’s works again, and I’m definitely not interested in continuing with this series. That’s how much I didn’t like it.

As always, thanks to everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Quotes I Sorta Liked

Outside, wind rattled the wooden chimes in warning. In the distance, waves crashed against the shore; the frantic whispers of water growing louder as if the sea was a mage summoning vio- lence. On this date for nearly a decade now-the storm followed the same pattern. Next, thunder would roll in quicker than the tide with lightning cracking electric whips across an unforgiving sky. The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.

It wasn’t the first time he’d be cursed by witches, nor would it be the last.

Man had a funny way of blaming the devil for things he didn’t like. It was strange that we were called evil when humans were the ones who enjoyed watching us burn.

Subtlety was an artform lost on the demon, apparently. Though I supposed when he was the biggest, baddest predator around, he had little to fear.

I looked down at my new, finely made dress and frowned at the dark layers. “Why do villains always wear black?”

“Better to hide the blood with, witch.”

“You’re no one’s but your own, girl. Don’t ever forget it.”

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Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Sins on Their Bones

May is looking just about as stacked as April was, when it comes to new releases. Heck, this whole quarter is stacked. So many books that look interesting!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.

This week’s book is:

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin! 💀🪻

I actually wasn’t aware of this book (and a couple of others coming out this month) until a few days ago. But the plot intrigues me, and just look at that cover!

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

LENGTH: 414 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Random House Canada

RELEASE DATE: 7 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Are you looking forward to The Sins on Their Bones? What other books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to?

Thank you so much for reading and have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

“The Savior’s Champion” by Jenna Moreci: Book Review

It’s been over a week since my last retrospective book review, so I deemed it time for another one. Today, I’m rereviewing The Savior’s Champion by Jenna Moreci.

(If you’re new, or you haven’t read any of my retrospective book reviews before, allow me a very quick explanation before moving into the actual review. You can probably surmise what it is on your own, but I’ll just say that I skim over a book I’ve read in the last few years prior to having a blog, and re-judge it to see if it was as great as I remember.)

The Savior’s Champion by Jenna Moreci

Series: The Savior’s Series (Book #1)

Length: 671 pages

Genres: Dark Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

Release Date: April 24, 2018

Book Description:

Tobias Kaya doesn’t care about The Savior. He doesn’t care that She’s the Ruler of the realm or that She purified the land, and he certainly doesn’t care that She’s of age to be married. But when competing for Her hand proves to be his last chance to save his family, he’s forced to make The Savior his priority.

Now Tobias is thrown into the Sovereign’s Tournament with nineteen other men, and each of them is fighting—and killing—for the chance to rule at The Savior’s side. Instantly his world is plagued with violence, treachery, and manipulation, revealing the hidden ugliness of his proud realm. And when his circumstances seem especially dire, he stumbles into an unexpected romance, one that opens him up to unimaginable dangers and darkness.

Trigger warning: this novel contains graphic violence, adult language, and sexual situations.

My Review

Then: ★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 stars

Now: ★★✯☆☆ • 2.5 / 5 stars

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that there’s something a little different with this book review.

If you haven’t, it’s totally the lack of quotes from the novel. I’m telling you now, that there aren’t gonna be any quotes here, if you were looking for them. This is for a very simple reason: I didn’t find anything of this book to be particularly memorable. Like, line wise anyway – I remembered scenes from The Savior’s Champion well enough.

You might also be wondering: why, upon my reflection, there was a drop in stars. That is also something that I will answer here. But not quite yet. First, let’s go over the usual.

(Before doing so, I will acknowledge that my reading tastes may not be in this specific subgenre, so even though I found a lot I didn’t like about for me personally, someone else might really love it. I don’t know who to recommend it to, though.)

The Plot and Its Pacing

Let’s start with the storyline itself. The plot was pretty generic: protag has to save his family in some way, enters deadly tournament in order to get paid, falls in love with a girl. You know, the usual.

There’s nothing inherently wrong right that. Actually, the base plot is actually okay. The problem is, this book is far too long for what its pages contain, and thus is very slow-paced. Almost excruciatingly at times, even. It’s also super overwritten to fluff up the page count – it did not need to be over 600 pages long. (I think it would have been fine being around 400, but nevermind my opinion.)

But yeah, the plot itself is… fine. Most of the problems associated with it have to do with TSC’s pacing, and… other stuff.

The Characters (aka: The “Other Stuff”)

I’m going to be frank here: most of the characters in this novel kind of sucked. Like, they weren’t written very well. Many of them were under-characterized and has little to know motivation, and others didn’t have much of a personality and had motivations that shifted and didn’t make sense.

The main character, Tobias, is very dull. Nothing about him is interesting. Not to mention, he completely transforms into a complete different character around like halfway/two-thirds of the way through the novel. Like, wth?

And his family were complete non-characters. They merely existed as a motivation for Tobias for the first three chapters, and then ceased to exist in his mind for pretty much the rear of the book. And even when they do appear, as brief as it is, they are always “Number Two” in our protagonist’s mind, which they should not be, if he loves them as much as he claims.

“Number One” in Tobias’ mind – after he first encounters her at least – is Leila. Leila is our dueteragonist in this novel, and she’s just about as bland as our hero. She also has a “secret,” but it is something so completely and utterly obvious to the reader that I hesitate to name it as such. (And even then Tobias doesn’t figure it out until the very end of the book and he still has to be told it.)

All of the other characters – much like Tobias’ family – did not matter. Not really, at least. And there were far too many of them and they didn’t feel very distinct from one another. And the villain was just… so evil that it was nearly ridiculous.

The Prose

The prose wasn’t super good. There was either too much or too little description, and the dialogue never felt very natural. And the text is oversaturated with one word (~~cock~~), to the point that I actually wanted to fling the book across the room both times that I went through it!

Also, the chemistry between all of the different characters just really wasn’t there. And the romance between Tobias and Leila could have – and should have – been much stronger. I dunno, this book might have needed another edit or something – I’m no expert.

Why My Rating Changed So Drastically

Sooo… I discovered this book through the author’s YouTube channel. That’s right, Jenna Moreci is an authortuber, and she makes videos with writing advice. At the time I first read this book, its sequel The Savior’s Sister was releasing.

And, I’m just gonna be real. I liked Jenna and her videos, so I wanted to check out her books. And even though The Savior’s Champion was difficult for me to get through – it took me almost a month to finish it, which is extremely unusual for me – I was really self-conscious about my review. So I didn’t think too much about the book itself when I finished it, and just gave it 4 stars.

But looking back on it after attempting to read the sequel, as well as having since pretty much discontinued with watching Jenna’s videos, I can no longer ignore how I truly felt. So, I went through the book again (skimming at high speed) just to make sure my feelings were true, and then have it my true rating, without any of my bias blocking my vision.

So yeah, that’s why it went down to 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Final Thoughts

I didn’t really care for The Savior’s Champion too much, but someone else might like it, so as always, I encourage anyone still interested to give it a shot. Everyone has different taste buds when it comes to books, so everyone prefers something different on their pages.

Thank you to those of you who read this ~~rant~~ review, and have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

LINKS: Goodreads | Instagram

“Deeplight” by Frances Hardinge: Book Review

They say many things of the Myriad, and all of them are true.

Subnautica Meets Frankenstein Meets Lovecraft | Deeplight by Frances Hardinge [A Book Review]

Star Rating: ★★★✭☆ • 3.75 / 5 stars

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein in Frances Hardinge’s latest fantasy adventure

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster–and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

The Plot Summary (is… Meh)

This book was insanely unsettling at times. To me at least. Like, it’s just labelled as a fantasy, YA book, but the horror genre felt strong with this one.

Deeplight is a stand-alone novel by Frances Hardinge published on April 14, 2020 by Amulet Books. (Well, technically it has a short story set in the same universe, but that’s it.) It centers on Hark, a young fifteen year old orphan boy, who discovers a mysterious porous stone from under the sea, that appears to have a heartbeat.

He then shoves it into the cold, dead hands of the abuser that his childhood best friend, because he’s a normal functioning teenager, and they do be like that.

Then said best friend slowly begins to evolve into a vaguely Cthulhu-looking, deep-sea monstrosity with an even worse personality. And things just get worse from there.

And that’s pretty much what the book description decides to sum up. What it doesn’t tell is, that before the whole resurrection by magical pulsating rock, he’s a thief on the streets who is forced to become a servant after being caught. (The alternative is death, so you can imagine he’s actually really into the first choice.)

This is how he gets involved with the scientists. Or scientist as it were. Dr. Vyne is the one who decides to pick him up as her servant at the prisoner auction (yes, really), and she’s pretty much the only scientists in this book. She and Hark have a fun dynamic, because she knows his BS and likes it, and he’s interested in some of her science-y stuff. Yeah, the summary is a bit vague and slightly inaccurate in my opinion. (Unraveller had the same problem now that I think about it.)

The Characters (are Great)

I actually really liked the main characters in the book. It’s too bad the summary basically only treated Hark and Jelt as the MCs, cuz that’s wrong.

Hark is the main character, it got that much right. He’s insecure, sassy, and has a very kind heart. He’s also the victim of emotional abuse, as implied above. A major part of his character arc is learning that being himself and not what someone else wants you to be is okay, and to learn to function without Jelt. He’s also the source of much of the humor in the book, which is nice after the darker, weirder parts. He’s a pretty great character.

Somehow Hark couldn’t slip or shoot off sideways and still pretend he was doing what Jelt wanted, the way he could with anyone else. I don’t want to anyway, he told himself firmly. Jelt is family. He knew better than to trust anything he told himself, though.

Jelt sucks. Also, he’s not much of a main character with how much he appears in the book. Still a major character, but on the spectrum closer to the “supporting characters” section. Anyway, he sucks and is a very not good person, who fully deserves everything that happens to him. His relationship with Hark is very sad, but as someone who has experience from Hark’s end, I feel it’s an accurate representation of an emotionally abusive one.

The REAL other main characters are Quest, an old priest who used to commune with the gods and is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge, and Selphin, the deaf daughter of a gang leader who’s probably the smartest person around. (The rep is great in here by the way.)

“You are still young,” Quest said phlegmatically. “You will find out who you are when your choices will test you. In the end, we are what we do and what we allow to be done.”

I absolutely loved Hark’s relationship with Quest. It really feels like a grandpa telling his grandson stories, and is probably the most wholesome thing in the novel. Hark and Selphin are also interesting in that they’re both very stubborn and butt heads quite often, but their hearts are usually in the right place.

The Setting (is Seriously Unique)

Hardinge really outdoes herself with the setting. I’m not surprised at all, after reading Unraveller, but you can really see that the way she does world building started here.

Like Unraveller, the setting here is truly unique, but instead of a weird, ambivalent forest, there’s a weird, ambivalent ocean. They both are unsettling, and they both do really weird things to people.

I think that Deeplight’s evil ocean (or “the undersea,” as the characters call it) is more disturbing, personally, but I won’t really get into why, cuz I would hate to spoil that for people.

The Story (is Compelling but Strange)

“Most things can be mended in time. Sometimes they are not quite the same as they were before they were broken, but nothing and nobody stays unchanged, anyway.”

Unlike Hardinge’s other work that I’ve read, I was immediately weirded out by Deeplight. I actually almost considered DNF-ing it, because of how off putting it made me feel, but ultimately decided to continue with it. And I’m glad I did. Even though it didn’t quite get four stars from me, it was still a very good book and I’m glad I read it.

Though the plot is strong, I would still say that it’s a more character driven story. The character evolution is also the most compelling part of the book. Though it didn’t make me emotional, it did make me feel things, so that’s a win to me.

The Deep-Sea Descriptions (are Creepy)

Okay, so the Lovecraftian-Subnautica devilspawn sea gods were disturbing. The unnatural descriptions and prose whenever Hardinge had a character describe them… very unsettling.

The way the undersea was described was also not-quite-right feeling. There was an uncanny-ness to the “godware” (the remains of the gods), and how it was repurposed to boost human technology kind of freaked me out.

Final Thoughts

There is always hope. There are always chances.

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge was an engaging, but unsettling, dark fantasy novel. I recommend it to everyone, except for those who hate/have a phobia of the deep ocean and deep sea creatures. Also, those who don’t like horror would probably not like this either. But otherwise… yeah.

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous day/night! Join me next post for more bookish things!

See ya! ~ Mar