(no subject)
Dec. 31st, 2021 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsMy e-reader died on me three days into my time in Vermont, after I had carefully and lovingly loaded it up with good vacation reads; in response I sulkily refused to pick up a physical book for most of the rest of my time there and instead spent the next few days reading through Devil Venerable Also Wants To Know on my phone.
The titular Devil Venerable Wenren È, the feared leader of a demonic cultivator sect, who, at the beginning of the novel, receives from a mysterious source a copy of Abusive Romance: You Are The Unchanging One In My Heart. This tome chronicles the adventures of a virtuous young lady cultivator who undergoes various trials as a result of her love for her beloved but apparently deeply unreliable sect brother:
An overview of the specifics would be false accusations, misunderstandings, Baili Qingmiao being imprisoned, being abused, being poisoned, being hunted down, Hè Wenzhao marrying someone else, several important supporting male characters being wholeheartedly devoted to Baili Qingmiao, protecting and cherishing her, but Baili Qingmiao only loving Hè Wenzhao, ignoring everyone else’s goodwill, insistent on finding Hè Wenzhao and marrying him, then after being hurt by her enemies or fellow disciples, another male character would save her, and after recovering she would run off to be abused again.
In the novel, Wenren È shows up as one of the secondary leads, who falls in love with Baili Qingmiao, sacrifices his life for her, and uses his final words to command his second-in-command Yin Hanjiang to protect her, after which Yin Hanjiang promptly undergoes qi deviation and becomes the story's major antagonist.
Wenren È, the reader, finds all of this both concerning and confusing: he does not understand anyone's behavior in this book, certainly not his own or Yin Hanjiang's and definitely not Baili Qingmiao's? The book seems to present her as intelligent and talented, so why would she not simply dump Hè Wenzhao's ass? Therefore, he embarks upon a quest to a.) rework the story so that neither he nor Yin Hanjiang need to meet tragic ends but b.) and perhaps more importantly, attempt to understand the perplexing behavior chronicled within. Surely if he just investigates and asks some straightforward questions of the key players involved, some logical explanations will be revealed!
The most endearing part of this book, to me, is the resultant series of weird mentorships that results as Wenren È commits to Project Get Baili Qingmiao To Forget About Romance And Realize Her Full Potential On The Path Of Indifference Already. Other major characters who get roped into this project and become reluctantly invested in Baili Qingmiao's journey:
- Shu Yanyan, a succubus and also the smartest person on Wenren È's team, who puts in a lot of hard work seducing Hè Wenzhao despite finding him very boring and for what! well, for schemes, mostly
- Qui Congxue, an evil but charmingly straightforward demonic cultivator who gets accidentally saved and de-skeletonized by Baili Qingmaio and is absolutely furious to learn that all her hard work following the hungry ghost path has been undone now that her flesh has grown back over her lovingly cultivated skeleton corpse
- Zhongli Qian, the third lead of Abusive Romance and the smartest person in the entire story, a noble scholar whom Wenren È optimistically kidnaps in hopes of throwing him at Baili Qingmiao in order to distract her from Hè Wenzhao; IMO this is the funniest subplot in the book, I'm longing to describe Wenren È's Attempts to Create Romance From First Principles so if anyone would like more details I will gladly put them in rot13 in a comment
Obviously of course Wenren È also along the way discovers that Yin Hanjiang is in love with him and they eventually have a touching romance. The romance is fine. I'm much more interested and invested in Wenren È than I am in Yan Hanjiang; also, I personally prefer the early parts of the romance, where Wenren È's Investigations into Human Nature cause him to have revelations like 'oh possibly I should encourage my second-in-command to have 'hobbies' that aren't 'standing grimly outside my tent at all times'?', to the later journeys through the Most Tormented And Obsessive Parts of Yan Hanjiang's Soul, but this is of course a personal preference and I'm sure many people will enjoy that the most.
I also do find very interesting the version of cultivator cosmology presented in this book, where both the 'righteous' and demonic sects are engaged in stealing power from the heavens, and every so often they have to engage in a big battle of opposing forces just to whittle down each other's numbers so ordinary people get a chance to thrive. Baili Qingmiao herself is the reincarnation of the goddess of destruction, who creates plagues/earthquakes/fire/etc so new growth can begin, and the book very much operates on a theme of balance and necessary disaster; I love where Baili Qingmiao's journey ends up in context of this and found the ending really satisfying.
The titular Devil Venerable Wenren È, the feared leader of a demonic cultivator sect, who, at the beginning of the novel, receives from a mysterious source a copy of Abusive Romance: You Are The Unchanging One In My Heart. This tome chronicles the adventures of a virtuous young lady cultivator who undergoes various trials as a result of her love for her beloved but apparently deeply unreliable sect brother:
An overview of the specifics would be false accusations, misunderstandings, Baili Qingmiao being imprisoned, being abused, being poisoned, being hunted down, Hè Wenzhao marrying someone else, several important supporting male characters being wholeheartedly devoted to Baili Qingmiao, protecting and cherishing her, but Baili Qingmiao only loving Hè Wenzhao, ignoring everyone else’s goodwill, insistent on finding Hè Wenzhao and marrying him, then after being hurt by her enemies or fellow disciples, another male character would save her, and after recovering she would run off to be abused again.
In the novel, Wenren È shows up as one of the secondary leads, who falls in love with Baili Qingmiao, sacrifices his life for her, and uses his final words to command his second-in-command Yin Hanjiang to protect her, after which Yin Hanjiang promptly undergoes qi deviation and becomes the story's major antagonist.
Wenren È, the reader, finds all of this both concerning and confusing: he does not understand anyone's behavior in this book, certainly not his own or Yin Hanjiang's and definitely not Baili Qingmiao's? The book seems to present her as intelligent and talented, so why would she not simply dump Hè Wenzhao's ass? Therefore, he embarks upon a quest to a.) rework the story so that neither he nor Yin Hanjiang need to meet tragic ends but b.) and perhaps more importantly, attempt to understand the perplexing behavior chronicled within. Surely if he just investigates and asks some straightforward questions of the key players involved, some logical explanations will be revealed!
The most endearing part of this book, to me, is the resultant series of weird mentorships that results as Wenren È commits to Project Get Baili Qingmiao To Forget About Romance And Realize Her Full Potential On The Path Of Indifference Already. Other major characters who get roped into this project and become reluctantly invested in Baili Qingmiao's journey:
- Shu Yanyan, a succubus and also the smartest person on Wenren È's team, who puts in a lot of hard work seducing Hè Wenzhao despite finding him very boring and for what! well, for schemes, mostly
- Qui Congxue, an evil but charmingly straightforward demonic cultivator who gets accidentally saved and de-skeletonized by Baili Qingmaio and is absolutely furious to learn that all her hard work following the hungry ghost path has been undone now that her flesh has grown back over her lovingly cultivated skeleton corpse
- Zhongli Qian, the third lead of Abusive Romance and the smartest person in the entire story, a noble scholar whom Wenren È optimistically kidnaps in hopes of throwing him at Baili Qingmiao in order to distract her from Hè Wenzhao; IMO this is the funniest subplot in the book, I'm longing to describe Wenren È's Attempts to Create Romance From First Principles so if anyone would like more details I will gladly put them in rot13 in a comment
Obviously of course Wenren È also along the way discovers that Yin Hanjiang is in love with him and they eventually have a touching romance. The romance is fine. I'm much more interested and invested in Wenren È than I am in Yan Hanjiang; also, I personally prefer the early parts of the romance, where Wenren È's Investigations into Human Nature cause him to have revelations like 'oh possibly I should encourage my second-in-command to have 'hobbies' that aren't 'standing grimly outside my tent at all times'?', to the later journeys through the Most Tormented And Obsessive Parts of Yan Hanjiang's Soul, but this is of course a personal preference and I'm sure many people will enjoy that the most.
I also do find very interesting the version of cultivator cosmology presented in this book, where both the 'righteous' and demonic sects are engaged in stealing power from the heavens, and every so often they have to engage in a big battle of opposing forces just to whittle down each other's numbers so ordinary people get a chance to thrive. Baili Qingmiao herself is the reincarnation of the goddess of destruction, who creates plagues/earthquakes/fire/etc so new growth can begin, and the book very much operates on a theme of balance and necessary disaster; I love where Baili Qingmiao's journey ends up in context of this and found the ending really satisfying.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 10:59 pm (UTC)Jraera È: "Fuvg, V arrq gb qr-rfpnyngr guvf fvghngvba. Ubj qb V abeznyyl qr-rfpnyngr guvatf? V thrff V xvyy gurz. Juvpu vf n sbez bs qr-rfpnyngvba, jura lbh guvax nobhg vg. Uzz. Bxnl. Guvax, Jraera È, guvax. Lbh pna qb guvf."
Aneengbe ibvpr: "Ur pbhyq abg qb guvf."
no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 11:27 pm (UTC)Wenren È and Shu Yanyan are both perfect to me, I am so glad you are enjoying them also!!!!
no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 11:42 pm (UTC)“Vf gung fb? Tbbq, gung’f tbbq…” Uè Jramunb unq unq rebgvp qernzf nyy avtug naq jnf n ovg qvfgenpgrq
Hè Wenzhao is like a useless puppy that's just learned what its dick is for, and I love that for him.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 11:52 pm (UTC)JER vf yvxr, bu, znlor OYDZ arrqf gb or arne qrngu gb svaq gur cybg cbvag? Bxnl, snve rabhtu, ubcrshyyl guvf jvyy jbex, naq vs abg fur pna nyjnlf phygvingr gb tbqubbq nf n tubfg, fb jva-jva, ernyyl.
He's a very astute problem solver, is what he is, and I am rooting for him to understand what this strange feeling in his chest is when he thinks too much about YHJ.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-01 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-01 12:14 am (UTC)[Spoiler] was so terrified that she knelt down in midair.
Truly, the protagonist we deserve. This is super fun, thank you so much for blogging about it.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-01 03:57 pm (UTC)(I am so so glad you are having a good time, this secondhand re-experience is also a great time for ME.)
no subject
Date: 2022-01-02 05:18 pm (UTC)“He’s a demonic cultivator who’ll kill people without a thought, but he has hangups about weird things,” Qiu Congxue said
DEVASTATING IN ITS ACCURACY
no subject
Date: 2022-01-02 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 11:17 am (UTC)Meanwhile, WRE out there sbetvat n fjbeq sbe LUW bhg bs cneg bs uvf fbhy -- like, I wasn't sure if I was going to ship it, but I do now super ship it
no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-04 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-04 11:29 pm (UTC)I would die for her.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-04 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-04 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-05 12:05 am (UTC)LUW: *fphycg fphycg fphycg*
JER: "Lbh qbar? Yrg zr frr!"
JER: "..."
LUW: "..."
JER: "... lbh qb ernyvfr guvf vf zl snpr, evtug?"
JER: "Arirezvaq, V'ir svkrq vg. Abj, yrg'f cvpx bhe arj anzrf. V'yy or Jramha naq lbh or..."
LUW: "Lvawvnat?"
JER: "Cresrpg! Ab bar jvyy fhfcrpg n guvat!"
no subject
Date: 2022-01-05 04:28 am (UTC)and stealthy can't forget stealthy
no subject
Date: 2022-01-12 07:20 pm (UTC)Fh Uhnv vf fb cerpvbhf naq cresrpg! "Zbfgyl V jnag gb or n tubfg phygvingbe naq qb greevoyr guvatf gb tnva cbjre naq frphevgl, ohg nyfb zl znfgre vf n ureob naq V zhfg fgnl ol ure fvqr be ubarfgyl fur'yy whfg jnyx bss n pyvss NTNVA.
Juvyr V erfcrpgshyyl haqrefgnaq gung lbh'er abg nyy nobhg gung Lva Unawvnat natfg, V zhfg nffhzr lbh rawblrq Jraera È orvat yvxr, uzz, zl zbfg vzcbegnag crefba vf univat qryhfvbaf va cevingr ohg va choyvp ur vf pbzcbfrq, chg gbtrgure naq erfcrpgrq, fb gur bayl ybtvpny guvat sbe zr gb qb vf gb pbagvahr gb cergraq gb or bar bs uvf qryhfvbaf fb nf abg gb rzoneenff uvz, juvyr ZRNAJUVYR sebz rirelbar ryfr'f CBI LUW vf va gur zvqqyr bs na rkgraqrq, greevslvat naq IREL CHOYVP dv qrivngvba.
Mubatyv Dvna naq Onvyv Dvatzvna, ORFG cyngbavp fbhyzngrf, V ybir gurz, gurl ner fb ornhgvshy gb zr.
Also all the interspersed reader comments are perfect.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-12 10:24 pm (UTC)I can see why this was not catnip for you the way it is for me! :D But oh, so delicious for those of us who enjoy this sort of thing.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 05:22 am (UTC)also lolololol yes while YHJ angst is, like, fine but not my catnip, Wenren È's attempts at 'emotional logic' and 'not stressing anyone out' are ALWAYS deeply charming to me ... I love him so much! Truly he is a master of navigating complex emotional situations!
no subject
Date: 2022-01-05 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 11:27 pm (UTC)TOO