Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*

Comments

[headstone]

I recently read the first 7S volume of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (is that the official title?). As a whole, I don't think the story is going to be one of my favourites, but it goes down smooth and I think I'll see it through.

Otherwise, I'm near the end of vol. 2 of The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, which I haven't enjoyed as much as the first volume:

Light spoilers

The noncon kiss scene was pretty danmei-typical and wouldn't have felt so jarring to me if the tone of the story weren't otherwise quite lighthearted and comedic. I did appreciate that they communicated about it before too long and we didn't have to suffer hundreds of pages of Li Yu's oblivious denial of feelings. I do also note that "Prince Jing is actually still kind of a fucked up guy whenever Li Yu isn't around" seems to be coming closer into the fore, so I'll withold judgement... For now.

I'm still planning to continue with it, however, and I find it compulsively readable—I genuinely cannot put it down once I start.

I'm midway through the first volume of Thousand Autumns and unsure if I want to continue. It hasn't really grabbed me and Yanshen don't seem like the kind of couple I'm drawn to, but I know a lot of people who like the novel so I'm open to being talked around.

Vol. 4 of Remnants of Filth is out and I've been saving it for a rainy day. That novel really started to click for me in volume 3, and I'm looking forward to further developments, so it's on my ereader in anticipation of a day when I can clear my schedule to read a lot of very heightened drama.

Aside from official releases, I'm also a few chapters behind on Dragon Subjugation Incantation, but I'm subscribed to the translation so those chapters are waiting in my inbox as reading material for my next bout of insomnia, which is how I read most of the rest of the story thus far, lol.

[anne]

I just finished Thousand Autumns! My Mastodon review, in its entirety, was "Yan Wushi. What a jerk (affectionate)" If that's not your thing I don't think you should worry about dropping it.

[headstone]

Gotcha! Did you enjoy the plot beyond that?

[anne]

I did! It was jianghu politicking and a lot of fight scenes, which I adore. The main plot is obviously Yanshen Get Together, though, so ymmv.

[geraineon]

Thousand Autumns is probably better read as a wuxia novel with no expectations for romance. I like the MC and ML as characters but I am not sold on their relationship. That said, I love Thousand Autumns (and I think you need to be invested in Shen Qiao's journey to be invested in this story).

[headstone]

There are secondary characters I enjoy and I find Shen Qiao an interesting character so far, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be a case where the romance is a make or break for one's enjoyment. If I go forth just reading it as a wuxia yarn with a side order of romance I may or may not care about, that's a helpful recalibration of expectations.

[anne]

I've read this and Fourteenth Year of Chenghua, and I think that's just how MXS does romance. I'm really looking forward to Peerless! (Buying it as it comes out, reading it all in one whack.)

[duckprintspress]

this this this

[geraineon]

I think Peerless is marginally more romantic than Thousand Autumns XD

Particularly the bit at the end. Hope you enjoy!

[geraineon]

Yeah, you can read it fine without the romance. I feel like I've re-calibrated a few people's expectations already about Thousand Autumns XDD

Enjoy! (I hope)

[anne]

That's a much better way of putting it than I managed, yes.

[anne]

Tai Sui continues...and continues...and continues...this is not a complaint! I'm having a great time.

[geraineon]

where are you in Tai Sui now?

[anne]

Xi Ping has discovered that Highlight for spoilers!*the princess his mother grew up with is A Villain.* DUN DUN DUNNNNN

[geraineon]

Yes. continue!

I should continue too

[shipperslist]

I'm reading the revised fan translation of priest's Guardian and to my surprise I'm enjoying myself. I only belatedly realized that this was my first c-novel and...let's just say that I would NOT recommend this as the first dive into Chinese webnovels! So many things that baffled me and put me off back when I read (the cliff notes version) this the first time feel more understandable now, and not only because the translation is better but because I actually UNDERSTAND what they mean. Sure, I'm still not that into casual workplace bullying and name-calling but I'm actually adoring the world priest shows here.

[geraineon]

What baffled you the first time around that's unrelated to translation that you find much more understandable now?

I should get back to reading this but I got distracted ahaha

[shipperslist]

Basically all the fantasy elements. I've been marinated in Western fantasy since I was 9 but Chinese fantasy and mythology is very different.

[geraineon]

Ah, makes sense.

[douqi]

By popular demand, I'm reading the baihe novel The Little Alpaca, in which the protagonist transmigrates into a xianxia webnovel... into the body of the villainess' pet alpaca. I'm really enjoying it! It's comedic but also heartfelt, and the author is very good at writing cute alpaca descriptions. There's a bit where the villainess suggests shearing the alpaca (because the weather's turned hot), and the alpaca, violently objecting to the indignity of looking like a clipped poodle, spits in the villainess' face. Then, mortified, she attempts to wipe the spit off with her foot (alpacas have feet, not hooves, a fact which I have now learned).

[geraineon]

Learning about alpacas as you read is like a bonus XD

By the end of this, you will be an expert at alpacas (and how they fuck? idk, I wonder if there will sexy times with alpaca).

Does the villaines know her pet alpaca is not entirely an alpaca?

[douqi]

This is an unusually tightly-focused third-person POV novel, so we're mostly getting the alpaca's perspective here, with only very brief sentences from the villainess' POV. The alpaca seems to think the villainess believes her to be an animal who is slowly cultivating to sentience, but the author has put in some clues that may suggest otherwise.

[halfcactus]

Thank you for these precious alpaca updates, they are bringing me joy

[douqi]

I'm halfway through the second volume (of three) now and it continues to be a delight.

[ehyde]

I'm still midway through Mist, but taking a break. I've been having a hard time keeping up motivation to read and last week's translation discussion inspired me to take a break from translations and try reading something (...aside from fanfic) written in english to see if that worked better. So I'm reading A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, a m/m historical fantasy, and I'm having a lot of fun with that, but I will finish Mist eventually.

[geraineon]

\o/ glad you're having fun reading again~

[gekidasa]

I started The Imperial Uncle! Technically I’m still reading the free preview, but I like it, so I’ll buy it when I get to the end of the preview.

[geraineon]

I enjoyed The Imperial Uncle. Worth the buy~

[duckprintspress]

very curious what you'll think

[anne]

I loved it! I was as confused as the titular uncle for most of it, which was a lot of fun. (I bought it because E. Danglars translated it. So far this has been a foolproof way to pick a book.)

橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[halfcactus]

Got distracted mainlining a couple of KR webtoons but I think I've gotten all of that out of my system hehe

chapters 21–22

I think I just got to the part that dayadhvam_triad was talking about here... I'm surprised that we're continuing to see reflections of Tang Guo's life in the other commenters, and so glad to see the sense of community form in real-time.

I also love that they got the editor to fixate on the 的地得 detail. It sounds so ominous, but it's still so fun to see everyone bring different kinds of insight to the table.

The sequences when they cut between the counselor (I'M SORRY I KEEP FORGETTING HER NAME, THE ONLY NAMES I REMEMBER ARE MIAO MIAO AND TANG GUO) and Miao Miao are always so exciting.

Miao Xiaowa taking over the phone, so sweet and cute! I'm just so happy to see the sisters interact in a less fraught way. :')

Miao Miao recognizing one of her little sister's anxiety tells and appearing at the right time to soothe her. ;___;

Surely after all of this, Miao Miao isn't gonna die?! Like at this point it seems like Tang Guo has paid enough of a price for everyone else.

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[geraineon]

Oh what KR webtoons were you reading?

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[halfcactus]

I Will Be Matriarch in This Life (Renaissance era-inspired otome isekai/time travel where the FL never suffers any setbacks lololol) and Please Take Care of Me in This Life As Well (het reincarnation romance - apparently a kdrama adaptation came out last year). Now I'm all manhwa'd out hahaha.

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[geraineon]

ahh, if the FL never suffer setbacks then like, a bit boring imo. Did you enjoy?

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[dayadhvam_triad]

Was it 我老公纸片人's mini-monologue? ;_; One of the (imo unfortunate) censorship decisions for the simplified CN edition, according to that weibo post I linked before, is that it was changed to 我老公纸片人 talking about her friend instead of herself, I guess because they thought the backstory seemingly one degree removed was less troubling??? (which no???)

+1 of course the editor catches the 的地得 detail XD

also I'm so excited now that you're getting to Ch. 23 and how things escalate from there \o/

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 21-22

[halfcactus]

Yeah! ;__; The mini-monologue that kinda changes her dynamic with the editor, and seems like a "turning point" moment for the way she engages with the text in the chat.

ajka;j;as what a baffling choice. I guess I could buy the "talking about a friend" thing as a way that people usually talk about themselves and their problems... But it potentially messes with the next lines of dialogue (Miao Xiaowa giving internet hugs and 纸片人 saying she's doing fine now) as well as the sense of sudden honesty/intimacy that you get in the GC...

OH BOY THEY SURE DO ESCALATE and my favorite thing about this book is that even when I'm not sure who is who anymore I still gasp and experience terror at the right places lol

[duckprintspress]

I'm reading Guardian vol. 3's official translation and finding it more of a slog than I expected? I think it's mostly that I'm tired and dealing with a lot of distractions, and some of the Chinese-mythology based stuff, since I'm not familiar with the mythology outside of this book, needs me to be able to focus to really get through it. But I think I'm mostly through those parts so I suspect the rest will go faster.

[geraineon]

How far into Guardian vol. 3 are you?

I think I just need to take a reading holiday sometime. I'm never in the mood to read the rest of Guardian but I wanna know how it goes.

[duckprintspress]

I finished it this morning!!

The earlier parts of the book can be a bit dense, in terms of infodump about backstory stuff, so maybe wait until that sounds appealing? But all in all, I enjoyed it. It picked up a lot after that bit, and I'd never read a couple of the extras so it was nice to get some "new" content for the blorbos.

[geraineon]

Hm, it's not that the book is dense. It's just somehow the mood is not hitting me and when I'm not in the mood, I cannot read... Book 1 went by really quickly imo!

[duckprintspress]

oh def, I zoomed through book 1 and 2, idk what about book 3 made it drag more, but I also ran into a similar reticence to read it.