Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post~

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

[duckprintspress]

I finished volume 1 of "Don't You Like Me". Glad they're finally actually together.

[silverblade219]

Finished Thousand Autumns! And immediately started the donghua because I wanted more lol. I continued to like how the historical elements were incorporated.

Periodically while reading, I felt like the plot had a slight open world video game feel to it, with how certain plots take place mostly off screen except for the moments when Shen Qiao chooses to interact with it. (Also, the giant spider attack during volume 3).

Also started Peerless, still in volume one.

[geraineon]

yay. did you enjoy it?

[geraineon]

Mm, the donghua made it a little more romantic/made YWS nicer, I think. But I enjoyed the donghua too!

How are you enjoying Peerless so far?

[duckprintspress]

I did! They have a kind of weird vibe because the ml is very very horny and the mc is... well.

okay, so the premise is, MC's grandfather dies and passes on the family superpower, which is the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. But the mc is phobic of ghosts (because of all the creepy stories his grandfather told him). And part of the superpower is "you can't talk about/write about/otherwise tell people about the ghosts." So he gets this power and he's freaking out about it, but to everyone else he just looks weird/is acting weird. Then he discovers that the ml's ~powerful yang energy~ can keep the ghosts at bay. Touching the ml gets him 5 minutes ghost-free, carrying around something the ml has used will get him a chunk of time, and of course kissing the ml gets him a bigger chunk of time.

So like, terrified of the ghosts he can see in their dorm room (they're roommates) mc starts climbing into bed with ml every night, touching ml every five minutes, switching up his classroom seat so he's next to ml, stealing the ml's office supplies, cuddling the ml's school uniform, etc. Because then he doesn't see the scary ghosts.

Needless to say, ml, who is very gay and not at all shy about it, gets entirely the wrong idea.

But the mc is really really dumb about this. He's like "why does he think I ~like~ him I'm just too terrified of the ghosts to do anything else! and I feel safe with him. only because of the ghost thing. obvs."

and so their whole dynamic is ml like "hey lets kiss more lets do other stuff are you ready to get into bed with me yet?" and mc is like "no no no this is about (crap I can't say ghosts) and actually now that he's kissing me/touching me/holding me it feels really nice, he's so nice, no no no yes."

It's uh. It's awkward! But by the end of vol. 1 mc is finally not lying to himself about like-liking the ml, and it's much less awkward.

But yeah. lots of second-hand embarrassment in this one. So much.

[silverblade219]

Yeah, Yan Wushi is noticeably nicer as early as episode 1. The slight difference between the show and the book are interesting, enjoying the donghua so far also!

Peerless is fun, I am kind of amused that Feng Xiao is just as annoying as fandom said he will be 🦚

[geraineon]

Ahh, Oblivious MCs can sometimes be too much for me... Hm, but there is no way to explain away all the contact he needs with the ML. Ghosts are considered superstitions in that novel right?

[duckprintspress]

Correct, the general populace has no idea ghosts are real.

[duckprintspress]

I love both books so much. and yeah imo the donghua is one of the rare instances where they made it so much gayer, because they toned down Yan Wushi. I wish we'd gotten a second season, sigh.

[silverblade219]

It is very impressive! I also preemptively would like season 2 to be released, as far I can tell from tumblr it seems like there was advertisements for it before it got trapped in the same place as season 2 for svsss donghua.

Peerless continues to be very good also! I am somewhat confused by the number of reviews I saw before that said it had little romance? Like, it is a slow burn but and is more focused on plot (which is what I prefer regardless) but it has a lot of romantic trope markers? If it was less romantic, the end of volume 3 would be significantly different also.

[silverblade219]

Does the ML somehow figure out about the ghosts eventually?

[duckprintspress]

yeah people always have that reaction to Meng Xi Shi's stories. I think it's a reaction from MXTX folks who go in expecting Hualian or Wangxian kinds of feels. And having read three of MXS's books, I don't think that writing fulfilling and satisfying romantic arcs is really her strong point? But she's so damn good at politics that I just don't care lmao. Of the three of hers I've read, I actually think Peerless has the best romance - it's very slow burn but it develops with a steady progression and has a satisfying pay-off. 14th Year of Chenghua is more romantic overall, but I have Opinions about the pay-off, and Thousand Autumns the romance often takes a backseat to everything else. I read Peerless late last year and I really really loved it.

and yeah, both donghua got caught up in the same "no more danmei adaptation" sweep that's got so so many projects in limbo, sigh. It's so frustrating.

[duckprintspress]

Yes!

Highlight for spoilers!*Lin Feiran (mc) finds a spell in his grandfather's book that if two people share three bodily fluids (spit, blood, and come, of course), they can share the Yin-yang Eye that gives the see-the-ghosts ability, and Lin Feiran does the ritual with Gu Kaifeng (ml), vaguely with consent????, and so now they can both see the dead and talk about it and stuff. They use the powers to help folks move on.*

I actually finished the main story a few days ago, and now I'm going more slowly through the extras, of which there are. many. (like, it's an 800 page story total and 300 of those pages are extras).

[silverblade219]

I am now up to volume 5 of Peerless and their dynamic continues to be delightful 🦚 🦊 I am very impressed that Feng Xiao has clearly stated his interest (watching him act as a fool with a crush for a while was more entertaining than I thought it would be also) and that Cui Buqu is starting to return said interest, all while the bickering continues.

14th Year of Chenghua, I have been considering reading this also but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

[silverblade219]

Oh cool! Glad to hear that the miscommunication does eventually come to an end.

[duckprintspress]

I really liked 14th Year of Chenghua over all. Excellent politics, great plot. I just was a little disappointed in the romance pay off, in one specific way.

I keep begging 7S to license it on those surveys, but I suspect it's caught up in some kind of licensing hell related to the Sleuth of Ming Dynasty adaptation, sigh.