Read-in-Progress Wednesday
May. 7th, 2025 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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cnovelsThis is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!
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Date: 2025-05-07 04:22 pm (UTC)In terms of reading: steadily making progress on Tai Sui again (finally!)
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Date: 2025-05-08 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-05-09 06:16 pm (UTC)Ah, it sounds like the story has picked up at least! I assume the plot twist introduced/revealed new antagonists?
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Date: 2025-05-09 07:47 pm (UTC)A new one that built on the premise, but was nonetheless unexpected (to me).
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Date: 2025-05-07 10:52 pm (UTC)I also did not expect myself to enjoy the characters this much. Most major player in the plot is lunatic and insane in different and compelling ways, including the main couple. *Our psychopathic love interest might be an lunatic serial killer, but somehow the main character turned out to be way more insane and mentally unstable than he is. Also, they get married within three-ish chapters!* Somehow I am so charmed by their *atypical marriage-before-love * romance. I am surprised at how invested I am in seeing how a psychopathic character (a character trope I don't usually enjoy) learn to acknowledge and realize he has fallen in love.
The doses of imageries of eldritch horror are also just perfect—they're not so hardcore that a scaredy-cat like me will completely freak out, but they are also horrific enough that I am constantly on my toes. This novel has risen to the top of my European-inspired fantasy danmei (which is a favorite niche genre of mine).
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Date: 2025-05-08 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-09 01:42 am (UTC)I had not read Stray at the time I wrote the review, but less than 48 hours later I am happy to report that I've just binge-read Stray as well. I know that I've been on a danmei reading spree lately but I am still lowkey in awe at myself...
I have to say I like Full Server First Kill a teeny tiny bit more, but Stray is a very close second in my heart. The worldbuilding is unique, fantastic, and well-rounded, and the characters are extremely enjoyable. Although both stories have an ensemble cast, Stray has a very prominent team dynamic whereas Full Server First Kill is a lot more focused on the main couple (all the other parties involved have their own motivations and beliefs, so even though the main couple team up with other people I am not as invested in the team itself). I think I like the main romance in Full Server First Kill more, but I also find the side pairing of Stray very cute. It really depends on individual tastes, though.
And the two books are indeed somewhat connected, though the characters do not show up in each others' stories. They share some elements of worldbuilding, and after finishing both it can be inferred that the stories happened in the same universe but not in the same world (this statement will make a lot more sense after you finish the stories). I'd say the reading order doesn't really matter too much, but reading either of them first means that you are likely to connect the dots faster when certain plot points come up in the second novel (might feels a bit like you've been spoiled, especially if you read Stray after Full Server First Kill).
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Date: 2025-05-09 06:17 pm (UTC)I enjoyed Nian Zhong's other works and keep thinking that I should pick up more.
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Date: 2025-05-08 01:20 am (UTC)I've also been reading Li-Young Lee's latest collection The Invention of the Darling on and off, which is the most cnovel-adjacent as I can get this month, I guess! Really enjoying how different it is from his previous work as being less autobiographical but still having touches that feel very familiar and personal. A memory of the sea, it's what calls everything in that rocky place. Homesickness in the rocks. Homecoming in the trees was definitely a revisiting of a poem in an earlier collection and it's fascinating to see the patterns in his work.
A lot of his stuff is tied with family and grief and worship and sexuality and I feel like I'm always reading them with a diasporic lens bc that's the PoV that makes most sense to me. ^^;
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Date: 2025-05-09 06:18 pm (UTC)I'm gonna check out The Invention of the Darling. It sounds interesting!
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Date: 2025-05-12 09:44 am (UTC)Re: The Invention of the Darling - it might interest you to know that Li-Young Lee is Indonesian-born Chinese whose family moved to the US! His earlier collections were more about that.
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Date: 2025-05-08 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-05-08 08:09 am (UTC)污染物伪装计划 (Contaminent Masquerade Project) by 帷幕灯火 is everything I expected from Little Mushroom and more besides xD *cough* carnivorous mushrooms!!!! it is giving me life!!!!
To my great sadness, author for 深渊冲你喵了一声 (The Abyss just meowed at you), 落瀑 (Falling Waterfall) seems to have suffered another writing block and gone MIA again :( I hope they get the spark back!!!! It's a super cute story about a sentient void in a black hole venturing out to seek its observer and accidentally taking the form of a kitty.
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Date: 2025-05-08 09:23 am (UTC)Omg this title (sorry about your author's block)
translating/peer reviewing song translations for friends.
Dare I ask how many of these you are working on...
(Will keep an eye out for your thoughts about the carnivorous mushroom novel haha)
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Date: 2025-05-09 06:21 pm (UTC)The title of that novel is so cute.
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Date: 2025-05-10 11:02 pm (UTC)So far there's less Highlight for spoilers! *body swap stuff* than I think is in the drama (unless more happens later), but more *being stuck sharing a body*.
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Date: 2025-05-08 02:54 pm (UTC)Also, adjacent, I've been watching the donghua of The King's Avatar and it's making me, not for the first time (I've previously seen the LA), want to read the book, but it's sooooo looooooong.
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Date: 2025-05-09 06:26 pm (UTC)I Excavated an Emperor sounds interesting. Hope it stays the course in terms of being fun to read!