a silent reading

[rynleaf]

I finished Mo Du/Silent Reading by priest a little while ago, I started it around January as part of my exploratory priest binge post-finishing Sha Po Lang and found myself so hooked, I inhaled 90% of it in like a week. See--before I was anything else, I was first and foremost an incorrigible murder fan. Like, the true crime podcast, serial killer research and murder mystery novel consumer kind. Crime fascinates me. (I'd blame my early exposure to my mother's crime novel collection, but I'm not here today to psychoanalyse myself.)

So: priest. After finishing Sha Po Lang (which is excellent, I can 100% recommend it if you're even a little bit into wuxia/xianxia and steampunk respectively), I desperately wanted to know what else this author had done, where her popularity comes from and what else is in her massive, massive brain. (Speaking purely from 1) personal preference--her characters are so deeply my thing, it's delightful--and 2) possibly, perhaps, some thirst. ((There were these pictures floating around on the cursed bird website a while ago which may or may not have been taken of priest's arm post-gym, and I am only human.)).) Mo Du yoinked me in not only because, well, priest, but also because the summary promised everything from my first love: crime! Murder! Explorations of the Human Psyche (tm)! 

That was the expectation.

What I got in the end--in addition to all of the above, thank you jiejie--were, in order, 1) my favourite danmei relationship to date (what am I going more feral over? Fei Du and his big mouth? Luo Wenzhou's house and the layers of home-ness it represents? Guh) and 2) the best fictional cat in existence one can ask for. (Luo Yiguo, darling boy, this one is for you.)

Bonus: the translation is really good. Like really good. I'm not a native Chinese speaker--duolingo is not fast enough to keep up with the volume of content I consume--and I'm in a constant battle with finding truly great novel recs and not being able to read them. English fan translations also don't always make for a pleasant reader experience. (No shade for free content and labour! I still read them--some of them do stand out as especially good though.)

 

In summary: read mo du, and when you're FINISHED reading mo du, come and talk to me about it please.

(Tiny sidenote: my stupid researcher brain that never shuts up finds the like... mechanics of fan translations and translation timelines in relation to film or animation adaptation releases, and fan translations in relation to other fan translations is fascinating!! I have a spreadsheet. I think about this a lot.)

Comments

[excaliburedpan]

hey how come you never talk to *me* about mo du

[rynleaf]

I talk to you about mo du!!! how many times have i told you that i love luo yiguo--

[hiddenramen]

Mo Du was fantastic: I was a little wary of the age gap when I first started (not that I'm like, against age gaps in general, but it seemed at first like maybe the power dynamics were going to be a little too lopsided for my blood), but I loved the way it was done after I got a taste of it, and the way the dynamic between Wenzhou and Fei Du played out.

It hooked me right around that one scene where Fei Du was talking the guy into not jumping off the building and it got super personal, then tried to play off everything he said as a ruse. I was like, "Oh yeah. That's the good shit right there."

Also, you're absolutely right: the translation was gorgeous. I think it's probably my favorite danmei fan translation I've read, after the translation for Golden Stage.

[rynleaf]

wasn't it JUST! so much so I immediately went and downloaded all the other translations by this person--please read They All Say I've Met a Ghost of you have the wherewithal/brainspace to do so, it is AMAZING (and short!), excaliburedpan can attest :D it's such an underappreciated gem.

priest does quite a bit of age gap now that I think of it, and she does them so well and thoughtfully, it's amazing. If you don't mind me dumping ANOTHER novel rec on you--if the age gap thing happened to put you off of Sha Po Lang, do give it a try. It's very good. And they fight the POPE!!

Would you recommend Golden Stage? It's been on my list for a while but I keep putting it off in favor of other things...

[hiddenramen]

I haven't read 杀破狼 but I've heard it's fantastic! I'm obsessed with the steampunk aspect of it, it's been on my list for ages. I'll get around to it one of these days, I swear 😂 I'll also add They All Say I've Met a Ghost to my list, too, thanks for the rec! I love a good horror / ghost story, so that's right up my alley.

A far as Golden Stage goes, though, I absolutely loved it! I really enjoy novels that are more political and plot-heavy, and Golden Stage really scratched that itch for me. Plus it was arranged marriage enemies-to-lovers, which is one of my all-time favorite romance tropes, so it was fun! I'd definitely recommend it, it ended up being one of my faves.

[rynleaf]

If you enjoy politics heavy books, you will love Sha Po Lang for sure. And I will put Golden Stage up into the rotation bc it doesn't look like either Thousand Autumns or Peerless are grabbing me at the moment :\ (brains: a scam)