Chinese MM romance fantasy.
Where to start (and why)?
Covered: ◊ The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (The Untamed) ◊ Thrice Married to a Salted Fish ◊ Ballad of Sword and Wine ◊ Heaven Official’s Blessing ◊
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Danmei (耽美) is Chinese MM romantasy, often epic in scope, and often the slowest of slow burns. These titles pulled me in completely, and they were worth my time for very different reasons.
◊ The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu – MXTX): Wei Wuxian was once a brilliant, rebellious cultivator who pioneered a forbidden and feared path called demonic cultivation. Hunted, he died in a massive siege by his own allies. Sixteen years later, he’s unexpectedly resurrected in the body of a young man, and must piece together what really happened to him.
His path is deeply intertwined with Lan Wangji, a righteous, disciplined cultivator from a prestigious clan who was Wei Wuxian’s rival-turned-close-friend in their youth…
This danmei is the one that started the conversation for a lot of Western MM romantasy readers, partly because of The Untamed C-drama adaptation, partly because it earns every word of its reputation. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are one of the great slow-burn MM romances: painful, earned, and completely enchanting. What makes it delicious is the current underneath the romance, the way the story examines how society chooses its scapegoats.
To note: the C-drama adaptation hints at the romance; the books are explicit. Both are worth checking, especially since tracking differences between them is rewarding. And here is the analysis of the trope ‘enemies to lovers’ in this one.
◊ Thrice Married to a Salted Fish: After years of exhaustive study, Lin Qingyu is abruptly told to set his ambitions aside and marry Lu Wancheng, the sickly son of a marquis, in hopes that the union will cure the young master’s illness. The thing is that the marquis is someone else, someone who transmigrated… and then the story starts for real.
This one does something structurally unusual: the transmigration happens not to the protagonist but around him, observed from the outside. He’s not the hero of the story-within-the-story, nor the villain either, and is consumed by a specific passion for medicine (it’s so refreshing!).
But the bond… So slow a burn that the first book gives not the relationship but the shape of it forming, tender and unhurried. The ending of book one, and then the cover, destroyed me. Book two is more intense in terms of politics, and the ending made me open book three immediately (I am reading this one currently, and based on the cover, oh well, I expect another heartbreak).
◊ Ballad of Sword and Wine: the story is set around Shen Zechuan, son of the Prince of Jianxing, who is taken to the capital to bear the guilt of his father’s betrayal of the nation. Shen Zechuan is the last descendant of a family branded as traitors, and he’s dragged into custody, hated and condemned by everyone.
Xiao Chiye, son of the powerful Prince of Libei, tracks down the vilified Shen Zechuan and, rather than letting others finish him off, personally kicks him. Shen Zechuan survives and turns around to strike back, marking the start of a feud between the two men. But despite their mutual hatred, Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye start to recognize each other as kindred spirits, with something more building between them…
The execution of this plot is written great; the enemies to lovers trope here is so well done that I’ve read the first three volumes like on fire. I was so into the story that I even omitted one scene that was heated and found it after rereading (I was so focused on the earring that I somehow didn’t focus on what exactly was happening ON THE HORSE).
This series by Tang Jiuqing is great, but long: as for now, it’s an 8-volume Chinese historical danmei/BL novel.
◊ Heaven Official’s Blessing: Xie Lian was once a beloved crown prince who ascended to godhood at only seventeen. But after a series of catastrophic failures, he was cast out of the heavens, stripped of his divinity twice (!), and spent 800 years as a destitute, mocked figure on earth, scraping by as a homeless wanderer and picking up trash to survive (what a concept). Against all odds, he ascends a third time, and then he crosses paths with San Lang, a mysterious, easygoing young man who seems to show up wherever trouble is brewing.
San Lang turns out to be Hua Cheng, the Ghost King, one of the most powerful and feared supreme ghosts in the world, who has secretly worshipped Xie Lian since childhood and has waited centuries just to be near him…
What was most touching from my point of view was Xie Lian’s self-deprecating humility. The story has many dark themes included, but they are mixed with a lot of humor. Worth to read.
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New to danmei and BL books? The writing style is translated and specific to the genre, it’s worth knowing going in.
Read more about MM romantasy and queer art on my blog. The reviews (Grandmaster and Salted Fish) are available on Goodreads.