The Wizard (Novel): When Words Kill by Shi Wu: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Wizard by Shi Wu

The Wizard is set in a nameless big city in modern China. It begins with a prologue seven years before the main story. Cheng Jinxi, 18, has confessed to killing his entire family and even though the detective in charge of the investigation, Liang Yuanfeng, can’t find any evidence of his involvement, the young man is taken to prison.

Readers learn already during the prologue, that Cheng Jinxi did indeed kill his family, and how and why he did it. He can hurt and kill people seemingly with his thought alone, which he demonstrates the first day in the prison by killing some prisoners. The director of the prison instantly realises that there’s nothing he can do to keep Cheng Jinxi confined if he doesn’t choose to stay. Fortunately for him, the young man has chosen to accept his punishment and stays, though with great liberties.

Seven years later, Liang Yuanfeng, only 32, is already burned out as a detective and on a forced leave to recuperate. Only he and his boss know that it’s because Liang Yuanfeng has resorted to vigilant justice. He’s kept in close touch with Cheng Jinxi, his only visitor in prison, and learned what the younger man can do. So he’s asked him to kill some bad people. He doesn’t regret his actions.

A great evil has taken over an apartment building and people have started to kill each other. When the building takes a special task force hostage and almost kills Liang Yuanfeng’s boss, Liang Yuanfeng is asked to bring in Cheng Jinxi to solve the problem. Liang Yuanfeng manages to negotiate a pardon for him, with himself as the younger man’s warder.

The two settle into the family home of Cheng Jinxi’s sister whose death in the hands of their extended family triggered him to killing everyone. Cheng family comes from a long line of shamans with great powers that women possess. But the family didn’t know that in their generation, it’s Cheng Jinxi who has the power, not his sister or little niece. Cheng Jinxi gets the custody of his niece, now 12, and the three become a small family.

It doesn’t take long for the two to become romantically involved, although it’s fairly one-sided, as Cheng Jinxi can’t really feel any emotions after everything he’s done. They spend their time solving supernatural crimes, and trying to come to terms with things they’ve both done. Atonement doesn’t seem possible, on top of which Cheng Jinxi has a time-stamp on him. Because it turns out, he’s not the one who’s using the power; it’s a demon to whom he’s promised himself as a sacrifice. And the demon is about to collect.

This was a good but gloomy story, with some tear-jerking moments. Liang Yuanfeng turned into a warm caretaker fairly easily for a burned-out cop, but his character remains slightly superficial. Cheng Jinxi has a deeper character and backstory, and he goes through a greater change. Theirs is not a very good romance, but it’s sweet with some tender moments. The story heads slowly but surely towards the impending doom and a happily ever after seems impossible. It takes a great twist for the small family to end up in a good place.

The writing stars as fairly good, but it deteriorates towards the end, with lots of repetition and contradictions in character actions. It didn’t really matter at that point, but it nevertheless managed to lessen the impact of the emotional climax. This is a stand-alone story, and the end is conclusive. While I liked it, it’s not among the great BL stories that’ll linger in my mind.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Riverbay Road Men's Dormitory vol. 1 Fei Tian Ye Xiang: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Riverbay Road Men's Dormitory by Fei Tian Ye Xiang

Riverbay Road Men's Dormitory is a contemporary BL novel by Fei Tian Ye Xiang, the author of historical xianxia BLs, of which I’ve started Dinghai Fusheng Records and Legend of Exorcism. It’s set in a large Chinese city and focuses on lives of five men that come together by chance.

Zhang Yuwen is a wealthy man in his late twenties who for some reason that isn’t really understandable decides to abandon a career on a rise as a film director and become an author, for which it turns out he has no true skill. His publisher tells him directly that his characters are not realistic.

He comes up with a brilliant idea. Since he owns a large mansion where he lives alone, he decides to rent out four rooms cheaply and observe his lodgers in order to learn about real people. He chooses only gay men, being gay himself. He thinks he’s chosen them carefully, but he mostly went with their looks. Turns out, all of them have something to hide.

The biggest lie is told by Zhang Yuwen himself. He doesn’t want to disclose he’s rich, so he tells the house belongs to someone else and he’s only a caretaker. He goes to great lengths to maintain the lie.

Yan Jun is an office worker with a fairly steady income. He tells Zhang Yuwen he occasionally needs to take care of his baby niece, hiding the fact that that he’s her guardian and the child lives with him permanently. Obviously, Zhang Yuwen soon finds out the truth.

Zheng Weize is the youngest of the lot at 22. He tells Zhang Yuwen he’s a college student, but he’s never attended and he supports himself, unsuccessfully, with live streaming. He’s in constant need of money and caring attention.

Chen Hong is 29 and moments away from having to close his gym business, but he doesn’t disclose his financial troubles. For him too, cheap housing comes as a saving. Last tenant is Chang Jinxing, a photographer without a steady income. He’s the most handsome of the lot and knows it himself. He pretends to be successful and educated and is neither.

Because of the lies, it takes a while for the group to become comfortable with each other. But Chen Hong is good at forming groups by activating them. He takes them laser tagging and hiking and very soon they start to become a family. A family who needs love and sex and lusts after each other and eventually falls for one or more of them.

Zhang Yuwen has forbidden them from hooking up with one another. But that doesn’t stop emotions from forming. Most of them fall for Zhang Yuwen or Chang Jinxing. Things change though, when a straight guy the group meets in one of their outings, Huo Sichen, turns out to be gay and he and Zhang Yuwen hook up. Drama starts to climax during a New Year’s stay at a resort, but the book ends before we learn what comes of it.

This was a good start to a series. It’s told from several points of view, so we get a good understanding of everyone. The characters with their lies and needs were interesting and easy to root for, even Chang Jinxing. I wanted all of them to find their love and each man seemed to suit everyone else, one way or another. But I think the pairings that began to form here are only the beginning, and everything will change several times during the story.

Author’s views of relationships and sex, gay and straight, were rather odd, based on stereotypes and stiff traditions. These views were repeated and rehashed constantly throughout the story and they were rather annoying, something that would get the story trashed by readers if it was written by a western author. It lessened my enjoyment of the story a little, but not so much that I would abandon it. I have to know what will become of all characters and if they will find their happily ever afters.

Case File Compendium Vol. 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Case File Compendium vol 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Volume 3 of Case File Compendium is about the aftermath of the sexual assault in the previous volume. If the reader is hoping for soul-searching, deep conversations, healing and understanding, they will be sorely disappointed.

He Yu plunges deep into his psychopathy, living in a reality of his own, where his actions aren’t his fault, and pushing himself in Xie Qingcheng’s company—and into the older man’s bed. He’s still demanding answers for what took place when Xie Qingcheng resigned as his doctor. The latter isn’t willing to tell him anything, and only gives in to He Yu’s forceful demands to get rid of him faster.

Xie Qingcheng wants nothing to do with He Yu. He’s deeply traumatised by what took place, and he hates He Yu with passion. However, since he bottles everything in, he simply goes on as if nothing has happened, his rage surfacing only on occasion with He Yu. Reader feels both annoyance and sympathy for him, as it turns out he’s coped with hardships this way all his life.

Life keeps throwing the two together, and they end up on the set of a same movie production. Things get so bad that the reader starts believing this will end with either of them killing the other. But before their hatred peaks, a serial killer shows up and the two are caught in his web.

This was a difficult, heavy book. On one hand, I’m happy that the events of the previous book aren’t glossed over here, but there was nothing light to give the reader even a breather. Even the revelation of the source of He Yu’s madness didn’t ease things, as it’s a tragic story too.

We mostly follow He Yu as he descends into his madness. The brief lucid moments are always followed by worse delusions and violence. And Xie Qingcheng’s suffering isn’t any easier to witness. There aren’t even any side stories and plots that would take attention away from the two even briefly. And just as the plot changes a new gear, the book ends in a double cliffhanger, with Xie Qingcheng ready to reveal one of his secrets, and the pair in a mortal peril.

Nevertheless, this was a good book. He Yu’s mental illness is believable and Xie Qingcheng’s suffering relatable. It’ll be an agony to wait for the next book, but I’m invested in the story now. It’ll definitely need all the remaining several volumes before any sort of HEA can be achieved.

Case File Compendium Vol. 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Case File Compendium by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

In volume 2, He Yu, the university student with a rare mental disorder, and Xie Qingcheng, a professor of medicine and He Yu’s former doctor, continue their toxic relationship. And it gets really bad here.

The beginning is fine, and it seems the men will slowly but surely work through their misunderstandings, hatreds, hurts and homophobia into a friendship of sort. But then the shadowy criminal organisation on the background decides to purge their ranks at the university campus, and the men get drawn in.

Xie Qingcheng realises these are the people who killed his parents and he’ll stop at nothing to find the truth. But the organisation isn’t willing to divulge it, and they throw Xie Qingcheng under a social media bus. The video they surface makes He Yu question everything that took place when Xie Qingcheng was his doctor and he comes to a conclusion that the only person who he thought cared for him never did.

It leads to his mental disorder to flair up, and to a huge confrontation with Xie Qingcheng. What follows is a graphic, very much non-consensual bedroom scene that destroys what goodwill Xie Qingcheng might have built towards his former patient. He’s a proud, unyielding man, and it’s difficult to see how their relationship could recover from this.

This was a good volume, but sad and uncomfortable. We learn more about He Yu’s childhood and it makes one want to throttle everyone who was responsible for his wellbeing. That he’s as functional as he is, is a miracle. The way he chooses to act out his pain isn’t acceptable, but it’s in line with his character and the men’s angry relationship and powerplays, and it fits the tone of the book insofar as such actions can, leaving the reader both sad and angry. That being said, if such scenes make you uncomfortable, you can skip it. The aftermath is understandable even without reading it.

The background story with the organisation is a bit over the top and sort of unnecessary, even if their actions push the men around. And there was a revelation about it that I didn’t see coming. The cast of characters was smaller than in the first volume, keeping things simpler, the plot was more straightforward and advanced in a fast pace, and the ending wasn’t a cliffhanger, though it didn’t conclude anything either. And I absolutely have to find out how anything can be salvaged between the men after this volume.

Thousand Autumns vol. 4 by Meng Xi Shi: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Thousand Autumns vol 4 by Meng Xi Shi

The story of Shen Qiao, the good Daoist cultivator, and Yan Wushi, the leader of the demonic cultivating sect, has reached the second to last volume. After the excitement at the end of the last volume, the start of this one is fairly calm. Shen Qiao takes Yuwen Song, the last heir of the previous emperor, to safety with the Bixia Sect. Life for them would be serene even, if Yan Wushi didn’t insist on accompanying them.

Yan Wushi has had a great change of mind—or heart—since the previous book. All of a sudden, Shen Qiao is the most wonderful and perfect person in the world for him, and he’s determined to make the younger man his in a very forceful way. Shen Qiao is equally determined not to believe a word that comes out of Yan Wushi’s mouth, and he most definitely won’t open his heart after the way Yan Wushi broke it earlier by betraying him.

The political turmoil catches with them when they attend the Sword Trial Conference where the rankings of the cultivation world are determined with several battle scenes. An old grandmaster, long believed dead, shows up. And he’s someone even Yan Wushi isn’t willing to face. So he whisks Shen Qiao away, and the pair head to save another contender to the throne. The book ends in the middle of a scene again, before that storyline finds conclusion.

This was the most romance filled book so far, if one can call it such. At least for the first time, it dominated the narrative, and we get Yan Wushi’s point of view of things. But it’s difficult to see how everything could be solved between the men in the last book that’s left, the misunderstandings and mistrust are so strong. But I’m definitely eager to find out.

Case File Compendium vol 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Case File Compendium by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Case File Compendium is a long-awaited official translation of the Chinese webnovel Bing An Ben by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, a prolific author of historical danmei fantasies. Unlike their other series, this book has a contemporary Chinese setting and doesn’t have fantasy elements.

He Yu is a 19-year-old university student in the imaginary city of Huzhou (basically Shanghai.) He’s recently returned from living several years abroad, and wants to reconnect with the girl he’s loved for a long time, Xie Xue. She’s teaching screenwriting at the university, so that’s what he’ll study too. She’s several years older than him though, and only sees him as a childhood friend.

Xie Quingcheng is 32, a former doctor and current professor of medicine at a nearby university. He’s Xie Xue’s brother, and He Yu’s former doctor. He Yu suffers from an extremely rare (and imaginary) condition that’ll eventually drive him insane, if he doesn’t learn to control his emotions. And love, especially unrequited, isn’t good for him.

The premise of the three being connected throws the men constantly together. They don’t like each other much, and don’t really understand each other either, even though Xie Quingcheng is the only person who truly knows what He Yu is like and what is required of him so that he can remain sane. Both are extremely homophobic too, so even friendship under the guise of looking after a former patient isn’t likely. The first volume only sets the stage for their relationship.

Mostly, the book is a bit of a mess. A lot of things happen, a background conspiracy emerges, people come and go, and random stories pop up that have nothing to do with the characters or the plot. It takes a long time for the basic story to form and the reader to get the hang of the two men, especially since—in the manner of webnovels—their characters and backstories keep changing to fit the plot.

It’s amazing how much Xie Quingcheng has done for a relatively young man (though He Yu keeps calling him middle-aged), and how sane He Yu is for a psychopath. They’re fairly likeable characters nonetheless, and oddly well-suited for one another for such different people. The age gap is pronounced, but I didn’t find it problematic.

Contemporary China is an interesting setting. It remains kind of vague though, and I kept wishing there would be more of it. It’s mostly about the divide between the rich and poor, and traditional, patriarchal society and modern values—or the lack of them.

Despite the slow start, the story becomes fairly compelling towards the end, lifting it from a three-star book to a four-star one. The first volume ends at a small cliffhanger that comes out of the blue. However, since it is about the background plot, it’s not terribly annoying. The game between the two men has only started, and I’m interested in reading where it’ll lead.