This Is It - Part 1

I have been teasing you all for weeks about this big review I have been working on. Now, I can finally say: this is it. Well, at least part of it.

Words cannot express what it feels like to write this finally. I'm sure my family would agree since, I have been putting them through a special kind of hell to get here. I have written many reviews here on Nerdom, but none quite like this. This review is so large, it's being broken down into two parts. That seems a bit excessive, Allison. Oh, peanut gallery, I haven't heard from you in a while! But fear not, there is a reason for this madness.

The review we are talking about today is the series Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Or, for those of you wanting an English title, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, GDC for short. This review is unique in a number of ways for both Nerdom and myself personally. To start, this is the first Chinese series that I have had the pleasure of reviewing. That might not seem like it would effect the content, or even how I would review it, but it definitely did. Not to mention the reason why this has been such a big, time consuming deal. Drum roll please! This series has THREE adaptations! You heard me right. Including the original, there are four separate adaptations to this series: the original novel, the manga, the anime, and the live action Netflix series. It has taken me a hot minute, but now we are here and I am ready to rumble.

In today's "Part 1", we will be covering that original GDC novel and the manga. I should also let you know that we are going in chronological order based on release date. In "Part 2", which will come later, we will be covering the anime and the live action Netflix series. So, without further adieu, I present: my review on The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.

The Original Novel Series:

I was first introduced to this series by my wonderful cousin and nerd 101 consultant, Ms. Chelsea. Big round of applause to her for doing all the leg work in finding the series, and giving me all the links I needed for the book, manga, and anime. GDC was originally released in China as a web novel series in October 2015, and ran until completion in March 2016. Later that year, the series was picked up by a publishing company, due to the extreme popularity, and officially serialized into the four book set you see featured above. Unfortunately, it has not been published in English yet. The author did, however, decide to stick to her roots regarding the situation, and partnered with a web novel group that specialized in Chinese to English translations. Which is how American readers got their hands on it, including myself.

So what's this book about anyway? I am so glad you asked! In a world of spirits, beasts, and walking corpses, where only cultivators can save us, GDC starts by declaring that the YiLing Patriarch- Wei Wuxian, has died. A cultivator hated by the masses for studying the demon path. Killed after his childhood best friend, Jiang Cheng, led the cultivation worlds greatest clans to lay siege to his base on Burial Mound. The beginning prologue gives us great insights to how the people felt and responded to the fall of such a man. They feared he would return as an evil spirit and possess someone's body, so great precautions were taken. But 16 years after his death, Wei Wuxian finds himself waking up from the darkness in an unfamiliar body, that he definitely did not possess.

This series follows a murder mystery pattern that gives me great Sherlock and Watson vibes, but with a very magical twist. Wei Wuxian being your Sherlock, who is our Watson? Another face from Wuxian's past, Lan Wangji. With this story, you will be taken on a journey with these two as you work through the mysterious happenings that have led to Wei Wuxian being summoned. Along the way, you get flashbacks that help paint the picture of what happened 16 years ago. This explain why the man next to Lan Wangji doesn't seem nearly as evil as the world made him out to be. Who really betrayed who? What is right and wrong? Evil versus good? This is an incredible tale of love, loss, and utter tragedy wrapped in sarcastic wit and secret glances.

I do want to take a moment to issue some disclosures about this series. I absolutely adore this series. However, it will not make it onto my recommended read list. This book is X-rated due scenes of violence, as well as extreme sexual content. It's only a handful of scenes but enough for me to advise against a younger crowd reading it. Fret not, you can get the story without those scenes from any of the three adaptations.

Regardless of it's rating, I have to say this is still probably one of my favorite series to date. It was very cleverly written. Most stories that deal with multiple timelines can be confusing, and much too often I've seen loose ends not be tied up. You will have none of that here because the author truly is a master of the multi-timelined style. She made them flow seamlessly as one coherent piece, tied up very nicely at the end. There was one loose end. Personally, I think it was left open ended for audience interpretation, one last final mystery, or maybe even to suggest the possibility of a sequel series. Which I would be thrilled to read. Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, tried to cause me physical harm, or at least that's how it felt with such heart wrenching twists. I cried, I raged, I got caught up in a flurry of emotion that can only be conjured by a dedicated and talented author. To that I bow my head and say, thank you Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, for doing an amazing job.

One more thing to discuss before moving onto our first series adaptation: cultural differences. I have been taking in Japanese and Korean content for a long time, so I was not anticipating a heavy learning curve with this content. That was 100% my mistake. My first struggles appeared right off the bat with the book. I had a hard time figuring out the break down of how names for sects and places worked, as well as the differences between the different names a person can have. When I stopped and took the time to really figure it out, it made everything a lot easier. I was also very ignorant to different sayings and proverbs. Thankfully, the translator included notes at the end of every chapter. Researching for this series was also a nightmare. American sources are limited since it's a Chinese novel that hasn't been published in the states. I couldn't access any of the Chinese websites that might have been able to assist, which is why I couldn't find out if the novels were nominated for any awards amongst other information I usually look for. Speaking of the novels, there was also the idea of webnovels being normalized, which is an interesting concept to me. Overall, I would say that this has been a very educational experience.

The Manga[?]:

I took the above screen shot from the manga reader I am using. I wanted to show a snapshot of the art the manga uses, compared to the picture at the beginning of this article, which is from the anime we will be talking about in "Part 2". Something you might notice is this art is in color, which is not typical for a manga. This is another cultural difference I ended up having to do a little digging on. Everywhere you look regarding GDC, fans talk about there being a manga, but in actuality the series actually has a "manhua". A manhua is a Chinese webcomic. It must have gotten mistranslated somewhere, but now the series is noted, in America, to have a manga. So, to prevent any confusion for people who look into this further, we will now be referring to it as a manhua.

This manhua is still ongoing with only 127 chapters currently out in English. The manhua does follow the story line more closely than the anime or live action, minus the X-rated scenes. This is a huge plus for anyone who wants to check out the series for the story without the harder content. They have changed a few things that irked me as a fan of the original, but remember if you don't know the difference, then it can't hurt you. We all need to keep in mind that this is not a completed series, so I cannot speak for chapters past 127 at this time. I can say this, though, this manhua was nominated for two awards last year, winning one and taking second place in the other. To me, that says there are only good things ahead.

Going back to the art for a moment, I will say that I enjoy the anime's take much better, but being the first to bring GDC to life visually, I think the artist captured the story well. There were a couple of scenes that I felt could have been drawn a bit more dramatic, but I wasn't entirely displeased. This was an interesting experience for me since this is the first book that I have read and seen made into a webcomic series after the fact. It makes me want to explore a couple other series I know of that did similar things. It's a nice way to have extra time with characters or a story you love.

There is one particularly large aspect of the original story that is lost in every adaptation, including this one. I have not talked about it up to this point considering it is definitely a spoiler to the book. This is my warning to skip this paragraph if you do not want any spoilers. Now that that's out of the way, one of the biggest challenges fans will be faced with if they read the book and try to move on to the other adaptations is the devastation. The devastation that there is a huge cultural barrier preventing the creators of these adaptations to tell Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's original story. In the original book, Lan Wangji is, and always has been, in love with Wei Wuxian. It is this fact that changes the course of the entire story. Unfortunately, homosexuality, to say the very least, is not widely accepted in China. Due to this, the transformation of the relationship we see in the book to the adaptations is muddled at best, or considerably lost at worse. *End of spoiler zone*

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed my time working through this series. It took quite a bit of time to get to this point and write about it. It will take a bit more as I finish up the live action series on Netflix. I hope with the rising popularity of the series that we get published versions of the books here in the states. I don't think that that is outside the realm of possibility when the series is already flooding Good Reads reviews. If that does happen, selfishly I really want them to also publish a PG-13 version, so I can bring this into my Family Book Club. That's a bit less likely, but hey, I'm a dreamer.

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Thank you so much for joining me for this obnoxiously long review of The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. I am unsure when "Part 2" will be released since the live action is quite a long series, but know it is coming. In the mean time, you can join us every Sunday for The Mess and Wednesdays for some Nerdom. I hope you finish your week strong. Friday is just around the corner, you got this! Until then, remember: stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay messy, otaku!