The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Danmei Novel Review
This is a review for The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. This novel is available fully licensed in English from SevenSeas, which can be bought through the Danmei Dreams affiliate bookshop.org link or anywhere you can buy SevenSeas novels.
The summary of the book from the publisher is:
Wei Wuxian was once one of the most powerful men of his generation, a talented and clever young cultivator who harnessed martial arts and spirituality into powerful abilities. But when the horrors of war led him to seek more power through demonic cultivation, the world’s respect for his abilities turned to fear, and his death was celebrated throughout the land.
Years later, he awakens in the body of an aggrieved young man who sacrifices his soul so that Wei Wuxian can exact revenge on his behalf. Though granted a second life, Wei Wuxian is not free from his first, nor the mysteries that appear before him now. Yet this time, he’ll face it all with the righteous and esteemed Lan Wangji at his side, another powerful cultivator whose unwavering dedication and shared memories of their past will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them.
Please note that all reviews aim to be spoiler-free, while analyses often contain spoilers.
Summary
This one is a little tough to review on it’s own, because I read it after I’d watched The Untamed, the live action adaptation of MDZS. If I could sort of smoosh the TV adaptation and the book together, I think you’d have a near-perfect story. But I’m going to do my best here to evaluate the book only, while at the same time highly recommending both.
Overall, this is a fantastic book. It has dark themes but also a lot of hope, optimism, and righteousness. It explores the corrupting influence of power, and treats even most of the antagonists with empathy. I appreciated that both the leads face ambiguous moral decisions with a strong commitment to doing what is right, even in the face of social and familial pressure. This is also a story of second chances and redemption, for both leads, and that’s where a lot of the hope and optimism shines through.
This is the kind of story that’s iconic enough to stick with you for years afterwards, but is tempered by humor and delight too.
Romance and Main Characters
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are two of the most iconic characters in danmei for good reason. Wei Wuxian is brilliant, cheeky, irrepressible, with an overabundance of willingness to question authority. Lan Wangji is an ardent rule follower, admirer of talent, brilliant and moral. This is definitely an opposites attract trope, and the banter, interactions, and engagement between the leads as their feelings for one another develop (disproportionately) is so much fun to witness.
In some ways, this is a tale of both characters coming to a place where they’re unwilling to blindly follow the strictures of people in power. In another way, this is a story of one character realizing too late what’s truly important to him, and then surprisingly getting a second chance and taking full advantage of it.
The romance is gorgeous, though it’s definitely a slow burn with one of the characters remaining obdurately unaware, and there are times throughout where I wished they would just talk to each other already. But in the end, it was worth the wait.
Secondary Characters
The secondary characters in this book really shine (something true in each of MXTX’s books). Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian’s adopted brother, has his own arc that remains intentionally unresolved. His circumstances, choices, and desires put him sometimes into support and sometimes conflict with the main characters in ways that feel as natural as they also feel excruciating. Antagonists, other protagonists, younger generations of cultivators all seem to come alive on the page. Their motivations and journeys feel real and meaningful as they each come into focus in the story. This is truly one of the strengths of this book, and one of the things that makes it such a joy to read.
Plot
The plot of this book is delivered as an intricate mystery, and it remains compelling throughout the novel. I was guessing right up until the end reveal who was behind some of the circumstances, and I was genuinely surprised at the result. In fact, there are many surprises along the way: some delightful, some tragic, and some romantic. This is a plot that doesn’t linger or dawdle, but stays in constant motion as the reader discovers new information right along with the protagonists.
Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding for this novel is iconic right alongside the characters. It feels like a quintessential story of cultivation, full of sect politics, martial arts talents and skills, power struggles, and of course the eponymous demonic cultivation.
The author does move quickly, making some assumptions that the reader is either already familiar with the tropes or will be along for the ride. If this is your first cultivation novel (as it is for many English readers), it can sometimes be a bit hard to parse. The Seven Seas version does a great job adding footnotes that help dispel some of the potential confusion. But ultimately everything hangs together nicely, feeling like a complete world with internal qualities and rules that seem fully realized in the setting.
Writing Style & Translation
The writing style is the one place where I’ve docked a star. This may be purely personal preference, but I feel like there are times when Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s writing style is so casual as to be distracting from the tone of the book. Every now and then I felt pulled out of an otherwise-immersive reading experience by the modernity and informality of some of the language. I believe this to be Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s stylistic choices and not the fault of the translators, as this seems to be a pattern of style throughout her books.
Spice Level
5 peppers. It takes a while to get there, but I promise it will get there. Keep going, it’s worth it. The last 100 pages is probably more porn than plot, including some delightfully risqué play that’s very much an ample reward for making it to the extras.
