I read this book in four days cause my crush really wanted me to read this, and even though my crush is in vain I persevered, though this book made it so enjoyable.  I haven’t read a book that fast since high school (Divergent of all things).  This was very enjoyable, and while slow burn really gets to me because for the love of god y’all need to kiss already, I sqeed like a fan girl when the little tidbits of romance DID pop up.  I’m still mixing up characters because so many people have the same surname, but I’m getting there.

oh i loved everything about mdzs and i was over the moon about finally having a physical copy in my hands.

wwx is the same lovable, oblivious idiot who keeps sticking his foot in it whenever possible. lwj is the same unmovable, tender man who feels too much and hides those feelings to keep himself safe. together, they are so wonderful.

the amount of times i called wwx a clown while i was reading is uncountable. don’t ask me how often it happened, just know that it did lmao

this new translation though… i had to keep checking the OG translation because this new translation had so many differences (i am wary of claiming these as errors since i am not chinese, do not understand mandarin or cantonese, and i do not have the right amount of knowledge nor right to have a say in that particular argument either way). this new translation added many details that were either kept vague in the OG translation or were not mentioned. this new translation also changed many of the terms that older mdzs fans were more familiar with when it come to the text. this new translation also removed many lines that were probably not important plot-wise but were fundamental when it came to the relationship development between wangxian.

i will keep my pre-order of vol 2 intact, but i do hope the translation is cared more about in the future.

simply because of the translation differences, i will be rating this 4 stars instead of 5 😌

This was a very interesting read. It was my first time reading a book in this genre so it took some time getting used to the different names and various places found throughout the book. The whole concept is entertaining and I love reading books about various different clans, who are each proficient in their own different ways.

I am familiar with the characters and the world as I watched a few episodes of The Untamed. Obviously, this is the written work that drama is based off so it was cool finally being able to read about some of the events I've already seen. 

I excitedly look forward to the next part!

I am a western reader with no language knowledge beyond English so I can not attest to the quality of the translation. However, as someone new to this genre, I did read some cultural guides (provided by the non-western portion of fandom) and some general xianxia background and tropes so that I would have a better understanding of the novel. I'm a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi so I am used to being thrown into the deep end of new worlds, but I firmly believe that having this background knowledge made my reading experience 100% better.

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is very talented at crafting characters that people love. I can attest to that; it was very easy to start loving Wei Wuxian. His narrative is very much unreliable but there is a careful balance between his humorous antics, telling bouts of intelligent problem solving, and the extremely insightful moments of darkness that makes him a joy to read. Lan Wangji holds his cards much closer to his chest, yet allows enough glimpses over time that soon he too became a treasured addition to the shelf of characters I would fight a bitch for.

Do l desperately wish that this book was not split into three volumes so I could read the rest? Absolutely! However, I do think volume 1 did a good job balancing world/character introduction with the mystery plot progression AND flashbacks.

I've already read a fantranslation of this entire book but I'm absolutely delighted by the official English translation, it reads so smoothly, and I'm absolutely ready to fall in love with Wangxian all over again.