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For Reading Wednesday, because it's been only a week (I know, right?), only two new things to report, both Chinese fantasies in progress:
The Empress's Livestream (女帝直播攻略), Quick-Fried Mushroom* (油爆香菇) -- This is a hoot. Reincarnation xuanhaun with video-gaming elements: a female general from a futuristic era is reincarnated into a historical fantasy setting run by a multiverse-spanning livestream system, which gives rewards based on how popular her story line is with the viewing audience. She's given the goal "rule the palace by coming out on top of the harem intrigues" -- to which she says, fuck that shit, I'm gonna rule the palace by conquering the empire. Genre-busting set-scenes galore, with streaming commentary by her audience. Oh, and in her new life, she's been raised disguised as a boy because Reasons. Possibly the most fun part is that in her former life, she was a middle-aged woman who loved collecting the admiration of pretty girls, and she's not about to give up that hobby now that she's young again. It's not full-on LGBTQ acceptance, but it's by FAR the best** I've seen in Chinese webnovels (which are default heteronormative-with-erasure and all too often outright homophobic). Translation has only just started, but I'm keeping current at chapter 50 (out of 1840 total).
Miracle Doctor, Abandoned Daughter: Ghost Emperor's Wild Beast-Tamer Empress (神医弃女：鬼帝的驭兽狂妃), Ms. Lotus Bud*** (MS芙子) -- Female protagonist xuanhuan that starts, yet again, with MC having an abrupt change in personality and abilities, but for once this not the result of reincarnation but an indigenous lucky-stroke encounter. Also refreshing: a sweet, first-crush romance between teens (at least so far, though this looks to be changing soon). The adventure has been pretty standard and there are occasional narrative lapses, but I appreciate the attempts at mixing in family-and-court intrigue a la historical romances (even if they are simplistic for that genre). Can't say I actively recommend this -- for one thing, it's monster long, on-going with over 5000 chapters in Chinese -- but so far I don't regret my time spent. Am up to chapter 253 out of 494 translated.
* I love it when Chinese authors go all-in with their clearly pseudonymous handles.
** Same-sex marriage was legal in the protagonist's past life, and the narrator seems to not only approve of this but is tolerant of historical practices of gay male sex. The attitudes of other characters and livestream commenters are all over the place.
*** I'm guessing at how to read this: 芙 normally appears only in compounds that are alternate names for lotus flowers, while 子 is, among other things, a diminutive suffix -- and no, Latin letters in a name is NOT common.
---L.
Subject quote from Well—didn't you like the taste?, Sonya Taafe.
The Empress's Livestream (女帝直播攻略), Quick-Fried Mushroom* (油爆香菇) -- This is a hoot. Reincarnation xuanhaun with video-gaming elements: a female general from a futuristic era is reincarnated into a historical fantasy setting run by a multiverse-spanning livestream system, which gives rewards based on how popular her story line is with the viewing audience. She's given the goal "rule the palace by coming out on top of the harem intrigues" -- to which she says, fuck that shit, I'm gonna rule the palace by conquering the empire. Genre-busting set-scenes galore, with streaming commentary by her audience. Oh, and in her new life, she's been raised disguised as a boy because Reasons. Possibly the most fun part is that in her former life, she was a middle-aged woman who loved collecting the admiration of pretty girls, and she's not about to give up that hobby now that she's young again. It's not full-on LGBTQ acceptance, but it's by FAR the best** I've seen in Chinese webnovels (which are default heteronormative-with-erasure and all too often outright homophobic). Translation has only just started, but I'm keeping current at chapter 50 (out of 1840 total).
Miracle Doctor, Abandoned Daughter: Ghost Emperor's Wild Beast-Tamer Empress (神医弃女：鬼帝的驭兽狂妃), Ms. Lotus Bud*** (MS芙子) -- Female protagonist xuanhuan that starts, yet again, with MC having an abrupt change in personality and abilities, but for once this not the result of reincarnation but an indigenous lucky-stroke encounter. Also refreshing: a sweet, first-crush romance between teens (at least so far, though this looks to be changing soon). The adventure has been pretty standard and there are occasional narrative lapses, but I appreciate the attempts at mixing in family-and-court intrigue a la historical romances (even if they are simplistic for that genre). Can't say I actively recommend this -- for one thing, it's monster long, on-going with over 5000 chapters in Chinese -- but so far I don't regret my time spent. Am up to chapter 253 out of 494 translated.
* I love it when Chinese authors go all-in with their clearly pseudonymous handles.
** Same-sex marriage was legal in the protagonist's past life, and the narrator seems to not only approve of this but is tolerant of historical practices of gay male sex. The attitudes of other characters and livestream commenters are all over the place.
*** I'm guessing at how to read this: 芙 normally appears only in compounds that are alternate names for lotus flowers, while 子 is, among other things, a diminutive suffix -- and no, Latin letters in a name is NOT common.
---L.
Subject quote from Well—didn't you like the taste?, Sonya Taafe.