Our sapphic book club loves Alexis Hall. Even if the books themselves aren’t our favorites, they’re always rich with topics interesting to discuss. Mortal Follies is a favorite.

In an 1814 Bath, England ripe with gods, goddesses, and faires, Miss Maelys Michelmore’s gown is actively unraveling. Barely saved from scandal by a trip to the garden, she is unhappy to discover that she’s been cursed. Sulis Minerva demands blood for insult, and Robin Goodfellow is going to narrate the whole thing. 

In my opinion, Mortal Follies is one of Hall’s best. First, the brooding goth butch x practical pink femme sapphic romance is right on the money. The world is a delightful mayhem, tittering with manners and magic, and the setting doesn’t overshadow the characters. I laughed with and ached for Michelmore and her friends, especially Miss Binkle. The framing narration is fascinating. Kicked out of fairyland until he can entertain Oberon with a good story, Robin is a poor writer who tails interesting people and writes their interesting adventures. Like in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Robin cackles at what fools these mortals be–he skips “boring” bits, definitely doesn’t help the others, and once gets stuck following the rules at balls. There’s a certain charming narrative flexibility with a sardonic narrator character like Robin, and Hall makes a treat of it.

If you read A Lady for a Duke but missed the fantastical, if you wanted a more grounded and character-driven Affair of the Mysterious Letter, if you desired a more refined Something Something, check out Mortal Follies. 

I reviewed the entire series here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/773b5f24-6d1e-4f63-a052-eb1e36737afa 

I reviewed the entire series here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/773b5f24-6d1e-4f63-a052-eb1e36737afa 

 I reviewed the entire series here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/773b5f24-6d1e-4f63-a052-eb1e36737afa 

I reviewed the entire series here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/773b5f24-6d1e-4f63-a052-eb1e36737afa

Like many others, The Untamed TV series was my gateway into the Chinese danmei subculture. After seeing one million billion tumblr posts about pretty sword boys, my wife and I hopped on Youtube (this was back before the paywall) and watched the whole series with rapt attention. Xianxia had a bit of everything we loved: history, religion, homoeroticism, supernatural shenanigans, layered mysteries, and complex characters. We wanted more, which led to reading Scum Villain Self-Saving System, Heaven Official’s Blessing, and, finally, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. The MXTX circle is complete!

I read all five volumes shockingly fast, so I will review the whole story here without spoilers. After a fiery death as the cultivation world’s villainous demonic cultivator, Wei Wuxian is surprised to wake up in a new body, with a new name, and newly running into his old colleagues. The reason for his new life–and how it all came to this point–are the ongoing mysteries of the series. Also. Why does Lan Zhan keep looking at him like that? 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation the novel and its television adaptation The Untamed pair shockingly well together. I like both equally, which is a rare occurrence. The book’s jumbled timeline didn’t add much to the mystery, tension, or themework. It was complication for complication’s sake. The show rightly smoothed all past scenes into one long flashback before returning to the present to finish off the mysteries there. The 50 episode run time also filled in characters, like Jiang YanLi and Wen Qing, which made their fates all the more poignant. On the other hand, Seven Seas didn’t skimp on the queerness and intimate scenes. China’s homophobic censorship team can stuff it. Though I’m not familiar with Mandarin, the first couple volumes’ translation felt shaky, but everything smoothed by volume four.

While I adored the plot and characters, I was most impressed by how MXTX discussed modern problems in a fantastical historical setting. While Scum Villain focused on one sect, Grandmaster expanded to include multiple sects and their politics. The General PublicTM holds true one version of events, but the actual truth holds much more nuance and depth. Don’t take stories at face value–investigate. Wei Wuxian may have never touched a smartphone, but he knows the painful reality of gossip, (self-)righteousness, confirmation bias, and cancel culture. I ate it up.

Overall, I highly, highly recommend both the novel and TV series of Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian’s love story. Seven Seas’s five volumes are treasured in this household. If you’re looking to get into danmei, it’s the perfect place to start. If you decide to watch the show first, I’d recommend reading the linked primer on xianxia and danmei concepts. The powerpoint will help you understand what’s going on in the first few episodes.

An Intro to the Untamed by Porcupine-Girl: https://porcupine-girl.tumblr.com/post/638176107593711616/still-not-sure-whats-up-with-the-untamed-and-at

My review of Scum Villain, Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f797e4a5-9dc6-4810-bedd-0b2704a871b0

My review of Heaven Official’s Blessing, Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7ee6755d-ec9e-4ff1-a3ab-c4e0c133ca75 

Like many others, The Untamed TV series was my gateway into the Chinese danmei subculture. After seeing one million billion tumblr posts about pretty sword boys, my wife and I hopped on Youtube (this was back before the paywall) and watched the whole series with rapt attention. Xianxia had a bit of everything we loved: history, religion, homoeroticism, supernatural shenanigans, layered mysteries, and complex characters. We wanted more, which led to reading Scum Villain Self-Saving System, Heaven Official’s Blessing, and, finally, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. The MXTX circle is complete!

After a fiery death as the cultivation world’s villainous demonic cultivator, Wei Wuxian is surprised to wake up in a new body, with a new name, and newly running into his old colleagues. The reason for his new life–and how it all came to this point–are the ongoing mysteries of the series. Also. Why does Lan Zhan keep looking at him like that? 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation the novel and its television adaptation The Untamed pair shockingly well together. I like both equally, which is a rare occurrence. The book’s jumbled timeline didn’t add much to the mystery, tension, or themework. It was complication for complication’s sake. The show rightly smoothed all past scenes into one long flashback before returning to the present to finish off the mysteries there. The 50 episode run time also filled in characters, like Jiang YanLi and Wen Qing, which made their fates all the more poignant. On the other hand, Seven Seas didn’t skimp on the queerness and intimate scenes. China’s homophobic censorship team can stuff it. Though I’m not familiar with Mandarin, the first couple volumes’ translation felt shaky, but everything smoothed by volume four.

While I adored the plot and characters, I was most impressed by how MXTX discussed modern problems in a fantastical historical setting. While Scum Villain focused on one sect, Grandmaster expanded to include multiple sects and their politics. The General PublicTM holds true one version of events, but the actual truth holds much more nuance and depth. Don’t take stories at face value–investigate. Wei Wuxian may have never touched a smartphone, but he knows the painful reality of gossip, (self-)righteousness, confirmation bias, and cancel culture. I ate it up.

Overall, I highly, highly recommend both the novel and TV series of Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian’s love story. Seven Seas’s five volumes are treasured in this household. If you’re looking to get into danmei, it’s the perfect place to start. If you decide to watch the show first, I’d recommend reading the linked primer on xianxia and danmei concepts. The powerpoint will help you understand what’s going on in the first few episodes.

An Intro to the Untamed by Porcupine-Girl: https://porcupine-girl.tumblr.com/post/638176107593711616/still-not-sure-whats-up-with-the-untamed-and-at

My review of Scum Villain, Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f797e4a5-9dc6-4810-bedd-0b2704a871b0

My review of Heaven Official’s Blessing, Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7ee6755d-ec9e-4ff1-a3ab-c4e0c133ca75 

After enjoying Naomi, I eagerly dived into The Makioka Sisters, arguably Tanizaki-san’s most famous novel. While Naomi skewers Japanese men obsessed with the West, The Makioka Sisters mourns the fading Kobe-Osaka aristocracy of the 1930s.

The Makiokas are an old Osaka family whose famous name hides a precarious financial situation. The inherited trappings of wealth (kimonos, furniture, houses) are paired with a reverence for tradition, including marriage negotiations. The main throughline of the novel is the struggle to find a husband for Yukiko, the third sister. However, there’s plenty else going on. The eldest sister Tsuruko struggles to care for her six children, as her banker husband doesn’t make near enough to support them. Our main narrator is the second eldest sister, Sachiko, and she balances social, household, and familial obligations with a pursuit of happiness. The youngest child Taeko is determined to become a modern woman, with her own job and husband of choice–if only that job paid enough and that man could be reliable. Looming over all is the long, lethal shadow of WWII. The novel feels like an Austenite book of manners with a rare sincerity; a domestic novel equivalent of calling my mom and asking how everyone’s doing. With the low stakes, focus on familial logistics, and one-family focus, I was also reminded of The Archers, a British radio program running country family stories since the 1950s.

While the novel expressed a quiet beauty, Edward G. Seidensticker was a bare bones translator. His introduction starts in media res an insulting inter-academic argument about the West “poisoning pure Japanese-ness.” If the racism isn’t enough, Seidensticker goes on to rate the beauty of the fictional sisters and Tanizaki’s real life acquaintances. The blistering misogyny and racism made me stop reading the introduction. In the text itself, Seidensticker insisted on very few paragraph breaks–an exhausting format if there ever was one. The footnotes are largely useless. Some footnotes identified something that was very obvious from context, like an instrument or a type of flower, or something ubiquitous like sushi. Meanwhile, euphemism and subtext were unexplained. The most egregious example regards the Stolz family.

Mr. Stolz loses his job, and he and his whole family have to return to Germany. The characters clearly talk around a subtextual second reason the family must return, but without cultural context, I can only guess what that reason is. His visa expired? Something to do with the upcoming world war? Why does a job loss predicate a loss of home? I’m lost and sure would have appreciated a footnote.

Despite the translator snafus, The Makioka Sisters is a pleasant read. If you’re looking for an entry point in pre-1945 Shōwa period Japanese classics, I highly recommend such a thoughtful, gentle choice.

My review of Naomi: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/fa3f7fb1-4f46-476d-8829-4952dd5a76e8