To preface this review, I started reading Faraway Wanderers after I watched the Drama. I've watched The Untamed and read MDZS before, and thus had a preconceived expectation that the book would be better than the drama. Unfortunately, this was not the case. In my infinite luck, I've managed to find a novel whose drama adaptation managed to exceed the source material on all accounts.

Plot overview:

MC (Zhao Xu) decides to give up his ambitions of being the head of an assassin org working for the regional prince and wander the countryside instead. He meets a young kid that reminds him of his mentee in the past and decides to protect him. Along the way, he meets ML (Wen Ke Xing), who is the mysterious head of the ghost valley. ML decides to drop everything to follow MC around and sexually harass him for 40 chapters. They do nothing that matters for the duration of the novels until MC and ML manage to murder all the villains after the villains spent the entire novel basically plotting against themselves.

Some might disagree, but strongly believe that the MC and ML had so little impact on the plot that if you took out MC and ML and only stuck them in at the end to kill off the final villain, the general outcome of the novel would have been the same. Sure ML set things in motion before the book started, but after that, the villains basically did everything to themselves.

My Take:

Usually, books contain insightful internal dialogues for deeper characterization, more nuanced plotlines that cannot be intricately drawn out in an episodic format, or more fantastical imagery that can be described in words but not easily translated into reality. This novel conatained none of the above. The characters in the book are one dimensional. Every major character is either a sassy know-it-all or a naive youth. If you did not label the dialogue as spoken by MC or ML, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Whoever wrote and directed the drama should get a raise. The drama spent a lot of time fleshing out the side characters and villains, creating depth and storylines for them that are not in the book. Entire plotlines are cut and new situations are created. As opposed to this book, where the side characters are caricatures at best and received very little screentime. After reading to complete, I still neither understood why people did the things they did nor felt sorry for them during their eventual demise.

As with all priest books. She spends a lot of time quoting poetry and trying to sound sophisticated via archaic language, but the novel itself has very little substance. The relationship between the MC and ML is forced and lukewarm at best. Why does WKX like MC? Who knows? He's pretty? Love at first sight? Curiosity? Why does MC, who spends the first half of the novel flirting with girls respond to WKX's stalkerish/rapist-like demands? Who knows. The supposed "affinity" between the characters is constantly stated in print, we are reminded of it all the time. However, this is a classic case of "tell not show". If this wasn't stated, I wouldn't be able to feel it at all.

Instead of wasting your time reading this book, I recommend you watch the show. If you came here after watching the show, don't bother with this disappointment.