all time favourite, literally cannot say enough about how much i love the novel. really well written plot, excellent main characters, all around a great book. ... more>>

wei wuxian makes for a great narrator, he's fun and fast paced while also having a deeper side to him. super loveable, really makes you route for him the entire time. lan wangji is such a good love interest, has one of the most compelling character arcs in the novel and the pay off for the relationship is perfectly handled. 

a mystery novel, full of drama and twist and turns, while also telling a really touching story between two people who are given a second chance at loving each other. if you haven't already read this book, i would really recommend it if you're looking for something serious but also entertaining and heart warming. <<less

its a long one, not the longest in this list but its a close second. as an overall reading experience, i really enjoyed. mxtx is great at writing main character that you can really connect to and get invested in their story. hua cheng is an interesting love interest, mysterious and intense while also still being cheeky and cute. ... more>>

but when it comes to my personal taste, i dont think i'd go back and reread this one the same way i have done with mxtx's other two novels. the arcs are long and can feel like they're dragging on, i wasnt as invested in the side characters and this novel has a lot of them. book 3, in general, felt like it could have been thoroughly cut down. im not a huge fan of the way the backflash sections are divided up in the story. 

but overall, if you can get invested into the mystery and xie lians journey, the pay off is worth it and i really did enjoy my expierence with this book.  <<less

as mxtx's first novel, i gotta say, this is a really strong debut. not a serious as her next two novels, but you can see just how good of a character writer here. even in a parody novel, she manages to create characters i found my self really loving, and unlike her next two book, i was thoroughly invested in all the side characters here. i loved them all a lot. ... more>>

what lets this novel for me is the climax, the entire end section feels rush to me and i found myself at the end asking "wait? thats all???" i wish it had been dragged out a little longer, because i honestly wasnt ready to let these characters go. 

shen yuan (or shen qingqiu as he becomes later) is a witty and funny narrator that takes you through a story which, through anyone elses eyes, would have been classified as a tragedy. he's unreliable in the sense that he views the world he's with the knowledge of the novel he read and not as it's own separate thing. luo binghe as his love interest can /feel/ off putting because of shen qingqius perspective, but ultimately makes sense when he allows himself to fully experience the world without letting his knowledge of the pervious novel taint his vision.

overall a fun novel to read if you dont want something too serious. <<less

ooo this book is not for the faint of heart, full of sadness and tears and horror, it deals with a lot of triggering content and doesn't shy away from talking about it explicitly. but, it's also a really heart warming story, with moments of fun and silliness. ... more>>

mo ran as narrator is sooo loveable, i honestly ended up liking him way more than i thought i would from the summary. you get so s**ked into his story and journey and the payoff is so satisfying when he and chu wanning get their happy ending. chu wanning is also great but i really this mo ran is the shining star here. the story is really well written too, for a novel that's so long i was barely ever bored while reading it and was always picking it up to get to the next chapter. 

one of the only books ive read that genuinely made me sob while reading it. and once i got to the end i was smiling at it for days.  <<less

if you want a novel thats fun and cute and sweet, that doesnt have that much drama but still has enough plot to keep you invested, golden stage is a great read for that. the main couple get together really early in this, and they sort out their feelings for each other pretty much immediately (no miscommunicated here!). ... more>>

an easy read to cleanse your pallet from the more dramatic and angsty cnovels that are out there.  <<less

most recently read this one (as of july 2021) and can i just say i fell in love with both these main characters. my first experiencing reading a cnovel set in modern times, and i was unsure when i first started reading this but ended up really enjoying my time with it. ... more>>

a super funny and light read that isnt /too/ dramatic and the couple are super sweet. definitely has made me want to read more modern set cnovels. the story is well written, characters are flushed out and i even really liked the side characters here too.  <<less

probably my second favourite novel ive read recenelty, right after mdzs. theres so much i can say about this book.... its just so well written. lin wanyue as a main character is soso enjoyable to read, and watching as she grows from a recenently orphaned teenager first joining the army to a confident and powerful woman is so fulfilling and so well handled ...aaaa i love it so much. ... more>>

the relationship...... the way it develop and grows and how much li xian and lin wangyue come to love each other. their story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming and i was scared for a while if they would get a happy ending, but they got the happiest ending of all happy endings. 

by the end of this novel i felt so attached to these characters, one of the times where i could truly feel the character growth and went i thought back to the start of the novel i had the feeling of "wow these people have changed and learned so much since then". 

please don't laugh has a way of writing characters that feel so human and relatable, love love love her works and plan to read many more of them.  <<less

not techincally finished this one yet (its not fully translated) but am far enough in that i can feel confident to give my overall verdict... more>> of it. and its that i really enjoyed it! the concept was interesting, and the main couple kept me reading. i do love palace intrigue novels (tho there isnt a /huge/ amount of that in this vs fgep) but its light hearted and well paced so its fun to read. i really main characters, their relationships develops naturally and they have a great dynamic thats super cute to read. definitely recommend it if you are interested in a story thats not too plot heavy and an easy read!  <<less

also not actually finished this one (again, not fully translated or even fully written yet im pretty sure the author is still working on it)... more>> but am far into it. it was the fact that it was written by the same author as fgep that made me read this one and i wasnt disappointed. tho not as heavy or as slow burning as fgep, MM is still an engaging novel with a super unique plot. i also really like that yun an is a lesbian from the beginning, having just broken up with her girlfriend. really refreshing to read novels without the whole "oh my god im gay" realisation in it. i find yun an as a main lead super endearing, and the relationship between her and LBX so cute and compelling. if you want a well written and interesting GL novel thats not quite as heavy as fgep this is a great pick!  <<less

theres a few extras left to read but ive finished reading the main plot so in this list it goes. overall, thoroughly enjoyed my time with this novel. it had the perfect balance of humour and cuteness and angst and drama. in terms of plot depth its pretty on part with scum villain and the wife is first. side characters were also a huge bonus in this, plus surprise lesbian couple that i was very happy to see. as a transmigration story, i think it did a much better and more detailed job than scum villain, (what really saces svsss is how good of an author mxtx is). but i was pleasantly surprised by how believable... more>> the whole transmigration thing was, and the personality of the protag sold it even more. 

talking about the protag, what a fun narrator for this story. you honestly cant help falling in love with xiao yu'an, who's easy going and carefree personality is balanced enough to be refreshing but not too exaggerated to be unbelievable/annoying. yan heqing was also a nice main lead, and i really am a sucker for the silent and aloof types but secretly very soft for their lover MLs. author wrote their relationship in a way that made them feel like a couple who truly cherished and loved each other and the build up to them getting together was satisfying, with enough time to explore their relationship after the fact to have felt earned after all that pining.  <<less

i was about 150 chapters into this when i got bored of the story line, in general i think its a well written novel with an interesting plot and main character/s. it was the repetitiveness that got me in the end, the story follows to constant theme of entering a game, main character winning it by being op, and then the cool down afterwards. the first couple of times it was really fun to read, the horror movies they found themselves in were intense, and trying to unravel the plot was fun to read, but eventually it got tiring and i wasnt that invested in the over arching plot. ... more>>

i personally just think the book was too long, i may go back and finish it one day just out of curiosity but for now im gonna leave it at that.  <<less

super cute novel but nothing that really stands out about it. i liked the main couple well enough, and the whole 'growing up togethers as... more>> brothers but not really' was an interesting concept and was handled pretty realistically. surprisingly, the thing that stood out the most was how well written the nsfw scenes were? which i wasnt really expecting with a couple like this. probably some of the best written smut ive read in any book tbh, like so good its nearly worth to read the whole book just for those scenes (they work better when you have the foundation of their characterisation to fall back on). but overall, probably wouldnt read it again but dont feel like i wasted my time reading it in the first place, solid 6.5/10 <<less

the one thing i really love about this novel is how mature it reads, the two main characters are both in the 30s so have... more>> none of that childish and immature thinking thats present in novels that follow younger characters. both main character were super charming, and the story is short enough that it doesnt feel like it drags on. author is really good at describing how sexy the ML is, very detailed lmaoo the progression of their relationship was enjoyable to read, just two adults carving a place in their lives for someone else. not exactly a book that you pick up and cant put down, but it is easy to read a few chapters and come back days later and start where you left off, if you want something to read but dont have a lot of free time to get heavily invested into a complicated plot then i would suggest this book.  <<less

i dropped this about 80 chapters in... which i feel like is far enough into the novel that i can put it here and give... more>> my thoughts on it. sadly, i just gfound it very boring, i really wanted to like it and i wanted to get attached to the characters but nothing really interesting happens here and the characters arent compelling enough to carry the novel. the concept is interesting, but i feel like it wasn't fully utilized. it felt repetitive after a while and i wasn't hooked enough to finish it.  <<less

wow. what an incredible novel, so good in fact that I've pre-ordered the official translation. but truly, it's a fantastic story and such a stand... more>> out from the sci-fi genre in general. amazing world building, compelling characters, tear jerking plot, breathtaking romance, it really has everything you could look for in a novel. would recommend anyone who even a little bit interested in fantasy or sci fi or reading to take a chance on this and check out the official translation.  <<less

read this directly after little mushroom, expecting it to be overshadowed by it in my mind but damn i was wrong. leans into a more... more>> futuristic version of earth rather than a dystopian one and again, truly a masterpiece of sci-fi writing. the plot is so incredibly details and tightly written, not a single plot hold could b found not matter who closely you try to pick it apart, time travel is an incredibly complicated genre to write and is usually done quite lazily but Mist is an example of who it Should be written. characters were excellent, really fell in love with the side characters here and I do love a silent brooding but secretly soft love interest. everyone please read this.  <<less

this is a novel i didn't expect to move me the way it did and out of all the non historical based ones I've read,... more>> it has stuck with me the longest. compared to the other non fantasy modern novels I've read this one has both the strongest character writing and the strongest plot. rather than relying on cute moments or contrived drama thrown in to keep the readers entertained, your distance manages to use a relatively simple concept of age difference to tell a thought provoking story about two characters at different stages of their lives finding each other at the right them for them. the theme is so relevant to everyday people and it really made me think about the ideas of youth and growing older. the writing is emotional and striking i really can't praise this book enough.   <<less