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Scum Villain's Self-Saving System Book Review

Title: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System.

Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Genres: Fantasy, Xianxia, Comedy, Romance, Action

Main Tags: System, Isekai, Cultivation

Chapters Read at Time of Review: All.

Translated: Complete Official Translation

Length: Around 350,000 words (published into 4 volumes in English)

Smut Level: For most of book 1.5, last few chapters do contain a sex scene but it’s a 3.5 smutty.

Warnings: mild homophobia, a few semi-sexual scenes are dubious consent at best, a man kisses a corpse, a teenager has dirty thoughts but no sexual action is taken, the single full sex scene is a bit r*pe-y (I have seen good arguments for both sides (one that its r*pe, the other that the MC’s dark thoughts are because of his internalized homophobia), either way its violent and painful sex.)

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Scum Villain is Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s first work, and it tends to get often overlooked by the two novels that followed it. And while her later works are beautiful works of art, its Scum Villain that I’ve read the most times. Because it’s funny.

This is not a book that takes itself seriously and it carries a pretty lighthearted tone and script throughout most of the novel. (One of the biggest jokes about Scum Villian, is that from any other character’s perspective, this novel is a dark fantasy-borderline horror. It is a great example of how MC’s are the ones who set the tone of a work).

It is an isekai story that follows one Shen Yuan, who wakes up in the body of Shen Qingqiu, a peak lord, and a powerful cultivator, (Who also happens to be the first major villain from a webnovel Shen Yuan likes to read, who meets a violent and horrible death at the end of the novel). Shen Yuan is accompanied to his new life by a System who gives him missions and ensures he stays in line (and doesn’t act in a way that’s out of character for the original Shen Qingqiu).

A large part of the novel is Shen Yuan trying to not fangirl at the new situation he is in, while also roasting the author for all the plot holes he now has to fix if he wants to survive. But his main mission is “taking care” (read bully) the main lead. And this is where things start to go wrong, because Shen Yuan is fond of the male lead and bends over backwards to make sure he’s alright. (I could list all the things Shen Yuan does to help Lou Binghe (the main lead), and trust me it is a LIST, but that would be fairly spoiler-y, so I will not do that.) Of course, Lou Binghe sees all this caring behavior and falls head over heels in love, and thus begins the start of “Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System”.

There's a lot more I can say about this book, but I don't want to get into too much detail and spoil the read. (Maybe later I will post a longer and spoiler-filled review.)

In conclusion, I would say, that if you like more fantasy/comedy based BL this is pretty good one, also if you are just starting to read Cultivation and Xianxia works, this book dose a good job of explaining all the terms and getting you caught up in a lot of the lingo used in BL and webnovel communities. A long, but good read for beginners to the genres.

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