By Priest and Marmaladica. Released in China on the JJWXC website. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Yuka, Shry, amixy. Adapted by Ealasaid Weaver.

This is something of an epic, with gods, demons, tales from the age of Chaos, reincarnations, etc. There’s a few big battles, some risky maneuvers, etc. And, of course, there’s the simmering love between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei, which, no surprises, boils over towards the end of this book. It’s well told. That said, if you were going to ask my favorite parts of this second volume, without a doubt it was the two scenes Zhao Yunlan has with his parents, where he deals with coming out and their reactions to it. It’s one of the few times in the book where everything is taking place entirely in the human realm with human emotions, and both parents, knowing their son and his past relationships, being doubtful that this is the one, and also worried about the trouble he’ll have as a gay (well, bi, but Zhao Yunlan pretty much says “gay now” a la Willow from Buffy in this book) man in this world. I loved these scenes to bits.

We start off in much the same vein as the last book, with mysterious ailments that turn out to have supernatural ghost causes. We’re once again introduced to cool as fuck cop Zhao Yunlan, ultra repressed teacher (and soul-executing emissary) Shen Wei, the adorable dork Guo ChangCheng, Corpse King and tsundere (?) Chu Shuzhi, and of course fat cat Daqing. As the book goes on, though, we begin to expand the plot, mostly as it becomes even more obvious that Zhao Yunlan is a reincarnation of the Mountain God Kunlun. He ends up in a situation that opens his heavenly eye (which I assume is the same as a third eye for all intents and purposes), and heads out to a confrontation for the Merit Brush. More importantly for him, though, he finally manages to flirt hard enough to get Shen Wei to agree to be with him… for however much longer that may be.

I like Shen Wei, really I do. I get the sense that the last book in the series will be where he really comes to shine. But I joked on social media that he was sort of like Roger Daltrey in The Who, ostensibly the frontman but outshone by everyone else in the cast. It could simply be that “tightly repressed yearning to the point of agony” is just not my thing. It is more likely that Zhao Yunlan tends to swamp every single scene that he is in, which is almost every scene in the book, by his force of personality and coolness. I also was not expecting to be taken in by the subtextual homoerotic relationship in this book (our two leads are pretty much text). But yes, the wet and earnest Gao Changcheng and his puppyish increased devotion to sullen Chu Shuzhi, who is driven crazy by our Pure Young Lad basically just being good for no reason at all… it’s cute. I ship it. So… hoping for good things from you in Book 3, Shen Wei!

The third book is the final one of the series. and hopefully won’t kill everyone off. Till then, I can absolutely see why danmei fans love this.

By Priest and Marmaladica. Released in China on the JJWXC website. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Yuka, Shry, amixy. Adapted by Ealasaid Weaver.

Its always tricky when you come at a series after everyone else. The hype can sometimes be too much to bear. I was being told about Guardian years ago by friends who had seen the live-action drama loosely based (fans always emphasize the “loosely based”, wanting you to be sure to know how many liberties the TV show took from the source) on this online novel series. When Seven Seas announced it a year or so ago the excitement was greater than almost any other danmei title they’d announced before. Hell, even the cover art draws you into the hype. Just look at those two! That said, the question as always is: is this any good or not? I’m delighted to say that it is. Guardian is a compelling supernatural police procedural mystery, with a great protagonist who’s a classic “jerk with a heart of gold”, and even a lot of the “jerk” is for show. As for the other guy on the cover… well, he’s the mystery.

Zhao Yunlan is head of a special department in the police that deals with supernatural crimes, and he and his somewhat pathetic newbie underling are called upon to investigate the scene of a very grisly disemboweling on the street. This leads him to a university, where he meets Shen Wei, a handsome young professor who Zhao Yunlan is immediately very, VERY attracted to. He proceeds to try to get to the bottom of the case while also flirting heavily with the awkward Shen Wei, who is giving off somewhat mixed signals. As they uncover missing underworld artifacts, a young woman desperate to keep her grandmother alive, and an anthropology field trip that gets somewhat hijacked by ghosts from the past, Zhao Yunlan is determined to find out why Shen Wei is so compelling to him… and so familiar.

BL is not really my wheelhouse, so I will simply note that the chemistry between these two is amazing and those who are here for that will not be disappointed. As for the rest, Zhao Yunlan is an excellent protagonist and a good detective, combining human psychology with a knowledge of the netherworld and various tricks up his sleeve. He tends to put himself in harm’s way a lot, as you’d expect from a “jerk who’s not really a jerk” guy, but he’s savvy enough that it comes off well. The supporting cast are mostly good, though it took me a while to get used to Guo Changcheng, who is the very definition of “comedy relief”, but does vaguely grow over the course of this book. The cases were also well done, though I am hoping when we hit the second book we’ll get a mystery that does not revolve around a woman being the cause of most of this. And the writing was extremely good (and, of course, that means the translation and adaptation as well), despite the need for lots of footnotes for Chinese terminology.

Basically: readers will enjoy this. Go get it. I give it a 9/10, minus one point for falling down right at the end and mentioning the dreaded word “cultivation”.