The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, vol 1

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 339
Series: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

Half-demon Luo Binghe rose from humble beginnings and a tortured past to become unrivaled in strength and beauty. With his dominion over both the Human and Demon Realms and his hundreds-strong harem, he is truly the most powerful protagonist… in a trashy webnovel series!

At least, that’s what Shen Yuan believes as he finishes reading the final chapter in Proud Immortal Demon Way. But when a bout of rage leads to his sudden death, Shen Yuan is reborn into the world of the novel in the body of Shen Qingqiu – the beautiful but cruel teacher of a young Luo Binghe. While Shen Qingqiu may have the incredible power of a cultivator, he is destined to be horrifically punished for crimes against the protagonist.

The new Shen Qingqiu now has only one course of action: get into Luo Binghe’s good graces before the young man’s rise to power or suffer the awful fate of a true scum villain!

I’m new to reading danmei (though I was vaaaguely aware of the author, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù), and had no idea where to start, but I read a whole article about this one on Tor.com and I was intrigued. While “screwball comedy” (as it’s described in another Tor article) doesn’t really accurately sum up my interests (in fact, would usually send me screaming in the other direction), the description of the main relationship of the books had me intrigued.

Aaand the actual reading experience was a lot of fun?! Okay, there were jokes that just made me want to facepalm, and sometimes I really couldn’t believe the dense lack of self-knowledge on the part of the main character… but I really wanted to know how he managed to gain control of the narrative, and whether he’d be able to save himself. I really started to care about Shen Yuan’s affection for his student, and I laughed at some of the ridiculous situations he ends up in.

Needless to say, I’m hooked. And these books are beautifully produced, with illustrations and notes and a character list at the back (which can really help if you start losing track of the names). I hope I’m getting more volumes for Christmas… [and I did!]

Rating: 3/5