The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 1

Great novel and it arrived in perfect condition, the print and art work is very beautiful 😊 I look forward to more volumes in the future! Very recommend 🙏

This is the first of MXTX's books that I've read. And I just fell so in love with her writing style. I'm thrilled to have an official English translation for this and her other novels. The story is discussed in other reviews, so I won't go into detail. But I was charmed, amused and genuinely emotionally wrapped up in the characters and their struggle to get to their happy endings. The physical book itself is a work of art! Beautifully made, with lots of pretty art inside as well. The glossary, character info, setting info & cultural information in the appendixes is a fantastic edition! I am very much looking forward to the rest of the story to come. :D

For starters, the actual book itself is gorgeous! The cover is smooth and nicely made and it feels great to hold! The interior is well designed too, with each regular page having a decorative header, and the glossary pages having a small graphic on the outer edge to differentiate which part of the book contains the story and which contains the glossary - Really helpful for readers who find themselves flipping to the back for reference while reading! (Publishers of all fantasy novels, please take note….) There are also several wonderful black and white illustrations by the cover artist throughout he book to showcase the book’s major events, and each one perfectly captures the tone and character expressions of each moment! The story itself is wonderful as well, being a comedic take on tropes of the genre, but is never fully above poking fun at itself. The main character is pretty oblivious despite being what *should* be a powerful all-knowing omniscient reader, and it’s a delight to both read his snarky and relatable inner monologue and the book’s author perfectly setting him up to suffer the consequences of his own faults. For people experiencing this series for the first time, I can guarantee this book will be even more satisfying on second read once all four volumes have been released (and ESPECIALLY if the extra chapters detailing certain side characters are eventually included). As for the translation, I’m really pleased to see how cohesive it’s been made! I think it was a great choice fitting genre terms in the glossary instead of including them all as foot notes, and leaving the most important moment-to-moment references to keep readers immersed. A lot of care has been put in to balance making it readable for newcomers with making sure everything is kept in the spirit and intent of the original work. I was pretty worried it would be a tough translation considering how much our main character likes to think in memes and euphemisms exclusive to Chinese culture that may be lost on a reader who isn’t as familiar with those. But I’m really pleased to see they did a great job conveying the intent of those parts without going too deep into explanation OR over localizing it. I’d even be comfortable recommending this book to an absolute newcomer to the genre, which is something I didn’t expect when given the choice between this and the author’s other two works. As a final note, I personally love that Seven Seas put in the time to source artists and translators from the fan community for this series of novel releases. It’s obvious that the people who worked on this love these stories and have an incredible amount of respect and admiration for the material. Overall, great release! Looking forward to volume 2!

I preordered and have been patiently waiting for this and lord… I have never waited at my door for so long for an item to come like I have with this novel! The translation is wonderful and it’s amazing that it has a glossary for newbies that enter this community! It also helps explain lots of things in general and personally my first journey into the xianxia genre was through SVSSS which is funnily enough a very helpful introduction into these novels. (Despite having no clue of such settings or elements of these stories I became invested in this and was educated so much just by the MC!) So combining that and the glossary is wonderful and I just hope new fans have a fun and joyous ride that is learning and diving into the beautiful world of cultivation and martial arts. Cause I sure did all while having a laugh thanks to Shen Qingqiu’s hilarious comments throughout the story! I encourage all those who want to revisit or explore these novels by MXTX to do as you won’t regret it! Also.. Luo Binghe is the best man ever and has ruined my life.... :’)

Thank you seven seas for publishing this I owe you my life🙏 Please please do Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (novel) and The Husky and his White Cat Shizun next ^_^