First rec of 2022!! I’ve been busy with reading hahaha cleared about 16 danmeis so far less th
First rec of 2022!! I’ve been busy with reading hahaha cleared about 16 danmeis so far less than 50 days into the new year but not all of them have nice photos, so it’s hard to make banners sadly. Luckily I’m back with more!!This is a western fantasy one, which is rare; while the genre itself in danmei isn’t rare, finding one I like is really rare, because it’s awkward in my heard to read Chinese danmei but the names are like the Chinese versions of English names, but this one was easy to follow despite the complex, well-built plot!SummaryIn a world where demons, the church, kings and knights exist, Nemo is a librarian in a small town who’s led a quiet, uneventful life, until demonic creatures from the demon realm invade his town. Nemo meets a demon for the first time, who lures him to eat a piece of his flesh to ind itself to Nemo (for greater power, as demons cannot freely appear in the human realm unless certain conditions are fulfilled), and out of desperation, Nemo does so, but this supposedly high-ranking demon, instead of devouring him, ends up being his familiar as a grey parrot of sorts. The bird cannot understand why he was unable to devour Nemo, and as a high-ranking demon, he is actually, usually capable of striking fear into lower-ranking demons and other humans, but Nemo is not afraid of him at all.He chances upon Oliver, a neighbour who’s familiar, but whom he doesn’t know very well, about to be eaten by a jellyfish like demon, and saves him. They rush back into town to find Oliver’s father, only to see the man with a half eaten up, flesh corroded by jellyfish tentacles wrapped around him. His father asks Oliver to kill him, and apologizes, but doesn’t say what for. As his father’s body is eaten up bit by bit, Oliver bites the bullet and stabs him through his heart; unfortunately, the act is witnessed by royal guards, who thinks he murdered his father. Nemo does not fare any better, for the demon familiar on his shoulder is all too obvious - this is a time when the church and his town’s laws condemn any one who engages in demonic practices. Nemo and Oliver become fugitives with a huge bounty on them.In a world where people need to acquire citizenship from towns to survive, Nemo and Oliver, who’ve been ousted from their town and are now fugitives, have no citizenship, and nowhere to hide. Out of desperation and guidance by bounty hunter Ann, they embark on a journey to become mercenaries, which will grant them temporary citizenship and free them from guards’ hunts.As they become mercenaries, pick up more people from to join their ragtag group of misfits and battle threats coming from the church and the demon realm, Nemo and Oliver also have to answer to a long-passed-down prophecy of a legendary knight who will one day defeat the greatest demon king ever to be borne. Oliver, who is already a great swordsmen, has no idea who exactly his father was before he died, and Nemo doesn’t remember anything prior to being picked up from the forest by Oliver’s dad when he was much younger.They both learn to trust only each other, never backing away from each other despite their secrets, and being each other’s beacon of light, from start till the end.ReadNovel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Gorgeous artwork and print!! Characters1. 尼莫 莱特 Nemo Light - A gorgeous, dark-haired young man who has no inkling of his past. He knows that he’s different from everyone else, particularly because he cannot feel, and has no grasp over human emotions. Every reaction that he gives right now as a young adult is emulated and learned from watching others. He’s familiar with Oliver and his father, and after the demon attack on his town which leads to him and Oliver becoming fugitives, he starts discovering his sealed powers. No demon is afraid of him, even the highest-ranked of demons, which leads him to suspect… could he be that great demon king prophesized to destroy the world? He journeys with Oliver, Ann, Adrien and Jessie and as they clear missions, his identity becomes clearer as his powers get stronger. With the hate against demons, and with memories that seem to be his, but also not his at the same time, everything Nemo knows and everyone he loves is at risk. Really sweet and kind, and always very helpful. He’s slightly afraid of people being afriad of him especially once his identity starts coming to light but by bit, but Oliver has stood by his side, and chosen each time to stand by his side, no matter who he might be in the future.2. 奥利弗 拉蒙 Oliver Ramon - A blond, handsome young man who’s very lost in the beginning of the story, having lost his father abruptly and so many mysteries surrounding his father’s identity and death. He only learnt sword skills from his father for a few weeks before deciding not to take up a path that would inevitably filled with violence, and his father, out of love and many regrets, chooses to let him do as he wishes rather than force him to train, despite knowing that one day in the future, Oliver is likely going to have to face his destiny. Even with only a few weeks of practicing, his sword skills are one-of-a-kind, and when they meet Ann, a bounty hunter who decides not to surrender them to the authorities, he gets much more practice, and slowly becomes on par with Nemo as they grow even more skilled/powerful together.Finds that he loves Nemo about 100 chapters in, and at every turn when a bit of Nemo’s demon identity and powers are revealed, he chooses to believe what he sees, rather than shun him, and sticks by Nemo unconditionally, while also realizing that if Nemo truly is the demon king, he one day would have to kill him. Very level-headed, a little cold, has unwavering inner belief and conviction.3. 杰西 Jessie - A flirty, seemingly not serious man who’s really annoying; very talkative and is basically the (handsome) nuisance in the group; finds him way back to the group even though initially they don’t and cannot trust him, and even after the group leaves him behind on numerous occasions. He always turns up! His hobby is flirting with and teasing the stoic, aloof Adrien, and seems to know a lot of things, including who Nemo really is. Everything he does, he has a hidden agenda behind it. Also has a history with Adrien, not that Adrien can remember it in the beginning. He’s also vain as hell, having spent 5 hours in a bathtub once refusing to come out.4. 艾德里安 Adrien - A royal guard who lost his healer friend in the last war a decade-ish ago in the war against the then-demon king, and his friend ended up making a pact with another powerful demon, allowing the demon to roam the human realm with his body as a vessel. Adrien, devastated by the loss of his entire platoon and his healer friend, reports that his friend is now a demon, but no one believes him, and he ends up incarcerated by the church for years, depressed and feeling absolutely disillusioned, angry and hurt at the entire world.He meets Ann, Nemo and Oliver when the mercenary group takes on a job request by the healer friend’s mother, who wants to see Adrien. This is an almost impossible task, because he’s set for execution in a few days, and no one can break into the highly-secure prison. After the mother and he come to an understanding, Adrien is now a fugitive of the church, and Nemo, Oliver and Ann invite him to join their group.Other Things I Like in the NovelThe world-building is incredibly intricate and fantastic, but not in a way that leaves you wondering just what the relation is between all the realms, towns and different races of magical creatures are involvedThere’s an overall arc of Nemo and Oliver finding their true identities and having to deal with the prophecy while falling in love with each other, and also the smaller, but connected arcs of their mercenary group taking on quests and each quest reveals just a bit more about Nemo and Oliver each timeThere’s a single particular arc that gripped my heart almost as much as 2ha’s angsty chapters 260-290 did; it was amazingly written, the way Nemo and Oliver were separated for about 20 chapters, and the emotional and physical torture Oliver went through, while trying to keep to his principles, and his promise to NemoSide CP Jessie and Adrien I LOVEEEEEEE, these two playing adult games and “oh it’s just sex” but “oh we go way back and you were that xxx back then, why did i not realize it was you” and then not-deaths and pushing each other away and getting together in the endPlenty of logical, natural twists that surprise you at every turn!And so many separate, underlying relationships that I was surprised at the last reveal at the very end, and the father-son relationship that was revealed made me bawl?!!?!Tugs at the heartstrings even more because you realize some of the characters are obsessed with their own paths or with doing something because they’ve been waiting for hundreds, thousands of years, and have deep regrets for the same period of timePolitics, medieval times royalty drama, a magical plague, demonic cults, a corrupted church organization etc. - All very exciting!!! -- source link
#danmei#danmei recs#迷途