🧜🏻♂️ Danmei Book Recommendation: 人鱼陷落 Merman’s Fall by 麟潜 Lin Qian
(Edited)
Spoiler-Free Introduction:
• Short and attention-grabbing blurb (reminds me a little of the blurb of another novel, “The Person I Buried Alive”):
我必须把他抱回家养殖起来，家里没有浴缸和大盆，于是不得不把他暂时放进洗衣机里。
一个小时后我才重新记起这件事，此时他已经被洗得很干净。
My translation:
I just had to carry him home and keep him. There was no bathtub or big basin at home, so I had no choice but to temporarily put him in the washing machine.
This matter only came to mind again an hour later; by then, he’d already been washed to squeaky cleanliness.
• Genre/setting/key words: sci-fi, ABO, superpowers tied to different animal/plant/object characteristics, secret service/special ops, combat involving firearms—very interesting combo
• This is the online book cover + character design pic, commissioned by Lin Qian the author from artist 黑芝麻糊再战一年戚顾本. Source: https://m.weibo.cn/5309242436/4541771297595368 (Lin Qian’s Weibo post on 25 August 2020, saying that it’s a Qixi present for everyone)
• A very long book, the DPUBFTB, 2ha, TGCF kind of long
• Fight scenes everywhere. Reading them in Mandarin takes a significant amount of effort, so for the first time ever, I wish to read some scenes in an original danmei book in English.
• I like the protagonist! He’s a bit gangster-ish; the mocking, smiley kind of teasing; and vulnerable in the best way (he’s been through a lot). He’s very strong (well duh, he’s the protagonist). He’s needy and indulgent towards his significant other, and thinks the world of him. Practices gender equality (in addition, he literally works in an organisation founded on achieving ABO gender equality). He’s the top.
• Love interest: Merman who can and does eat everything—including metal and plastic—and acts like he’s God. Very strong. Not at all interested in using thinking skills—“mind over matter”? More like “might over matter”. Somehow, he’s still cute.
• Plotty
Spoiler-free comments after reading 85% of the book:
When the love aspect of a very plotty book with advanced world-building and many colourful characters makes me cry, I know I’m gonna stick this book in the highest section of my danmei rec list (unless a literary mishap happens towards the end of the novel). Merman’s Fall has met this bar. I have some way to go before I get to the end of the book (it’s a long book), but if all goes well, I’m going to be very satisfied.
I love the themes in this novel. Humanity and the way we justify or fix the horrid parts of it. Self-interested, destructive capitalism that feeds into the arms race. Trying to fit in as an outsider whom many find repellent. Fitting in anyway and finding that you are loved more than you had thought. Environmental damage. Gods, these are hot topics nowadays.
Didn’t think I’d read an original ABO novel but here I am. ABO goes exceptionally well with sci-fi, superpowers, and lots of combat. (Oh yeah, if I must nitpick, one downside of this book is the lack of beta characters. So far, in this book I’ve seen even less “named betas” than “named women with significant societal power”—which, as everyone knows, are an unjustly rare species in danmei and media in general.)
Bai Chunian is now one of my favourite protagonists and top 3, uh, ♂️ tops. His personality really hits the right spots; an interesting mix of teasing, gangster/rule-breaker, professional, kind, coarse, and soft.
At the start of reading the book, it looked like Lan Bo/Rimbaud the dumb (I’m sorry but it’s a true descriptor in a way) merman love interest was gonna be responsible for most of the cuteness in the book. Bitter gangster-like Bai Chunian didn’t fit the bill. I was wrong. Bai Chunian is at least as responsible for the production of cotton candy. (This is not really a spoiler, because the author says in the blurb: Bai Chunian acts cute.)
Going off on a bit of a tangent: seems like if a name in a danmei book contains 白 Bai and/or 楚 Chu, it has a relatively high chance of being an elegant name and those words may make the name 20-60% prettier, especially if there is a special meaning behind the name.
Yes, I like Bai Chunian’s name. A pretty name for a pretty cat. He’s the sweetest.
Going off on a tangent even further: it’s been a few years but I have yet to see my surname anywhere in a danmei book. Maybe we are very straight lol. (By this logic, people surnamed 沈 Shen and 顾 Gu are very gay.)
I will end this with some lines from the book:
• (translated by me) “Now I’m the strongest rabbit on Aphid Island” —Lu Yan the strongest rabbit on Aphid Island
• (loudly proclaimed in English) “I’m Eris! I’ll beat the shit out of him~” —Eris
• (translated by me) “Gracious, getting suspicious over a mere [redacted to avoid spoilers]. Does [redacted] sound so unimaginable to you? You should stop going to school, save some education resources for the kids who can’t afford to go. Your contribution to the country is punier than the contribution of someone else letting out two farts less to slow down the greenhouse effect.” —Bai Chunian
• “Randi mebolu jeo?” —Lan Bo
***
This post has been updated as best I could. Notably, I have grudgingly changed “mermaid” to “merman”. “Mermaid” came more intuitively to me, because it’s the default in English and the ABO genders are more significant in this book than the female-male binary. But “merman” is the more appropriate term for Lan Bo, so merman it is.
I may update this post further later. The bulk of the novel is complete, but there are some loose ends that Lin Qian will probably tie up in the extras.
Let me know if this rec was fun to read/useful :3
My book rec list: https://tentative-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/624449567085248512/danmei-book-recommendations
Edited on 13 October 2021, will be updated as I go along. (For the uninitiated: danmei=gay Chinese fiction) Wanted to revisit the happiness
***
Adding on: thoughts about some characters and events (contains spoilers):
除了甜点师之类活得苦、死得也苦的实验体，我觉得全书最可怜的角色就是魔使。妈妈被人杀，他则被送到一个让他受尽折磨的地方，然后被那个杀他妈妈的人买回去当奴隶。就算李妄让他出去“逍遥”，并在他完成任务后赏他东西，只要昼无法违抗李妄的命令，只要李妄能够逼他留在自己身边（还违反他的意愿去摸他——换位思考一下，如果生活中有人这样对你，你一定会感到非常反感），黑豹就是奴隶。
昼好像没等到他期待的黎明，只等到李妄期望的一天天。他的束缚和白楚年/兰波、厄里斯/尼克斯的羁绊不一样，因为他是抗拒的，而且抗拒无效。我为他感到憋屈，也无法喜欢李妄，因为这个恶人没有恶报。不知道有没有一天能看到因果报应的故事，看到黑豹真正意义上随心自在。
P.S. 不相关，但我也想看萧驯大杀四方并让歧视他的（族）人被啪啪打脸😆他的确已经打了几个人的脸，但那只是几个人啊！其他人都是间接倒下的，不是他一个个直接揍/狙击的！我要看萧萧在众人震惊的目光下大——杀——四——方！！！ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
加了一些读后感，还有一个逗我开心的表情包，所以再转发一次
I really want to read this in English
