I read a loooot of BL novels…it’s probably most of what I read these days. This part of my site is where I review various BL novels. I don’t know whether they’ve been translated into English, but if you’re curious about them, you can always try MTL’ing them.
About BL novels, and how I got into them
Chinese BL novels are pretty tame due to censorship, so actually pretty platonic in a sense. The main site I read from is Jinjiang. They had a really strong censorship and self-censorship mechanism against BL novels at some point, but I think some authors are edgiing in for a comeback.
Anyway, despite the censorship, I feel like Chinese novels does the “shuangwen” (~refreshing or satisfying) style of writing pretty well. Screw character development! Especially screw character development at the expense of another beloved character dying! Most of the time, I just want to read to relax. That being said, some overdo it and becomes pretty Jack Sue.
As for how I got into them…well, I was a fan and still occasionally keep up to date with various BL manga. I read hetero/non-romance stuff for the longest time and then I read a yaoi with the conclusion that it was pretty damn cute. So basically, the pathway was general manga -> BL manga -> BL manhwa/webtoons (Korean) -> BL novels (Chinese).
Nowadays I pretty much only read Chinese BL novels. I occasionally still read non-romance stuff if it seems to pickle my interest enough.
What I don’t read
I wouldn’t even attempt reading most of these, but sometimes I give them a go if I can’t find anything more interesting to have a look at.
- Anything with mpreg pretty much, so I usually pass on these themes unless “no mpreg” is an obvious label
- Omegaverse (ABO)
- Ge’er/brothers world
- Insect fusion
- Prehistoric beast/orc world (but ok when no mpreg)
- Cultivation (xianxia) => usually too long and boring
- School life => too old for it, but will read interstellar military academies
- Melodrama/angst => unless I really want to cry for some reason.
- Love triangles, polygons or heartthrobs => I’m a staunch 1v1 reader!
- Gaming / holographic => generally not that interesting to me
- BDSM themes => I’m too vanilla for this…
- Rebirth novels => especially if MC at fault in first life
- Western fantasy => the worldview is not for me
I do tend to read
- Transmigration => into a novel, another world, multiple worlds (QT) etc
- I really like stuff where the top is basically the bottom in the original work
- Infrastructure / farming => I definitely like infrastructure slightly more - bring on the soap, glass, paper and other goodies! But farming is great too
- Supernatural, the “weird” world, exorcism and other stuff like that
- Interstellar => I especially like fighing vs zergs/other empires with mecha!
- Zombie apocalypse and other apocalypse
- Mystery, detective/police, suspense in general, but I prefer if there’s a supernatural/fantastical/MC has a golden finger type of twist
- MC or ML becomes a pet or object and the other one raises them => Ahhh, it’s so cute
- MC or ML are someone in a phone app/game that the other plays
- MC has a system or something that wants them to act a certain way, but it always fails which turns out to be a not so bad thing after all
- Healing / salvation: MC and ML heal each others physical pains or traumas. Both of them deserve to be happy together!
- Mind reading: A theme that kind of recently became super popular to the point of overuse but I really dig it. The gossip is sometimes too fun!
- Creating stories in another world: These stories tend to have lots of mini stories in the main story I think they make a satisfying read because of the career line, but almost always has a weaker romance line.
- Handing over cheats to the country: Also a satisfying read coz of the career line, and less romance line. Sometimes the patriotism goes over the top, but I still kind of like it (shh)
- Super sweet romance in general. I support the couples rolling in bed a lot too! Staunch 1v1 person so no messy exes or crushes or one night stands (I know, ideal world wise it’s almost impossible but let fiction stay entertaining!)
- Infinite worlds (well, usually too much brainwork for me, I only read this if I want to feel a bit stupid)
- Entertainment industry (can’t say I like it but…)