A guide to reading DMBJ novels
How (and why!) to get into DMBJ novels
I’ve been playing with an idea of writing a guide/introduction of sorts to the DMBJ novels, because I know the canon is complicated and may seem daunting, especially in English, but it’s so very worth it. So here it is! I won’t be assuming any canon knowledge, though I’ll mention places good to jump in if you’re familiar with some of the dramas. The links to the translations are at the end of the post with an explanation; for the most part I'll be using names from there.
The very basic information is that 盗墓笔记 Daomu Biji (Grave Robbers' Chronicles) is a (still ongoing!) series of novels by Nan Pai San Shu (Xu Lei). It's very popular in China, has a lot of various adaptations, and only a teeny tiny English fandom. It started as a fanfiction of another grave robbing series, Candle in the Tomb, but I don't know that one.
As the title would suggest, it's about grave robbers, so yes, that's what our characters do. There are related scary elements and monsters (I'm a scaredy cat, but for the most part, I was okay? Just a few parts that I had to read in sunlight ). Relatedly, there's a lot of hurt/comfort, physical and emotional, and it's great.
The novels are written from Wu Xie's first person point of view; the other main characters are Zhang Qiling (Xiaoge) and Pangzi. I love DMBJ for the characters: Xiaoge is one of my absolute favourite characters in fiction ever. But it's not just him. This is a long series, spanning decades. You can see the characters grow and change. You can see Wu Xie change from … maybe not naive and innocent, but more so than the rest of the characters, at least, to what fandom dubs a mob boss/mafia widower Wu Xie (the widower part is important, but luckily doesn't stick xD ) to finally settling into who he is and a semi-retired life. (A lot of those changes have to do with Xiaoge.) Xiaoge wasn't even sure if he was truly human at the beginning of the series, didn't even remember his own past, but he does eventually get his found family, love, and a home. Pangzi finds his friends he wants to spend the rest of his life with. They're not called the Iron Triangle for nothing.
And—obligatory "this is not technically BL" disclaimer, but I'm not sure if the author remembers as much—the relationship between Wu Xie and Xiaoge is really the heart of the series. And it's such a slow burn. They don't know each other at first—Wu Xie doesn't even really like Xiaoge when he sees him. Five novels later, Xiaoge says, If I disappear from this world, no one will find out, as if I have never existed, without a single trace left behind? Wu Xie tells him, If you disappear, at least I will know. At the end of the main series, Xiaoge says, I thought about my connection with this world and realised – it’s only you. Wu Xie tells him, If you need someone to accompany you until the end, I will not refuse. (translations from here https://strictlybromance.com/pingxie-s- … -excerpts/).
And that's only the end of the main series. Their relationship progresses. And Xiaoge motivates a lot of Wu Xie's actions even if not physically present.
And—the plot is fun, too? There's a multigenerational conspiracy, ancient secrets, and supernatural elements. And it all unravels in really interesting ways.
All the novels!
So when I say it's a long series . . . Here's a chronological list to begin with:
The main series - 9 volumes
Zang Hai Hua (ZHH, Tibetan Sea Flower) - it's the first sequel; unfinished
Sha Hai (SH, Sand Sea) - the second sequel; unfinished
Shi Nian Zhi Hou (Ten Years later) - this is a short one, but very important
Chongqi (CQ, Restart/Reboot)
Deng Hai Xun Shi, Wan Shan Ji Ye, Wang Mu Gui Yan (DHXS, WSJY, WMGY, Looking for the Dead in the Sea of Lights, Ten Thousand Mountains in the Extreme Night) - in progress; the first two parts are done, and we're waiting for NPSS to publish WMGY.
Aside from that, there are New Year Extras stories which tend to be longer and plotty, many other extras of varying length, and Yucun Biji (Notes in Rain Village).
There’s also Lao Jiu Men (The Mystic Nine), but personally I’m not interested in it at all, and also it's set in the 1930s. Qian Mian (A Thousand Faces) is pretty much a standalone and offers a fun femslash pairing, but it’s also not finished. You’ll enjoy it if you like horror though—some fragments are really scary. Nanbu Dang’an (Southern Archives) gets its own section at the very end :D
This post is not a summary of the novels, but if you want that, you can find a summary of the main series and ZHH here https://strictlybromance.com/dao-mu-bi- … asterpost/. Below I'll post some introductions with notes.
The Main Series
The logical starting point, right? Except . . . The first five books have an official English translation that's a wild mess. Really, it's. Very very bad. Also, those five books become six in English. After that, there's a fan translation by merebear, and reading that is much more fun. The good news is that merebear is currently translating the first novels too! She's already into 10 chapters into book 2 of the English edition, so yay! So you can now read the full first part in English on her page https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … iji-vol-1/ [или на русском: https://vk.com/page-181177439_55246708 — перевод tari, Толстого Хомяка, https://librebook.me/zapiski_rashititelia_grobnic — перевод Анастасии Шацкой].
Because of that numbering change between Chinese and English, it's a bit tricky to establish which volume we're talking about. I'm gonna use merebear's numbering, so:
Vol. 1 - Cavern of Blood Zombies
Vol. 2 - Angry Sea, Hidden Sands
Vol. 3 - Bronze Tree of Death
Vol. 4 - Palace of Doom
Vol. 5 - Deadly Desert Winds
Vol. 6 - Graveyard of a Queen AND Ancient Building Under the Dark Mountain
Vol. 7 - Stone Shadow in Qiong Cave
Vol. 8 - The Finale
Book 1 and 2 mostly introduce our characters and start to show them growing (slowly!) closer—and the plot starts. Book 3 is Wu Xie's solo adventure. Book 4 is where the Bronze Gate is introduced—but what the Bronze Gate is, and what lies behind it, is one of the biggest secrets of the series. And the rest, well, you'll have to see
How to start reading? Right now, I'd say, read what of the first novels merebear got translated, and then see if you can handle the official ones for the rest. If not, the novels summaries I linked are pretty detailed, and you can read those and head to book 6 https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … lost-tomb/. Alternatively, try and read from book 5—that's only two volumes of the bad translations, and it's a good introduction to what happens afterwards.
I'm hoping to update this in a few months and say "you can read everything by merebear now!"
Important: if you finish book 8, don't skip the postscript https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … ostscript/!
Drama info:
Book 1 got adapted into The Lost Tomb 1, which isn't bad, but best enjoyed if you like the characters, I think? It's got some OCs that never show up anywhere else and minor plot changes, and inexplicably an iconic scene from book 7 that doesn't make much sense here. I do like the cast, and also it's got fun pingxie love-at-first-sight/soulmates/speeddating thing going on.
Books 2-4 got adapted into two dramas (The Lost Tomb 2 and The Lost Tomb Heavenly Palace in the Clouds). The first one is fun, with awesome Iron Triangle friendships, and the second one is a complete mess. More importantly, neither really serves to show what was going on in the novels.
Book 3 got adapted into a donghua, The Buried Tree Devil, but I haven't watched it myself. From what I know, it's fairly faithful to the book, aside for one detail.
▼spoiler⬍
Xiaoge is in the donghua, but that's mostly relevant in the last episode only.
Books 5 to 7 are covered by Ultimate Note, which is a great adaptation for a change, and a good place to jump in—also because if you watch UN, you can either go to the fan translation of volume 6 and read from there, or jump straight to book 8 and all the angst. I'd recommend book 6, but I also really get wanting to know what happens next.
Book 8 is not yet adapted for screen, and as far as I know, there are no plans for it, which is the worst news of this whole post.
If you’re interested in watching the dramas, the best place to start is Ultimate Note—I have a post about it here https://laireshi.dreamwidth.org/51417.html.
The sequels - Zang Hai Hua and Shi Nian
The thing with Zang Hai Hua is that it's one of my favourite DMBJ novels . . . but it, and Sha Hai, are both unfinished—cliffhangered, even—and also don't make much sense if you don't know what happened in book 8.
So, spoilers ahead.
Xiaoge leaves behind the Bronze Gate—he goes to guard it in Wu Xie's place, leaving him with a promise of a reunion ten years later (is he really expecting to come back? Who can tell…). Wu Xie, uh, does not deal with it. At all.
ZHH is set five years into his absence. It's Wu Xie getting Xiaoge-baited around the place. ZHH is where we learn about Xiaoge's (terrible) childhood and get more insight into his character. Yeah, it's unfinished, but it's so good. Once you're done reading ZHH, you have to read Three Days of Silence - a very short story that's possibly NPSS' best piece of writing ever. My favourite translation is here https://6989kaye.carrd.co/ (Completed Projects -> Various Stories by Nan Pai San Shu) [или https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … f-silence/ перевод Tiffany X, или на русском: https://ficbook.net/readfic/10473782 — перевод ladyxenax]. There's also a prelude to ZHH of sorts, also best read afterwards, and you can find it here https://selenuntius.tumblr.com/post/662 … definitely, translated by selenuntius.
Sha Hai is set nine years after Xiaoge left. Wu Xie is . . . a very different man to the one in main series. He's scheming to take down an old conspiracy, continuing the work of previous generations of his family (and some others), and to help Xiaoge, and he's very much "the end justifies the means" person here. He's dark, he hurts others, he hurts himself. …it's pretty fun to see? I've only read parts of Sha Hai, though, because a) well, no Xiaoge, b) there are parts of it focused on a completely new character too.
Drama info:
Zang Hai Hua is only being filmed now.
Sha Hai has a 52-episodes drama that changed a lot of the novel, but also provided an ending. It's got really good parts and it's got really bad parts. The main problem is that, imo, it makes no emotional sense without knowing about the Bronze Gate, Xiaoge, and ten years, and Sha Hai TV provides no context for those.
Shi Nian
Shi Nian is relatively short, but packs an emotional punch. However, this one REALLY makes no sense without the previous ones (at least book 8), because, as the title says—it's Ten Years Later. It's the story where Xiaoge returns. It's great, and it's a must-read once you get into DMBJ.
Important: if you finish it, don't skip the postscript https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … ostscript/!
No drama, no plans.
Chongqi
Okay, I don't have much to say about that one. I haven't read it, other than a few Xiaoge-relevant parts. I probably won't read it, though the parts I read were excellent.
It's set 3 years after Sha Hai, the Iron Triangle are retired, and Wu Xie is sick.
Note: merebear has it as Chongqi 1&2, CQ 2 being Hei Xiazi's adventure in South-East Asia, but then she also lists the next novels as Chongqi/Restart 3&4, which isn't accurate. (I think NPSS initially posted DHXS as CQ 3, but he's since changed that.)
Drama info:
The Lost Tomb Reboot, starring Zhu Yilong, which is simultaneously the reason for why I got into DMBJ and my least favourite adaptation of all. And yes, I watched it first, but I don't recommend that route, because I think it did a big disservice to the main characters and the Iron Triangle friendship. That said, Z1L certainly is very pretty when he coughs up blood.
Also, all those good parts that I read were absent from the adaptation.
Deng Hai Xun Shi, Wan Shan Ji Ye, Wang Mu Gui Yan
There's a bit of wish fulfilment on my side here, as in, I'm hoping we'll get to see WMGY…
Okay, so those are listed together because so far, WSJY followed straight from DHXS, so it's really one long novel divided into parts. It's great. It's also one of my favourites. It's got amazing Iron Triangle dynamics, angst, lots of foreshadowing for more angst, and a weird, creepy atmosphere to it that I enjoy, even being as easily scared as I am. The plot is interesting and I really want to see where it goes.
But is it a good starting point . . . Probably not. I mean, it's the most recent series so far, and it does build on what happened before. You could read it and you wouldn't be lost if you don't know DMBJ—it's a whole new adventure! But you would miss some good things, too. Also, it does promise to delve deeper into some secrets of the DMBJ universe.
I really do like it a lot.
Extras etc.
There are so many DMBJ extras: the New Year extras and the short fun chapters clearly written for the fans.
Special Mention
I'm gonna say that Three Days of Silence that I mentioned in the ZHH section is the most important extra, and also one of the short ones. My favourite translation is here (Completed Projects -> Various Stories by Nan Pai San Shu).
New Year Extras
2009 - set before book 1.
2014 - Fantasy Extra: I love this one! It takes place…just before Sha Hai, I think, but to really make sense, it's best read after Sha Hai. It's one of my favourites, and it's got a great, angsty Wu Xie…and a whole other story
2015 - also set before Sha Hai, also best read after Sha Hai. Very nice Wu Xie and Xiao Hua adventure.
2016 - Fishing King Extra: ahhh, the feels in that one! It's the Iron Triangle living in Yucun and stumbling upon an adventure . . . but the feels. The feels—about all of them settling together, about Xiaoge settling down, about Xiaoge and mortality… It's really good and I recommend it to everyone.
2017 - Blind Tomb Extra: okay so this has the potential to be AMAZING…If only it were finished!
Most of those are longer stories.
Other extras
There are SO MANY. Seriously, just look: here https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … ji-extras/. They're also listed chronologically there, so that's an easy reading guide. The ones listed as "read after Ten Years Later" are mostly domestic fluff and living together with Yucun and dealing with the Zhang family in fun ways for a change.
Yucun Biji - Notes from Rain Village
YCBJ MY BELOVED. This is such a gift from the author. It's got pingxie being very married and Iron Triangle being very domestic, and yes it's literally two volumes of them living together, starting a restaurant, and building a garden. There are also ghost sightings, or are there, and eventually, Many Cats.
It goes either before or after Chongqi. It's amazing. It's wonderful. It's the best. I can't believe it's canon. I softly cry from happiness every time I think of it.
Merebear translated the whole thing, but selenuntius also translated most of the second part https://selenuntius.tumblr.com/tagged/y … iji/chrono if you want a non-MTL translation for those.
Characters
This is a long series, with many characters. I was wondering who to include, and I decided on only the Iron Triangle. This isn't a full description of the series, and for most of the post, I do suggest reading chronologically. Our main trio deserves an introduction, but all the other characters are introduced as the series go, some even in the sequels. So, here's some basic information on Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling, and Pangzi. I wrote a guide to watching Ultimate Note earlier, and you can see it here; there's a list of other characters with their UN actors. And here are two very useful tumblr posts on DMBJ characters and names: first linkhttps://kolachess.tumblr.com/post/64199 … dont-trust, second link https://my-otp-list.tumblr.com/post/618 … e-abyss-of. Those also explain their names in more detail; I just listed the full names and the most often used ones.
Wu Xie (Tianzhen, Xiao Sanye)
Our narrator and main character! He grows and changes so much during the series and it's amazing to see . . . And it also makes it hard to describe him xD He's very intelligent and can be a manipulative bastard, but he'll stop at nothing to help people he cares about.
He comes from a grave robbing family, but book 1 is his first time in a tomb.
Zhang Qiling - Xiaoge (Menyouping)
Xiaoge is a very mysterious character. He doesn't know much about himself either—he doesn't remember his past. Discovering it becomes a major plot point. He's a skilled tomb robber and a fighter, and he was hurt so much during his long life but remains fundamentally good.
Menyouping is what Wu Xie calls Xiaoge in his narration—and never aloud. I like how it changes from a throw-away name used for someone he didn't really like and whose name he didn't even know to what's basically a pet name. (At some point, Pangzi gets a Menyouping-based nickname for Xiaoge too. It's only used once, but it brings me a lot of joy.) Anyway, this is why the ship name for Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling is pingxie. Menyouping gets translated to Poker-Face in English versions.
Pangzi (Wang Yueban, Wang Pangzi)
Pangzi is a tomb robber from Beijing. Between Wu Xie and Xiaoge, he's the steadying presence. He cares for his friends a lot, and when he loves, he loves deeply.
Bonus: Southern Archives
Southern Archives https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com … -archives/ is a standalone novel, set in the 1910s-20s, more-or-less finished (the main plot is done; the ending suggests a follow-up that never comes) with two unfinished extras. You can read it without knowing anything about DMBJ—it might be an interesting experience, in fact. That said, I think it’s best enjoyed after reading at least the main novels, preferably also ZHH, for some easter eggs.
As I’m the one writing this and I’m very biased, I need to mention that Southern Archives is great and amazing and wonderful and everyone should read it :D …It’ll break your heart, but it’s worth it! The main character, Zhang Hailou (Zhang Haiyan, Xiao Zhangge) is incredibly queer and also chaos incarnate and I love him to bits.
There’s a mystery, some fun action, Zhang Hailou being awesome, and feels. So many feels. The novel starts with Zhang Hailou working with his partner Zhang Haixia to investigate something possibly supernatural. They are very, very married. …I did mention that it'll break your heart, right.
Zhang Hailou also appears in: New Year Extra 2014 (Fantasy), New Year Extra 2017 (Blind Tomb), and a few short extras.
Where to read
You can find the English translations here https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com/ (book one in progress; everything after book six done). She's going by the Chinese editions, so that's actually book 2 in English. [или на русском: https://m.vk.com/pages?oid=-181177439&p … 0%BD%D1%8E — первод tari, Толстого Хомяка, или в переводе Анастасии Щацкой: https://librebook.me/zapiski_rashititelia_grobnic, https://tl.rulate.ru/book/51411, http://samlib.ru/editors/s/shackaja_a_w ]
The first six books have an official English translation https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451 … chronicles, but yeah, as I mentioned, it's horrible. It is very bad and reads more like an abridged version targeted at edgy 12-year-olds than an actual translation. I know it might seem like an exaggeration, but it’s not: there are paragraphs missing, missing dialogue, changed dialogue, censored parts, and the characters’ names are a mess. It also makes it seem like everyone hates everyone else for some reason. It's really a shame.
Merebear’s translations, linked above, are a heavily edited MTL, true, but she has Chinese-speaking beta-readers to check over the quality, and it is a much, much better read than the official translations. I know, I know, I also saw MTL and screeched in horror, but I really wanted to read it, so I gave it a chance, and I was very pleasantly surprised. She’s started translating the first six books too now that she’s caught up with everything else and NPSS is slow to update (probably working on the ZHH drama script…?), so hopefully soon we’ll be able to read the first six novels in a good version too :D
And to sum up, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it is best to read chronologically, unless you want to work around the official translations. But after book 6, I really recommend just going in order for the best reading experience (then again, I skipped a lot of SH and CQ, so really, once you get a feel for the series, do what's working for you ). And the New Year extras really are fun.
On that note, don't miss the short extras page!
You can find the Chinese versions here http://www.daomubiji.org/. I think the newest parts are on Weibo or WeChat—Merebear links those.