Review: Wen Guan (问棺, or Reading the Remnants) by Qi Xiao Huang Shu

Wen Guan is one of the most popular baihe novels of the last few years (at least in mainland China, and possibly among Chinese-literate audiences. There is virtually no awareness of it within international baihe fandom, despite my very best efforts). It has spawned an audio drama adaptation (starring a solid A-list of baihe audio drama voice-acting royalty, not to mention Zhang Zhe (张喆), famed among baihe audiences for dubbing Li Ningyu (李宁玉) in the read-as-queer-coded Republican Era spy drama The Message (风声)), a full-length fan film by one of the most respected fanvidders working in the field (also starring a solid A-list of baihe audio drama voice-acting royalty) and an upcoming audiobook (starring a slightly less grand but still solid list of baihe voice actresses). 

( spoilers for Wen Guan )

I read the Chinese original of the novel on Changpei. An English fan translation of the novel was begun some time ago (I'm the editor for this translation) but seems to have gone on hiatus.