The Poem of Marin

The Poem of Marin is a Western-fantasy web novel by Banbu Lianyu, serialized on Qidian and running over three million Chinese characters. At the outset, the protagonist, Marin, is reborn with memories of a past life into a world resembling a steampunk era. Here there are trains, factories and smokestacks, but also witchers, the Church and indescribable alien beings. Marin is extraordinarily gifted; adopted as a boy by a witcher, he is drawn into the world of extraordinary powers, and later enters the Church system by chance, systematically studying spells and arcane knowledge and standing out among his peers through astonishing learning ability. At his side is a clingy leopard-cat girl; the daily cat-petting, meat-eating and domestic warmth form the story's rare soft passages. Set in "Abild," the novel's worldview blends Warhammer Fantasy-style civilization-versus-Chaos conflict, witchers and power sequences. The protagonist must face both the temptations and risks of extraordinary power and the invading forces of Chaos: he burns bound nonhuman beings at the stake with white flame while witnessing "the last glory of the steampunk age" and the madness that follows. The style is cold and restrained, the battles and ensemble scenes vividly drawn, and the setting devotes considerable attention to talent and bloodline—suited to Western-fantasy readers who prefer a weighty worldview and a somber tone.