The Untamed: The Official Artbook

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (Creator)

A beautiful artbook and guide for the explosively popular Chinese live-action drama available on Netflix!

The Untamed is an adaptation of the bestselling fantasy novel series Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, also published by Seven Seas.

This stunning hardcover collection is a full-color guide to the rich world of historical fantasy The Untamed. This live-action drama series–an adaptation of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s New York Times bestselling novel series Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi–became one of the most popular dramas in China with over 9 billion views and fans located all over the world, including those introduced to the series in English on Netflix. This full-color hardcover (300+ pages long) is an art-and-text guide featuring beautiful shots from the show, character features, cast interviews, explorations of fashion and settings, illustrations and concept art, song lyrics, and more!

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, LGBT

312 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2024

About the author

Associated Names:
* 墨香铜臭 (Chinese)
* Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
* โม่เซียงถงซิ่ว (Thai)
* 묵향동후 (Korean)
* Мосян Тунсю (Russian)

Reviews

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my sweet time going through this. Just savoring every bit. The art is beautiful, and the writing is informative. I think the most interesting thing I learned is that the Yin Tiger Tally is two tiger heads intertwined together. One good and one evil, both tearing away at each other with their mouths.
I don’t remember that ever being mentioned in the series itself. I wonder if it was always just additional info you’d have to look into, or if I simply missed it. Either way, I really liked learning that. Since Wei Wuxian is the one that created the design of it, it kinda shows a little more of his character.

My only issue with this book is some of the editing errors. While not many, I agree with those that have done video reviews for it, that for the cost of the book they should have triple checked for errors before it went to print.
Otherwise, this was great. Happy to have it on my shelf now with my other MDZS items 🤍




—————————

Seven Seas might as well just have full access to my bank account at this point. I’ve spent more money on their books this year than anyone else 😭 I’m not even sorry though. From the looks of it with the 2024 releases, they’ll be taking more next year. 😆

[Sollenbum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful coffee table book filled with artwork that helps visualize the setting and the characters in the series. It is nice-to-have but in no way necessary for an understanding of the books. But for people who have watched "The Untamed", it does allow the reader to anchor the experience of reading the books in the memories of having watched the drama.

[kristiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went out and bought this book the day that I finished watching The Untamed, which became one of my all-time favourite shows.
This beautiful book is so much more than just an art book, it is a piece of this incredible story that I get to keep at my home forever, and I will keep going back to it to admire everything that went into The Untamed: the actors, the visuals, the story telling, the emotions, the overall artistry.
I really appreciate the interviews, the concept art and all the other unseen glimpses that went into the show that this book provides. Even the language used to describe every little detail!

[lane ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ]

i need this like oxygen

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've bought an artbook/photobook for anything I've enjoyed watching, and so it was kind of funny being reminded that all artbooks of this type are basically the same: beautiful to flip through, but textually full of such actual nothing it's a stretch to call it fluff. Like, a typical interview exchange in this book goes like: "In your opinion, what were some memorable scenes?" "They were all memorable!" Okay. I think the one actual new bit of information I got was that the scene where Lan Wangji first plays Lan Yi's guqin was meant to be a representation of what it's like to perform Inquiry which...is actually pretty cool. This whole time I thought he was just vibing, but instead they start tossing out stuff about the id and how when you perform Inquiry you're looking through yourself first and THAT is the kind of stuff I would've loved to read more of elsewhere.

There are other highlights though: the detailed look at the set design for the sects was fantastic, as were the looks at all of Wangxian's outfits. (And the full page of shippy Wangxian pictures right before the lyrics for "Wu Ji" made me laugh.) The shape of the book does make it a bit unwieldy to flip through, but really the big determining factor for whether you're going to get this is if you feel the need to be a completist when it comes to English language MDZS/CQL books. If you do, it IS a beautiful book to have on your shelf (like, the cover gets me every time) and that makes up for some of its defects, but if you're on the fence or only interested in the interviews...yeah, don't do it. It is very much what it is: a pretty puff piece.

[Sofia Yordanova]

Купих си този артбук като подарък за Коледа, а свърших с четенето му чак сега през юли. Реално беше интересен, просто четох съвсем по малко от него всеки път. Като цяло съм доволна от него. Ужасно красив е! И информативен! За съжаление обаче има едно "но". В него има и немалко грешки. Грешни имена на актьори, повтарящи се описания, липса на заглавия на песни в the credits... Като за такова скъпо колекционерско издание, аз бих очаквала повече редакторска работа. Но пък мога да похваля преводача. Не знам какъв гений е бил, но притежава английски на ниво C3, защото използва такива думи, които и най-ерудираните англичани вероятно не знаят (но въпреки това текстът е incredibly dry). Впрочем много ми хареса да слушам песните на персонажите и да чета официалния превод през това време. Това ми позволи да се запозная с нови песни и да опозная по-добре тези, които и без това бях слушала. Общо взето, като цяло съм доволна.

[Blibli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is My baby and If something bad happens to It I will seriously contemplate suicide.

[Kim . ' ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[Queens Love Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In my heart, the greatest charm of adapting a story into a film or television production perhaps lies in letting the world of your dreams come into existence into this world.”



The Untamed: The Official Artbook is a great follow-up for anyone who’s already watched the series. It’s full of concept sketches, behind-the-scenes photos, character notes, translated lyrics, and design explanations that add more depth to what’s already on screen. You can see how much detail went into the set pieces, weapons, accessories, and wardrobe—things that are easy to miss when you're focused on the story. The added context makes each scene feel more intentional and carefully crafted.

I would've finished the whole thing in one sitting, but I got sick and couldn’t focus on much reading. Then I had to stop again for a visit to the office, only to get sick again the day after. Still, even reading it in pieces, I learned a lot—like how voice dubbing is commonly used in Chinese dramas, which was new to me. Some of the Chinese terms weren’t explained, and a short annotations would’ve helped. But it’s packed with great extras: storyboards, translated lyrics, interviews, character song info, and even music sheets. It’s more than just a collection of art—it really shows how much went into the production.

If you’re already a fan of The Untamed, this book gives you a better understanding of everything behind the scenes. It makes you notice the little things that add up to a bigger picture, and helps the story and characters stick with you longer. Also, I can’t not mention this—the actresses who played Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing are ridiculously gorgeous.

Date Read: 2025.07.17

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to my thoughts on the artbook for The Untamed, let me start with the positives. It has lovely pictures that mix concept art with scenes from the series and some wonderful detail on the costumes, props and general look of the series. I also liked that information about the soundtrack was included. The interviews were sometimes interesting, sometimes middling, but where this book sadly falls down is with the appalling editing... or rather lack thereof. The book is riddled with errors. One notable one is on a character profile, where the character's names are given, only they are names for the wrong character -- it's a copy of the information for the character on the previous page. There were other instances too, and it's a shame as it ruins an otherwise excellent book. Since it's such an expensive volume, I would have excepted them to take the time to check it properly, especially since it's picture-heavy, so there wasn't even that much text to proofread. It not for the lacklustre editing, it might have received full marks from me, but as it is I can only give 4.5 stars.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pretty book, and one I'm glad I picked up. Seeing this book up for preorder at the time is what pushed me towards watching the series. I'm a sucker for concept art and beautiful stage props, so this was a must for me. I haven't seen anyone's review of it, but some of the interviews seems a bit weird towards the end. Not sure if the Chinese version had it in the printing as well or not, but for some of the actors it seemed like only their replies were translated while whatever question they had been asked disappeared into thin air. Not sure if that was intentional or if maybe it was a misprint, but it would have been nice to know what questions some of them had been asked.

That set aside, this is still a really pretty book. And if you're a fan of the series I would think it's still a must if you can afford the price, especially if you cherish the cast.

[Michell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro muy bonito, con una calidad muy buena, las fotografías están preciosas y es muy lindo recordar los mejores momentos de la serie y leer una que otra curiosidad, sobre la producción, los personajes y la historia en general. Sin embargo hay algunos errores como el cambio del color de algunos de los clanes en el índice y la repetición de los nombres de Lan Xichen en la información que debe ser de SiZhui; amo la canción de Wu ji, pero la colocaron 3 veces en el libro y ese espacio hubiera servido para colocar un poco más de información.

Es un artbook precioso, pero de verdad espero que la editorial tome en cuenta las peticiones de los fans y arreglen los errores en próximas impresiones.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Untamed is truly a treasure of a drama.
~quote from voice actor Shi Zekun

This artbook is full of interviews, information, and artwork from the production team and cast of The Untamed. It even includes English translations of the songs from the series. I highly recommend this to fans of the show or book series.

[Isabell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good art book. I especially loved the pages about the different outfits of WWX and LWJ, the official art works and the part about the soundtrack (listening to the songs while reading the relating translated lyrics make the music hit even harder once more)..

[Barrita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es precioso, lástima que tiene tantos pequeños errores

[Lois Bujold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very pretty! Of interest to fans of the show The Untamed, people intrigued by set and costume design, and by Chinese aesthetics (and the intersection of these.)

Ta, L.

[Diana Prince · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful art books I have ever seen and a true labor of love for this show and the world behind The Untamed.