My history: Read Coiling Dragons. Liked it overall, slightly bummed how he kind of derped in the story at the second half. Sad, but still decent overall. So after 3 years of not touching another IET series, I plan to try my hand on a new one. Looking for suggestion on best one to read. I would hope for one with better attention on the second half, but it's ok.
I think that the trend of iet novel in general very slow pace in the beginning and millions of year near the end
If you’ve read Coiling Dragon then you should next read Stellar Transformation I think. The stories are linked a bit~
what have you done! you started the saltstorm!! the only novels from IET I like are Seeking the Flying Sword Path Swallowed Star Lord Xue Ying from best to worst
I dropped Swallowed Star but am up to date on all except it and nine cauldrons, which I am waiting to be finished translation since its so fking close but went hiatus...
The only IET novels worth reading are Coiling Dragon, Stelar Transformation, and Desoalte Era. The others haven't been fully translated and haven't been updated in nearly a year (I checked and most recent update I could find was July of last year). Since you've read Coiling Dragon the choice is regarding the other two. Stelar Transformation is Spoiler: Not really spoilers but I just wanted to compact my post a bit loosely connected story wise to Coiling Dragon. Timeline wise it takes place after Coiling Dragon but was actually written before which means Coiling Dragon was technically a prequel. I say technically because the connection isn't clear until the last arc. If you really liked Coiling Dragon you'll probably like Stelar Transformation but just remember it's FAR FAR worse than Coiling Dragon. The fact Stelar Transformation was one of the author's earlier works shows badly. The author has a bad habit of entirely forgetting hanging plot threads, giving the MC so many different weapons and things that he forgets them, or hypes of powers and weapons only to entirely abandon them after the author writes in a better weapon. Another issue is the cultivation system. Remember how in Coiling Dragon the system was pretty straight forward? Start out as a swordsman or mage until you reach saint level, then cultivate in your chosen element until demigod stage where there ceases to be a real difference between the two paths besides whether one specializes in close or long range combat. At that point you are just a Demigod of your chosen element plus any other elements you cultivate using clones assuming you didn't ascend your original body. After that it's just a matter of climbing the ranks with magic equipment following the same rankings system people do. In Stelar Transformations? The system is incomprehensible. There are so many paths that I don't even remember them all anymore and the difference between said paths is only somewhat explained. The author tries to act like the difference is paths is important but it's ultimately a meaningless detail that even the author forgets about during the final third of the story. The last problem is the romance. I won't spoil the important parts but I will say this to avoid the torture of waiting. After he meets her they fall for each other but she gets taken back home and the MC learns she's from a realm beyond his imagining. It's not until a good halfway through the final arc that they FINALLY get back together properly. For about 80% of the story she's nothing more than motivation for him to get stronger.... that's it. Desolate Era is Spoiler: Again only light spoilers for review purposes. Just wanted to compact post to read easier. One I actually haven't finished. I caught up with the raws and stopped reading because it was a series I liked better bing reading. But I read at least halfway so I can comment on it. Compared to his other two worlds I rank it above Stelar Transformation but a step below Coiling Dragon. The story is fairly straight forward while still having some twists to keep you on your feet. The first problem though is the romance is a bit slopy. He just kinda meets her, falls for her, then she ends up a damsel in distress almost immediately when big trouble happens. This is one of the main reasons I rank it lower than CD because while it's romance wasn't first class. It was great to watch him fall in love, get heartbroken, and find a new love who becomes a constant companion. It's not like his other two works where she gets taken away and reduced to mere motivation material. She still wasn't rescued up to the point I read so I have no idea how long this is a thing. But how is the cultivation? It's pretty good. It's more complicated than in Coiling Dragon but it's not a convuluted mess like in Stellar Transformation. Same with magical items. They follow a fairly complex system that's easy to follow if you just read through all the exposition. Similar to CD there are two paths which can be summed up as "Spirit path" and "body path" Now the interesting thing is the paths are not mutually exclusive and it's possible to train in both which the MC does do. The complicated part comes in the techniques. While in CD they followed the logic of elemental effinity here there is not a lot of firm logic with them and they just kinda do whatever the author wants them to. You'll understand what I mean if you read it Overall I kinda feel like Desolate Era is Stellar Transformations 2.0. Because it brings back a few themes or plot elements from Stellar Transformations but writes them much better. For example Stellar Transformations plays with the concept of Karma. But in Stellar Transformation it just dances around the topic and it's mostly meaningless. But in Coiling Dragon it's a major force at least early on. To the point bad karma can physically affect you and cause you to suffer a terrible fate. So you're free to read both but I liked Desolate Era more.
Just make a poll. I would say Desolate Era. Also avoid seeking the flying sword path and Lord Xue Ying like a plague. They are just bad, plain bad.
Also, Desolate Era +1 Stellar Transformation like others said, kinda meh. You could see he has improved in CD. While DE is better overall than CD. Seeking the flying sword path and Lord Xue Ying just doesn't click with me.
Desolate Era and Coiling Dragon is the only good novel IET made.. or is just me?? because i already read alot of novel so IET works became trash since IET works only have one pattern
Most cn web novels crap out after a few hundred chapters. Just enjoy the first few hundred chapters, and keep expectations low for the rest, especially the end.
I'd recommend Desolate Era and Lord Xue Ying , Desolate Era more so. Since I'm not huge on romance parts and IET is terrible at romance so I'm less critical. Desolate Era was more stable quality through the end than Coiling Dragon, though overall Coiling Dragon was probably better. Lord Xue Ying is probably his best novel when in comes to his companionship so far but it feels dry and later in the novel the cultivation system gets relatively generic and that is after the bloodline thing just being thrown away after being a focal point. The action isn't terrible and the plot has a lot of similarities to the later plot of Desolate Era which recycled the same basic plot for it's for it's three realms arc just with different enemies but there are differences and I haven't caught up to the translation, I'm about 50 chapters behind. Overall it is better than stellar transformations but worse than DE. Seeking the Flying Sword Path may actually be his worst novel, I kept trying to read it but it was just too much damsel in distress followed by weird cultivation system that was overly structured but seemingly vague at the same time... Really you can read any of the other works by IET and it will probably entertain enough to keep you reading through the end, except maybe Swallowed Star which probably had the best beginning of all his novels but slowly falls right back into being just above average and mildly frustrating to read sometimes.
Agreed! The translator suddenly stopped realizing so close to the end. It’s frustrating. I binged it thinking my timing will lead to completion. Swallowed Star had a superb start, but it just went off the rails with imo the worst last half of any of his novels
Personally speaking, I feel that Lord Xue Ying is a tier above his other works (but that's just me). Coiling Dragon/Desolate Era would be a good start.