Discussion Thoughts on a novel I read, Solitary Great Dao

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by AardwarkThe2nd, Apr 21, 2019.

  1. AardwarkThe2nd

    AardwarkThe2nd (R-18 writer) Aardwark, the king of aardvarks!

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    A few days back, I made a post on what type of novel you would read to the end, based on good/ bad points of the novel.

    Winning was - Great world building and innovative battles/ romance bad enough to claw your eyes.

    That was my opinion as well - Solitary Great Dao would be perfectly described by that

    First things first, you won't find Solitary Great Dao translated anywhere - there is MTL with term glossary on LNMTL though.
    https://lnmtl.com/novel/solitary-great-dao

    Good Points of this novel...

    I don't think I have found a world building equal to this novel's and I don't think I ever will. Economics of how a sect functions and resource building and allocation, stuff that's usually left vague is focused on in this story. Every sect in this story is special - there are like a thousand sects in this story and each one of them has a certain uniqueness.

    Battles are great - the author tries to innovate and it is pretty good. The reason why the top sects in story are at top can be clearly seen - they are just too ridiculous. Pocket worlds, infinite mana, karma based skills and space focused battle techniques... The cool stuff comes pretty quick.

    Also, this story has a huge number of epic events - like MC ends up facing a epic arc one after the other without breaks. Save the world from alien outsiders, save the sect from invaders, save the girl from her pursuers, save the ancestor's treasure from greedy thieves... It is high octane action, and tons of it!

    MC has personality, individuality and character. You'll root for him and he is pretty funny. Side characters are pretty cool and he has a bunch of pets as well. The girls don't have a bad personality, mostly.

    Bad points now...

    Terrible romance - The romantic arcs are the worst, and MC's girls are pretty usually damsels in distress. The one that isn't has more problems.

    The poems -The author throws poems and Classical Chinese shit like its out of style. The story takes place in a era similar to Hundred Schools of Thoughts - there are hundreds of sects in story. And every sect has a two sentence poem for it, a background, specializations... basically, worldbuilding that you wouldn't get for the MC's sect in any other xianxia is given to ALL the sects in story.

    Poems are everywhere. The author adds poems to fill wordcount, half are classical, half are original. There are so many that starting to translate this work would make you want a degree in Chinese Classics.

    There are other bad points as well, but these two are the most salient. If this novel (or any other novel of this author) gets TLed, I'll be eager to read it. Still, the author's novels are a pitfall for most translators.


    Reason - The fucking poems. It is on Qidian and all, but that can be circumvented.

    SGD was originally written on Qidian, so it wouldn't be the best novel to pick for translation. It was the last novel that the author wrote for Qidian (he switched publishers to Ireader and wrote three more novels there) so you can try to TL the other works of this author. Still not advisable though.

    Because of the fucking poems. They are the worst.

    So done, I just wanted to make a post about a random novel I read to 1000 chapters on LNMTL. Sorry if it was a waste of time for ya.
     
  2. SoulZer0

    SoulZer0 Heaven Refining

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    It's Chinese novel. It's bad by default.
     
  3. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    Don't know, man... it might just be a matter of personal preference, but this doesn't look like something I would read even if properly TLed, let alone MTLed.

    But since u love it, good 4 u. :blobsmilehappy:
    As 4 me, finding novels that suit my exacting tastes is difficult, even tho I periodically comb Qidian 4 raws. :blobsad:
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2019
  4. TianKrea

    TianKrea 『Novice』

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    Reverend Insanity will change your view immediately.
     
  5. kuu0haku

    kuu0haku [ ]

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    He probably posted that to get a rise out of someone or I'm just reading too much into it...
     
    TianKrea likes this.
  6. xiansho

    xiansho Well-Known Member

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    The mc seems to me just an edgy teen trying to sound profound, and it's the case for most characters, while there are many cases of forced cruelity, which's needless, and is there just so that the author can show how cruel is the mc.
    Moreever, most of the mc choices are stupid, and the story is filled with filler.
     
  7. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Guess worldbuilding is filler now? Also, I think his choice is somewhat practical, or at least I never found a large hole in the plot yet. Quite good and not as bad as you make it to be.