Do you think CN is better than 《A Song of Ice and Fire》？

It's a different thing for me. The act of having a translator means that the books has been edited somewhat. It's the reason I don't read English wn. To me, it's part popularity based on the rankings provided by NU and part "someone thought this was good enough to translate it".

It's the same as having manga or manhwa of a series, I would not have known about deathmarch (or any of the jp wn) or tale of demons and gods if it weren't for the drawings.

 

Huh? Isn’t a language being compared to a novel here?

 

Yes

 

Then expect a lot of material that might seem subpar to you. Translators work for free and most of the time, they dont do it in a profession quality. Not saying it devalues their work and output but most of the time, it might noy be comparable tp a professional one.

If you buy material from people like Martin and other professional, you'll be expecting something because you parted with your money to get that expectation. Free translated webnovel, I expect it to be at least MTL and leave it to my brain to connect the dots.

 

You're comparing an entire language literature novels over a series?

GRRM is good but mister "What was Aragorn’s tax policy" isn't that comparable since there might even be other untranslated or unknown CN that has the same or more political intrigue and even better battles (Most of battles were said and mentioned only not seen) in ASOIAF.

 

For me, the comparison is apples to oranges. There might some Chinese work in par with Martin or Tolkien but we never get to know it becuase of a thousand reasons. Maybe it exists, maybe not. Even then, translated novels are usually materials that gain really good traction and a good investment to sell for many publishing house.

 

Can all novels of [Country A] be compared to [Novel A]?

Yes, and many of them will be much better than [Novel A], it's what happens when you compete millions against 1.

 

its mdzs... i remembered wrong T^T

 

one western novel vs an entire genre from an Asian country.

As an Asian, it snarks of the 'West is always better mentality...' Never mind that it wasnt an point to point comparison

 

Yeah, it's a very dumb comparison, I have no idea what goes through the mind of someone that thinks it makes sense to compare all the literature of one country to a single novel.

 

As Chinese as it gets, man.

And to answer the OP's question it's entirely subjective. I personally tried reading ASoIaF and couldn't even figure out what was happening because I'm a brainlet, so obviously I'd prefer to read some CN novels over it.

Personally I think that the average quality of writing for yiyin novels is equivalent to the cheap paperback thrillers like the stuff from Clive Cussler or James Rollins, you know, the books sold at places that don't normally sell books. They're not edifying or thought-provoking, but will keep you entertained well enough.

 

I am fairly certain that if you do a proper translation and editing for the upper crop of CN novels, they would blow Martin's snuff jerk-fic out of the water. The problem with CN novels is that (correct me if I'm wrong) there isn's a single (modern) Chinese novel that was properly translated, edited and proofread into English.

 

Id compare a lot of CN webnovels to harlequin novels. And honestly how do you write a novel on the level of Martin and tolkien without it being censored to hell and back

 

some people on this site use CN as an acronym for 'chinese novel(s)'

since a a lot or people are triggered, I think you should edit your post to this:

is there a chinese fantasy novel that is better than 《A Song of Ice and Fire》?
because obviously people who don't like fantasy wouldn't like a song of ice and fire that much.

My answer to the rephrased question: no, I tried reading chinese fantasy novels several times, could never get as engaged to them as 《A Song of Ice and Fire》

 

I'd say that A Song of Ice and Fire's main selling point is the political intrigue - it is based on the War of the Roses after all. And when it comes to political intrigue there are a million Chinese novels that would blow it out of the water.

 

Another newb ignorantly comparing western bestsellers with web novels...

 

I'd actually recommend people to read "A Step into the Past" It had plot twists and foreshadowing that could compare to A Song of Ice and Fire, imo.

 

There are even a lot of Chinese books that are much better than this. I wouldn't rate Huang Yi among the top tier of writers.