So i was checking around to see if i could find some good novels to read and I found this very strange page : https://www.novelupdates.com/series/my-fantastic-chef-wife/ After reading the summary, I got intersted because it sounded like a mix between "The feast" and "The field of gold" which are bith fun to read and really worth the time. However surprised surprised, at the first chapter, you find out that the mother-in-law drugged both her dauther-in-law (from her now dead older son) and her second son with an aphrodisiac for pigs so that she didn't have to pay for a new wife for her only left son .... And even more suprise, the second chapter, we learn that the main heroine fell that to be so very nive and actually wonder what she did to get such a nice mother-in-law (not sarcasm here ...) The son also ran away angrily and in the coming chapters, we learn that his character is kind of pathetic (and not in a pitiful way, just scumbag) So I went to write a review on this to warn people to not read this novel but before that, i wanted to check other people comment because i remembered that 4 reviewers gave 5 star to this novel. And there, I found some weird comment, here they are : So my question is, how can people read the same thing I did and get that kind of reaction ? I get that some writing may be subtil and people may get a difference version but that's like watching a rape and saying "They look so well together".
Either the links are pointing to the wrong novel or just that some people don't know what they are talking about (it can also be that they are doing something misleading whether on purpose or not)
Well if after, i had found out that the heroine is an anti-hero, that her mind is warped or that she has some other strange circonstances like that, maybe the novel may have been seen as a dark kind of novel but not, it's actually a bubbly fluffy kind full of good meals and laughs ... really weird
sounds like one of those masochistic trash novels where the cast is utter trash and the FMC (who sounds like she should be intelligent from the description) is made to be an utter idiot for plot purposes. Purge it with Exterminatus!
So you read 2 chapters and immediately go to the reviews, (not to give a review) but to tell other people not to read this novel.
Did I need to read more than two chapters to get a general idea then eigth more to make sure that the novel wouldn't suddenly change for no reason ? By the way, what did YOU think of the novel ? Because this is the point of the question (also when do you check the review ? 3 years after when the novel is over ?)
Yes, because you are giving a review about 2 chapters. You don't know whether the general idea changes after 2 chapters and the people trying to see the reviews for an impression of the novel also don't know what happens after chapter 2. What i am trying to say is, This is like giving a review of the cover of the novel, not exactly knowing what the novel is about because you haven't read it.
From the way you described, it seems like the setting is in a rural ancient times and it's the work of a desperate mother who had no choice? It doesn't seem really far-fetched. It's not an excuse of course, but I think the important thing here is that you as a reader, is mature enough to understand that this is fiction and you wouldn't be going around giving people aphrodisiac just because you read it once in a webnovel. In webnovels with this kind of trope, readers will just cherry pick on what they like. But it doesn't necessarily mean they actively support it. Webnovels are made by amateurs and sometimes one published chapter is so different in quality compared to others. So we just learned how to be patient. Second, these commenters had read more chapters than you, so don't ask here why it was possible. If you're still bothered with it, you can still write your review since you can add in your recent chapter, but don't judge other readers for walking the road you refused to walk in. If you managed to read the rest of the novel and your review is still the same, then so be it. The fact remains that people see things differently. I hate the english novel I Am Number Four for example, but I understand why others may like it. I won't condemn them, who knows, they may just like it for escapism or whatever, I'll just write my review and be done with it.
Everybody knows webnovels don't improve as time goes on unless the problem was it being slow-paced. More seriously (not that what I said earlier is untrue) even a five-star review states that the whole thing kind of gets swept under the rug.
Normally i would agree with you, there are a lot of novels that receive high reviews eventhough you can find the same concept in a thousand other novels. But you read 2 chapters, you can't give a review trashing a novel by only reading 2 chapters. There are dozens of novels that start of bad but end up to be great.
Is field of gold good? I dropped it really early because the side characters stressed me out so much.
Well, you clearly haven't read enough webnovels then, plenty of them get a lot better with time, especially if it was the author's first work.
So i went to read the raws and the translations bc this was kind of odd... The mc WAS NOT ok with it.... But some points 1. She didn't actually experience the rape she just woke up and found out it happened to the original body 2. She literally just transmigrated over to a mysterious new world 3. Since there original body already no longer a virgin, she technically doesn't have a choice anymore (historical settings are not nice to females) 4. (Im paraphrasing) mC says she happens to be a person that shares the same "frugal" mentality as the mother, and agrees that it was a clever thing for mom to do in the situation. HOWEVER, since it happened to her...thats "different" (ie. Mc agrees with the action, but disapproves it happens to her) To conclude: mc can scream cry and make a giant fuss, thus ruining any chance of having a semi normal life, or suck it up and go along. Since mc is suppose to be a pragmatic character based on the above, she picks option 2 Basically...the translation is technically correct, but missed all the in between the lines things