Have you ever had a novel where you Rage-Quit?

To Be a Power in the Shadows!
I drop books all the time but never this early. I don't know if it counts as a rage quit but I figured it was junk that wasn't worth my time by the end of chapter 2! And it's really too bad because I sort of love misunderstanding comedies, but this one didn't have the slightest bit of charm to it.

Haha. The Chinese zombie apocalypse stories have the dumbest storylines! Mostly they just seem like excuses for giving modern-ish people super powers and there's little regard to examining how this new world is supposed to work.

 

I got to the end of volume 4 of The New Gate wondering when it'd start getting interesting....
I guess I've done that to a lot of novels, actually.

If I had to pick a novel I actually got physically angry at, it'd have to be A Monster Who Levels Up, but my problem was that I didn't drop it and instead stuck around for the shitty romantic subplots to take over the entire novel and drown out the action (and ultimately come to nothing) and for the ending to provide absolutely no character resolution.

 

I recommend going back to To Be a Power in the Shadows! if you are bored. It's basically about a Chuunibiyou gaining great power, but is too deep into their delusions to realize they are real. I like his subordinates since they are extremely capable but, because the MC saved them, have this sort of blind faith in the MC.
It's funny but not extraordinary.

The CN zombie apocalypse story was like a breath of fresh air at the time, due to the twist it had. But, as expected of China, they polluted that fresh air into suffocating smog.

 

It's not that I got bored. I got disgusted by the kind of writing it has, and I didn't feel that it wouldn't do any of the things that I look for in a misunderstanding comedy.

Nah, the zombie apocalypse stories are uniquely bad. I could tell after reading the very first one. I have no idea why they're all about superpowers either. These kinds of stories work best because they're about normal people driven to extraordinary circumstances.

 

Alright. Not sure what you like, but if you're looking for a fun read try Super Minion or There is not Epic Loot here, Only Puns.

Sorry, I meant this one specific novel that I've been mentioning. I think it is God and Devil World. It had an interesting twist to the litrpg system for its time (which is why it used to be popular), but everyone got disgusted by the rampant racism.

 

I only read Chinese and Japanese web novels. I can read Chinese novels in the original and they often have specific content that I can't get anywhere else. The Japanese novels I can drop at any moment guilt-free and sometimes they'll have interesting ideas to read for a bit. If I was going to read English-language novels, I'd just read published books instead (or nonfiction) so there's no reason to amateur works. This is especially true for otaku-oriented amateur works.

 

I recommend giving Super Minion a try at least. It draws more influence from superhero comics than CN or JP culture.

Also, I don't want to be rude, but 'Chinese and Japanese web novels' are just amateur works made in China and Japan. They are often not fully fleshed out stories, just the same as English amateur works. A translator often has to completely rework sentences or even paragraphs because the lines did not make sense in its original language or was filled with typos.

Some English web novels were made and refined over a long period of time, like how the author of Mother of Learning took 11 years to write their story. This was with consistent releases and amazing world building!

I understand not wanting to read fan-fiction, I myself am not a fan, but you are really blocking yourself off from some really amazing works!

 

Oh, I know that Japanese web novels are purely amateur work and that it's mostly junk. I'm totally okay with that though and I can appreciate some of the new ideas they're able to come up with and I'm also okay with dropping them when they get stale.

I can't agree when it comes to Chinese web novels though. Sure, a lot of them are junk, but I avoid them and there are a lot of very good books as well. Some of the latter are able to do things that I haven't seen any English-language books manage to pull off, and there really isn't any substitute for them. In particular, the historical novels are untouchable.

English language web novels make me feel like I'm wasting my time. I'd much rather read Bujold, or Kay, or LeGuin instead and I know that I'd find those books way more entertaining. Also, I find the idea of a book about comic book styled superheroes extremely unappealing. I barely have any interest in superpowers to begin with, and the way this kind of story talks about them doesn't do anything to pique my interest.

 

…So you dislike superpowers but are fine with CN web novels?

 

Absolutely. There are a lot of different kinds of Chinese web novels out there, and what I look out for the most are historical novels and books with female protagonists. Right now I'm reading a book about the Balkans in the 19th century and it has no powers of any kind in sight. The last bunch before that were all based on the entertainment industry.

 

Got it.

I will admit I'm not much of a fan of historical novels. Some are good, but most are "I'm the step-child of Liu Bu! Since I know the future, and somehow all the steps to improve gunpowder, I will work hard!" or if it is a female MC, "Oh my, I'm the princess consort concubine! Your ancient court politics are no match for my assassination techniques. Plus, I am an incredibly skilled doctor that can somehow work without any of the modern tools modern doctors rely on!"

I've read some really good ones in the past, but most somehow have immense knowledge... like they have ready access to Google! I'd understand if the MC introduced the 'cure' for Scurvy and was praised as an amazing doctor. Not for stopping the Emperor's heart attack in the middle of a court session (or somewhere public) with some needles they somehow obtained.

 

It's probably because you haven't read any good ones. Which I don't really blame you because they don't get translated. The real strength of historical novels is all about how they can make their setting come to life and populate it with historical figures. The amount of richness a writer can add to this kind of story is something no fictional setting can match because there's a limit to their imaginations whereas real life doesn't have to worry about limits.

The stuff you're talking about? That's generally written by people who don't care about the history they're writing about so it doesn't come across as sincere.

 

it isn't limited to just one story, stay away from any novel with the "rape victims become lovers" tag, its a common trope with chinese authors that presumably have never spoken to a woman and the obly means at their disposal for introducing a romantic subplot is to write some outlandish circumstance where the two are forced to have sex and a relationship developed out of it

 

I don't remember the novel name as it was one of my first, but it was the generic died, got recainarinted - and now revenge on those who wronged me! Though the plot was everwhere, and the FL f-ed up every chance she got. and it was frustrating to read how the FL and ML got into different familial conflicts all the time.

 

Thats convenient isnt it "have not read any truly good chinese novel". If it was that good to get such a praise for you who is a native chinese or idk, then logically shouldn't it be translated already by those chinese translator in novelupdates. Dont try to use that sentence as an argument because your point totally doesnt makes any sense at all

 

Also i fcking stopped reading chinese novels since years ago so i guess yall could say that i ragequited every chinese novels. Amount of disgusting racism, overnationalism, and generic as hell plots that somehow keeps getting translated by those chinese translator. Like how the hell can those chinese protagonist still have the time to be a nationalistic faggot in isekai where literally no one except mc themselves dont know that so called "scientifically advanced china where in reality they just stole othere nation's technology" And "supposedly rich culture that caused the whole world to regress several years because some random chinese decided that it was a good idea to eat bat soup because of its so fake af traditional chinese medicine" nation. Totally bullcrap piece of work
Edited because a typo

 

For me it was Library of the Heavenly Path (I think I'm remembering this right...), I enjoyed at the start because I kinda like these stories where MC kinda teach others and cover various of skills. However as the story go on the entire novel boiled down to MC act like a total dumbass carried by his ability and accidentally fuck people over. Its just so mean spirited after some time and thing is MC is not likable. He has no redeeming feature beside his special ability. Low IQ, low EQ, he is the definition of someone who is completely undeserving of what he has.

I think there was another one where the guy's sect get destroyed and he was left as like the last heir or w/e. He get teleported back to the main sect and is given his own mountain/division to run. Its suppose to be all jokey stuff but one thing that happens right after is ofc he "accidentally" piss someone off and he feel bad about it. So he tries to make up to that person and find that person has problem with sex. So he create a pill that would make you be able to have sex for a long time, sure haha but then he randomly feel it to his two disciples. Ok? then there like some description of both of his disciple had from what I remember literally fuck a hole in the ground and at that point I was like ok never opening this shit ever again. Like wtf is that messed up shit.

 

Good to western reader doesn't mean good for Chinese reader. What western readers find are good novel might not be popular in China. Also there are literally hundreds thousands of novels that are hundreds to thousands of chapters long, there no way translators could have read even a small % of them. There are definitely a lot of bad novels but doesn't mean good one doesn't exist. Think a bit before ranting.

 

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun. People kept recommending it to me because "it's such a good if angsty danmei". Well I hated it. MC is insufferable and ngl outright evil and unsympathetic. ML is into the MC when he's a teenager and I hate the trope of "I can't be a Mary Sue because I suck at cooking" so I literally couldn't care less for him. Secondary ML seemed nice but I got spoiled and apparently he's a snake. Deleted it from my reading list in less than an hour.

 

Novels where:
The MC be like: Oh Shit! An aphrodisiac! I can't hold it, it's too dangerous to be in my body, the yang energy is too much, I need a yin energy to balance it out.

The ML be like : Oh shit, I'm sorry, it's my fault, I'll give you my virginity then.