LCD Moon’s Labyrinth

Does anyone have recommendations for stories that don't fall apart after the first act?


The only Korean story I read that fits is Stop Friendly Fire but the last couple chapters ruins a reread.

 

The Second Coming of Gluttony gets better as the story goes on.
Trash of the Count’s Family starts slow but gets a lot better once you get the full main cast, although it's not everyone's cup of tea.
For non-Korean stories
Lord of the Mysteries had great arcs and so so arcs, but overall was a great story.
Worlds’ Apocalypse Online is consistantly good with a miss here and there.

 

So I guess many readers are already experiencing the symptoms of "plot burnout" with Moon’s Labyrinth? Like any lines mentioning "Shinhae" is just author's method to increase the word count and delay plot development and resolution?

 

It's no so much the plot as the pacing. It goes really slow in scenes that it shouldn't, then steams over more interesting scenes quickly. Also the big issue with Shinhae is telling not showing. Like we hear all about Shinhae from our main character when she's not present, then when she's around we barely have scenes with her. Basically there's not really anything in the novel to make the audience bond with Shinhae. The author is basically treating her as a MacGuffin.

 

From the same author Everyone Else is a Returnee

 

Emperor of Solo Play. It does fall apart at the very end, but that’s because the author bucked convention and wrote the ending he had planned from the very beginning, which trolled his diehard fans. I actually respected him more for that, to be honest.

 

The author of SFF has done several stories that feel similar in a few ways.

 

I couldn't get past 80 chapters into that novel, it was really bad. And I say that as someone that enjoys EER, SFF had me really bummed out.

 

To be fair the story's plot isn't as good and i could even say it is as generic as it is... The only difference is the beginning which is the betrayal and a daughter (mind you, i actually like the starting point of this novel with MC doing everything to make his daughter survive even against all odds by putting her on orphanage)... The moment the two POSs died, i felt like the story is pretty stale and the author introducing "connector terrorists" is just padding more plot that is just replacing the POS ex-wife and ex-bestfriend of his. Adding to that the dungeon crawling is hampered with the tidbits of non-moon events pretty my feeling on this novel burning out and my drive running out of gas. The harem part is quite meh for me too... I don't even know when did the princess even fall in love with the MC and only the beach episode affirmed it LMAO

And yes Shinhae is just convenient padding for author now. I'm starting to get sick of it.

 

So looking at the preview of the next chapter, THIS is the problem with this novel. You have a dramatic scene of Sungyoon seeing someone in the armor of Hahn Jungbum at the end of the chapter while they're being ambushed... and the author immediately cuts scene and they're back at Armstrong... OI! This is bad writing author! B A D W R I T I N G!

 

Im just reading because I’ve already invested time into it, and I’m curious about the ending,

 

I wish I had that fortitude.

There were novels I really liked but life got busy and I never bothered to catch up like A Will Eternal, Trash of the count's family, Book eating magician, LMS, TaMa.

 

I'm kind of sad that the writing isn't good because I really do like the story and love Shinhae and Sungyoon's relationship. I'll still keep reading for the ending but if it had better writing I believe it could've been a 5 star novel.

 

Korean novels tend to botch the last third or so.

 

THIS! Exactly this! Even in exceptionally well-written stories, few as they may be, it's so common for the author to faceplant in the final stretch as though they feel they wrote themselves into a corner and can't figure a way out. Even more disappointing is when they basically shrug and give up, dropping an ending that leaves you scratching your head.

I love reading Korean and Japanese WNs, but it's rare to find one that actually sticks the final landing.

 

The Book Eating Magician
Emperor of Solo Play. (though the ending trolled the fans, artistically, it fit perfectly.)

I suspect these authors had the ending planned before pen touched paper.

 

Emperor of Solo Play last chapter fits nicely andI agree the author already decided how it was gonna end. The last strech to it tho.. as most korean novels, it was rushed.

Going on topic, it seems the scenes jumps in this novel are going up and the plot of organizations popping up from thin air is going faster. Are we already in the last parts of the novel? Because it really seems like it

 

Book eating magician had other problems without the ending. Non stop fast pace, so there was no nuance, or building foreshadowing and intrigue. Theo had no personality he seemed like an MC doing things just because. The other characters were shallow and two-dimensional only being allowed 1-2 traits.

Though I will admit he did struggle at times, more so than Sungyoon.

 

Theo...well, he did seem to lack personality at times...

I think the rushing is because Korean webnovel publishers tend to be rather...demanding. Certainly in this story, it gives that impression.

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-editor-is-the-novels-extra/

 

Hmm, wonder if Soyoung is Jimin's younger half-sister.
Poor Jiyoon, she was just minding her own business and WHAM, got CEO'd of a company with a bad reputation.

Anyway the more I read this story, the more I feel like it would have been better served not to switch viewpoints to anyone that isn't in Sungyoon's circle. If the author concentrated more time on just Sungyoon + company, it would have been better.