The Best Part of NU.

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by otaku31, Jun 1, 2021.

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  1. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Oh my, what heresy! I should report you for hijacking! :blobhero::blobhero::blobhero:
     
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  2. Dokja6116

    Dokja6116 not suspicious

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    I don't know why but this feels gay
     
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  3. sleib

    sleib Well-Known Member

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    Review of Invisible Dragon by ranstorm:

    The greatest masterpiece I have most probably ever read. It's got everything required for a perfect novel. Even under pressure the author was able to bring such an epic story. I'm moved to tears. The grammar and writing was excellent. There were certain moments I had to reread certain parts to understand the profoundness of the text. The Main character. The MC in this novel is too wonderful, maybe too complex. You'll shed tears when you reach the chapter/chapters where you'll learn his past. A tragic protagonist with a purpose in life. An important thing to note is that this novel does NOT have any kind of plot armor which makes it much more realistic. The Romance. The romance was just lovely. The love triangle in this novel can be considered one of the best I have ever seen. Also the main female lead has a proper REASON to fall for the mc, unlike some other novels. If you're curious,
    Spoiler
    duike: shanga how can you do dis to me! whats so good about that dragon hes so shitty to you!

    Shanga: I fell for his shittyness.

    [collapse]
    The World Building was also amazing. Universe could only become a unit for measurement. Also the ending of the novel was truly wonderful. Unlike some other novels that have bad endings, this one had the perfect ending. In fact the ending was so big that everything was written to the very last detail. No one can deny how big the ending is(the last chapter is probably larger than the remaining 49 chapters combined). Rating this novel is almost impossible. The limit is 5 which is only 1/100000000000000000000000000000000000000000 of the rating this novel deserves.
    OK!

    ____________________________________________________
    Little Prodigal Alliance Head (and Cook)
    Biah_belle

    Not sure if she's a guy or a girl yet, because when she thought to reach to her crotch to confirm, everyone got super triggered cuz they though she was jerking off to their leader.

    However so far, her reactions are pretty funny for a transmigrator, so it's worth a read. She's the "average citizen" type of transmigrator, not an expert assassin or anything.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Gourmet of Another World, by @nwms8
    ... The black dog being a powerhouse is stupid beyond belief since it is so overused in the story. At first it is comedic, then it becomes face-smacking, then it becomes pointless. Black dog keeps on patting people down, but like the TSA, all it does is make people more angry the more patting happens.
     
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  4. sleib

    sleib Well-Known Member

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    https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-silly-alchemist/#comment-40932
    Originally I decided to read until the current releases to decide if it was worth continuing with the raws. Some people might say that this is full of fillers, but it is really just a slice of life comedy type novel. It is like some others said not a super cliche CN, however just because something isn't cliche doesn't mean it is good. I'm honestly rather annoyed by the MC. I'm not saying that only righteous MC's make for good characters, however I can't stand the blatant hypocrisy this story takes when MC acts badly and yet people still praise his actions as being great:
    Spoiler


    I'm really talking about the part where MC helps a "fat girl" to chase after their School Prince. Do I want the "fat girl" to have a happy ending? Yes. But see, the school prince was already in a very happy relationship with his girlfriend. But the MC just encouraged the "fat girl" to basically break this relationship by inserting herself as the third wheel. As a second girlfriend. The novel even bends the morality but justifying the act even though the fat girl became prince's second gf FORCEFULLY. As a second girlfriend that he is supposed to date at the same time as his first. And then, MC (and fat girl) dare to claim the moral high ground about this for no other reason than "plot armor". And guess what. When this plan doesn't work out (fat girl and prince breaks up), rather than backing out gracefully, MC went ahead to defame the prince's first girlfriend. Totally DESTROYING her with slander, by creating rumors to present her as a nasty "slut" and make it seem as if she aborted her unborn child. None of which actually happened. She ended up being ostracized by everyone for things she did not do, and rejected by the prince because the rumors made prince think she was heartless. MC just made up lies and destroyed a girl's future, and the story pretended that it was the right thing to do.

    Why all of this? Simply because this girlfriend tried breaking up prince and fat girl's relationship. Well, what did they expect? From the girlfriend's perspective, some random girl just came up and forced herself on your boyfriend. You were a happy couple, but now you have to accept a mistress in your relationship and then pretend nothing is wrong? And then that mistress would then play the victim as if she was the one who was hurt even though she was the one stealing your boyfriend?

    And MC, when things don't go his or the fat girl's way, felt totally justified in ruin that gf's reputation? (Even when this can literally ruin her whole life?)

    Btw, this whole relationship didn't work out DUE TO the fat girl. Even though after the prince ended up accepting fat girl's feelings, SHE was the one who couldn't keep her distance with the MC. She used the excuse that the MC was her friend and spent most of her time and attention on the MC. Ofc the prince would feel like she was cheating. Which guy wouldn't be suspicious when a random dude with dubious relationships with your (new) girlfriend spends more time with her than you do, is closer physically and she shares more with him than she does with you. And she even goes to his home EVERY night... Sure, we readers knows nothing is going on, but from the prince side, ofc he would be suspicious I'm not saying this girl shouldn't have male friends. I LOVE platonic relationships. But "fat girl" and the MC are extremely hypocritical and have double standards. Let's look at this logically. Fat girl claims to have really strong traditional values on male-female relationships, to the point that even "holding hands" with him is too much for her. And yet she is perfectly fine with holding hands with the MC? Where did that reserve on male-female relationship go? She is so traditional and yet totally fine with having a close male friend? Without any boundaries? And she claims she is too shy to hold hands with you and yet she is totally fine with holding hands with him? Can you see why this prince is so dubious of the fat girl's integrity? It is a lot of bull.

    I'm fine with a MC that have different moral standards. MC's with grey morality are interesting. You get to explore the nuance of human behavior that one. But this one is just pure hypocrisy so much that you have to bend over backwards just to justify their behavior and make MC into a saint.

    You can feel the author bullsh*t from miles away. I'm guessing this happened because that's the only reason he could find to include "fat girl" into MC's harem even though the premise was that she liked someone else. Oh, btw, the story literally calls her "fat girl", but after a makeover from the MC, she's a "thin beauty with jade skin and pretty face". It's all so convenient that she turns into a beauty when it "matters". She also won't ever get fat anymore as a side effect. Because of course the MC couldn't have an actually "fat girl" in his friend circle/as potential love interest. Figures that MC can only get pretty girls. The double standard is disgusting.

    [collapse]
    After 72 chapters, I still feel like we are going no where. I can endure a slow start, but at this point it doesn't even feel like it's a build up for anything, just a bunch of short inconsequential events that are rather boring imo. I'm not saying this because it is a slice of life. It's just that it has none of the impact of an action xuanhuan novel, none of the charm or depth of a slice of life, none of the darker cynicism of a dark humor novel, no OPness of the OP character, and no super funny moment of a comedy or the romance of a romcom. If this is what you mean by original, then I'd rather not have any originality because at least your cliche CN would give us nice gratification when we see the MC face slap stereotypically evil villains. Genre exist for a reason, you know? They have their specific appeal. However, the reason why this story stayed "original" was because it stripped itself of that appeal. It COULD have been something great that goes outside of the box. But what it really is, is simply something half-assed. Needless to say, I'm not even attempting to read the raws. Yeah, the story is not as bad as I make it seem, it's not bottom feeder, but I still don't really recommend it.

    https://www.novelupdates.com/series/keyboard-immortal/#comment-187687

    The novel is common cultivation world + transmigrated guy with system that works with rage points from 'trolling' people. The 'keyboard' trope is bland, the keys works as inventory slots for items or skills and that's it for keyboard interaction. He uses rage points to play a lottery that gives him items and conveniently the items he 'randomly' gets are always perfect for his current needs which smells like poorly disguised plot armor. But the worst problem is the 'mood' of the novel, which despite trying to be lighthearted due to the comedy, is actually disturbing and dark. The MC is a psycopath, not a troll, murdering people in cold blood and doing things in name of 'trolling' that are closer to torture and horror than actual comedy. For example, in this 40 chaps:
    Spoiler


    He severed a guy's dick, tied him to a tree and swang the severed d*ck in front of him as torture to get information and points. Later he threw the guy, still dickless, in an area full of wolves, lying that he would save the guy if he killed a few but still letting him being eaten alive after 'trolling' with fake attempts of rescue.

    Later, a group of bandits get knocked out with poison so he goes with a dagger to each one's throat and asks an impossible question in name of 'trolling' and no matter the answer, he kills the guy in cold blood while their companions watch, one by one, in despair, until the last one. He could just take the bandits to the city, knock them out or whatever, but no, let's kill all them in cold blood, one by one, to farm rage points. So much trolling, so much comedy!

    [collapse]
    'Hey, they were bad people so it's okay to torture and kill them in horrific ways, right?!' that's the mood of this story. Aside from that it's full of jade-like country-ending beauties and each girl that shows up is somewhat more pretty than the last, and the MC 'gotta catch them all'. The comedy part will be s*x jokes, mostly, including some acts that fall into the creepy area more than comedy, like stealing female underwear for a pervert doctor to cure his own sexual impotency. The initial release was 60 chapters and I couldn't continue after only about 40. That's how unconfortable it was. The MC is an unlikeable murder hobo pervert, the villains are third rate 'complete scum' type so that he can murder them in gruesome ways and the reader can reason with it, although it's still not enough. And we're supposed to buy the guy is keyboard warrior from Earth! A handsome, intelligent, ruthless, decisive, resourcefull man (basically mary sue), chose himself to be a keyboard warrior over the internet because of the lols!
     
  5. sleib

    sleib Well-Known Member

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    https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-sword-dynasty/#comment-172837
    One of those heavy prose xianxia Machiavellian novels where everyone seems to be a hypocritical scheming as*hole. Still, it's a decent binge read.
    Grudgingly giving it 4 stars, although it's probably closer to 3. Some of the plot twists are incredibly s*upid. SUMMARY
    A pretty standard revenge plot considering it was written in 2017.
    MC Ding Ning seeks to avenge some injustice that happened to his predecessor, going after the Qin Emperor and his cabal of "traitors". Been done to death in numerous other novels, except this is a reimagining of the Qin Dynasty era, based on a cultivation world. COMMENTS
    All in all it's a novel that's decently put together. Kind of like eating a Subway... you got your carbs, veggies and proteins. But nothing inspiring. (1) Stylistically similar "Way of Choices / Ze Tian Ji", but nothing unique with pointless filler
    - Far behind the poetic style of Way of Choices.
    As per @anon anon anon, it's just annoying filler descriptions. Characters are constantly introduced, re-introduced, re-re-introduced in pointless manners. Literally:
    "Person A walks up, look beautiful/stern/imposing/carefree/etc.... oh btw it's a character we described earlier."
    "Pan-shot to person B, who is posing beautiful/stern/imposing/carefree/etc... oh btw, it's STILL the same person"
    ... WTF? Usually this style of writing is meant to introduce DIFFERENT FACETS of a character so we can understand them better. In this novel it's basically just a change of wardrobe.
    Way of Choices did it much better, describing places/people beautifully in different situations, where you're constantly catching a glimpse of their character from different angles and slowly uncovering their motivations. - Constant, rapid perspective switching is obvious annoying filler and breaks immersion
    Person A does something for two paragraphs
    Person B does something for two paragraphs... no purpose or insight to their character/motivations
    Person C thinks about something for two paragraphs.. no purpose or insight to their character/motivations
    All of this happens within a single chapter, or continues haphazardly between chapters. Even the translators have picked up on and complained about how confusing it is. (2) Ambiguous characters... to the point where I'm not rooting for anybody
    As the plot unfolds and we get a glimpse into historical events that led the MC down his path of vengeance, we slowly realize that every character in this novel are just Machiavellian hypocritical as*holes, even the MC Ding Ning. Which is annoying since you'd expect at least 1 character to rise above this crap and distinguish themselves from others.
    The REAL prototypical MC died long ago.
    Spoiler


    The gist from the first two volumes shows that MC's predecessor was the all-American hero *cough cough*. You know the kind. Valiant, trusting, above-board, etc, before he was schemed against by the current Emperor, Empress and whole cabal of trusted "friends". It's hinted that the predecessor did not share the opinions of those "friends" when pushing for Qin hegemony. i.e. the classic, "the ends don't justify the means".

    MC being his heir/protege/incarnation (major spoiler) seeks vengeance.
    Being the scheming clever youth he is, he performs subterfuge and other actions contrary to what his predecessor would do. First he's just going undercover. Then he starts making use of genuinely good people with the obvious intention to betray them. So now... "the ends DO justify the means".

    [collapse]
    Although author constantly tries to portray MC Ding Ning as having moral integrity and that being "good" is rewarding, it's more due to lack of opportunity.
    i.e. MC can ONLY partner in an open, honest manner with his compatriots to achieve his goals. He's never given a moral dilemma (at least 170 chapters in), which you'd get even in the dumbest of wuxia novels. It gets even more annoying by Volume 3.
    Spoiler
    After it was set that everyone was a self-righteous Machiavellian SoB, author pointlessly contrived a way to make the Qin Emperor/Empress the major as*holes by doing completely out of character things.

    Emperor/Empress were formerly strict and tough in the ruling, but were still fair and enabled prosperity for their citizens and loyalists. The mantra was "All cultivators are subjects and treasures of the Qin empire". In most other novels, the basic dilemma is whether MC should upend the peace in his quest for vengeance.

    But no. In this novel, after 12 years of steady rule, after achieving major victory over other dynasties at the Deer Mountain meeting, they SUDDENLY turned into ultra despots that ruled purely on whim. The mantra suddenly changed to "All cultivators are property of the Qin empire/Holy One".
    Huh??
    Is this nonsensical change just to make the Emperor/Empress out to be the main bad guys, even though everyone else are also douchebags. WTF, completely out of character.

    Then! Author goes on an excessively contrived plot to kill off a well-liked character close to MC, as a lame emotional pull on readers to hate on the Emperor/Empress! The point is to suddenly make them out to be unjust, diabolical, backstabbing SoBs that change their minds on a whim (despite ruling 12 years with a mostly fair hand). WTF.

    [collapse]
    (3) No major plotholes, but nothing impressive either.
    The first volume was odd.
    We're told MC is a scheming, clever youth. We're expecting some great scheme.
    Spoiler
    Instead, after the first 30 chapters where MC shacked up with a powerful gangster and plotted the assassination of 1 single low-level baddie, NOTHING else went according to his plan (if he even had one).

    [collapse]
    Random events constantly occur OUTSIDE of MC's expectations. e.g. he's forced into a school-training arc due to random sh*t happening. MC shows off how smart he is, only by REACTING to these new events.
    This type of development happens throughout the novel. SERIOUSLY??? So how is MC supposed to be a schemer?
    Another example of AND-THEN-THIS-HAPPENED plot development.
    (4) Iffy cultivation/world building
    The political factions and alternative history are ok.
    But the world-building is pretty iffy.
    Spoiler
    - There are A LOT of last minute power-ups and deus-ex machina situations where MC pulls some stupendous insight/skill from his a*s to save the day.

    - The whole Deer Mountain meeting was a mess and completely implausible.
    We're constantly told the emperors are the wiliest, most powerful men in the world. And that they are only carrying a facade of weakness.
    We're also told that the Qin Emperor can't fight entire countries despite having Level 8 cultivation.
    But when the Qin Emperor flexes and the cards are down for the other empires, they act like pansies, because author pulled out the "HONOR" card from his a*s and says that the empires can't unite against the Qin hegemony. Huh?

    Literally, "You defeated my champion? Ok so now I have to listen to you." What the heck is this? Achilles vs Troy?

    This is always the problem with novels mixing xianxia with empire building.
    The former relies on the power of ONE. The latter on the power of MANY.
    When the two are mixed and author fails to achieve a balance, the reasons for one hegemony over another becomes nonsensical.

    - MC is filled with the world's knowledge despite his age (hint about incarnation). He can do anything/everything... going into formations he's never seen before to solve it. Everything is explained as "high comprehension abilities"... which doesn't even gel with his history.

    - His Nine Death Silkworm thingy starts being able to do anything/everything. Improve cultivation, absorb other cultivator's energies, absorb material objects, absorb medicines. The list keep growing. Kinda ridiculous.

    - The combat descriptions are hard to follow and quite nonsensical too, even for xianxia. Even the real-life drama had to tone it down for CG budget purposes, and quite different from how it was described since several imageries are just plain illogical.

    [collapse]
    It gets pretty nonsensical after awhile so you have to close one eye to it.
     
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