I started to read chinese webnovel almost 5 years ago not knowing the difference between Xanxia and Xuanhuan novels, and now after discovery that they are different subgeneres i findout an interesting thing. I've readed 11 webnovel: -Against the Gods -Tales of Demons and Gods -Emperor's Domination -Martial World -Martial God Asura -The Charm of Souls Pet -Nine Stars Hegemon Body Art -Coiling Dragon(dropped after 150 chapter) -The Desolate Era(dropped after 50 chapter) -Cultivation Chat Group(dropped after 150 chapter) -Reverend Insanity(dropped after 400 chapter) Between them all the dropped one's except for Coiling Dragon are Xanxia novels; and except for Coiling Dragon i enjoyed all the Xuanhuan novels. So my question is:"Do you suggest me to main focus on Xuanhuan novels or do you think that the 3 Xanxia novels i read isn't enough for understand if i like the subgenre?" Sorry for my bad english and thanks for the help.
if you like those novel that has dao as an important point on cultivation then you can focus on xianxia but if you're more on a broader spectrum on power then go for xuanhuan
Xianxia (仙侠 xiānxiá) – literally means “Immortal Heroes”. Fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. Heavily inspired by Daoism. Xuanhuan (玄幻 xuánhuàn) – literally means “Mysterious Fantasy”. A broad genre of fictional stories which remixes Chinese folklore/mythology with foreign elements & settings. Focus on what type of novel you like more.
I am proud of you for dropping Coiling Dragon but I am disappointed that you dropped Reverend Insanity. Some readers seem to misunderstand and think the book failed that's why it was cancelled. But it got banned because it is not really what it seems at first glance. I dropped it at chapter 100 and the translator convinced me to continue. It is a very philosophical book. If you understand the deeper meanings, I could argue it's comparable to Jin Yong. I recommend stories closer to traditional wuxia like Zhuxian and The Sword Dynasty. Both have live action adaptations
You first need to understand why you dropped the novels. The key difference between xianxia and xuanhuan is the enlightenment of Dao. If you don't like that... honestly, you could just skip those scenes and the story would probably read like any other xuanhuan, but you can also just avoid the xianxia genre.. If you dislike the idea of focusing on becoming stronger and seeking immortality, there are probably a lot of xuanhuan novels you will want to avoid as well as the vast majority of xianxia. If the reason was anything else, it's probably not the genre's fault.
Thanks for all the advices, i think that i'll try again some xanxia novel, maybe starting from I Shall Seal The Heavens.
You have listed such a broad range of novels that it's hard to tell what you actually like. Xianxia and Xuanhuan is pretty much the difference of Non western influence and western influence. However they are quite close that your Cultivation Chat room vs Reverend Insanity are worlds apart in genre in that sense. One being modern day Xianxia while the other is more a different world medieval time Xuanhuan. I Shall Seal the Heavens is quite close in genre to Martial World and The Desolate Era. There are a ton of good and bad books on this site. I would go to recommendations on the books you do like as they tend to be similar. You can also search via tags. I would only recommend books that have at least a 4 rating or better.
Xianxia and Xuanhuan don't have as clear cut distinctions as you might expect. Technically speaking, Xuanhuan is the term to encompass all fantasy, no matter the flavor. Xianxia is a specific type of fantasy so it technically falls within the Xuanhuan envelope. But in terms of common usage, Xuanhuan is treated as a subgenre of fantasy in its own right; usually as a catchall term for anything that doesn't fall within one of the other more specific fantasy subgenres. It's easier to figure out what Xuanhuan is by looking at what it's not. Xianxia is an offshoot of the wuxia genre. But it's moved so far away from its origins that it feels very different (and quite confining at that). Mostly it's about heroes and anti-heroes getting more and more powerful in order to fight ever more powerful new antagonists. This is all couched in daoist cultivation terms and wuxia-styled social structures. Some people think that Xuanhuan is just Xianxia with Western-styled magic systems, but this isn't true. Yes, Xianxia does exclude Western magic systems, but it also excludes a bunch of traditional Chinese magics as well, so it's not the distinctive factor. Moreover, it's entirely possible for Xuanhuan to not have any Western magic either. There's an entire term for Western-styled fantasy stories: Qihuan. At the end of the day there isn't much operative difference between Xuanhuan and Xianxia. Theoretically Xuanhuan is open to a lot more different kinds of stories but a lot of the most popular stories are going to feel a lot like Xianxia anyways.