Discussion Genre/subgenre/trope of novels that u don't like, hate, can't read, ignore and why?

So I have a very BAD memory, like a really bad memory, so when it comes to reading, when i start reading all these NU novels (Asian novels), I was like a baby to all the genres, so I started with martial arts, wuxia, urban, isekai, quick transmigration and as I consume this as an obsession, I started to pick up what genres I just don't wanna get near anymore. I have all these reason why I don't like all of these genres/subgenres/tropes in my head but like, nowhere to put them, since nobody cares HAHAHAH but guess what, I will just throw them up here so I can "rant" and be free and a little bit more happy (that's a lie)
So:

• Martial arts/wuxia/xianxia/chinese fantasy: so this is pretty biased, I read a lot of them, like the big ones (2000+ ch.) And got tired of them, I can't came to enjoy reading about these anymore, they can't pass my throat, they're tiring, exhausting, waaaay to many things to fully understand what's happening and I just can't, they're always the same, I mean, the demon path, the good ones, the god ones, the "I was a animal/plant but I'm a spirit so I can transform into human". This one is so sad since I used to really like this, since I said, I READ A LOT OF THEM, BL, GL, like, all of the subgenres on it, I read them, I mean, that's kinda weird because despite saying that I didn't read the popular ones from BL (Mo zu shi author things) and even now, I'm not interested on them HAHA but I guess they just aren't my cup of tea, okey NEXT
• Entertainment circle: These are AWFUL for me, like, the things the MC does in these novels are 80% MC becoming the top idol/actor/singer like fast as they can, these subgenre also had a saturation of them so almost every CN author has one. Not my cup of tea, I don't like the celebrity thing, they goals are so superficial, always has to do with vengeance of some kind (trope that I also can't read) Idk, just stop making them, they're always the same (make showbiz at least)
• Urban: I don't like harem, that's all HAHAH
• FL/MC being a badass: Yeah so, I just one a MC who wish to open a cafe, why they have to be "OOo they pick on me first, I wasnt going to deal with them but NOW I WILL"
• Isekai: they got boring, nothing new, in the JP side, there's almost any girl protagonist in like, classical isekai trope, if its a girl, then its a villainess in an otome novel or a variant of that, maybe some creativity on the genre will help
• Dungeon: like, I don't know why I don't like this, I trying reading a couple of them but, nope, the thing is, why the game? MC is going to always flawless top the game (not generalized there cause I haven't read a lot of them, opnion just on the ones I read) the ML always behind them, yeah, its like the dystopian genre for Chinese novels.
• Vampires: Yeah, the same, not a lot to work on these oO but I really like when they make all these kind of ABO thing with the families, pretty interesting

So thats all I can think of rn, to be clear, these all are MY opinions, I tried to be the most respectful but in the end, we all have different tastes, be free to said what u dislike, like, or don't agree with, shout out what u don't like, this isn't twitter, we all have a voice and different experiences with reading, if u want, said the ones u like too! For me, that will be QT, western fantasy, showbiz, slice of life, fluffy, etc. I love those.
Also, sorry if I made a mistake, I'm Mexican so Spanish is my fuerte, I'm not that great on English as my second language haha, still learning a lot of things. Again, be open! Share every opinion! Always with respect!

Btw, the bad memory thing was to said that I kinda don't remember full detail of the novels I read and why I used to like them haha

 

I'm basically the same as you~ No power-up/levelling cultivation novels, nothing over 500 chapters, no harem (reverse harem's fine with me), no cliche rich president and cinderella romance, etc~

 

Harem and love rivals. They're just so bland and overdone. They can be done right, like The World God Only Knows did harem really well and it actually has a reason for existing, girls don't just inexplicably fall for the MC left and right, and Skill of Lure had a brilliant love rival arc, I liked it in those two stories so my hatred for them is not some sort of bias I'm sure...but I've seen it so few times, a proper harem or love rival plot point that is not just there to be bland mindless copy pastas, that I just nope out of any manga or novel that has a harem tag or has a love rival appear now. I stopped trusting them. I'm not taking my chances.

 

so what do you read?
my pet peeve is harems in the hands of incapable authors. tons of shallow characters (where in some cases there only defining feature is there role), sometimes they're used as plot devices. and cheap family and friends cause I adore them when there done right, but I don't like it when kids are used as props for plot. they're cute, so what, and let me guess the one time they get upset, "oh I guess we have trouble now" cause it's meant to foreshadow something. same with younger siblings, it's gross when their codified and less than supporting characters because of the lack of character
a bad thing is r*pe culture. just NO. to god, forceful actions should not be romanticized unless it ends in a tragedy.
isekai's can be done right but the saturation on the market is pitiful and sad. cause it's not just a cheap short cut to explain how to ground things for your readers! NO, it should add to the character most of the time. a lot of my favorites have characters looking for the way home, cause that's character! I don't trust any title with "isekai" in it

also my 2cents about readers who disparage is series cause of mary sues, is that it's a saturation bias. cause there probably is going to be audience that actually likes it and introduces it. mary sues are feel-good series and it's only bad the world isn't fleshed out enough to draw away from it and make a whole picture. "sure, they can do anything and everything" but when the world doesn't explain how they can do everything and anything in a way that convinces us- I've found a series that frustrated me even. well I guess I ain't read that

 

Lol our taste is almost the same, I'm also like you, in the past I read a lot of dark isekai like Deprive a Deprived Person, I also read Shield Hero novel that have anime now
Then I got sick of it, I turn to martials arts, fantasy, wuxia, chinese, I read all the female doctor rebirth, ML that is sick, female that is good at cultivation, medicine, acupunture, and making pills, even about the emperor, empress, palace drama
Then I got sick of them, I turn to celebrity, being a singer/actor/model, all the showbiz drama yada2, all the transmigrate to a useless celebrity that suicide, get revenge, be the top of the career
Then meh it got cliche, all the non cliche also become cliche, I turn to world hopping when it gets famous at one point, yeah sama plot line, they get revenge, meet ML, fall in love, face slapping. I stick to it quite a while bcs it is quite interesting to see different worlds
When I think I already know a lot of different worlds, Because of that I got sick of ML and FL protagonist in a relationship, I turn to BL. I repeat all the genre I read but only that it's now BL.
After BL, I move to reverse harem, I don't like harem but reverse harem is fine cause they aren't too perverted in my opinion.
But there wasn't much novel about reverse harem, a lot of it are bad, so I move to leveling /dungeon/skills. All the trope about the world is now different, being attack with monster and special peoples have special abilities to fight them yada2
There was also a time where I read BL horror, all the grosteque creepy ghost, or detective/criminal/physcopath protagonist or just simply fluff horror novel
Werewolf, vampire novel was one of the novel I read in the very first beginning, I read them in wattpad, there was countless of them so I'm sick of them after reading it too many
Now... Idk what I'm interested in anymore,
One thing for sure I don't bother reading FL protagonist anymore and also the wuxia chinese empress and emperor novel, weird dark isekai also no
It's really a loooooooooonnnng journey
I'm also ranting cause I can't find any novel that can give me the same excitement of meeting a good novel as before. The standard got higher, the more I read. It's almost frustrating.

I don't mind reading a novel that have a bad writing, bad grammar, as long as I can understand them, I read MTL a lot and MTL are famous for being unreadable most of them. So I read MTL from different website and compare them to be readable somewhat.
I'm also sure there was a lot of novels that I might missed because I already rejected them from the beginning due to biased. So if u guys have any novel that you would consider as "unique" or different or special to you, please recommend me anything even if it is a genre I don't like because sometimes I did found hidden gem

 

For me, this question is mostly about what a reader lacks interest in rather than what is disliked. For example, I think that isekai novels almost universally have terrible writing. And by this, I don't mean that they lack advanced writing concepts, and more that the writers don't fundamentally understand characterization, and setting, and sometimes even dialogue. Despite this though I still read them all the time because I find that some of them have ideas that can make compelling despite the terrible writing.

On the other hand, my entry for this thread would be xianxia novels. I haven't read many but I have a pretty good grasp of what they're about, and what they're about just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not into reading books because of powers or power fantasy so I can't think of much reason to check them out.

See this is wrong. Not in the sense that there's anything wrong with disliking any or all of these kinds of books. Rather, it's wrong because all of these books are lumped together as if there's something in common with them. This is patently incorrect so I can only assume that anyone doing so hasn't read at least one of these genres or doesn't understand what they're like.

 

Btw, since you read entertainment circle about MC being famous actor/singer, have you consider reading about MC being a chef/a broadcasting chef? Only a few months back, I started to get interested in cooking so I searched for novel that have cooking. It was quite good, I managed to find a lot of good novel
There was also a lot of novel where MC takes care of ummm beast people?, this was also cute and fluffy, it was mix with cooking.

 

Sorry, but I'm just going to rant what I hate since were are talking about this.
Obsessive ML that r*pes FMC
2nd ML whose purpose is to cause a wedge between the 1st ML and FMC
Jade Beauties Harem - The Harem Genre like other genres only has a few good ones.
Women as Pokemon
Spirit Master that MC somehow meets.
Tbh, I feel like the villainous trope is overused. There should be better FMC isekai.
The original heroine as the enemy and the mc as the villainous
Isekai by JP author which as a loli, slave girl, etc.
Urban - Many of them have a similar plot - Btw why is there always a Police Officer love interest!?
FL who falls in love with mc after meeting him two times.
White Lotus character for FMC and CEO as an ML
The cousin/step-sister/half-sister and step-mother as scheming enemy.
Mary sue character who won't kill even and gives some hypocritical reason like - If I kill one person won't there be another killer in this world?
MC who is known by trash and everyone looks down on him even though he is the clan leaders child. I mean later he meets a guy who has the same conditions as him but everyone bootlicks him.
Reincarnated hacker/assassin trope
Mysterious King for FMC that falls in love with FMC for no reason in cultivation novels. FMC has her engagement cancelled too.
Dense character as FMC even though she transmigrated and went back in time which should make her much more mature.
The aprhisodic trope - I mean can't you just knock her out instead instead of r*ping her? Why all the trouble?
Reverse Harems where ML fall for no reason.
Mc who is betrayed by gold digger girlfriend at the start and suddenly gets a harem full of women later.
Reincarnated Immortal but acts like a child who isn't even ten.
Repeated Plot in Xianxia
No Character Development
Baby Trope - The MC reincarnated as a baby and half the story is about how cute she is. ML falls in love with her for no reason when he is only ten years old.
Young Master - I mean I hate these guys, but then you start to find them to be nostalgic and nice after a while
Overused - Deus ex machina
Useless Romance - I mean there are many novels where romance is completely useless.
MC kills young master who calls his father who later calls his grandfather.
MC breaking off the engagement of proud girl

 

Lol nice you mentions a lot of them hahahah

 

I can agree with u! Its the things with harems and isekais that like author says "I have this structure with these characteristics, so I just change some things and even if my story or MC don't need them, I will still add them cause that's what people read

Omg like, we have almost the same experience, I also really don't like ghost/paranormal things because the majority of the ML's are GHOST (????) For what?, I can't feel the heat of ur love HAHAHA, this happen a lot when u past a lot of time reading, I started 6 years ago with isekais, getting into wuxia, xuanhuan, martial arts (my fav was dragon marked war god and chaotic sword God but the second one is just good until the 400ch mark and that's pretty the first part haha) and I really like BAD Protagonists, in the sense that they're evil, that they do snicky things, they're arrogant, and that's why I got so into the "VILLAIN" Trope just to be another mary sue not explained trope again with the original heroine being or a BB or a Flower friendly character and therefore, our protagonist "the villainess" its just cool, good person, change destiny thing. That also happen in male protagonist of these drop, and I'm also on a reader crisis cause I don't have any other thing to read that gave that FEELING so I just read QT in hope that some of them have a mermaid or elves arc on them (I'm so into western fantasy but having so little of it on the actuality)

You have a point on that! I just put them together cause they indeed share some characteristic, in this case will be "martial arts", they all have it in some degree and I kinda understand that being put together just generalize it but, I kinda did haha, I mean, they have their own tropes and settings that can adjust for each one, but that's kinda what deviates them, in general they are all about martial arts or martial arts with fantasy and the martial arts is the thing that throw me out of them (again, because I read too much of them), if u have some of the novels into the subgenres of martial arts that u recommend, I'm very open to dig in and see if my love for them make a comeback (except if they're BL Mo Zu Shi kinda thing, gonna sound bad and prejudiced but I had bad experiences with their fandoms so), I really like tyrants pet fish novel (not really sure if that's the name, again, bad memory issue) and I think it is also a xianxia novel! I'm just making a overall look into the tropes that make a subgenre/genre that

I indeed read about it! But since a lot of novels use the cook ability to the MC to catch the ML heart kinda tired of that, also, feeling like a M because reading about delicious food that maybe will never touch my mouth is PAIN. About the other one, will check it out! It sounds kinda familiar but, I mean, I'm in vacation period, reading and discovery novels is going to save me from depression haha! That goes for everyone! Shout out recommendations! Recently I'm into mermaid and seme/gong protagonist thing, so if someone interested, faking straight its a great gong protagonist novel!

 

can I introduce you to "Trash of the Count's Family"? for the isekai thing, I think the author makes good use of it as a plot device rather than "beginnings" which is never brought up again.
there is also "Kill the Villainess" ^I think someone mentioned that the "villainess trope" is overused and I do agree, but in this series they make more out of her role than just usurping or essentially replacing the heroine cause "reality isn't fiction" or is it?
xianxia/wuxia novels is simply martial arts genre and has some basis in reality, hence why they probably use similar term. the reason why people would like it is particular, it's power-leveling with different bells and whistles. for example, isekai which is simply "another world" is meant gratify normies and there mundane lives with protagonists with regrets and exactly a "second-chance"
in this sense it can be divided into:

Spoiler: different categories

transmigrating which is simply being brought over to another world like summonings of various kinds, possession which involves taking possession of a particular "someone", regression which actually isn't an isekai but sometimes there is a variation of it mixed in or is a "false premise" where the protagonist returns to n years ago. but somehow everything can still be lumped into together under isekai cause if it's high fantasy different from out reality, then it vaguely falls into that catergory cause the industry coins it vaguely

 

While there are plenty of tropes I dislike or are uninterested in, most I can tolerate if other things are done well.
One major exception however is game elements or system novels since I will typically skip almost any story with those tags.
I just can't get immersed in stories with things like stats, skills or UI screens, except maybe for some stories where it is that the characters are actually playing a game.

 

Lol i like the opposite
For me, I'm a big fan of game element and system novel but I like the kind where MC doesn't have any relationship with anyone whether it is lover or friend or family. After reading so much BG relationship or BL relationship, I feel like sometimes MC got dependent on their partner or if it is MC with friend or family, MC's adventure feel like it was cut off from the start just because he have the responsibility to take care of them. I'm really sick of it trope where one of the MC's family must be in hospital like why??? And MC must work hard to feed his family. Or if MC with his friend, there was a lot of time where MC has to carry them, like they have to get stronger together like man what. Just ditch them. It was honestly dragging MC back. This might sound cruel but hey it's a novel.
Of course there's a lot of novel where MC is independent, I'm sure of it, I read some of it but it just... it doesn't give you enough of that feeling because MC have someone to help him/her when MC got in trouble. Like we could predict the plot beforehand, "ah ML will definitely help MC after this" So I got really tired of it
In the end I'm craving for game element/system novel because if the game is about virtual reality and only focusing on MC slowly getting stronger, all the characters in that virtual reality is not real peoples so I really love that MC doesn't get attached to anything and MC will be able to go here and there, all around the mysterious world for an adventure and i got to see a vast world beyond what I can see in reality.
I don't mind if MC have friends, but they don't have to be so close that they stick together 24/7. Can't MC's friend get stronger on their own? Why did MC have to help the friend constantly? I don't mind occasionally or at least give or take. You help me, I help you.
If you ever want to try game elements/system novel, I really suggest you to read Devil's Cage, a game element. It basically the best virtual reality game I ever read. In this novel, MC did have friends but MC doesn't go adventure with them, he mostly did everything on his own, he gains strength on his own and MC's friend doesn't get involve with MC 24/7, they also got stronger on their own.
And also Monster Paradise, a system novel, in this novel MC did have a sister he needs to take care of but the sis doesn't hold MC back at all, there was a lot of times where MC are free to adventure as he wishes and he came back to see his sister only during vacation, of course he wasn't heartlessly leave the sis, he did have legit reason to do so if you are bothered by this.
There were A LOT of reasons why I like these two novels. To some peoples, they might say it was bit too boring cause it only mostly about MC gaining new power or they might say it have a major plot hole or something
Honestly when reading novel, plot hole is something I really lack concern of. Like... it was based on people's imagination so I don't mind reading and ignoring the plot hole it as long as the novel is interesthing enough to cover them. If I notice a novel have a plothole then it meant the novel really got serious plot hole to the point I can sense it. That's really bad I guess lol

If you want recommendation, here one that got me hooked on MC taking care of beast people(I really don't know what to call them properly)
1.Live Broadcasting Raising Dragons in the Interstellar,
it is very cute and fluff, also the ML is different than the cliche cold arrogant expressionless ML, I really like this. The dragons are very cute, it was so unique, their personality varied, there was a lot of life lessons too how to take care of kids. It was very heartwarming.
2. Cub Raising Association, this did have the cliche ML but what I really like is the plot. It was cute, fluffy but also a bit of angst. I really cried (you would understand if you read it), it was really good, I even MTL it. This novel have special place in my heart.
3. I’m Using the Interstellar Live Broadcast to Raise Cubs
A lot of peoples didn't really like this third one I recommend bcs of how "unlogical" it was but the reason i stick to it because it was calming. It was more healing compare to the other two I recommend. I don't mind the "unlogical part" bcs all the beast that MC takes care of are all problematic? They need help basically. That's why I said this was more healing because MC was like giving them relief and comfort they won't be able to get. MC also able to get this comfort from them bcs in a world where the beast people doesn't welcome you very much, it must be quite depressing right? So what I get is MC made a safe haven for him and the beast people he takes care of to live happily, without worries. It also different in a way that the beast people doesn't like human that much, so when this unfamiliar strange MC appear, their reactions is priceless lol. I like this setting very much bcs it resembles reality where majority sometimes prejudice on minority. So this is the opposite of the 1st one where the beast people love humans. This was not. The beast people also wasn't that strange, they are just mutated animals rather than a whole new beings or settings like the 1st one because it was about dragons.
4. The Film Emperor’s Daily Live Cooking Broadcast, as for this one, this was my favourite among other cooking related novel I read. It was heavily invested in cooking than anything. The ML are half cliche, he is cold and expressionless but he have a cute gap moe unlike cliche ML. It was very very cute. Although he looks cold, he was actually soft and approachable. The peoples under ML can joke with ML and are comfortable with him, they also know that ML cared about them very much. If you are familiar with this kind of plot, you might feel it was quite /a bit cliche but when I first started reading this type of novel, I just recently found out about it so it was new to me and I enjoyed them very much. Ignoring the cliche, I really like the focus was on cooking, MC does a lot of things that is very interesthing so I really recommend for you to try reading this.
5. Number One Lazy Merchant of the Beast World
This also very very interesthing and unique. It have a unique plot and settings. The ML also have a cute gap moe the more you got to know him. It also focus on something that rarely peoples make a story of. I recommend this very much!

All the novel I recommend are quite cliche in term of MC and ML relationships but these novels have a lot more to offer than the cliche. If you can get past that, you would enjoy the novel very much.

 

I don't think that anyone reads Villainess novels because the protagonist is evil; they read these books because they're funny.

Yeah, a lot of people think that wuxia is defined by martial arts and that this genre is just a lesser powered version of xianxia. These people are wrong, and I don't think there's a finer way to put it. If wuxia was just about martial arts, then it would be called wugong or something like that. The -xia part is important and it's all about how characters and how they behave. For modern wuxia the -xia part is vastly more important than the martial arts part. These books are intense social; whether it's about camaraderie, or honor, or rivalry.

Sure characters do get more powerful and what not; but it's only true for some wuxia novels. And even in these novels it's not the story is really about. Even a cursory look at the famous wuxia novels will reveal that the martial arts are more the framing device rather than being the central subject. So if anyone gets this wrong I can only assume that they've never read these books.

 

Only ones that I can think of from the top of my head are "Ruthless Protagonist" and sex-related tags.

Like... I just can't enjoy Ruthless Protagonists... And I don't like reading lewd stuff much. I only read those if I'm really in the mood for it, and then I just go for a doujinshi instead of a novel.

I guess I also avoid stuff like xianxia, but that's mainly because they're too big and because of the infamy of the Chinese Webnovel industry having lots of filler for the sake of wordcount and stuff, so I decided I didn't want to bother with it... If someone made a shorter xianxia novel outside of the chinese webnovel industry though, I don't see why I couldn't try it out if the synopsis felt interesting to me~

 

I have to kind of agree about ruthless protagonists.
While I don't necessarily hate the idea of them, a lot of the time I just end up seeing them as villains, but the author is still treating them as a hero or anti-hero rather than a villain protagonist that actually has to face the consequences of their own actions.
That kind of disconnect makes it hard for me to enjoy them.

 

This is specific to the BL genre but I really don’t like mpreg. One of the main reasons I even read BL is so I don’t have to sift through the implied gender/power imbalance in BG novels, which seems counterproductive when one of the characters in the BL relationship takes on the stereotype of being more “womanly” anyways. Like, let them just be men without the author superimposing their own gender expectations on them. GAH it’s one of my least favorite sub tropes

 

Oh, those too! I hate them so much! >.<

Ah, that's a fair reason~
A lot better than mine actually... >.>

On my case, I just get bothered when the protagonist keeps actively doing things that go against my morals... I don't mind it too much most of the time, but ruthlessness is a bit too much for me...

 

kr dungeon stuff, maybe cuz back then this cat feel most of those story full of edge lord? you know, lone wolf, distrust, dark emotion but this cat somehow feel dull~

xuanhuan or xianxia? it become boring quite fast~ treasure hunt, face slap, fighting with filler killer move, level up, monster agro err young master err sect err something like that~ it enjoyable once a while but boring on long run~ hmm maybe it more correct call it YY novel? the easy self insert story target male audience perhaps~

quick transmigration or fast wear~ it fun to see hopping different world with various settings but with how the system work.... unless it ero story

that some of content this cat dislike

 

Yeah, the cultivation setting is what makes that kind of novels fun but when the authors doesn't really change the cultivation mode it gets a little tiring when it comes to explanations and the powers the MC got and all the gold fingers when u read too much of that genre (xianxia and xuanhuan are the most similar since both of them are about a cultivation models while wuxia is more about the things u say) also, i don't know how much of a genre/subgenre is tanmei, that always confuse me and im still not 100% sure of what it is. Wuxia also get confused as xuanhuan and i dont really relate both of them haha, and with the korean martial arts genre, not sure how is called. If u know some good wuxia novels please recommend them to me! The ones i used to read in NU didn't really were my cup of tea but maybe i was just a bad chooser haha!