Discussion What novels 1000+ chapters are actually worth it?

History's Strongest Husband
Joy of Life

 

Joy of Life is les than 1000

 

To be fair, a lot of these books are exactly the same as book series split out into multiple volumes. That is entirely a publishing choice, and books in the West, like Lord of the Rings, have been single books split apart as well. Same thing with publishers which don't like overly long volumes; these will often take a five-book series and end up releasing a dozen volumes or more. The only real difference is that web novels generally aren't physically published so that restriction doesn't exist.

It's simple: I don't; I read Chinese books in the original. Generally I would just assume a 1:1 relationship in word count. Sure most translations will have a shorter word count in English, but that depends on the kind of work being translated, and I suspect that a lot of these translations don't try to fully explain the concepts behind the words.

Just as much as I love good writing, I also love the exploration of fresh and interesting ideas. And the latter are abundant in Japanese web novels. I'll constantly come across concept that I find intriguing and I don't want to miss out on all of these, and I have a fairly high tolerance for bad writing in general. Still, I'm a realist and it's impossible overlook just how many of these authors have no real writing skills and no willingness to gain them.

So how I go into just about any book is start by soaking in all the newness and any fresh ideas it has to offer. But that freshness inevitably settles down and then the book has to maintain my interest on its own merits. These merits usually show up in the form of good characterization, thought provoking themes, interesting world building, entertaining prose and dialogue, or an engaging plot. Bad writers can't pull off any of this other than plot, and the plot is the weakest of these merits so it's rare for them to stay worth reading. Knowing this going in, it only makes sense to either give up on these books altogether or to read them with the understanding that it's unlikely to last.

 

Ahh, that's really cool! I read English way faster than I read Chinese so I almost exclusively read translations, which definitely limits me from really long novels (especially when a big factor in my decision not to read/to drop is because translations take a long time). I haven't read many Japanese novels from NU but now that you mention it I realize you're 100% right about how many ideas they come up with. I read a lot of manga and it's actually crazy how many unique things I've seen. You've definitely opened my eyes up to that! Thank you ^_^

 

long there plenty as for enjoy perhaps only ze tian and the king's avatar until the end which pass 1k chapter count~ as for other it up and down time~

to some type of story this cat have no expectations to read until the end, xuanhuan, dog blood type you know female oriented with drama drama and drama, vrmmorpg, slice of life~ there time this cat expect to abandon it halfway cuz it feel draaaaaag to much~
oh also villian type of story~

 

Yep. Especially my favorites. Like The King's Avatar, or The Earth Is Online, God Level Summoner, Doomsday Wonderland and many more.

in case of long novels, with hundreds of chapter count, I'd still read it if the summary or spoilers piqued my interest. But if its short.... I sometimes don't read it at all(like less than 30)

Like I've said, I prefer long novels than short ones.

None xD

 

1. Yup, i enjoy cultivation chat group, lord of the mysteries, my house of horrors
2. Yes, i wouldn't read something that has too few chapters or too much chapters
3. What count as too long for me is maube 2000+ chapters
4. Hmm, i guess beef rendang?

 

Just curious, what counts as too few chapters to you?

 

I used to binge read 1000++ ch novels in mass, but recently I tend to drop them quite fast (~300ch in, overgeared, Reverend Insanity (Yeah, I know..) are the one I dropped quite recently), the only novel I've binge read recently was Lord of the mysteries.
Oh and I read Emperor's Domination, the only reason I can bring myself to do this is because I stockpile around 100ch each time, and when I finish reading a novel, I read those 100ch to take a break and let my brain eat potatoes for a bit.

 

I guess 30 is too few... I prefer to wait until it has more chapters before starting

 

Well yeah, I'm not saying that splitting them up is automatically doing a difference, just that it can serve as a restriction for the author to more properly plan the plot structure around it, and a really good author probably could make make a really super long novel work without that.
Of course it can still happen with long webnovels if they are split into distinct arcs, I just don't feel that I've seen that done well much among what translated novels I've read, so my viewpoint is definitely skewed.

Still though, I wouldn't mind a novel at 1-2million words if done well, my doubt is more towards the ones that seem to go for multiple times that.
Lord of the Rings by comparision is just under 500k words with all three volumes combined.

 

Same here: my English language reading speed is much faster than my Chinese one, and my Chinese reading speed has picked up a lot in the last few years. However, Chinese translations lose a lot of the richness of the original text, and the better the original was the more gets lost. For that alone I'd stick to Chinese whenever possible. And of course one of the best ways to get better at reading Chinese is to do more of it, so it's something I'd encourage more people to try if they can. That's not even to mention all the books that become available when you're not limited to what translators pick up.

Sometimes the story has a larger scope than the Lord of the Rings so it takes longer to tell than that. Sure, it's possible to decrease the level of detail to make the book shorter, but that's not always desirable so the longer works are a thing. Mind you, I don't know if any of the books on NU count for this, but they definitely are out there.

 

The Amber Sword
MEMORIZE
108 Maidens of Destiny
I’m Not Going to Be Bullied By a Girl
Are pretty good novel with over 1000 chapters

 

There is also
Gate of God
God Level Demon

 

and
Regressor's Instruction Manual

 

And
Life, Once Again

 

Have you read any long novels that you enjoyed? What are they?

The only two long novel I've full read is: Warlock of the Magus World and Desolate Era. I enjoyed the former more than the later due to the personality of the MC. I'm more willing to read longer cultivation novels because it's makes sense for cultivation to be long. For a similar reason, I dislike long romance/dog-blood novels because there no reason for it to be that drawn out; a relationship with that many recurring problems is questionable for me. ​

Do you take the number of chapters into account before you start reading a novel?

I don't particularly pay attention to the number of chapters, but I like to read novels that are either already complete or close to being complete (or QT, which I read world by world). ​

If you don't read long novels, why? What counts as "too long" for you? (Just curious if you think like me or if you have some other reasons lol.)

It's "too long" when it can't hold my attention anymore. It's "too long" when the same/similar problem/antagonist comes up again and again. It's "too long" when it's over 50+ chapters and there no character growth~
​

What's your favorite food?

Tea...? Dessert? Strawberry cream sponge cake?​

 

Wish someone picked up god level demon.

 

Yes, "Release that witch" and finished it, it was OK, but I didn't enjoy it thoroughly, check my review of it if you're interested, and I'm reading now "Trash of the counts family" which is unfinished but has gone over the 500 mark and I love it very very much, I wait for it to buffer before continuing but yeah I have high hopes for that one

No, I take the premise, recommendation for what I'm looking for and read some reviews before jumping into the novel, I sometimes click the random button and start reading or look for something regarding a manga/manhwa I read somewhere.

Nothing counts as "too much" for me, as long as the story keeps me entertained I will keep reading it... although any novel that goes past the 200 chapter mark where the chapters are regular sized (1000-2000 word count) I would consider it a beefy meal.

Enchiladas.

 

Warlock Of The Magus World
The Great Theif
The Legendary Mechanic - 800+ Chap But Still Ongoing