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PaperclipPerfector
2mo ago
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Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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As per @self_made_human's recommendation, I have started reading Reverend Insanity and got past the first 170-ish chapters, which is slightly less than 10% of the work.
tldr: It is a better way to fill subway rides than doomscrolling, but as the alleged gem of the xianxia, it disappointed me.
Smart protagonist cred: 2/5. It might be intended that Fang Yuan doesn't come off as particularly smart, but rather experienced, lucky to have achieved the heights he had once despite his disadvantage in natural talent and then lucky once more to get another chance. The protagonist begins the story with the massive advantage of 500 years of foreknowledge along with a prestige boon that boosts his progress massively on top of the information he has. He does not make glaring unforced mistakes, but that is not to the credit of the story when I have never seen him learn, but instead was told how "Fang Yuan was entirely clear on X" and "Fang Yuan was utterly calm like a still lake because of his 500 years of experience". On top of that, the "Fang Yuan transmigrated from Earth" part was criminally wasted. You isekai into medieval ages from modernity and don't even consider in your internal thoughts to invent gunpowder and kickstart the industrial evolution combined with the existing magical system? Some "Chinese scholar", he is!
General characterization: 4/5. Surprisingly decent. Although the author does not provide the protagonist with any sort of intellectual or ethical challenge or growth, this is compensated by surrounding him with a cast of people who are not so zero-dimensional, and the reader can observe them work towards their own interests and ambitions.
Narration quality: 3/5. Even if it's the fault of jank translation, the narration of Reverend Insanity is aiming for entirely different standards than those we've come to expect from Western novels. It is simplistic and repetitive to nauseation (I bet the massive length of the novel could be cut in half just by removing the redundant descriptions of Gu abilities the primary characters wield), mixes crude dialogue with profound stereotypically-Chinese epithets about the beauty of nature, jumps around from third-person omniscient narrator to some sort of weird "teaching moments" between the author and the reader, with the "morals? hehe, don't be so naive" excerpts (I couldn't tell if those were supposed to be Fang Yuan's thoughts or the author's) being especially grating. On the bright side, some of the flowery descriptions are really fitting, and the constant repetition and remindings does help the reader to remember the various characters' powers and goals.
Worldbuilding and magical system coolness: 5/5. I'd like to play a videogame based on this setting, perhaps something akin to Tale of Immortal. It is remarkably consistent and shows the author has given thought to how powers interact, the political interplay in the clans, how trade works etc.
May I suggest the Power of Ten series? It's a solid 4/5 through all 3M words I've read so far, and I assume the other 2M will be similar.
EDIT: And instead of 170 chapters, you should be able to decide by the end of chapter 7. The first four are abnormal, and the rest are typical enough to judge it on. It does improve as it goes on, but it doesn't transform into some other kind of work.
The very rough plot summary for all of the books is (no real spoilers IMO): The world runs on Pen and Paper RPG physics (closest to D&D), and the main character has been incarnated from Earth and is familiar with the system. Using their (absurdly powerful) knowledge of the system and (honestly pretty decent, but completely overshadowed) starting buff, they make their way into the world, find a terrible problem, andspoiler redacted .
It's also very much an action story in the XKCD sense.
The setting for Book 1 is very, very strongly based onDungeons and Dragons , with only a few of the serial numbers filed off.
Book 2 isWarhammer 40k .
Book 3 isUrban Fantasy .
Book 4 isMarvel comics .
I haven't read books 5 or 6.
I enjoyed that series, but I've almost never recommended it. There is a level of autism on display that is truly mind boggling.
Book 4 was my definite favorite. Book 5 was a setting I didn't really know, but still enjoyed heavily. Book 6 I couldn't keep reading after finishing two others in a row.
Yeah, I don't foresee a second opportunity any time soon. "You wanted plot in this chapter? Nah, here's a character sheet along with how the bonuses are calculated. Isn't it awesome?" (Yes, it is)
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