It's pretty good. There's a good mix of light-heartedness and humor to off-put the, at times, rather grim story. As of the latest chapter currently translated(316), the characters have only on a handful of occasions acted in ways I would consider "out of character". They're consistent in their beliefs and bearings and the story unfolds accordingly, rather than being a bunch of psychopaths doing emotional 180s whenever the author wants to force something through.The translation quality for the earlier chapters by Walk the Jianghu were very high quality. There was a lot of noise made about Novel Saga's work, but having read it myself I have had no difficulties. The only real gripe I've had with it is that the translator sometimes appears to have used the English equivalent of a word, even when that equivalent is... outlandish, to say the least. But I consider that a very minor problem, and it only happens rarely.As for the story, I would also rate it rather highly. There's a good balance between cultivation, politicking and scheming; although it is rather light on fighting, surprisingly.I am currently also following another work by the same author, Realms In The Firmament, and the similarities are obvious. If you enjoy that story, you will probably enjoy TTNH as well.I will refrain from ****** a judgement on the romance so far, mostly because there has been very little of it. The only thing I can say about it really is that there are several love interests, but the MC remains devoted to the primary one. The novel is classified as a harem, and certainly there are relevant women, but as of yet there's been rather limited progress.As for flaws, they are the same as most WNs suffer from, in my mind. The stories are incredibly long, which is both a good and a bad thing. For casual entertainment it is excellent; one novel can hold you over for several days. But it also causes the story to stagnate relatively often. Obvious incoming plot points are delayed by several chapters of content that, while entertaining, is mostly irrelevant.It's difficult for me to judge WNs, because to use the same standards I apply to the more classical type of novel can't really be used.Overall, I would not classify it as an inventive story. It is done very well, however, ****** for an entertaining story with decent characters, which is also in no way hampered by the translation quality.So.. yeah. It's pretty good.
I havent started reading yet, so gotta ask:1) Is this story sth like MC getting a class in a VR game or the real world itself is like an RPG?2) The upload rate shows 16 chs/week. Is this gonna stay constant? Or at least, will the updates be regular?
Okay. Okay. Okay. Just a little over 150 chaps. This novel is great, the author has a superb ability to write. His/her description of fight scenes, the wider world and even character interactions are vivid and inviting. The MC is powerful but still very much human, he isn't infallible and invincible which the author clearly underlines was his intention. Typically, I'm in summoning novels for the OPness but the author has devised a story captivating enough for me to read and enjoy without OPness in the way I'm used to. For all the above, Kudos to the author.It seems the author intended to subvert cliche tropes of typical webnovels, japanese or otherwise, and the work does exactly that... but not much else. It doesn't even do that all the time. For example, it is a well known trope in japanese web novels, for a beautiful girl or heroine to have a fondness for the MC for no apparent reason other than the fact that he is the MC and then for the MC to not know what to do with the affection. In this novel, the MC knows what to do, but the fact that the beautiful girl has an inexplicable soft spot for MC from the start of the novel in the first place means that the story perpetuates the trope it is trying to subvert. Most side characters don't get enough screen time that we understand why they are the way they are and their own background. Their unique quirks, likes, upbringing and character flaws are not aired out enough to allow any nuance beyond the basic. This translates to stereotypical side characters which seem to defeat the novel's commentary on WN. We have the person that hates MC for no real reason, babe that likes MC for no real reason, there is even a female in the first few chapters who tries to go out with MC because he beat her in a duel. Ridiculous. The MC's character is so bland I wouldn't be able to pick him out in a line-up. We don't see him experimenting with his abilities which is a great shame because his powers are based on his imagination. He can summon anything he creates (draws and specifies, I think) so the process of creating something to summon would be a unique experience this novel could have capitalised on. Instead, he seems to show up with a new power every time there is a fight and then says it was created after the fact.The lack of imagination for the MC's summon ability shocks me. The author limits the summoning to only constellations and within that, it is either some basic animal or a weapon. And all the destructive weapons are effectively nukes. There could have been more series of summons based on MC's first life on earth. Greek mythology, Egyptian, heck even Lovecraftian and monsters from games, there is so much the author could have drawn from, but they didn't. So though the summons are good, it is hard to see MC's power as anything other than wasted potential. Even with the above, this story would still be a solid 4- 4.3, that is just how great author's writing is. However, the author uses the MC and the wider story as a vehicle for venting frustrations at WN culture. They do this through frequent fourth wall breaks and whilst this is good for cracking jokes, touching on serious issues such as online bullying and even the occasional satire to drive the novel's parody element home, it is so frequent that it feels less like a positive contribution to the story and to us as readers and more like the author whining, b*tching or ranting about the experiences that they have had online. I I know how bad readers and users of these platforms can be. It seems the author has personally experienced these horrors. That is terrible and I offer my deepest condolences. However, this is not the right platform to address those issues. This really holds this novel back, it damages the sense of immersion and is equivalent to hijacking the story for Author's agenda. Even when readers console the author, he goes and does it again. This repetitive cycle only served to destroy this novel's potential.
Been reading this book for the past week in my free time, it's been quite enjoyable. The story is paced moderately and the characters all feel alive. There are many parts of the plot that I just can't wait to find the outcome of. The story features multiple POV's in a magic/cultivation academy, with the main protagonist being James. One of two transmigrators who suffers from social anxiety, its interesting and saddening to see aspects of his humanity be destroyed by ploys and his own machinations. Been finding this as a great read, I do recommend!
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