- #1
I am a HUGE fanatic when it comes to good writing in web-novels. The reason is obvious...given the industry, the mass chapter releases, web-novels get a bad rep as junk food literature. That being said, I even more so appreciate authors who in such a field, still work on their craft to produce good writing. Good writing introduces complex themes and thought-provoking ideas that readers can explore and can relate to in real life. Good Writing does not settle for generic plots or character tropes. Good Writing is well thought out, refreshing, and stands out from the thousands of generic works that are published every year.
This rant of mine leads me back to main topic of Er Gen. I have been a huge fan of Er Gen for the longest time because his work had always been a poster child for ideal good writing in the wuxia genre...that was UNTIL recently.
I have loved his use of world building, his greater-than-life characters, as well as the amount of depth he puts into each of his novel, but I have also noticed a significant drop in quality (or I should rather say, a drastic shift in his writing choices) in recent years.
When I read Renegade Immortal, the novel shined a different light on the bitter and unblemished life that actually is to be an Immortal Cultivator. Unlike a lot other wuxia novels out there, which was about face-slapping, getting all the girls, and being a badass-genocidal megalomaniac, Er Gen told a much more harsher and grimmer tale about struggle and sacrifice his character have to make and endure through to get to the top, which was something I never read before until I picked up RI.
Then Beseech the Devil/Pursuit of Truth was an even grimmer tale of immortal cultivation, which had a protagonist who was in even worse straights that protagonist in RI. It was grim, maybe even grimier, but it had some light & genuinely lovely moments that did not take away the seriousness of the novel’s overall theme.
Next was I Shall Seal the Heavens, (which I still view as my favorite Er Gen novel, despite some of it flaws). Er Gen really out shown himself with ISStH. While I did enjoy the harshness and gritty theme from RI and PT, ISStH was very refreshing for it's different take. It had a lot more comedy and light storytelling than what I’d come to expect for Er Gen. But I actually found it very pleasing to read. It did not detract from the novel's writing, but in fact enhanced it, which just goes to prove how talented Er Gen really is. While I admit that ISStH did come with its own set of problems, I still consider it has my favorite Er Gen novel. ISStH is the only book that I've read that made me tear up on 2 SEPARATE OCCASIONS just due to its excellent writing:
Spoiler: Excerpts1. The loss of his foster-father and loved ones during his experience in the Dream/Nightmare realm.
2. The tragic life of one of his clones, who was a blind carver that one of his love interests decided to become a mortal to live with him.
THEN THERE’S A WILL ETERNAL
Here is when I noticed the difference in Er Gen's writing. He leaned way too hard on comedy in novel, which is not a bad thing...but it was at the expense of good writing. Each time one of Er Gen's protagonists developed in character or strength, we as readers believed it because the amount of effort and struggle, they went through. But the protagonist of AWE had pretty a much a smooth sail of things throughout the whole story besides 1 or 2 bumps on the road. Everything seemed to be a slap stick gag that was just a method to drop the lead from one fortunate encounter to another. Nothing felt earned or deserving. Worse, was that there wasn’t any single memorable part, plot, or writing from that entire novel that stood out to me.
I was hoping AWE one just one Er Gen's less successful experiments and that he would get back to form with his next published work, but from I heard and read about, A World Worth Protecting follows in much of the same line as AWE which greatly saddens me.
Am I being way too critical or has someone else notice this as well?
This rant of mine leads me back to main topic of Er Gen. I have been a huge fan of Er Gen for the longest time because his work had always been a poster child for ideal good writing in the wuxia genre...that was UNTIL recently.
I have loved his use of world building, his greater-than-life characters, as well as the amount of depth he puts into each of his novel, but I have also noticed a significant drop in quality (or I should rather say, a drastic shift in his writing choices) in recent years.
When I read Renegade Immortal, the novel shined a different light on the bitter and unblemished life that actually is to be an Immortal Cultivator. Unlike a lot other wuxia novels out there, which was about face-slapping, getting all the girls, and being a badass-genocidal megalomaniac, Er Gen told a much more harsher and grimmer tale about struggle and sacrifice his character have to make and endure through to get to the top, which was something I never read before until I picked up RI.
Then Beseech the Devil/Pursuit of Truth was an even grimmer tale of immortal cultivation, which had a protagonist who was in even worse straights that protagonist in RI. It was grim, maybe even grimier, but it had some light & genuinely lovely moments that did not take away the seriousness of the novel’s overall theme.
Next was I Shall Seal the Heavens, (which I still view as my favorite Er Gen novel, despite some of it flaws). Er Gen really out shown himself with ISStH. While I did enjoy the harshness and gritty theme from RI and PT, ISStH was very refreshing for it's different take. It had a lot more comedy and light storytelling than what I’d come to expect for Er Gen. But I actually found it very pleasing to read. It did not detract from the novel's writing, but in fact enhanced it, which just goes to prove how talented Er Gen really is. While I admit that ISStH did come with its own set of problems, I still consider it has my favorite Er Gen novel. ISStH is the only book that I've read that made me tear up on 2 SEPARATE OCCASIONS just due to its excellent writing:
Spoiler: Excerpts1. The loss of his foster-father and loved ones during his experience in the Dream/Nightmare realm.
2. The tragic life of one of his clones, who was a blind carver that one of his love interests decided to become a mortal to live with him.
THEN THERE’S A WILL ETERNAL
Here is when I noticed the difference in Er Gen's writing. He leaned way too hard on comedy in novel, which is not a bad thing...but it was at the expense of good writing. Each time one of Er Gen's protagonists developed in character or strength, we as readers believed it because the amount of effort and struggle, they went through. But the protagonist of AWE had pretty a much a smooth sail of things throughout the whole story besides 1 or 2 bumps on the road. Everything seemed to be a slap stick gag that was just a method to drop the lead from one fortunate encounter to another. Nothing felt earned or deserving. Worse, was that there wasn’t any single memorable part, plot, or writing from that entire novel that stood out to me.
I was hoping AWE one just one Er Gen's less successful experiments and that he would get back to form with his next published work, but from I heard and read about, A World Worth Protecting follows in much of the same line as AWE which greatly saddens me.
Am I being way too critical or has someone else notice this as well?
