- #1
The main problem I have with this novel is that the author doesn't actually take advantage of the system. Instead, he completely casts it aside for large swathes of the novel, where the MC would have normally used it. What we get are story arcs that have little to no meaning or engagement because the system could have greatly helped to resolve them, yet the author suddenly 'forgets' that it exists. For example, in the early business arc, the MC could have redeemed points for business acumen, accounting, leadership, speech, negotiation, etc. But none of this was done.A couple of other points. (1) As reviewers and commenters have pointed out, the author's norms are outdated by several decades (even by younger Chinese persons' standards). Additionally, he refers to social, psychological, biological, medical, historical, and more ideas that have been debunked for well over 60 years. (2) Characterization is awful. Everyone acts like an a-hole to everyone else for no explicit reason and it's nearly the only way the author knows how to initiate action scenes and plot progression. Any character who seems like a genuinely good person the author will eventually find a way to write them out, transform them into a bad person, or reveal some hidden background or personality trait that brings them down a few pegs. It seems that the author cannot stand genuinely good people. (3) Many characters, story beats, and actions scenes are strongly inspired by mid-1980s to early-1990s Hong Kong hard-boiled action and, occasionally, comedy cinema. (It's easy to imagine a young Chow Yun Fat in several of these roles.) This may provide better insight into the story and author. (4) There's no moral center or consistency. Characters may do anything for any reason at any time, other characters will blindly accept it like cardboard cutouts, and the author will use exposition by characters in a poor attempt to rationalize it to the reader. (5) Non-stop racism and jingoism begins around Chapter 300. Justifying r*pe and r*pe-victim falling in love with rapist begins around Chapter 580.
