Gospel of Blood Chapter v5 Discussion

Spoiler

Normally I don't like novels that have a significant political fiction elements, no matter the additional genres. A lot of political fiction in my experience has the unfortunate effect of being emotionally draining without the payoff. Let me explain what I mean - in a lot of political fiction, there's usually a lot of tension in terms of fending off political opponents, implementing what needs to be done, etc., but the payoff usually is a bit less than I'd like. The payoff usually comes in the form of having been able to accomplish what the protagonist wanted to do... and then that's kind of about it.

This novel feels different to me. Although I've kind of just started, I'm excited. It has Korean FMC noble society novel vibes, in that the protagonist starts off in a VERY precarious position, where one false move is death, and every political gain she makes, whether it's in the managing of her territory, the revitalisation of her house, the defeat of political opponents etc., are all steps in preserving her life and giving her a stronger foothold in the world. This is also why I'm way more into female-lead political fiction than male-lead political fiction - in male-lead political fiction, it's usually about accomplishing. In female-lead political fiction, it's a lot more about survival and preservation, especially in these noble society settings. The payoff simply feels a lot better. This is also why I had a period of time where I binged a bunch of Korean FMC noble society novels, although a lot of the time those novels tend to predicated on a more romance-led direction, where she relies on her husband/fiancee a lot more.

But this is why this novel is so exciting to me. She's going to rely entirely on herself and her growth-type isekai buff to slowly win political battles, get stronger, and claim her place in the world. Plus the stakes are off the roof, she's REALLY weak in the beginning, and she has such a long way to go. Frankly, if you ask me this is what Chinese novels do a lot better than Japanese and Korean novels. In my experience, Chinese novels are much more willing to make their main characters "work for it". In Chinese it's called "吃的卷中卷，方为人上人". It means, if you want to be above the crowd, you have to work harder than anyone for it. There's of course no shortage of Chinese novels with overpowered MCs and such, but there's definitely more Chinese works that I've encountered that go from "weak to strong" rather than "strong to stronger" and "strong from the start" than KR and JP novels.

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converted previous review to a spoiler since it's outdated.

If I had to sum up this novel in one line, it would be "mystery-action cosplaying as a political novel". The political aspects of this novel are kind of like window dressing for the larger backdrop of divine and mysterious powers at play in the world created by the author. In fact, I would argue that the political aspects of this novel are more like mortal media through which the main character interacts with the reality of the world.

I have to say that I really enjoy the novel. The worldbuilding is very concrete and very solid, something a lot of novels can't accomplish. It may not be the most expansive or revolutionary form of worldbuilding, but what it has in spades is concreteness. Political, military, religious, and transcendent powers are very clearly and discretely fleshed out, as well as their complicated and myriad relationships.

The plot, while seeming to be something of a political genre, actually feels like it leans a lot more towards mystery. There are a lot of untold and unrevealed secrets about the history of the world and the past of various individuals that leaves a lot to be unraveled in the future. I think reading this novel actually helped me realise I quite like the mystery genre done in this kind of way. Secrets about the world that have to be uncovered and resolved in order to reach the "correct" ending is a wonderful way to write a novel. Look at novels like Solo Levelling and Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. Both of them have this plotline in the background despite their main thrust being action novels.

The characters in this novel are pretty decent. However, I'm not a huge fan of how basically every character that is close to the main character is essentially a subordinate or in a subservient position. She doesn't seem to have any peers. Perhaps it will change over time as the plot progresses, but as things stand she has a bunch of subordinates and no real friends, peers, or even contemporaries. Well, that's not quite true, but for the sake of no spoilers and because of plot reasons, it's pretty true.

It's an excellent novel overall, but I can't bring myself to give it 5 stars. The main reason is the atmosphere of the novel. You know the heavy feeling of an overcast sky when it's about to rain? That's the feeling this novel gives me. It falls into the trap that other novels that have power scaling like this does - introduces overly powerful enemies too early that have the potential of wiping out the main character if they make one bad move, and then not giving any real outlets to relieve that pressure. Novels like this which have extremely vast power scalings need to introduce antagonists slowly and more discreetly. This makes it more possible to balance the atmosphere of the novel and the power scaling of the main character.

See, what's happens with early reveals of uber powerful BBEGs is our main character is always far too weak to truly let loose and do what they want, but untouchable by 99% of other potential opponents. So they are in the awkward position of being overpowered generally, but severely underpowered against the true threats. I feel like novels like these would be better served by having antagonists released in stages, so it feels like the protagonist can handle everything at their level, but it takes effort, grit, and some desperation. And then as they power up, more powerful existences start noticing them and become the new threats. That way, tension can be more freely manipulated as a tool for the author, rather than be a constant of the backdrop. By having the protagonist be levelwise evenly matched with the antagonists they have to face, there is now a tool for building and releasing tension. Meanwhile, by having (a) looming super powerful antagonist (s) in the background, there is no real mechanism for releasing tension, leading to the sense that the protagonist is always under pressure.

I personally don't think it's a very good way of utilising tension as a writer. You want your audience to ebb and flow with the building and release of tension. That's what keeps people engaged and reading. Constant tension or constant zero tension makes it very easy to lose your audience, whether it be through emotional exhaustion or boredom respectively.

But regardless, I really, really enjoy this novel. The author is an excellent writer and is very good at telling the story they are trying to tell. It's very much worth a read.