- #1
Hi guys, Lam here! Some of you might remember me from an older project that was more popular, The Strongest System. Well now, I'm translating this novel and I'd like to help provide some insights as well as explain some of the issues people are voicing out in the comments (:I think this best sums up the TLDR: It's a light-hearted read with plenty of fun moments that make for good comedy as well as entertainment. If it sounds like the kind of ride for you, hop on and just enjoy the scenery it brings (:First off, let me start with what I really like a lot about this novel—the concept of it.The premise is pretty interesting to me.The story is set in a western fantasy world where our MC finds himself the successor to the Haines Empire, thereby potentially gaining access to the seven demigod Imperial Guards who are so disgustingly strong that the Haines Empire is practically unmatched in the mortal realm. Of course, our dear MC finds himself killed time and again no matter how far he progresses in this world. Like any remotely capable MC with reincarnation abilities, through trial and error, he managed to make it to the endgame during his 999th reincarnation... or so he thought. Killed yet again with no chance of reincarnation this time round, he decided to abandon his old path (I mean, even when he finally made it close to the end, he was still killed. Smart choice, I'd say.) and start on an entirely new one, aka charming them for the harem collection.^With this setting, the story plays out like a detective mystery of sorts coupled with a harem theme. So far, so good. With each arc, he advances further in his conquest as well as obtain a new piece of the puzzle that may potentially change his final fate in the end. There's a good bit of comedy mixed in alongside le*d elements so the read is rather enjoyable.Things that could have been done better—worldbuilding and action.As with many CN novels, worldbuilding is done bit by bit and always with room for expansion should they want to lengthen the story. I'd say yes, there is an overarching theme and the story does progress amidst his flirtatious fun with the ladies, but don't expect immersive and extremely well-crafted worlds to the like of Tolkien novels. That's defo not going to happen, haha.The action is definitely not dragged out most of the time compared to a typical Xianxia novel where A whips out a weapon and goes on to describe it before unleashing its power only to be matched by B's talisman which can counter it but little does he know that C has a gourd that can counter his counter so on and so forth, you get my point.That's not to say that the action scenes are not well-defined. In my opinion, they are. There are counters and descriptive manoeuvres, but with brevity to cover what's required, that's all. It can be good or bad depending on what you like.A good part of the plot progression is also done through dialogue between the characters and of course, given that this is a reincarnation novel, you'd have to expect the main character describing or monologuing his past experiences to explain his rationale and actions.Finally, to address the white elephant in the room—comments and opinions by readers!1) One reader straight up called the female characters morons or something along those lines.I won't say I agree or disagree with that statement since it depends on the preferences of the reader. However, I'd say that the story isn't one that takes itself with extreme seriousness, so why should you, my man? It's a light-hearted read with plenty of fun moments that make for good comedy as well as entertainment. If it sounds like the kind of ride for you, hop on and just enjoy the scenery it brings (:2) Chapter length.This is going to be a long explanation, do bear with me.This novel isn't the only one suffering from inconsistent chapter lengths. Believe me, this issue has been prevalent in the CN webnovel scene in recent years.Old authors used to stick to fixed chapter lengths of 1k, 2k, 3k so on and so forth.New authors, on the other hand, are more carefree and write as they feel like.As such, we end up with chapter lengths that can be extremely short and vice versa. For the earlier chapters, the average chapter length is around 1.5k Chinese characters per chapter with multiple extremely short chapters to cause that number. Later on, things does change to bring the average somewhere close to 1.8k~ or so.To give you guys a better understanding, the translation word count conversion is around 0.6. So a 1k Chinese chapter will result in a 600 words English chapter.On my part, there are a few things that I'm doing to alleviate this situation and help provide a better reading experience.1) Chapters that are longer than 1, 800 English characters (3k Chinese characters) are divided by me, I don't touch anything below that, even for those that are 1799 (There are a number in the 1700s range, legit. It's just that it's easier to forget about them and remember the short ones T_T). This will help balance out the chapter lengths and it'll help with the next point.2) Providing a consistent release rate. I'm trying my best regarding this and I haven't fallen off schedule so far. I do have work that I have to do as well and there are times when I have to hurry and put off everything I'm doing because I want to meet a certain release or when I have to rush because I'm worried I might forget and miss a release when I leave house.I believe having a consistent release rate is better than me randomly disappearing after releasing some long chapters and disappearing without saying anything.From personal experience, I don't like the uncertainty associated with waiting blindly and that's why I'm trying my best to not make others feel that way as well.Alright, this marks the end of my review, hope it helps!