Lost Lovers Chapter 239 Discussion

Well overall it's okay. As long as you can tolerate in*est (or convince yourself it's pseudo-in*est), there's really nothing standout about this story - which is not necessarily a bad thing tbh, it makes for an overall easy read. Especially for people that like Chinese zombie apocalypse settings with nuclei and superpower, like me!

And for me personally, I also *LOVED* the (early) relationship between the main characters - yes, in*est and all. Simply because I really like a teasing seductive dynamic where there are intense feelings and obvious that we as readers can swoon over but the characters for some reason can't act on them. And I tend to be overly rational, so if there's no justifiable reasoning why they're not being acted on it turns me away (eg. s*upid misunderstandings, one party being mean, cheating etc.) - but obviously in*est is a very justifiable reason to not act on emotions, and the apocalypse makes for an appropriate enough setting that I can reasonably accept them trying to seduce each other.

Spoiler

Cause if "hot daddy" fell in love w his 15-yo son (and attraction at first sight at 12????), AND actively tried to seduce, in ANY other setting, uhh...... But as it is, in the first lifetime he kept it totally secret because he didn't want to drag him into the abyss, so I'm like uh okay sketchy why you were in love but whatever you still get a gold star

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That's also why I got bored later on, when the blandness of the story and the flaws in the character became more apparent. Things I could originally ignore some of became more blatant and the plot didn't become interesting enough to keep going. I find that mid-late stage is what differentiates a mediocre, decent, and great [apocalypse, but also many regular] story - that's when it looks beyond daily struggles into big picture (more of world picture / "end game"), and where some stories excel whereas others were obviously shallow or monotonous.

And it's also really important to strike a balance in flow at this transition, before "daily" becomes too boring. I personally found that this story took too long to transition to big picture and the immaturity in early flaws really magnified; MC's character still too immature & inconsistent (even w his trauma and whatnot, buddy ur in the apocalypse), their group hasn't done anything monumental, no development or attachment to side characters, and repeated troupes are really eyecatching (like every powerful leader must be an ultra-handsome man, everywhere is BL relationships, MC still only dances around ML all the time, etc.). And it's not like I need them to save the world or anything, but it's definitely more difficult if they don't have any big problem or foe they've been actively addressing, and requires a lot of other attractions that this story isn't quality enough to have (Reborn Otaku being a great example of not needing to be a hero to be a great story).

Things I Disliked: (and to be honest I think potential readers shouldn't read the below, because I find it makes the flaws more evident when you're trying to enjoy a story and thus you don't when you potentially could've)

(1) MC literally only revolved around his dad. And for most of the story that I read it was okay, because he still contributed his part and it's not like he was wasting time nor trying to be a lead, but later on especially after he tries career for one chapter and tries to push himself into a more authoritative "on par" role, it becomes way more glaring that he's not actually all that smart or useful (besides space, which he keeps super secret). And it doesn't make sense how he's strong either, when he hasn't even trained as much as his bro for most of it and the story doesn't really say that mental strength increased fighting or shooting prowess. But honestly this was still not that bad for most of the story, and only got annoying when author tried to make him this competent character even though every big event he either screwed up or I didn't think was smartly handled anyway.

(2) While I get the space should be a super secret, it's SO secretive that it doesn't really make sense to me and feels awkward. Even from the son for an absurd amount of the story, just because you don't want anyone than your dad to go in? It's literally used just as a way to give our two characters an opportunity to develop romance, but quite poorly done and continues way longer than it should've. Tbh it feels like they didn't need the brother in the story at all (I guess to give him something else to worry about, or to carry on the bloodline, or to prove it's not just because of the parent-child relationship there's feelings? Either way, I feel like I would've enjoyed more w/o him there to remind me how poorly side characters are developed lol).

(3) ML is actually not all that smart or amazing either. Sure he'll occasionally have some moments, but the author will spin a tiny thing huge and it just feels overblown. Or he's just ruthless, but not actually all that genius. He's not even smart in the background, like CEOs who somehow take their company to Fortune500 while spending all hours w their lovers, because his troupe doesn't actually accomplish all that much for most of the story. Which would be okay if they didn't always play him as such an absolutely incredible character. And of course, he's written to be super strong, but it feels like he doesn't even fight that often in situations that matter either. There are also some incidents I'm just like that's actually a super dumb idea and only works because you're the author's son.

Spoiler

Neither of them even thought of ways to test utilizing the space after they could both separately access it, which seems like the most basic thing to do. So many other things around this; they on'y seriously considered "testing" with the water around c230

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(4) I got over this but he was like "wait my heart is beating" = guess I'm uber in love with my dad and I will do anything to be with him!!!! He was convinced so quickly, barely any struggle, like ???

(5) Everything is easy in this story or troubles were already planned for. Which isn't always a bad thing, but does get kinda boring / anti-climactic.

But again, overall, still an okay story. Could've been 100 chapters shorter is probably my main thought lol. I don't even know what the end goal yet and I read to c239, and it seems to be quite a ways away before they actually focus on thinking about the bigger situation that they allude (not very well) to.

Tbh the main thing I'm thinking is why I wrote such a long review for a story I'm gonna forget about tomorrow, lmao.