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PaperclipPerfector  9d ago (text post)   1750 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 28, 2025

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As per @self_made_human's recommendation, I have started reading Reverend Insanity and got past the first 170-ish chapters, which is slightly less than 10% of the work.

tldr: It is a better way to fill subway rides than doomscrolling, but as the alleged gem of the xianxia, it disappointed me.

  • Smart protagonist cred: 2/5. It might be intended that Fang Yuan doesn't come off as particularly smart, but rather experienced, lucky to have achieved the heights he had once despite his disadvantage in natural talent and then lucky once more to get another chance. The protagonist begins the story with the massive advantage of 500 years of foreknowledge along with a prestige boon that boosts his progress massively on top of the information he has. He does not make glaring unforced mistakes, but that is not to the credit of the story when I have never seen him learn, but instead was told how "Fang Yuan was entirely clear on X" and "Fang Yuan was utterly calm like a still lake because of his 500 years of experience". On top of that, the "Fang Yuan transmigrated from Earth" part was criminally wasted. You isekai into medieval ages from modernity and don't even consider in your internal thoughts to invent gunpowder and kickstart the industrial evolution combined with the existing magical system? Some "Chinese scholar", he is!

  • General characterization: 4/5. Surprisingly decent. Although the author does not provide the protagonist with any sort of intellectual or ethical challenge or growth, this is compensated by surrounding him with a cast of people who are not so zero-dimensional, and the reader can observe them work towards their own interests and ambitions.

  • Narration quality: 3/5. Even if it's the fault of jank translation, the narration of Reverend Insanity is aiming for entirely different standards than those we've come to expect from Western novels. It is simplistic and repetitive to nauseation (I bet the massive length of the novel could be cut in half just by removing the redundant descriptions of Gu abilities the primary characters wield), mixes crude dialogue with profound stereotypically-Chinese epithets about the beauty of nature, jumps around from third-person omniscient narrator to some sort of weird "teaching moments" between the author and the reader, with the "morals? hehe, don't be so naive" excerpts (I couldn't tell if those were supposed to be Fang Yuan's thoughts or the author's) being especially grating. On the bright side, some of the flowery descriptions are really fitting, and the constant repetition and remindings does help the reader to remember the various characters' powers and goals.

  • Worldbuilding and magical system coolness: 5/5. I'd like to play a videogame based on this setting, perhaps something akin to Tale of Immortal. It is remarkably consistent and shows the author has given thought to how powers interact, the political interplay in the clans, how trade works etc.

It is a better way to fill subway rides than doomscrolling, but...it disappointed me.

May I suggest the Power of Ten series? It's a solid 4/5 through all 3M words I've read so far, and I assume the other 2M will be similar.

EDIT: And instead of 170 chapters, you should be able to decide by the end of chapter 7. The first four are abnormal, and the rest are typical enough to judge it on. It does improve as it goes on, but it doesn't transform into some other kind of work.

The very rough plot summary for all of the books is (no real spoilers IMO): The world runs on Pen and Paper RPG physics (closest to D&D), and the main character has been incarnated from Earth and is familiar with the system. Using their (absurdly powerful) knowledge of the system and (honestly pretty decent, but completely overshadowed) starting buff, they make their way into the world, find a terrible problem, and spoiler redacted.

It's also very much an action story in the XKCD sense.

The setting for Book 1 is very, very strongly based on Dungeons and Dragons, with only a few of the serial numbers filed off.

Book 2 is Warhammer 40k.

Book 3 is Urban Fantasy.

Book 4 is Marvel comics.

I haven't read books 5 or 6.

I enjoyed that series, but I've almost never recommended it. There is a level of autism on display that is truly mind boggling.

Book 4 was my definite favorite. Book 5 was a setting I didn't really know, but still enjoyed heavily. Book 6 I couldn't keep reading after finishing two others in a row.

I enjoyed that series, but I've almost never recommended it. There is a level of autism on display that is truly mind boggling.

Yeah, I don't foresee a second opportunity any time soon. "You wanted plot in this chapter? Nah, here's a character sheet along with how the bonuses are calculated. Isn't it awesome?" (Yes, it is)

I don't think I'll be looking for another power progression novel for a while after I'm done with Reverend Insanity. It really is like the fentanyl of books, or perhaps the Heartstopper Burger: incredibly easy to consume, but leaves me with something like post-nut depression as described by people on the internet.

as the alleged gem of the xianxia

This is clearly heresy, for there can only be one: Beware of Chicken (not least because it's a parody of the generally mindblowingly stupid genre)

Full version can be found with fairly trivial googling.

As a preface, I'm someone who has read a lot of Chinese xianxia, dozens of different stories, most for at least 500 chapters and have come to the conclusion that most English authors completely misunderstand xianxia.

Xianxia is a low brow genre, on the same level as litrpgs and light novels, but it is extremely fun to read. The issue is that most xianxia writers get paid by word, so the more they write, the more they make. In turn this has resulted in a number of common tropes that exist solely to pad the word count. Extremely easily offended young masters are the most common example. And these are also the novels most English authors read, and are inspired by.

But the issue is, those stories aren't well constructed, and if you try to create another story off of it, it will be also be built on shaky foundations. Like it's easy to poke holes in common tropes, but while you can write one book about it, it just doesn't work in the long form structure that webnovels are written in.

All in all, xianxia is a great genre, that offers something you will never find in the West, but also is hard to understand without reading enough of it/or just growing up in China.

Maybe I just heavily dislike comedies.

As much as it physically pains me, I have to upvote you despite you coming away with a tepid review so far.

170 chapters is enough to give even Xianxia a fair-shot, in my opinion.

Smart protagonist cred: 2/5. It might be intended that Fang Yuan doesn't come off as particularly smart, but rather experienced, lucky to have achieved the heights he had once despite his disadvantage in natural talent and then lucky once more to get another chance. The protagonist begins the story with the massive advantage of 500 years of foreknowledge along with a prestige boon that boosts his progress massively on top of the information he has. He does not make glaring unforced mistakes, but that is not to the credit of the story when I have never seen him learn, but instead was told how "Fang Yuan was entirely clear on X" and "Fang Yuan was utterly calm like a still lake because of his 500 years of experience". On top of that, the "Fang Yuan transmigrated from Earth" part was criminally wasted. You isekai into medieval ages from modernity and don't even consider in your internal thoughts to invent gunpowder and kickstart the industrial evolution combined with the existing magical system? Some "Chinese scholar", he is!

Unfortunately, this is the one place where I actually do have to say the cliched line: Wait a bit longer.

Eventually you will see the galaxy brain shenanigans, and FY outsmarting the competition. At the risk of mild spoilers, as time goes by, FY can rely less and less on his knowledge of future events, his actions have butterfly effects, and he's forced to figure out new solutions and use even more of his brains.

On top of that, the "Fang Yuan transmigrated from Earth" part was criminally wasted. You isekai into medieval ages from modernity and don't even consider in your internal thoughts to invent gunpowder and kickstart the industrial evolution combined with the existing magical system? Some "Chinese scholar", he is!

We don't know for a fact that he hasn't at least considered it, but in his defense I'll say that the Gu world is very unfriendly to technology. Outposts of civilization exist separated by wilderness teeming with magical beasts. Cultivating Gu provides guaranteed and easy power ups, and reduces the impetus for technological development.

FY probably couldn't manage the industrial chain necessary to use gunpowder as a mortal, and by the time he has the power to do so, why democratize things when he can get his way with his cultivation? At higher levels, as in most Xianxia settings, mundane weaponry shorts of MOABs and nukes won't make a deny against upper level Cultivators.

He reincarnated 500 years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if most traces of his original personality and life have faded. It will become quite clear that he's changed considerably over time, but I don't want to spoil things.

And as far as I can recall, the author never claimed that he was the reincarnation of a modern Chinese scholar! All we know is that he had an extensive knowledge of classical Chinese literature and poetry, so he could well have been alive hundreds or even a thousand years before the present day.

jumps around from third-person omniscient narrator to some sort of weird "teaching moments" between the author and the reader, with the "morals?

The Legend of Gu Zhen Ren is polarizing, and I can honestly say I'm not a fan of it. But it does have relevance to the setting, both as something the denizens personally know about, and later on for reasons I won't spoil.

Thanks for giving the book a go! I do hope you continue reading further, and I think quite a few of your critiques are valid.

And as far as I can recall, the author never claimed that he was the reincarnation of a modern Chinese scholar!

At one point Fang Yuan compared something to a neon lamp. I'm pretty sure that was his own internal narration and not the author's notes. Mao was also mentioned.

The Legend of Gu Zhen Ren is polarizing, and I can honestly say I'm not a fan of it.

The parts with the mythical guy who was the progenitor of cultivators are actually pretty cool. It's the paternalistic attitude that the narrator himself adopts at other times that irks me.

At one point Fang Yuan compared something to a neon lamp. I'm pretty sure that was his own internal narration and not the author's notes. Mao was also mentioned.

I stand corrected, and I'm actively trying not to remember because I want my memory to fade so I can re-read it with pleasure.

I do think that an industrial revolution is unlikely even with determined effort, because it would undermine the powers of the Cultivators (who can get any modern amenity they want through Gu), and because the world is far too hostile to build even modern medieval trade networks.

True, but since the narration constantly explains everything, I'd expect it to at least mention why Fang Yuan can't use any knowledge from Earth other than reciting poems and vague "business acumen".

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