• God@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Actuall xianxia novels

    1. Coiling Dragon
    2. Douluo Dalu
    3. I Shall Seal The Heavens

    More like a parody: My Disciple Died Yet Again

    Western imitation: Cradle by Will Wright

    A couple funny amateur western satires I enjoyed:

    1. Beware of Chicken
    2. Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4

    My first xianxia was very shitty but I enjoyed it, it’s called Martial God Asura. “Very shitty” is not an understatement, it sucks, but I enjoyed “watching” the story’s landscapes in my mind’s eye.

    • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Coiling dragon is a classic. I forgot about Douluo Dalu that was a very interesting novel with the powers and assassination traps or whatever they were, pretty creative. I’ve always like Renegade Immortal more than ISSTH.

      Mine are.

      1. Reverend Insanity
      2. Lord of Mysteries
      3. World of cultivation/Avalon of 5 elements.

      I read the first book or part of cradle and did not like it, I even got banned from novel translation because I said I found it mid because apparently Will was a “friend of the sub” 🙄. Guess the cringe mods aren’t as bad as r/progressivefantasy which is run by a bunch of authors that just banned people from posting books with AI generated covers.

      I remember when we were getting like 20 chapters a day+ of Martial God Asura on r/lightnovels. Those were the days. Good novels good discussion good sub, too bad all that fell apart with pateron chapters and wuxiaword turning to shit.

      • God@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I read the first book or part of cradle and did not like it, I even got banned from novel translation because I said I found it mid because apparently Will was a “friend of the sub” 🙄. Guess the cringe mods aren’t as bad as r/progressivefantasy which is run by a bunch of authors that just banned people from posting books with AI generated covers.

        I hadn’t read this. Hilarious and ridiculous.

        On the 1st one maaaaybe depending on how you phrased it, some people sound very aggressive like “author X is a dumbfuck and this is so mediocre, no effort went into this, my dog could write better by shitting onto a pigeon (he did this btw) so I’m not gonna buy the 2nd one and if you do you’re a cuck”, but then again some people are very sensitive.

        The 2nd one is… what? 👀 I can’t. Been like 3 minutes looking at the screen thinking about it lmao. No words.

        • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          The thing is I wasn’t planning on getting banned at worst I wrote that it was shit which really isn’t too weird of a comment and I’ve seen people call other novels and readers worse on that sub. The mods just really bootlick the author. Since you would not get banned for saying similar things about other novels, I don’t even think I went even that far with my language.

          The progressionfantasy mods are just preying on authors with less money and told people to just pay for artists. People in comments were VERY unhappy with that announcement. But ye good drama I couldn’t believe it either.

          • God@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Ooh it’s progression fantasy and not progressive fantasy. Lmao when I read your first comment I was like “alright, to each their own” hahah

              • God@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                Yup bad mods bad. U wanna mod Chinese thing btw? I was thinking of adding some Xianxia memes and recommendations idk. Later tho cuz I have a lot of work till June 30ish due to some deadlines and contract dates

                • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  Yeah if you want I can also post some general guides, though I think that a community like that will never be as big and active as it was in the old days. At least it won’t require much moderation.

                  • God@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 year ago

                    Yeah I was thinking that. That’s why I decided to not make it like r/MartialMemes or r/Xianxia. Too overly specific and we’ll get like one post every 2 months and that’s gonna be me any time I open a new book. But at least there were like 5 people in this thread interested in Chinese literature so I was like, that’s cool, time for the community I’d been yearning since I joined (first thing in my bio lol).

      • God@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Douluo Dalu’s protagonist’s weapons were some throwable things, pretty much a Mary Sue who never failed a shot and never failed to surprise an opponent. Basically his reincarnation cheat. He also focused on poison a lot. I don’t know why I liked it so much. I honestly have so much criticism for it hahah but at the same time the story was pretty cool.

        One of my favorite things in Xianxia is not even the whole killing and fighting, although that’s not bad either, but chiefly the literary tourism I can do. I love doing tourism as well and meeting different cultures and perspectives, different landscapes, it feels very rewarding.

        I haven’t been able to start with Japanese literature, though. Their train of thought style prose is impossible for me.

        I tried Reverend Insanity (is that the Gu guy who’s notoriously evil?). I’ve tried a few times. I think I get the same problem as with Japanese novels, trying to stick my head into the character’s drive and not really “clicking”.

        Lord of the Mysteries, was that the guy that was kind of integrated with a tree and was like a mind beside a city and was farming Bleach-style minions to do his bidding and govern his ever-expanding domain? I don’t know if that’s the one or if it was a other one that I recall had more of a punkish urban fantasy vibe.

        And yeah, I used to read everything on wuxiaworld. Their shenanigans turned me toward doing a bit more piracy. I was very poor when I started and literally had no money to pay anything. Nowadays I do but I’m not as obsessive about it. I did pay like $70 for a yearly Viki subscription to watch more kdrama though. Nowadays my wallet seems to have a hole lmao. My software dev money is financing shitty startups around the world.

        Edit: I also “disingenuously” implied that I don’t like the violence in Xianxia but chiefly the tourism. Tbh I do like their contrasting and super exaggerated and ultra-violent perspective of the world. That feeling they evoke of eternal growth and violence is, while obviously not emulatable, mesmerizing. There’s something very human about conquest war and they readily accept it.

        • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Yeah they were like these spring traps didn’t make much sense but it was an original idea I never saw. I think that book was just very easy to read/well written along with having somewhat decent power system. But characters and world building weren’t that amazing I agree.

          For me I read them for the world building, I used to read them for the power fantasy but after your 3rd immortal god slayer infinite power overlord you get tired of it. I like when the world is very complex and the characters and their motives are interesting and smart. Then it just feels like a puzzle the author has to solve while making sure everything makes sense and isn’t contrived. I like when the MC in RI was stuck, none of his plans could progress so he was like I’m just going to shake the table and hope some new paths open up. I also don’t mind build armies / countries and go to war like in WOC reminds me of the expanse.

          Lord of Mysteries was more guy in pre industrial/steam punk? world with esoteric monsters trying to figure out his environment. It basically is a detective novel for the first third or more.

          I remember when they were asking for donations for translation of coiling dragon while I was a broke highschool/uni student. After I graduated I was like well I was willing to donate to help translation because it felt like a team effort but now it just feels like a commercial product with people running pateron pages where they don’t disclose how much they make. Now I have absolutely no interest, maybe I would if they sold non kindle versions.

          The only Korean shows I’ve watched was All of Us Are Dead and Hellbound

          • God@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I don’t remember spring traps in douluo dalu, mmm. I remember fighting, poison, building weapons and smithing, some spiritual hammer, and tons of superpowers. Maybe I just forgot them.

            Agreed 100% on the worldbuilding. My most enjoyable books have enormous very complex worlds. The books I’ve been trading most recently try to have characters who are distinguishable among themselves. Some of the things I enjoy the most are when the character travels and suddenly everything is new again lmao, but with some stability because, well, they and their plot are still there.

            The most recent book I read was like the most complex puzzle like you mention, and the author just kept piling on things and I was like, how are you even gonna untangle this mess lmao, sometimes he just goes and inserts a mood like “well no one even knows what happened but that’s okay”.

            Aahhh so LoTM was that one. I tried to read it but it was so strange at first that I didn’t get immersed quick enough for my ADHD to lock in. That’s most things tbh. By the time I remember I was doing X, I already forgot what I was doing and I’m doing Y with great passion and I’m like, whelp, this is my life now. But it gets recommended so much that I will probably give it another try later on in life.

            I hadn’t watched a Korean show in like all my life. And suddenly this year I decided “why not watch one of these?” and I just watched the soapiest romance ever and I actually liked it, so I’ve now watched over 15 kdramas this year and more to come. It was a surprising development, to say the least. From almost hating it because of prejudice against romance, Korean stuff and things teenage women like, to obsessively binging them with zero period of transition.

            • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              “spring traps” aren’t the correct definition it’s apparently hidden weapons, https://soulland.fandom.com/wiki/Hidden_Weapons

              Hah that travel thing reminds me of Warlock of the Magus World the MC gets strong enough to sneak into another “universe” and starts with nothing except a very clear understanding of the rules and is able to twist the world into doing impossible things after a while. All while trying not to attract attention from higher end beings that do not want his kind invading. One of the better novels I finished just in the creativity of the world including a whole esoteric dream world.

              Yeah LoTM is very strange doesn’t read like a classical xuanhuan novel if it can even be defined as that.

              Damn you flipped on the kdrama’s, I personally could never get into romance or drama’s. Prefer horror and scifi in my television, preferably both at the same time along with lovecraftian elements. But as you can guess I am mostly disappointed, especially stuff that becomes mainstream and popular.

              • God@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                I tried reading Warlock of the Magus World. I love the way people describe his character. Somehow though reading it was much harder. There was something coarse stopping me all the while and ultimately it wasn’t giving me the good feel I usually get. I don’t know what it was, maybe the different kind of motivation the character has. Which reminds me of RI, similar characters probably.

                Damn you flipped on the kdrama’s, I personally could never get into romance or drama

                You know, it is so stupidly strange. As a kid, I was a snob metalhead, doing anything not to be “girly”, I dressed black, carried a chain, wanted to be violent, read the “Bible of the Church of Satan” and I was like 10% is weird but the rest is awesome! And then I met the ideas of Stirner and was like “holy shit he’s me!”. My tastes in music are super aggressive and many claim it’s not even music even though it’s what I enjoy. And my tastes in literature are similarish to yours. These books have a lot of cool shit but they’re pretty much aggression with sugar on top lmao.

                So in my teenage ideas of superiority and manlihood I’d insult lgbt people, people who liked romantic stuff, any genre of music that was anything less than rock, and even tho I don’t have that perspective anymore, my tastes in music and media have remained rather stable.

                To switch from being all “waaaaar, weeaponnns, aggression is my music!” to watching soapy dramas. It’s hard for me to understand how that happened but here we are.

                • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  I think it starts off kinda mid until he moves to like the central area next to his clan and the world opens up a bit more and he has more interesting things cooking. Yeah it’s similar to RI, not evil characters but characters that will do evil things if it benefits them. Also the whole there are no eternal enemies just eternal benefits.

                  Yeah it is true that these books are basically that, though lots of more classic novels have tons of violence. Foundation was one where it was like “violence is the refuge of the incompetent” but then you realize that to avoid all violence you would literally need to have superhuman levels of intelligence and charisma like in the books with psycho history concept. So nowadays I like when there is conflicts/battle/wars since it makes far more sense.

                  I’m more into Stoicism, derivation of your own ideas from first principles, plato’s scholar warrior/athlete. Egoism doesn’t really align with my values probably runs more contrary to them then anything. I listen to anything that helps put me in a flow state and that I personally find enjoyable. Metal and rock are a bit too much to play while working/studying I really didn’t get into music much as a teenager.

                  Funny enough my tastes haven’t really changed from a teenager more like hyper focused to into particular aspects that I like and things I don’t.

                  • God@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 year ago

                    Egoism isn’t like hedonism for me. Sometimes maybe. It’s more of a realization of priorities, when you realize that 99% of what people tell you is important is actually completely irrelevant. Serve God, your country, morality, your family, your property, etc. You end up sacrificing your well-being for others, to externalities and ideas, many of which couldn’t even be less important to you, and some of which are actually harmful. Egoism for me was discovering that it was not my parents’ first concern to protect me from bullying, because they had their own lives too, and that everyone’s important things are what’s directly around them, and what’s important to me is external to others.

                    Stoicism is not completely incompatible with egoism. I don’t think they can be compared too well because I think they belong in different categories. I myself have taken a lot from stoicism. Egoism is more about prioritizing whatever you truly “want”, “like” or “prefer” instead of what you “should” according to any one, thing or idea.

                    Ironically metal is what I use precisely for that purpose. If I’m too unfocused or anxious, I put on some black metal to calm down. It’s like meditation that takes me right back to the basics.

                    Foundation was one where it was like “violence is the refuge of the incompetent”

                    I don’t know which foundation you’re talking about then. Maybe I just read it differently because I don’t remember that. Then again it’s been 15ish years since I read it.