BIG REMINDER: THE ANCESTORS IN THE PICTURE NUMBERING:
From Left to Right (clock wise): 5th Generation - 3rd Generation - 1st Generation - 6th Generation - 4th Generation - 2nd Generation- 7th Generation
Here's my Question and Answer Review.
Hi, Tsugumomo
Oh Hello, Val
Well I'm looking for a good novel, can you help me?
Sure. what kind of novel do you want to read?
I've been reading a lot of Kingdom Novels, so I want something close to that. Oh a big reminder, I don't want some wish fulfillment like a guy introduces technology and stuffs from our world and decided to change the ideals of the world, the last kingdom novel that I have read was unbearable that I have to dropped it. The novel wasn't bad, but it's too unrealistic and too pretentious for its content, and it's too idealistic for its goals it's trying to achieve. Oh I'm looking for philosophical novel with a lot of reasoning behind it, the last novel I read lacks of philosophical side and does only show one side of their ideology without showing any rationale human side of them.
Umm are you talking about the popular kingdom novels which has a lot of high ratings and readers?
Yes it is, I thought it was good, yet it was bad. It gave me some expectations yet they betrayed me with their wish fulfillment fantasies. I'll never read something like that again!!
Chill dude, your elitist side is showing again, that's why you don't have friends outside the internet, and you don't even talk to the elitist club you joined.
Those guys, they bash a lot when it comes to novels, the were only limited to anime and manga, they are not real elitist, pretentious elitist is the word for fitting for them, and the ticket was to complete Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which is another idealistic novel that has thrown realism into dark side, well those guys can make sound argument when it comes to Anime debate.
Lets return to our real purpose, I want a Kingdom Novel which has a lot realism, that's the main criteria, I don't mind if it's a fantasy or sci-fi story, but I want the content something realistic and the crucial part, the characters. I want the characters to be realistic with having consistent characteristics with rationale mind, and I want the antagonist to be the same too, even if they are fodder to the story. Another demand, I want it only here in Novel Updates directories, I'm still not used to other sources and stories, even if I'm an elitist, I don't explore too much besides available Asian Stories.
That's quite hard, but foremost, but there's a lot of them in Palace Intrigue stories, especially the Chinese Novels.
As much as possible, the Japanese ones, I want to watch the Chinese Novels adapted in Dramas like "Nirvana In Fire". The Japanese was able to make an a great Love story "Emma" that an English bookworm has praised it for surpassing the English writers. My point is, Japanese people can accurately make a western story, even though I want to read some of the western books, I don't know how, that's the reason why I don't want to read something beyond NU's directories.
Ok here's my List
Shinwa Densetsu no Eiyuu no Isekaitan
Rakuin no Monshou
Nejimaki Seirei Senki Tenkyou no Alderamin
Madan no Ou to Vanadis
Altina the Sword Princess
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
Spice and Wolf
Sevens
Oh, there's a lot of them, hmm ... (*reading the descriptions of each of them)
I think I'll pick up Sevens, it's the only completed novel out of the seven novels you've recommended.
Nice Choice, is there anything that you want to ask about Sevens?
Here's my question About the Story: How was the story told? Did the chapters fit together neatly into a continuous story, were they told from different times/characters in the story, or were they essentially stand-alone (episodic)? Could it have been done better?
Sevens was written in Light Novel Format Structure, having an prologue and epilogue makes Sevens organized. Oh a reminder, there's a lot of re-introduction in prologue, so better keep it in your mind or you might find Sevens repetitive. The chapters have fit together, it's written on standard continuous like One Piece style, actually it's thoroughly planned which makes it better to most popular novels I you can easily find. If there's anything that could have done better, it would be the implied writing style which is quite disadvantage to casual readers who were not exposed to these kind of writing style, well it's understandable since Syosetu has a limiter when it comes to number of characters in each chapter. But I do think the author could have done a better job by writing Sevens in Graphic Form while not removing it's Implied form like "Kumo Desu Ga", well it becomes a demand if I say it like that, anyway I think you'll have no problem since you're used to Kingdom Novel.
Oh so it's in implied writing, so a lot of details will be left out to the readers to think up to themselves, hmm... that's fine for me but I have to take it slow when I'll read it.
Another question: Was the story overly simplistic or complex? Did that appeal to you or was it too boring/confusing?
This is hard, If you're going to take Sevens as a whole, then it's quite simplistic like "One Piece" and "Naruto". But if you're going to talk about its intricate details, world building, reasoning, logic, and kingdom elements, then Sevens is clearly superior to the other popular shounen series. If you're going to compare Sevens to other Legit Political Novels, then it falls short. Basically, Sevens is in the Center of Standard Teenager Stories to Complex Political and Logical Intrigue Psychological Stories. In fact, Sevens is one of the most believable story from the beginning till the end, while it some of the traditional writing style, the decent details of Sevens makes it exceptional to others. If you're going to ask me if it's boring, then it is, I won't deny that, but it's not confusing, rather, Sevens was written in which you have to read it Slowly, while I admit that I did't care about it before since I was only concerned in the Music that I was playing to synchronize Sevens, its implied realistic details combined with few detailed content what makes Sevens boring if you're not used to it, well it's still pretty entertain when it comes to Character Department. And you've also asked if it's confusing, then it is if you're going to read it fast, that's why I recommend Sevens to be read slowly.
I like it. I like how Sevens Simplicity and how complex it was. Hmm... It has 345 Chapters plus epilogues, I guess I'll take your word as an advise, since it's grouped into Volume, I'll limit it to 1 Volume per day pacing.
Another question: Is the story unique? If it was predictable, did you enjoy it anyway because you like this genre/set-up?
Yes it was predictable, but I love the genre and its set-up. I admit that it's still in the realm of predictable plot, but I love the progress of the plot, from the beginning till the end, its predictability was cast off out of the window, and instead, it focused on the foundation and sensibility of the story. Plot wise it's predictable, but it didn't abuse any repetitive element like Naruto did to many flashbacks fillers to make the enemies empathizing or One Piece repetitive plot Go to another country and save it. Sevens is easily predictable due to its consistent plot, but it's complex plot foundation and logic compensated to its predictability. To make it simple, the Process was complex while the Result was Easy.
I still have some questions about the story: How was the pacing? Were there filler episodes or places that were rushed?
Actually Sevens is fast paced, I've already told you that it was written in Implied form. Well Sevens Volumes make every arc slow, but if you take it on a bigger picture, it's faster than most novels with a lot of chapters. Well I do get people complains about how slow it is, the plausible reason was it is still being translated by Yorai, even Yorai's fast translation can't keep up with Wai's fast paced released that Sevens before was treated as a slow novel. There's no Filler, but there's a question corner and some special chapters, but I can't call them filler. Sevens is not rushed, but to be frank it is quite rushed in the later chapters, too many implied writings and low on details, but at least it's still consistent till the end.
Here's a crucial question: Were the individual elements of the story done well? Was the comedy funny, the mystery enthralling, the ecchi/fanservice desireable, (action, romance, suspense,...) etc.?
The Elements of Sevens (Genres and Tags) were done well, from the beginning to the end, it's sensible and logical.
Even though I've said it was predictable, Sevens didn't resort to cheap writing like "Release that Witch" did. Resorting to introduction of advance technology and showing it to people just to see their repetitive reaction while showing the author's unrealistic naivety when it comes to policies and ideology which would not work in reality. The author of Sevens showed its superiority when it comes to knowledge, she showed the complexity of Nobility, Common People and Royalty, Wai showed how hard it is to actualized what RTW is doing right now. Wai also knows how to limit her content or else the Dreaming side of Japanese readers will not appreciate too much historical reality which should be left unknown to readers.
The Top 5 Cores of Sevens are: The Realistic Adventurer Lifestyle which showed the world building and game elements; the Schemes and Manipulative Characteristics of Walt House which has become the staple food of this novel, and amazing which is the overly done story element, the Harem, which is the most exceptional harem I've ever read, it's very complex, realistic with a lot of logical reasoning on it, one of those stories that shows how fragile friendship that turns into rivalry is when it comes to romance: The Kingdom Elements which was thoroughly researched, a lot of complex discussion about them, a lot of logical aspects and reasoning that you'll only find to legit kingdom novel: And lastly the Mysterious Element, which was shown in the early volumes, also one of the most sensible plot foundation from the beginning until the end.
Oh Nice!! I want to read it right now, but here's another crucial question: Were there any deus ex machina or other literary techniques/tropes that were overdone, or conversely, done well? please no spoilers
This is hard to answer because you're not asking for specific technique and trope. Oh well, Sevens is quite standard when it comes to Literary Technique which made it predictable, but when it comes to Plot Structure and Foundation, Sevens excels in making its story solid. If you're asking about deus ex machina, then there's some, but unnoticeable, so it doesn't matter. For Perspective Narration like Multiple POV, I admit that Sevens excels on it, Sevens is quite good when it comes to highlighting its cast, and it never used Multiple POV as its reaction pieces unlike RTW which is quite repetitive. For Style, the use of Imagery was good, it's easy to imagine in Sevens. The Theme was the Distributing recurrent thematic concepts and moralistic motifs among various incidents and frames of Sevens. Skillfully crafted tale, thematic patterning may emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea disparate events and disparate frames have in common.
Last Question about the Story: Was the ending satisfying? Did they explain everything or were there plot holes? Did it have an open ending or an abrupt forced ending? Again, no spoilers please.
I'm quite satisfied with the Ending, or not. I mean it was literally good that Sevens Ended in a good way without going downhill, from the beginning it started going in upward slope when it comes to story. I won't say there aren't plot holes, but they are insignificant if you're going to compare it to the majority of web novels and popular works revered as masterpieces. It's not a forced ending, it's planned so there's no rushed needed to end it. It's quite remarkable that the story have focused on what's beyond the Ending, a also shown it's balance side by showing what's to fall and what's to rise, a lot of Philosophies has been said. Sevens is one of the best series you can use as an inspiration to write, A lot of stories has been left and can be easily use as a starter, even I wanted to make a fan fiction of Sevens because there's a lot material that can be use. Overall Sevens is a great novel and the ending was good, I hope that the author will make a sequel of Sevens.
Thanks buddy, It's really assuring when you're the one who recommends, but you're too heavy when it comes to information. I'm going to read Sevens.
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