After having read quite a bit of the genre, I've obviously noticed some common traits between all these novels: the length, power fantasy, and other elements which are almost always present. I can safely conclude that a xianxia is way more than just a novel about one's rise from mortal to god. However, you'll regularly see a xianxia criticized for the same reason : the novel is too repetitive, the protagonist is too strong, etc. Therefore, I have to ask myself : if those are the defining traits of the genre and obviously something people are looking for, why are they also appalling and what makes a good xianxia?
Similar to these novels, the world of comics also has a few drawn out mastodons and they happen to be extremely popular : One Piece or Tower of God are a good example of very long comics where the main characters go from one adventure to another, in a seemingly endless trip which only very slowly gets closer to being concluded, but without even an end in sight. It takes much more time to draw a comic though, so few of these have been finished and they can't compare to the size of xianxia novels with millions of words.
There's clearly an appeal to a long novel where you follow an unending adventure. As a youth, I always desired that, but growing up I mostly got bored of it and looked for shorter but better reads. Yet I still ended up reading TMW and absolutely loving it. I will not deny it is repetitive, but I don't think it is a bad repetition because I was not reading this novel looking for a conclusion. First of all, TMW does not place a huge importance on story points and focuses much more on the protagonist's adventure. Since the story is not very important, the evolution and ending doesn't really matter, so the reader doesn't particularly look forward to it. If you read this novel, it's only because the present chapter and story is entertaining and there's little chance you'll be frustrated because a plot point whose resolution you wanted to see has taken hundreds of chapters. There are such moments, but they are not really that important.
One of the thing I really love about this novel and which made me read it all the way is quite simple: world building. I've seen many people that didn't share my interest and criticise the novel for being wordy and trying to "fill" the chapters while the writer is having a block. I don't share this opinion. One of the main reasons I really like TMW is because the author spends a lot of time describing the world and how it works. It's not always amazing but there are a lot of good ideas and it renews itself constantly. The protagonist is always travelling to a place which is different, where the organisations don't work the same, with different types of powers... all of this kept the novel interesting for me and I couldn't get bored out of it. I felt like the repetition of the arcs was just a pretext to build this world.
Yes, it's always Yi Yun arriving somewhere and going from a weak random dude to being a local powerhouse. But every arc is also the opportunity to explore where he is and learns as much as the protagonist would about things. I never felt the novel to be drawn out at all. It doesn't spend thousand of words describing emotions or repeating the same thing, it doesn't have one young master popping up after the defeat of their younger brothers to avenge them. In fact, I think most of the arcs were concluded in a pretty good way. The novel has a format it always follows : the protagonist arrives as a weak person and observes his surroundings, which is a great occasion to do world building. A few likeable characters are introduced as his new companion and friends to involve the reader and make him care about the world, then the protagonist has to face some kind of obstacle. There is a build up and every arc will be concluded with a big fight that doesn't disappoint and which is very satisfying, it's also the opportunity to introduce cool cultivation techniques. The only thing I'd criticise is that way too many people underestimate the protagonist, which was a bit too cliche. They keep building up excuses as to why he's not as strong as he seems to be, which is a bit more original than most xianxias but still annoying. It's only in the last few hundreds of chapters that everyone acknowledges his power, but they still make up some excuses for having to fight him.
Another thing I particularly liked is that there were many interesting antagonists, and that is from the very beginning of the novel. They aren't amazing by any means, but they are more than just your typical young masters. The author does acknowledge their value and doesn't just ridicule them, which helps in respecting them and liking them as antagonists. A few of them were recurring in the novel, which helped to build them as characters. I only regret that both Yi Yun and his enemies are always so needlessly cruel and can't resolve things without murder because I thought a lot of these antagonists would be nice to keep around or would at least deserve to repent.
Finally, I do think the novel had some good characters which made it particularly enjoyable, but I'm very sad that they are often skipped without ever reappearing. A few of them especially had way too much importance at first then were completely forgotten and never mentioned again. I think less than five characters from a part of the story will reappear a few hundred chapters later, but even they are forgotten. The novel would have gained a lot more love from me if the protagonist took the time to revisit past places and meet with his friends (and enemies) again, alas! There were also really interesting story elements, cultivation techniques, and some minor things that kept me going so I have to say, I really liked reading TMW.
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