After offically finishing this novel, here are my thoughts.
Firstly, the first 4 books of this novel was awesome. Great example of Chinese literature just like Coiling Dragon and Stellar Transformation. It was better than Stellar Transformation.
The antics of the bird and the meat jelly were hysterical. Especially the human figure "who dares to cause strife" formation (you'll know it when you see it ^^), that was some great creative writing right there. It was such a remarkable and memorable scene that it stuck with me for ages and made the bird the mascot of this novel. Then came the epic war of the Frigid Snow clan, the shocking finale and the desert migration. It was masterful, shocking and awe inspiring.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, then the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect arc comes along and ups the epicness. It was just beautifully written. You read about the rich story of an ancient destroyed era, the glories of the legends in the past. Lots of great world building that gave clues to and made the background story of this novel more interesting. Yet that wasn't the best part. In this arc, the best part of the writing was about the characters. You read about the story of a father and son. It was a story of love, of selfishness, and of redemption. I don't want to go too much into it as it would be a spoiler, but suffice to say it was very moving. It even brought a tear to my eye.
This was the highlight of the story. Unfortunately this was also the turning point.
The next arc after that was still good and funny, there were some peculiarities to some character's actions, some minor mistakes, easily overlooked. Then the next arc after that, you start to notice some things. At a certain point in time you realise the writing's gotten worse. Why did this group of people engage in such a stupid action? Why did the main character forget this and this? The next arc after that. Plotholes crop up. The next arc after that, it gets worse. As you read along chapter after chapter, it becomes obvious that the writing's gotten lazier. Things like items, abilities, even important plot points mentioned in previous chapters are forgotten soon after. Things that had been previously established gets changed or retconned into something else with no explanation or reason. As you keep reading, the glaring stupidity of these plotholes becomes worse. Why did the main character and the other characters become such retards?
At this point I was literially punching out computer screens in my mind. Keep calm, you tell yourself. Maybe this is one of those stories that have a good beginning, crap middle and great ending?
Then the ending comes. Nothing changes. With a sigh, I then realised this was the most plothole ridden Chinese novel I've ever read! It was an absolute disgrace to all Chinese novels. Damn it, why did I not have a time machine to tell myself to stop reading after book 4 huh? Give me back my good memories of ISSTH!! ┗|｀o′|┛
With the benefit of hindsight, let me tell you if you don't like reading stupid plot-hole ridden stories, have good reading comprehension skills, don't read past book 4. DON'T READ PAST BOOK 4! (Ok maybe one chapter after, as c629 should be in 4, but NEVER GO PAST THAT!) Most of the other reviews were written before the latter shitty chapters were released. Get out on a high note, move on to other novels!
(note: my rating only applies to the earlier books)
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