Battle Through the Heavens

Description

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In a land where no magic is present. A land where the strong make the rules and the weak have to obey. A land filled with alluring treasures and beauty, yet also filled with unforeseen danger. Three years ago, Xiao Yan, who had shown talents none had seen in decades, suddenly lost everything. His powers, his reputation, and his promise to his mother. What sorcery has caused him to lose all of his powers? And why has his fiancee suddenly shown up?

Associated Names
One entry per line
Battles Breaks the Skies
BTTH
Fighting to Break the Skies
斗破苍穹
Related Series
Wu Dong Qian Kun (Shared Universe)
The Great Ruler (Shared Universe)
Battle Through the Heavens Prequel – The Legend of Yao Lao (Prequel)
Dragon Prince Yuan (Shared Universe)
Absolute Resonance (Same Franchise)
What Do You Call a Benevolent and Reasonable Person in Xianxia? An Impossibility! (BTTH) (Spin-Off)
Recommendations
Wu Dong Qian Kun (6)
The Great Ruler (6)
Coiling Dragon (4)
Against the Gods (3)
Pivot of the Sky (3)
Sovereign of the Three Realms (3)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels that I have read
  2. Novels I have read
  3. My Main Novels 2
  4. Manhua
  5. what webnovels have to offer, my favorites

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c50
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c49
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c48
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c47
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c46
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c45
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c44
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c43
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c42
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c41
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c40
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c39
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c38
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c37
04/08/15 Wuxiaworld c36
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155 Reviews sorted by


ysers
ysers rated it
March 6, 2018
Status: c232
Plot: 0 - Boring. Up to chapter 232, the story was basically solo talking about the MC and his quest to grow his flame. There wasn't much about interaction with others.

Challenge/MC: Fine. At this time, not overpowered.

Romance: 0 - The way the story describes every female's body was disgusting. Describing a few main female leads should be ok, but even unimportant characters got a "voluptuous" description. It was pathetic.

Emotion: 0 - No romance. No challenge. Nothing to feel.

Comedy: 0 - None

Overall: 1/5 (up to Chapter 232)
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DeathGun
DeathGun rated it
December 5, 2017
Status: c1427
Honesty, the people who are writing that the novel is just plain bad even compared to other wuxia novels and stuff below, I have to honesty agree with them, to a point.

Like for me, the first like 200 or something chapters was alright and decent, but after that, either the translator team ran into some problems and the translations just turned real bad (trying not to use bad words here), or the raw is just bad (which I'm pretty sure isn't and ain't the problem), but after that like for... more>> like 700 chapters (maybe more), the story just got real boring, and I just ended up dropping the novel at around the time when

Spoiler

xiao yan arrived at the central plain like it was so boring

[collapse]

but then I started again at around chapter 1260, and the translations got much better and stuff (in my opinion), and

Spoiler

xiao yan was actually progressing at a rate that I can actually tolerate and enjoy, and now is a pretty exciting part of the story, where xiao yan will be able to obtain the lucky chance of being able to train in the bodhisvatta tree for 100 lifetimes and breaking through to ban sheng

[collapse]

and normally without this, he'd prob be training or fighting for another like 100 chapters.......

but overall I'd say either the translations got way better, or just the story's like reaching it's climax point (in terms of overall, whole story) and is about to get it's happy ending

and no duh to everyone that's saying the MC is training nonstop and how the author keeps talking about random stuff, this is a xianxia/wuxia novel, the MC ofc is gonna be training nonstop cause he/she is most likely gonna be reaching the peak of their world, and author's have to reach a certain letter count criteria for each chapter....... like for most authors it's around 2500 (pretty sure the least, like 2-5 minute read) to like 5000 (which is around like a good 5-10 minute chapter) so they have to include extra details to get the letter count up

k that's all for my long ass review :p <<less
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vamignon
vamignon rated it
November 18, 2017
Status: c1472
TL;DR [ch 1472] If in the process of reading a novel you use your mind just enough to consider whether or not what you just read made sense, *do not read this novel* cause you will regret it before the end.

Mini review, [ch 1359]

Good enough to keep reading, it has it's good moments, and I actually enjoyed it more, the more I read (with a nice ending it will definitely improve my opinion as a whole). It's major weakness is the writing itself, very often I found myself skimming... more>> through some paragraphs, because reading carefully had nothing interesting. That's especially true, during some cultivating moments, and usually such parts are my favorites. Some other plot issues will depend on the final conclusion, so I might update it later if I remember it.

edit: [c1405] the power scalling had it's flaws since the beginning, but unfortunately it turns worse and worse towards the end. Now, unless the ending is good, I'll probably decrease the rating cause it gets at annoying levels. <<less
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linyongzheng
linyongzheng rated it
September 29, 2017
Status: c1135
Started off enjoyable but devolves into a very formulaic, somewhat boring structure around the inner academy arc.

Standard tropes galore in this novel but I don't mind because this is one of my first xianxias so they aren't hackneyed.

MC started off likable but now has just become arrogant and annoying: he will repay every slight against him, regardless of the consequences. Like many reviewers have said, he is extremely selfish, almost to the point that he is pure Id.

The writing is very lackluster and the later pacing/plot is laughable: the MC... more>> wins the luck lottery every 5-6 chapters. The is literally no tension anymore because we already know the MC is OP for the challenges immediately ahead of him. At this point I skim over the physical battles and look forward to the power ups and alchemy/pill refining.

English translations are passible but full of awkward writing to the point that some of it I can hear a Chinglish accent. I wished the editors spent more time rewording and making the translation flow smoother.

I'm about 70% through the whole novel and will be finishing it because I've already invested so might as well. Despite its flaws, there are still the occasional enjoyable moments. I still like reading about the MC's training and his power ups, too bad the author skips a lot of this in the latter half of the novel. <<less
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Synyster Jeet
Synyster Jeet rated it
September 17, 2017
Status: c1076
It's quite a good one, and already become a classic I believe. I don't read raws so my review will be completely based on the translated part.

The storyline is a bit different and enough to keep you hooked, genius MC, suddenly loses his powers and has to start from the bottom, then slowly realises he has special powers and so on. What the good thing about the plot is that the author keeps small term plots for each arc of the story. It's not just cultivate and get stronger. It... more>> starts with a bet to beat somebody and eventually the final plot that will go on till the end of the story is to get strong enough to marry the love of his life who belongs to a super clan.

theres not much to harem tag, unless you count two wives as a harem, of course there are other girls infatuated with him, but he really doesn't give them any flak until the very end of the raws (from what I've heard), so if you're here for the romance and harem, it's only there for the first ~700 chapters then it's negligible bordering on zero.

As I mentioned above the final plot to save the beauty, it's the only thing that made me lose interest in the novel a bit. While there are multiple subplots on the way, but this final plot is to stretched out. Our dear MC spends ~900 chapters just to get the girl while refusing other girls on the way.

Other than that it's a really great novel, you have martial arts, badass revenge, a spiritual master (Grandpa Doehring?), sweet romance (but short lived) and of course our MC, who keeps saying cool stuff and makes girls fall for him.

I'll give it a 4.5 out of 5 and would definitely tell you to pick it up and read it now. <<less
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PringleStorian
PringleStorian rated it
September 14, 2017
Status: --
read The novel up to chap 682 because I love the Comic but this is........ really dissapointing let me break it down

Character:The Character on the novel is REALLY Dragged out for example

"her figure was enough to bewitch anyone" "this heavenly Beauty" this phrase is repeated almost every 5 chapter and don't get me wrong I like the MC but his personality fells a little...... cheap compared to the novel

World: The World it's self is rather impressive and pretty consistent (if we comparing it to other Manhwa) there is a little... more>> consistency here and there but overall acceptable

Power:The power of this Manhwa is really confusing such as in the early chapter it's mention that the difference between Grandmaster and King is like heaven and earth but the MC defy this as if he's a god

Power Up:The Power up is kind of weird and s*upid and the author is like didn't know what is the meaning of "rare" and "valuable" because MC is literally Rare item Tracker at this Manhwa <<less
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Hantosh
Hantosh rated it
May 28, 2016
Status: c425
MC initially has no negative personality traits (though later becomes more aggressive and arrogant the more power and enemies he accumulates). Author actually used the cliche tragic backstory to have the MC mature a little and brush off provocation that typical hotheaded MCs would use as an excuse to slaughter entire families. Awkwardly, whenever female characters appear, the author uses several paragraphs to describe their supermodel-level sexiness before having the MC nonchalantly brush them off. After the 50th time, it just feels forced. There was a scare near the beginning... more>> where it appeared the MC was going to go the rapist as*hole MC route, but thankfully the author didn't go there.

The MC has thick plot armor; in line with the great mysterious elder mentor trope, he has a pocket elder in a ring (ala Coiling Dragon) to constantly save him. The story did become more interesting when the elder had to go into temporary recuperative hibernation and he has to fend for himself. The constant string of coincidences regarding his fortuitous encounters (eg: the map fragments) at the beginning felt rather unbelievable. That first "dungeon" was the most lame dungeon I've ever read.

The power system is a disguised RPG levelling system (100 levels known so far), with a new rank name and special power every 10 levels. A 5 star Dou Wang for example is just a fancier and more confusing way of saying level 55. Unfortunately, because of the rank system, fights often devolve into rank vs. Rank comparisons making them boring to read. Often times there'll be mention of rank X magic beasts, but no further descriptions are given to their actual appearance. Cultivation/training chapters can be quite boring to read, especially with how weirdly in-depth the author gets describing the nonsense that occurs within the MC's body, like the sentient energies and qi paths and how it doesn't make much logical sense in the end. The payoff seems especially poor when the MC intakes a giant energy source and only gets a 1-2 star upgrade, and the resulting explanations ("if I level up too much too fast it'll affect my long-term growth" / resistance to level up pills / etc) feel like blatant attempts at curbing power inflation (what, and having a ghost jack you up 50 levels is fine?). Overall, the system seems to be going the Dragonball Z route.

The MC's crafting profession (alchemy) appears to be the only magic profession in the story world. It's not as ridiculously unbelievable as MGA's literally do-everything World Spiritist, but there are some aspects that don't seem plausible. Like the inability to write recipes on normal paper/books, how it takes several years to scribe a recipe, or the alchemy tournament chemistry-off sounding as exciting to watch to the layman as watching paint dry. But people watch baseball, so I dunno.

The translation overall is decent and understandable, with occasional typos. For some reason the power system terms aren't translated. I had to refer to the source several times to figure out what all the gibberish meant. From what I've gathered, so far:

Spoiler

Levels:
rank 1: Dou Zhe/Zhi/Zi - fighter
rank 2: Dou Shi - fight master
rank 3: Da Dou Shi - fight grandmaster
rank 4: Dou Ling - fight spirit/sprite
rank 5: Dou Wang - fight king
rank 6: Dou Huang - fight sovereign
rank 7: Dou Zong/Zhong - fight ancestor
rank 8: Dou Zun/Zhun - fight senior/exalt
rank 9: Dou Sheng - fight sage/saint
rank 10: Dou Di - fight emperor

Technique levels:
rank 1: Huang - yellow
rank 2: Xuan - mysterious/black
rank 3: Di - earth
rank 4: Tian - heaven

[collapse]

Generic story; not terrible, but not outstanding either. You can sense the author has no plan from the MC running into constant conflicts everywhere he goes (eg: briefly returning home again? Another conflict). <<less
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yijunding
yijunding rated it
May 16, 2016
Status: c411
Excellent story, I like the growth of the MC. Although some parts of it is cliche, which xianxia novel isn't? At least BTTH does it in a not-as-obnoxious way as some of the other xianxia novels do. Also, it took 410 episodes to get to the academy arch, this is probably the longest it takes for any novel to reach academy arch hahaha.

Will continue reading this until the end!
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LeTouriste
LeTouriste rated it
May 13, 2016
Status: --
Extremely good novel, really few are on the same level. This is my second favorite xanxia novel (after issth). Main characters personalities and interactions between them are the best part of this novel. Good battle arcs, good training arc, a MC interesting who made his age. An harem with Both good and bad conclusions.

You seriously need to read that! Forget the manhua because soon the novel translation Will pass the translated manhua chapter, the manhua is not finished but the novel is. Furthermost the novel is well more deep and... more>> the MC is more likable. <<less
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clowred
clowred rated it
January 26, 2016
Status: Completed
Through some miracle I cam back to this story after I stopped reading more than a year ago. At that point I had reached the halfway through the first part when he was still in some desert. Annoyed by the many females that were always surrounding him I decided to give up on this story. Yet, I found out that the author created a saga, so I fastened my mental seat belt and started reading WDQK and then BTTH. Now, I somehow finished even BTTH. And I sincerely don't know... more>> if I should be happy for that mental seat belt that always prepared me for the obnoxious protagonist and side characters that only became worse as the story went on, or to be sad that the pain couldn't be ended swifter. I think I barely spent 40-50 second on every chapter from the 1600 chapter till the end. I just couldn't endure the pain anymore. The story was completely crippled, the author forgot about the scenery he described in one chapter and then completely changed it in the next one, then he forgot about the characters themselves, changing their personality traits and behavior as if he was suffering from dementia. No, this story is not bad at the beginning, at least there he was still trying, after that it almost seemed that the author hired a few other people to write together with him. Anyway, my rant will end here.

Story, the protagonist is bestowed with heavenly luck. This describes everything that will happen in this story. If he needs something, for some reason a big event will happen that will contain exactly that thing, if he reaches a new level of power and requires some new training method, heavenly flame, dou technique, he will gain them faster than you can pronounce cliche. And his strongest plot armor are b*tches. B*tches are everywhere and will give him everything he wants. In the end he creates the harem of course. That's the story, there is no suspense. Characters. Protagonist god mode, main b*tches - demigod mode, side b*tches - fawning former Bieber fans, enemies - tr*sh that will surely growl at the protagonist hands by making the impossible to avoid mistake of sending only opponents that the protagonist can somehow survive on a direct clash. That's all I can say about this story. Even the former novel, WDQK is better, even though I felt like knocking myself out after finishing it. Good luck torturing your mind if you desire to finish it. <<less
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blank1134
blank1134 rated it
August 19, 2023
Status: Completed
The novel for me is a light read. It doesn't really gave me the excitement compared to other cultivation novels out there but still an interesting read.

I don't get why the author has to say that the MC is a reincarnated being who came from another world and yet in almost all of the story him being reincarnated doesn't really mean anything. It's like the author just put it there for add-ons and nothing more. It really didn't matter anyways, the author should just stick with telling the story and... more>> not putting the MC being reincarnated.

First part of the story was interesting but after sometime it got boring. I really liked how the comedy duo of the old man and the MC gives a bit of light comedy in it. But I can't understand the MC that much. Sometimes he's clever but other times just plain s*upid. Also hypocrite. Why don't the author just stick to one and be done with it. It was cringey reading those parts because after reading one part of the story then on the next part he suddenly become s*upid. Like why? You made the MC clever then in the next story he just become so s*upid it gave the novel loopholes.

Anyways going past those things. It still a good read. The bit of the comedy in, bit of mystery on the next story gave it at least some interest for me to finish the novel. <<less
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forgotten
forgotten rated it
September 24, 2022
Status: c47
I knew this one was going to be a generic story but I severely underestimated how generic it was actually going to be.

I genuinely would not recommend reading this to anyone, 7 years ago when there were very few translated stories this might've been worth it, but not nowadays.

This is one of the worst stories read in my recent memory.

... more>> In summary: (will go into more detail below)

  • The story is generic,
  • the characters are 1 dimensional and bland,
  • it has too much misogyny,
  • the way author describes characters and how they actually act doesn't match at all,
and these are just a few issues I had with it in the first 50~ chapters.

Review:

There is nothing unique to it, its just piles on piles of cliche tropes on top of each other, every character is 1 dimensional, and everybody treats MC like tr*sh with no solid reason, Girls are amazed and attracted to MC (When they realize he isn't tr*sh anymore) every villain and antagonist has no personality traits other than hating MC and trying to cause trouble to him.

The author also can't stop praising how calm and mature the protagonist is (who is also reincarnated btw so he has two lives of experiences) but every time anyone even slightly hurt his "honor" he would lose his shit. For example the girl wanted to break an engagement and she said she should be the one to chose whom she marries not her grandpa and hearing that Our main characters face twisted with rage like the demons and every time he remembered that girl he would scream at clouds, that's the "calm & mature" main character

the author cant STFU about.

But wait, thats not the "calmest and maturest" he can be if you really want to know how truly calm our Paragon of calmness and maturity can be you don't need to look no further than chapter 47 where he threatens to r*pe, sexually assaults, and gropes his cousin because she tried to beat him up. Like she is bit*h for sure, but dear god, I have never seen such a calm protagonist.

TL:DR It's really bad and I can't imagine could anyone read this and think "This is good shit" <<less
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GeelHaarMonster
GeelHaarMonster rated it
March 27, 2021
Status: c532
A story about the world revolving around the MC. Its as if a God of Luck is personally waiting hand and foot for the MC.

Around every corner there is a "lucky" powerup, plot armor or some new beautiful girl.

What gets me the most is the hypocrisy. He would literally steal some "powerup" from someone that before has helped him and been friendly, but if someone else was to rightfully try and take something good for themselves? How dare they, don't they know every little thing in the world rightfully belongs... more>> to the MC, and they may only take it if he gives permission... There is a word that perfectly describes the MC, he is a glorious a**hole.

TL quality is great, but not amazing. There are some small things that one can complain about, but nothing that detracts from the story.

The whole Academy arc is really really bad... <<less
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MyRAMEN
MyRAMEN rated it
October 19, 2020
Status: ?
The manga is better because u dont need to deal with the low quality / average writing, in the manga, u r literally shown scenes and u dont need to think much about it. The book on the other hand is different. I remember in the past I mightve got to 100ish but when I tried rereading it I couldnt even pass the firsr few chaps with the cringe cliches combined with the writing/story quality.
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ghostdart
ghostdart rated it
August 17, 2020
Status: Completed
This novel could've been a great story had it had fallen into the hands of another talented author. As great and promising as the story could've been, it had been shot to smithereens in the hands of current author. I honestly LOVE the storyline, but the author's way of writing made it a torture to finish this novel.

There's so many pointless conversations that shouldn't happen, filler plots that are totally unnecessary, repetitive scenes that made them tiresome and boring, and pe*verted description of the ladies in MC's harem that made... more>> it truly excruciating to read. Even the way of writing is horrible whereby the actions of characters and sequence of events don't add up to the scene at play. The author also conveniently forgets things that he had written in earlier chapters and insert ridiculous facts instead which made it hard for readers to make sense of. Xiao Yan could've been an excellent and admirable MC had the author not write him to be utterly s*upid in his actions, despite having unfathomably incessant lady luck kissing his ass all the time. I mean, I have never read an MC as s*upid as XY, and I blame the author for this! It seem that the author tried really hard to portray him to be brilliant and talented, but failed miserably at it. Instead the author ruined this character and made him look selfish, dumb and short-sighted in most of the arcs presented. The translators hadn't done a great job either, but granted that they had been given such a bad novel to begin with, I guess their sin is not as bad as the author's, which is UNFORGIVABLE. Seeing how bad the translations are, maybe the translators somehow lost interest and barely translated just for the sake of producing something. They even mixed up characters names from other novels! This is just some of the tortures that readers had to endure throughout this novel, on top of the bad writing, of course.

I'm truly disappointed of how this novel turned out to be. Great things could've come out of it, but instead sh*t poor write-up was produced by this author in the end. Poor Xiao Yan for having his personality mu*dered by the author, and poor me for having to endure 1648 chapters of mostly ridiculous write-up just to see the end of it.

All in all, I truly enjoy the very core idea of this story, but utterly despise the author for writing it the way he had, and for ruining such a great and promising wuxia novel. 3 stars for the excellent storyline and great novel to be, I can't write enough of how much I love the whole idea of this novel, you really can't find another with similar storyline and well-thought main plots, it's just too bad it fell short in the end.

The only reason I picked up this novel despite numerous negative reviews was because I needed closure after watching the cdrama. I just had to know the ending of Xiao Yan's adventure. And this is the only reason why I preservered despite strong urge to drop it at numerous earlier chapters. If I had not watched the drama, I think I'd never start reading this, and even if I somehow did, I might have quit halfway. <<less
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mukkaar
mukkaar
July 14, 2020
Status: Completed
This is very generic, and very repetitive novel. Plot devices like "MC arriving at the last second" and "enemy arriving at critical moment (breaktrough or something) " are used pretty much every time there is opportunity to. Same goes pretty much everything else, author has like handful of plots or scenes he has and he only uses those again and again. Characters don't really have much depth and logic is pretty much thrown out of the window.

Overall, pretty bad. I mean you can read trough it, but it will challenge... more>> you. <<less
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Malumlid
Malumlid
September 6, 2019
Status: c1648
This novel is orribile. Mc's luck is too exaggerated. Apparently, if you are a woman and want to become strong, you have to enter Xiao Yan's harem, otherwise you are useless. There are plot holes as big as the sun. The author writes a thing and the next chapter forgets. Moreover, the fact that people are saved at the last moment has become so obvious and boring that I skip the chapter until he/she is saved.

if you could give less than a star, do it. I can't understand how everyone... more>> gives 5 stars. <<less
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Lordusopp7
Lordusopp7
July 29, 2019
Status: c1523
I just want to say that this novel is very decent. World building, fights and character conduct are all amazing. Some villains have a massive problem of procastination. They let a threat grow for too long. But other than that this novel is very decent. The best thing about it is the heavenly flames and stuff. It makes it really interesting. This novel is better than Wu Dong Qian Kun. Why? Because the main character here has better conduct. For example he knows what to do to enemies that try... more>> to kill him and will cause him trouble in the future.

He is also far stronger than Lin Dong. According to The Great Ruler novel, the cultivation levels are roughly the same with 10 levels and each level has 10 stages. I have read quite abit of Wu Dong Qian Kun. The battle prowess of Lin DOng is roughly 1 and a half stages above himself. 2 at most with immense difficulty. Xiao Yan is comfortable with defeating someone that is 7 or 8 stages above him. In Great ruler novel it is stated that Xiao Yan and Lin DOng are pretty much equal. But that doesnt make sense if they have the same cultivation according to their respective novels, XIao Yan will wipe the floor with Lin Dong. Even if you say he had the help of his master, at least he didnt rely on some stones as if they were weapons. Lin Dong harnessed the power of stones to become powerful. Anyways both novels are good but I prefer Btth over both The great ruler and MArtial Universe. Mu Chen also acts exactly like Lin Dong. <<less
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Kergonan
Kergonan rated it
November 18, 2018
Status: c1648
The manhua of Battle Through the Heavens was one of the things that got me interested into Chinese fantasy novels. It was logical that the original novel would be one of the first I would read. but I was also interested in the Wu Dong Qian Ku novel, and my policy is to never read two novels of the same author simultaneously. So I paused my reading of BTTH and only restarted it much later, after the whole translation was finished. And it might have been a mistake, as I... more>> will tell you further down.

The story itself is... okay, but lacks originality. The first part with the revenge for the cancelled wedding is good, and the subsequent plot arcs vary from good (Yao Lao's rescue) to the slightly bad (pretty much all the parts with the h**ny young master going after the feminine friends of the main character) with an average at the level of the... average of the classic chinese fantasy novel. Sadly, as I carried on reading, the book is heavily penalized by the fact that the author keeps on using the same narrative mechanisms, the same cliffhangers, the same plot twists. This repetition really took a toll on me, and some times, I had to force myself and only the perpective of the ending drawing closer helped me finish this novel. And I got to say the last arc and the ending were a bit of a letdown. It felt rushed, not quite as epic as I expected and not really satifying (the epilogue is only one (bigger than average) chapter long, a bit short for a 1500+ chapters novel).

The characters are, like for WDQK, a mixed bag. The main character, Xiao Yan, is a very good protagonist, loyal determinated, hard working, with a good sense of family, but also a sharp tongue and a mean streak that sets him apart from others too smooth characters (this more than compensate the low key "reincarnation" theme which mainly serves as "power justification"). His two main love interests, Xun'er and Medusa are also pretty well made, each with a distinct personnality, style and each strong in her own way, something that can also be said about the "third love interest", the Little Fairy Doctor. The Xiao family members are well made too, especially his two elder brothers and his father (despite the low "screen time" he has). His mentor Yao Lao is an amazing character, attentive, motivated by both alchemy and his pupil, fallible, with his own background, ennemies and friends, and active during during almost all the novel, both as a character or as a plot element. Pretty much all other "friendly" characters are not very developped, mostly one dimensionnal, with a few exceptions. On the side of the foes, it's much worse. With the three exceptions of Yun Shan, Yao Lao's first disciple and the last main vilain, who can truly evoke the feeling of "evil" and "monstruous", all the others fall in the various shades of the "arrogant young master/mistress" or the "oh I'm so evil sadist" without the slightest good point of redeeming quality. It's especially obvious in the last part of the novel, when the only difference between the enemies are their names and power levels.

The power system is divided into to halves. The first is the classical qi-focused you expect in this kind of novel. It works pretty well, with new features unlocked at each major power level, but each major level is divided into ten minor levels called "stars" which seem a bit "artificial" or "unfantastic". The other half is a bit more vague, at first it seems to be a "fire-oriented" and exclusive to alchemists system, but in the latter third of the novel, it is replaced by a "psychic-oriented" power scale which seems to be a bit short, improvised and a last moment thought from the author. Beyond that, there is also a power scale for the cultivation method and techniques, but toward the end it tends to disappear in the face of raw power. A good original idea is the Heavenly Flames, part of a specific ranking system, each of them with its unique characteristics, power (s) and ways of obtention. They also are an important element of the world's background and a core plot point.

The world building is bareboned, functionnal, and while it works pretty well with the plot, it rarely feels alive. The few details only serve to put the reader into the appropriate mood, but that's all.

The translation is of variable quality. To be more accurate, it is of "deteriorating" quality. The translation is very good at the beginning of the novel, with the occasional typo or mistake. But the quality lowers as the novel progresses, especially from the last quarter of the book, as you get closer to the end, you'll see a true festival of typos, spelling errors, faulty grammar, bad use of tenses and even characters designated under the wrong name (I remember that the translator once used "Ling Dong" - the protagonist of WDQK - to designate Xiao Yan). This really brings the novel down and breaks the groove when you're moving toward the end.

Overall, Battle Through The Heavens is an average novel, with a good start, but who progressively gets repetitive as it moves toward the end, and while the MC carries himself fine even to the finish line, the repetitions in the plot and the narration make the reading a bit difficult in the latter half/third of the novel. Add to this a translation which gets riddled with errors and typos in the last part, and the last sensation you have when you finish the book is relief that you "made it through", which is a bit of a disappointment, because the novel, while average, has its perks. Also, I got to say that the humor, which is very present in the manhua/comic, is almost non-existent in the novel, which is a big malus for me (the manhua also downplays the violence and (very light) s*x, since it's oriented toward a younger audience). Battle Through The Heavens is the first novel of Heavenly Silkworm Potato and it shows, for a lot of the flaws you see here were not repeated in his next novel Wu Dong Qian Kun, whereas the good points are kept. So if you want to take a dive in this universe that the author has explored in three book as off yet, follow the chronological order and read BTTH before starting WDQK (I can't give my opinion of "The Great Ruler", since I haven't read it).

P.S: Thanks to goodguyperson for the translation <<less
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Doropyan
Doropyan rated it
September 15, 2018
Status: Completed
I remember comparing this to WDQK about two years ago and to be honest. Both novels gave me the same feeling when I finished. I wish there was a little more at the end about how everyone goes on with their lives but perhaps that's how the author wanted to set the stage for TGR.

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Spoiler

So, Xiao Yan powers up like hell. Lucky chances fall onto him like as if they're not special. I'm serious. There's always someone one cultivation level higher who steps in at the last second saving his arse so he has the time to level up. The speed he does it has is ridiculous. I can't remember if Lin Dong was faster or if Xiao Yan was faster.

I kind of wish there was more time on him enjoying his life in the academy or at the pill tower. Ever since his father was captured by the Hall of Souls he's been chased by time and fate. Poor guy has never gotten any down time so the reader doesn't either. In that sense the pacing was a little poor. I needed some down time too.

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That's not to say I didn't enjoy the novel. If I hadn't, it would have gotten a 1 star rating. I came back to finish the novel as a breather from other novels with heavier plots. It's a long but a light read for me.

Off to start TGR maybe with an audiobook. <<less
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