Reviews on basically everything Im reading/read (if I can remember enough about it)

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Reviews on basically everything Im reading/read (if I can remember enough about it)

This isn’t in an order so it’s not ‘ranked’ from best to worst or wtv. Mainly this is just a list of my thought/opinions and basically a review of the novel on a whole.

I make too many of these lists omg

I cannot tag and am not bothered to tag.

Most of this stuff is BL tho occasionally there may be some that isn’t.

I’m not big on abo or beastment(?) but there might be some. I’m running out of content (things to read). I generally only read ‘completed’ works so I may have to do a bit of waiting… D:

P.S, the first 2 novels on this list have quite bad reviews from me but this isn’t a recommendation list, it’s a review list. There are both good and bad reviews for different books. I can be quite contradictory sometimes and a little inconsistent (blame that on my bad memory) but I try.

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Isliterallydone

Created: Jun 16th, 2021, Updated: Jan 14th, 2023

Created Jun 16th, 2021

Updated Jan 14th, 2023

CN (4.5)

#1Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil

339 Chapters Every 50.4 Day(s) 22391 Readers 730 Reviews 11-04-2022

Completed Action Adult Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Romance School Life Sci-fi Yaoi

(I stole this from my other list):... more>>

This story isn’t actually THAT amazing in my opinion. Is it good? Yes and that’s why it’s on this list. However, the comments and reviews on this story made it seem a lot better than it actually is for me. In fact it was the sheer intimidation I received from the comments which originally made me reluctant to start this novel in the first place. I don’t have time to get THAT emotionally invested in any novel for the time being. I initially started this novel out of desperation, I read so much I’m running out of content.

But BASICALLY: is it good? Yes, it’s definitely worth the read (if this is the sort of story you enjoy) it just isn’t as amazing as some of the reviews make it out to be. It’s not perfect, I certainly did not make this novel my ‘bible’ and I’ve definitely read better novels. The story itself is surprisingly pretty consistent in some aspects and I have to admit, for a fast transmigration novel, it’s probably one of the best I’ve read. However, I haven’t read that many fast transmigration novels because they aren’t my cup of tea.

In terms of the MC and ML’s relationship, it was cute enough however it wasn’t a relationship which had me screaming and wishing I had.

The different ‘worlds’ like most fast transmigration novels was somewhat repetitive. It’s not EXTREMELY obvious and it definitely didn’t render the novel boring (for me) but it did follow a pattern of ‘MC being put in character with somewhat unfavourable circumstances before turning everything around cause MC OP’

I can’t help but feel like the author came up with a genius prompt and didn’t do it justice. Similarly to ‘My husband is suffering from terminal illness’ one of the only issues I had with this novel is that instead of bringing round the concept of ‘grey area’ the author just straight up turned many of the protagonists into horrible people. Arguably this introduces the concept of ‘no one is perfect’ however there was no need to turn the protagonists into people THIS BAD. Often, this pattern of turning the protagonists into straight up bad people just made room for many inconsistencies which is why I initially said this novel is consistent only in SOME aspects.

Overall however there are no major issues with this novel and I understand why people love it so much. It’s an enjoyable light read and the stories are fast paced and therefore doesn’t leave room for much boredom.

I found ‘an honest review’ amidst all the screaming in the comments of this novel and I can’t help but agree with many of the things they point out. Of course I don’t agree 100% because we’re both individuals with our own likes and dislikes. One thing I’d like to point out however it, the commenter mentioned disliking the MC’s selfishness and I can’t help but agree. I’m normally ok with selfishness as it’s understandable to be selfish but I didn’t like it in this context. [SLIGHT SPOILER] I’m not particularly fond of selfishness which results in majorly disrupting or possibly destroying other’s lives. [SPOILER] What if Orr Asai’s (I can’t spell) family were actually good people? And even tho they aren’t, the MC still deprived them of the opportunity to send Orr off. The MC basically hijacked another person’s body to give to the ML and that sorta bothers me. Even more, if the MC did end up ‘resurrecting’ Orr instead of giving the ML a physical body would he really kill Orr?

I said there are no major issues OVERALL and I also said it was worth the read if you enjoy this sort of story BUT, I still can’t wrap my head around WHY IT HAS SO MANY GOOD REVIEWS. This is also part of the reason as to why I left such a long comment for this novel. I just don’t understand. I haven’t and won’t say it’s horrible or super boring because frankly I’ve read a lot worse but I will say: I personally think there are many other novels which deserve these ratings more than this novel. <<less

CN (4)

#2Are You Addicted?

326 Chapters Every 134 Day(s) 4872 Readers 76 Reviews 03-07-2019

Completed Adult Comedy Drama Mature Romance School Life Smut Yaoi

DKDKKS I DID NOT FINISH THIS AND DID NOT LIKE IT :/... more>>

Ok, so this was probably one of the first few BLs I read and even then I knew there had to be better and I did not like it.

It has a lot of good reviews (tho also a lot of bad reviews) but honestly I just don’t understand how??! The translation group for this novel are very good and I had been following their translations of ‘Saye’ at the time. So I had pretty high standards going into this at first. This is probably why my impression of this novel is still so vivid. I wouldn’t say I dropped it out of disappointment, I hardly ever feel disappointment, but rather because it was starting to really move away from what was a pretty decent beginning. I can’t say my opinions on the characters would be the same now that I’ve read more books in this genre but at the time I genuinely thought the characters were quite interesting in the beginning. The MC tho not OP wasn’t weak, the ML tho (probably - I have bad memory) a bit problematic wasn’t horrid either. But it just kept getting worse and worse. I was waiting for the ML to grow up a little and start treating the MC genuinely well. Let me just make this clear, giving someone good material things does not equate to treating someone well. Saying incessantly that they love someone or constantly complimenting them does not equate to treating well. Sticking to someone in the name of love does not equate to treating someone well. And for god’s sake, proving that you can’t live without someone and would lose your mind DOES NOT SHOW AFFECTION OR LOVE OR CARE. It’s obsession guys 0-0.

And although imo I don’t think people who do these sort of things should be hated, they’re clearly quite pitiful and have experienced things that made them that way, I certainly do not thing the way the author had handled these situations was…uh… good. As far as I had read anyways.

I tend to not give bad reviews to things or at least not to this degree because I’m normally quite open but although not disappointed exactly, I was quite annoyed near the end (before I gave it up).

The MC who seemed somewhat strong in the beginning stopped appearing so. The ALREADY problematic and somewhat childish ML (tho initially to a tolerable and understanding-ish degree) surpassed the realm of childlike to wholeheartedly a child -_-

Insecurities are normally a good thing to portray but this… it’s not a good thing. The choices both of them make start to make less and less sense in comparison to the characters they were portrayed as in the beginning. The cool successful soldier’s son turned into so much of a child you wonder how he even got to where he was in the first place. The MC who could originally make choices that seemed to make sense, someone who somewhat had a sense of self-reliance completely disappeared.

It just got annoying. When I read it I remember the narration in my head, the character’s voices, it all just started sounding like whining. Day in day out whining.

Maybe I would be disappointed if I weren’t so annoyed. <<less

CN (4.3)

#3Peach Blossom Debt

78 Chapters Every 86.7 Day(s) 4784 Readers 40 Reviews 05-17-2021

Completed Drama Romance Xianxia Yaoi

Ah, finally a story that’s actually good. This story, I’d say focuses on fate. ... more>>

Fate is mentioned countless times from ‘eternal lone phoenix’ to ‘string’ (I can’t remember the full name). It’s about breaking away from fate, taking fate into their own hands. Nothing is set in stone. I genuinely liked this story. I cried a bit ngl and I genuinely could feel the MC’s thoughts and emotions.

This novel… isn’t fluff based. It doesn’t emphasis fluff. It doesn’t emphasise stickiness or attachment, but there is love.

Genuine respectful love. Selfless love.

I think to truly understand and appreciate this novel, one must understand the idea of ‘out of place’ - in other terms a true ‘social outcast’. It’s also important to understand true selflessness. Imo true selflessness does not mean one has no wants and/or is not ‘selfish’ at all. True selflessness is the ability to let go. You have wants and ‘selfish desires’ because it’s inevitable. It’s impossible to not want at least occasionally. But selflessness isn’t pushing those wants away, isn’t being a people pleaser and putting everyone before yourself, it isn’t meant to be tragic (otherwise how could it be a good thing?), but it’s the ability to let go of things when needed.

I think this novel does a good job portraying that.

This novel is quite fast paced. Apart from the MC, the ML and one of the other characters you hardly get to know any of the other side characters. But that’s important. The focus isn’t the characters or the conflicts or anything like that. It’s self-realisation, transformation and fate.

The MC and ML and most of the characters are deities (I think that’s the word), they’re lifespans are much longer than the mere mortal and this is emphasised in the pacing. You don’t get to focus on the mortal world beyond what is necessary because for them, the time spent there could be considered but a fleeting moment. The focus being on deities is important tho. It’s them we normally associate with fate. It’s also the long lifespans which emphasise ‘eternal lone phoenix’ and the inability to escape fate. No matter how long they lived, they were still all tied by fate.

In the end it was the MC’s selflessness which helped him break away from fate. Although one could say he let go of his life, I’d prefer to say he let go of fate. It was selflessness which set them free and it was love which eventually saved the MC.

It’s a good novel you just have to focus on the right parts. Don’t look for an elaborate world through which ‘individuals’ are emphasised. It’s not the focus here. Material possessions and lust is not the focus here. However, you are free to discover for yourself what this novel means to you. What it brings to you. For me, it’s was selfless love and fate :) <<less

CN (4)

#4Desharow Merman

128 Chapters Every 16.7 Day(s) 5857 Readers 44 Reviews 11-20-2023

Completed Adult Fantasy Horror Psychological Romance Sci-fi Smut Supernatural Yaoi

Ok… so the review seems to have disappeared… which is sad but fine…... more>>

It’s a shame now because it’s been a while and I can no longer recall the details of this novel to the same extent.

Either way, I can still say with full confidence that I loved this novel. It’s complicated, mysterious and probably not meant for kids.

My first review took on a completely different tone and although it was more detailed and informative and definitely had more of my own insight, I spent the entire day pondering it and wondering if I phrased things correctly. I think I’m quite happy it disappeared; hopefully this review would be better.

So plot-wise: I loved it.

I think the plot is one of the most attractive parts of this novel. The plot itself is quite complicated but well paced. I saw people leaving reviews on this novel saying that the plot is dragged out and things just drag on and on but I rather disagree. I think there is a fine line between being wordy or descriptive and utilising language to paint a masterpiece and full on dragging things out — coming from someone who is really good at dragging things out. The plot for me was exciting and mysterious. There were constantly elements that could capture my attention which is pretty crucial for me (being ADHD and all…). It was well paced and things didn’t just pop out of nowhere. It isn’t the same, however, as novels like ‘Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil’ or idk your other more typical BL novels because this one isn’t nearly as snappy or quick. I think this is what those comments meant by dragging things out. I think a better example of dragging things out would be another novel I forgot the name of and didn’t get through 10 chapters.

The characters themselves are also quite nice. Although they aren’t as complicated as say… “Heaven Official’s Blessing” all the characters do play their part. None of them are over the top or just plain unrealistic. The choices each of them make and the way they act all makes sense and is much more realistic than some other BL characters I’ve read about.

Which… brings me to my next point: the MC is NOT dumb.

Being naive is not a bad thing, it relates to lack of experience, which, if you paid enough attention to the MC, will realise, is the experience our MC still needs to gain to NOT be naive.

There is character development through which you get to know more about the MC, ML and the world they live in. There’s in-depth lore and wold-building which is really crucial to the plotline itself. The MC does start off quite naive but he gets better. I’ll admit he’s not perfect and even near the end of what had already been translated there were parts I got annoyed with but even so that wasn’t completely unrealistic once taking in the MC’s experiences into consideration. The ML also changes, he isn’t human so he never did things the ‘human way’, he lives in a world with it’s own culture which makes the things he does understandable. But he also changes. He changes to accommodate the MC more and changes to fit the MC’s more human thoughts and requirements.

I didn’t think of describing this novel this way before but I came across this word and I must say this is one hell of an epic romance.

The love is there and it’s real.

That is to say however, that this novel most likely isn’t written for every demographic. Although I strongly support exploring new things and new genres and different parts of the internet to escape your own echo-chamber, I’ll admit there might be better choices to start with if you want to dive deep into this genre. I don’t mean smut or the… uh tags… I mean something serious.

Cause this novel is definitely not for people looking for a humorous novel, nor is it for people looking for ‘fluff’. I don’t think it’s suited for people looking for ‘angst’ either. Although there are elements of angst, the weight this novel gives is completely different from the weight given by novels like ‘A Decade of Deep Love” (?) and idk the guide one… the one about a tsundere gong???

I’ve read these I just can’t remember the names.

I think that if you’re just here for nsfw then… fair enough… But imo I think this one is really worth seriously reading for plot.

It’s not fast, not ‘fanfiction-like’, the MC isn’t invincible or overpowered, it’s not comedic, it’s vivid and in a way dark and complicated. There’s a lot going on.

I think this is one of the few novels I’d say is genuinely unfair to give a 1 star to. I understand if this isn’r your cup of tea but it’s genuinely quite a good novel. I’ve read plenty of other novels in many genres and I think what’s stopping this one from being a hit is the people picking it up.

It’s a BL which already paints a picture in some people’s mind, it’s got a lot of nsfw and… uh explicit scenes which may end up attracting people searching for this specifically whilst also deterring other people furthering filtering the demographic and it’s about… mermaids and other stuff.

I think the true people who’d enjoy this novel are people who enjoy complicated storylines, lore, world building, science-y novels, and certainly an epic romance. Of course I’m not 100% sure cause I’m one of those people who just read everything for the sake of it regardless of genre… as long as it can keep me interested. Which is sorta how I picked this up lol. <<less