i wrote this really long passage lamenting how much i love this, but honestly, in retrospect, maybe i was financially stressed and reading about an MC who was technically homeless for more than like 2/3rds of this novel and somehow did NOT die out in the middle of a public park and become food for the pigeons, really lifted my spirits. now that i'm back to rewrite my review, all i have to say is that i am STILL financially stressed and a part of me is prepared to helicopter myself out of my overpriced college dorm's third floor window for the sake of financial compensation for my family and the vague sliver of hope... more>> that my existence will be Kleenexed wiped off of the face of this earth, but yeah, this novel was REALLY funny to me. 100/10.

old review:

the way this novel ACTUALLY fleshes out the game. from the start, Lan Hudie builds up the technicalities and mechanics of Glory, and goes INTO the actual gameplay and explores the game in a very critical, objective sense (like specific skills, moves, etc). i've never read a SOLID e-sports novel that focuses so intensely on the game itself, since usually, e-sports is the background and the game is a secondary setting for the characters to build up its actual plot (friendship, just straight leveling, romance, etc). the reason why i love QZGS is bc of how it feels like you're immersed in the game itself, and you can actually understand the tension + the anticipation of what specifically goes down in Glory, once you've gotten a steady grasp of how Glory works and what skills/movements/actions the players can use. 

also. ye xiu is a shameless bastard and the rest of the slapstick cast are hilarious. i want to be as infuriatingly unbothered as him. also, it's actually making me lose it that he's known for his fiercely spontaneous, flexible, and efficient strategies in all of his decision makings, yet, this guy literally is a f*cking trainwreck. like. he does things with the reckless regard of an apex predator who doesn't even give a sh*t of the terrifying gamble in life-changing risks that he makes, solely bc he's confident enough in himself to pull through on the disadvantageous wager. what an a**hole. i wanna be him.  <<less

mc's HQ literally sounds like a minecraft building in my head. 

mc has the personality of a raw flour tortilla but i relate to his inefficient and braindead grinding the way i try and collecting upgrade materials for kaeya on genshin impact.... more>>

also  how can a single novel hit every single genre out there in existence in the s*upidest way possible. like. im not even kidding when i say that i genuinely love this like, i actually LOVE this novel and i can tr*sh on it all day. <<less

i go batsh*t over tarots the same way that white girls lose it over crystals (astrology and meth forms both work)

sun wukong. no i am not afurry i just. i just really like sunwukong's character in any form of literature okay-

typical adventure/partying energy, as well as level-headed yet sadistic and indifferent male protag, but what really gets to me is how the author justifies the MC's seemingly flimsy reason of doing kind acts (not justify in an ethical sense, but justify in a 'no, as shallow as his reason is, it doesn't make his character shallow and 2D'). ... more>>

the author clarifies from the very start of how mc is clearly a very obsessive man when it comes to fulfilling ambitions. they've used his steady disposition to show while he was evil on the account of all his acts, he definitely had no inherent malice against the good, and instead, just had a fixated mindset on being the strongest through any means. and now, in his second life, rather than having his character feel 2D and flimsy by having him 'do good' despite his previously awful acts, the author makes sure to solidify this fundamental, goal-fixated demeanor of his by using it to show that now, his goal has changed to doing 'good.' so while he's definitely not a good/moral person, him trying to act like it with such perseverance is actually REALLY in character of him, and not at all seemingly flat or unrealistic.  <<less

this novel is almost a disservice to all the female characters the author has written before in king's avatar. it's like he straight up rewrote the definition of the female gender using r/incel's urban dictionary. HOWEVER, this novel ALSO has a woman himbo, which is upsettingly redeemable in my simple, monkey-brained comprehension processing centers. ... more>>

 i've apparently binged 600 chapters of this. i literally remember Nothing but that there were moments when i f*cking lost both my guts and my braincells while reading this in a fit of insanity and full-heartedly enjoyed it. like i genuinely found this novel hilarious, except for the parts where there were women involved, because of how f*cking AWFUL they were written.  <<less

i like how they had a whole ass monk arc. ... more>>

like, no, i don't think you understand. i REALLY liked the whole ass monk arc. <<less

saving the world via friendship, magic, incredible acts of first degree mu*der, and love.

i want mulan to bend me over-... more>>

i really like how he mulan (oc) does not perceive herself to be hua mulan, and rather, slowly tries to understand who her hero is, something that I REALLY REALLY love. also modern-day feminism being applied here is not done in a "pick-me-girl" sort of way, which is amazing :).  <<less

i did NOT expect to enjoy this as much as i did. first: this NOT a platonic or romantic harem, meaning MC can rail me and i wouldn't want to crack her cranium open like a ferrero rocher. she's also literally gatekeep girlboss gaslight except with a legitimate moral bar line that satan can still play "how low can you go" with.  because while she's MAD proactive, revenge is just a milestone and not her goal (which is great because we LOVE to see her mentally THRIVE without going morally bankrupt where i'm going to have to sadly tell her that "we can't keep defending you" if she like idk goes homicidally batshit). ... more>>

also i love the relationships. even the guys are like bsfs shithead bestfriends, and her girlfriends are equally hilarious. i don't think they're even like. half of them are friends lmao, they're just eccentric existences in her circle. and MC's love towards her daughters (adopted or not) make me go !!! also she's financially independent and there's like no real romance so far in these 300 chapters which is like,,, hype !! at most, there's only VAGUE VAGUE implications that some men have romantic interest in her, and even so, it's established they're friends first. MC plus her background slapstick comedy cast share a single braincell that allows them to sailor moon synchronize their shittalk anytime the moment calls for it.  <<less

tbh i've read so much of this in shitty mtl i feel like i'm still at the beginning of this novel. either way, i just... more>> really liked the whole like overarching world building/plot, and the start of the game novel thing. like the cutscene where he was supposed to die with his buds, that part felt really interesting to me. like,,, it was that specific part that made me love this LMAO and everything else is okay. <<less

there's this bloodthirsty girl who feels like a bro you know. also i've read so much of this that i adamantly refuse that it is... more>> bad or else that means admitting i've wasted parts of my life that i cannot take back. <<less

i hvaent even read this yet. i just. i juts think its summary is cool and that's a very sepcific and s*upid reason so it's... more>> good enough to make it on this list <<less

he eats metal and that reminds me of my childhood when i would try and eat cigarettes i peeled off the floor. 

author has a dilf kink, which up to you, can be a pro or con.

the sunflower toy that should be deprived of battery rights is what sold me on this.... more>>

i've read so little of this and yet-

okay. i just. like. c'mon. this is f*cking comedy gold. like ik i loved this the moment i saw the dynamic between mc and not just the ML, but also like,,, everyone else (his bros, song yishi, his camera boss, even his toxic dynamic with his dad makes me find this fic charmingly wack??), but it's the deranged, walmart sales rack product of that plants vs zombies sunflower toy that made me actually lose it.  <<less

mc feels like an urban dictionary example and i think thats fun ee

how eid i get here reading this isl ike reading a fever dream

uhhh havent read this, but ppl keep saying there's a drugdealer each time they mention mc or the ml, and that reminds me of the... more>> threeway makeout sessions that always happened beneath my high school staircases between a couple and their favourite drugdealing homie while high enough to have sky daddy as a voyuer <<less

what the living f*ck is going on. i like this the way i was stockholm syndromed into believing i liked my chemistry textbook. 

author is pushing for a golden trio between a normal mc with the most abnormal circumstances, an oversized, slenderman of a child with the confidence... more>> of a doormat, and a potential drug dealer with the playful mischievousness of a shoujo protagonist's morally ambiguous best friend.  <<less

the summary is basically just offbrand wall-e. never read this, but i'll be sorely disappointed if even disney fans wouldn't like it, and their standards... more>> are LOW <<less

"like this for very specific reasons" BRO I LOVE THIS NOVEL FOR ALL THE f*ckING REASONS LMAO.... more>>

MC feels like his age, whatever that "died a hundred years back as an adult and is suddenly a very angry child" feels like. also he's literally a biohazard to everyone in a five mile radius around him, in the most inexplicably normal way possible. he's also like. in my opinion, a high-functioning man with severe mental illness, if you understand what i mean.

also author like. if he writes opponents or those who were initially rivals/enemies, he makes them two-dimensional. so like capable of reformation or changing their ideals whether that aligns with MC's or not, which is great, but he also loves to emphasize that their progress has nothing to do with MC and therefore MC is totally validated (if not insane) in beating them up just because he feels like it. <<less

if ye xiu from qzgs was raised with the self-preservation instinct of mother nature's first mistake and is an absolute psychopath about it.