4.7/5!!! [Time Travel, Rebirth, Zombie Apocalypse, Fantasy (Western)] UPDATE: 11/27/2022) I decided to reread! Last time I read up to 185, but this time I... more>> read it all the way till the end. The reason I gave up last time was because I read horrible MTL and I was really shocked about where the novel was going lmao. It starts off as a zombie apocalypse novel, but it's not really about surviving against the apocalypse. At first it's all about psychology. The MC (Qi Jingchen) had been tortured and left to die as the last person on earth in his previous lifewhere there seemed to be no hope of the earth ever improving. As such, when he came to, all way back to the first day of the apocalypse, he decides to just ignore it all and die early. His psychology is not great, but fortunately! He has the ML to back him up. The ML was the person he was closest to in his last life, and after dying before the MC, his greatest regret was they never got together. So now that he has this chance, he ain't giving up~ALL IN ALL, it's quite deep. Some may say dark, but it's actually not as depressing as it seems, and the characters grow, so by the end of things, it feels very lighthearted. Of course, as I mentioned, don't expect this to be a simple apocalypse novel! There's a lot more to it~ I was against the twists at first, but I think the author handled it well altogether. I even wanted more at the end T.T so many characters were forgotten *sigh*For this read, my opinion of the novel jumped quite a bit! I give it a 4.70/5 for being able to make me read till the end for my second reread (it was initially 4.5/5 — which is probably more suitable, but I gave it plus points for being reread-able). IN SHORT — Well worth the five out of five stars! (Though, if you want to read MTL, I recommend plugging the raw into Google translate, that's the only way it becomes remotely readable). <<less

4.65/5!!! [Survival Game, Horror, Supernatural, Adventure] This review is for both parts 1 and 2 of the "Welcome to the Nightmare Game" series (although I specifically didn't read till the end of the second novel because the TL isn't finished yet~). This novel seemed like a fairly simple infinite flow/survival game type of novel -- which it is! But, it's a bit different from most of the ones I've read in that the important instances are all connected to each other (if you've read "The Earth is Online" then you'll know what I mean) -- it's all one big story, and the MC triggers a big chunk of this story after playing the original game... more>> and then being sent into the world of Nightmares. 

I expected this novel to be a horror -- but it's actually more of action/adventure/thriller. There are horror themes, and the story can seriously get creepy at times. But, for the most part, you don't have to worry about being in high-tension all the time from the scares. The power system in this novel involves cards, and the MC's main one is the ability to reload a file (although it's a little bit more tricky than just simply going back into the past to try and try again). There's gore and death, some of which are from highly likable characters that play a key role. There's also tragedy and angst -- but it's wrapped with sweet, hopeful romance.

IDK it's really hard to describe this novel LOLOL. All I can say is... that you should definitely read it! It passed quite a few hands when it comes to translations, but they're all of good quality. I also think it's possible to read the novel now even though the series isn't completely translated yet. If only because there's a good stopping point before the mid-point of book 2. If you're willing to risk it, I swear you won't regret it~ It's a story with lots of exciting ups and downs, and the characters are well-worth the care invested. <<less

4.45/5!!! [Fantasy, Infrastructure, Sci-Fi, Game Elements] This was not what I was expecting at all! I mean, to be fair, the summary is a bit... vague? Or just unclear, I guess LMAO. If I had to describe it shortly, it would be fantasy infrastructure! The protagonist, Xu Sili, is an singer who is terminally ill. He doesn't have long to live. And so, before his death, he decided to invest all of his property into the development of an advanced holographic game. In exchange, the game developers agreed to give him a new 'life' by making him an NPC. As for the ML! Just before the protagonist dies, he decides to make another request from... more>> the game developers. That is, that his favorite game character, Si Sheng, from a mobile card game app (where players raise card characters as the story progresses) is brought into the game with him.

The novel starts off a bit slow. The MC and ML are seemingly at opposite sides from the very beginning, but that doesn't last long. Though various misunderstandings and lack of communication causes much drama between the two and extends the romance development a bit - making a proper slow burn!

Ah, but back to the description: Fantasy Instructure. LOLOL. As the Emperor of this new game world, the MC has to prepare for many things. But, most importantly, it's the participation of the "Players" from the real world. He has to prep their beginner 'start village' planet into something that the Players will be hesitant to leave behind -- which prompts lots of infrastructure development!

I love that kind of thing, but I understand that there may be some people who don't agree and would prefer a faster, action-centric fantasy novel. There is a little bit of action here, but the story is still mostly focused on the infrastructure development! That being the case, I still recommend the novel for the setting and the worldbuilding! It's quite unique~ I'm currently working on a sci-fi original work with similar settings, so this proved to be very inspiring for me. For that reason, I may be a bit biased, but I consider this a fave!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The TL is incomplete but the MTL is approximately 75% readable. The names are a bit annoying (since their Western Names translated to Chinese and then translated back to English DX) but once you get the gist of them, the rest of the text is easy enough to understand. Usually, MTL makes me give up after 100-200 or so chapters, but I persisted to the end this time! <<less

3.5/5!!! [Transmigration, Infrastructure, Poor-to-Rich] I ended up not finishing it, but it's definitely a novel worth reading if you enjoy 'infrastructure-building' novels. Here, the MC is the Demon King of the lower-realm. The main setting is Western Fantasy, so there are mages, paladins, barbs, demons, etc. along with regular humans. When the MC was dropped into the role of demon king, it's without any of the original's memories. Oh, and the lower realm is also facing a large debt after losing a war against the Church and the Human Empires. Fortunately, the MC has a golden finger! This golden finger is his cellphone, which can be recharged and is always connected to the internet --... more>> giving the MC direct access to the modern world's technologies and knowledge.

Ahhhh I love this kind of worldbuilding novel~ And this one is fun because it takes lots of culture and knowledge from all over the world. To begin with, there are lots of movie and anime references (as well as novel references), and the author is always throwing out shocking, obscure facts by way of humorous exposition (the MC is very humorous in general). The only downside is that the development of characters and relationships is not a focus. There are great characters in the novels -- all of whom play their own roles sooner or later -- but they're most self-aware than most, so they don't have to go through too much polishing. The MC is also mainly focused on developing the lower realms with modern culture, so the perspective is definitely skewed.

Overall, I recommend this novel if you're interested in infrastructure or poor-to-rich development, as I like to call it. The translation is of good quality, so there's no reason not to read it! It's also almost complete too (which is why I started reading it in the first place, hehe.)

(Update: 12/26/2022) I reread the first 80 chapters and then skipped to where I was before (c182). I can see why I stopped now. I enjoyed the first half of the story because it felt very whimsical. The focus is infrastructure and stuff. But later, the novel began to take itself VERY seriously DX Like soooo seriously that I couldn't keep reading. Gah. It would be fine if the characters were up to standard, but as fun as these characters were, they really weren't all that complex and inviting. So yeah. Beware of this little factoid if you want to finish the whole story!

Having finished my second reread, I directly want to change the rating to 3.5/5!! That's right, it got lower JEKDKD and the only reason it didn't drop even lower was because of personal enjoyment. That is … I personally enjoyed this story quite a bit! But when it comes to general novel conventions, it's definitely not up to the same standard.  <<less