Internet Novels - Where They Live and How I Got To Read Some
A few months ago I was having driving lessons, and in theory class I sat next to a girl who was reading something on her phone.
Look, as a good student, I just HAD to check why she was SO focused on her phone during class, and when I did she looked at me with creepy eyes - - - - hides phone.
But I'm a winner, and managed to look at the screen perfectly, so I though, “ugh she reads fiction how boring”.
Well, a few days later I decided to try it too.
First I bought some classic and hard-to-understand literature, other books that were popular on the bookstore, and also checked some “lists of top 10 books ever” online. Some books were good, some were bad. And I don’t really like looking at screens a lot, so I was reluctant to use kindle and similar platforms to read ebooks.
After reading less than ten, paperback, real world books, I relented and decided to look some ebooks online - and that’s when I learned what web novels were and got hooked up. I guess I’m just not reading one right now because it was not translated yet.
Ok, I actually should have started by warning you that webnovels are dangerous. They are extremely addicting. They are book flavored fast food. Don’t believe me? Look it up on your favorite search engine: “web novels” and look at the news.
So, what are web novels? They are usually Chinese or Korean novels written with various small chapters, usually each with two to three thousand words. There's some original works made by people around the world too, but usually they have lower quality.
Right, these short chapters almost always end in an anguishing cliffhanger.
Even you no matter where you live can start writing your story or fan fiction right now and start earning bags of money. Yes, the good authors earn bags of money I'm not kidding, but it must be high quality.
I mean, it’s not like web novels were supposed to have high literary quality in the first place, but the official ones translated to English are already picked among bad ones in the country of origin. Let this sink in, what was translated is already the "good"...
"Oh, so you’re saying if I want to read this stuff I need to read this suspicious "good" ones?"
Fear not..
I’ll share now my review on three novels, and you should thank me for this, lots of racist and boring novels out there but I selected some gems - one funny as hell - just for YOU. Actually I like magical realism the most so there will be no boring stuff like chinese martial arts, romance and erotic-for-females focused stories (of which wattpad is infested), historical themes or really any other genre...
One has about 200 chapters, other 300 and the other 1200, and all of them are fully translated, but don’t be scared since the chapters are short. Maybe you'll like it after reading the first few chapters, and you can even finish in 2-3 full days, —but you probably can't read uninterrupted like me— so it should take a little more time.
God of Money
Okay, this one is a korean novel about blockchain, cryptocurrency and business management - I know, you probably think they are boring topics right? But it's actually pretty good.
A guy works in the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in Korea, and gets sent to the past a few months before the Bitcoin whitepaper is released - and he knows many future important people and when many events will happen. He worked with IT and continues to do so in his new chance at life. Anything more and I will be spoilering.
The Great Storyteller
This is the best I read in terms of literary value, but it has a slow pace and I thought when I read some good reviews saying it was “real literature” that it could be edgy and pretentious, but it was actually amazing. Impressive.
Yun Woo, 16 years old, is the youngest published author. Juho decided to reveal his identity and his life was went bad. With a new chance in life he will do things right, and low-key this time. He also realizes he now has a language decoding device in his mind - the only magical realism thing in the whole story. Oh, I kept reading because of Mr. Moon.
Time for the non spoiler teaser:
" 'This better be good,' was the unspoken pressure. Juho paid no attention to Mrs. Kang's judgement and responded calmly.
"You've mistranslated."
Mrs. Kang kept a still face and started looking into the text. The students were silent, but not because it was the first day of school. There was a faint excitement in midst of that anxiety. If what Juho had said was true, then it would mean that Mrs. Kang had made a mistake. The very teacher who had just given them a lofty speech about meritocracy, that teacher, who wanted to wield power over her students, had left an opening. Her fangs were itching behind her closed lips. Fangs that were small, yet rigid. "
The Great Storyteller, Chapter 4, Everybody Makes Mistakes.
A Valiant Life
I read the first chapter and thought it was really weird, so I dropped it a few times before picking it up on a holiday - this one has 1240 chapters, and I needed a few days to read - but it’s so good after the first few chapters, that I don’t even have to say how it messed with my sleep. That’s comedy gold, but there is lots of magical realism with its (stupid?) fantasy mixed in it.
Lin Fan one day discovers an encyclopedia in his head, which gives him knowledge and abilities, but he can only earn a new one after he conquer a mission given by the encyclopedia, which usually is to be recognized as a Master by other people in the topic he learned. He always receives a boost by the encyclopedia that makes him the best in the world on any field like cooking, medicine, go read it to know the others...
The main character is super down to earth and realistic, which is funny considering the crazy stuff that happens all the time. Also worth mentioning is how entertaining it feels to read what he says and in parallel his thought process.
Time for the non spoiler teaser:
"In the era of the Internet, anything could be found online. For his current mission to be a well-respected Master Lin, the Internet was a great place for him to fulfill his mission. Weibo was a favorite among the netizens. If Lin Fan could appear on the top searched list on Weibo, he would surely become famous.
Lin Fan had registered for Weibo before, but he rarely used it and didn't have many fans. In his opinion, that wasn't a problem. He was now a man of substance and talent and he felt that he would definitely become famous."
A Valiant Life, Chapter 23, One For You, One For Me.
Hummm.. thinks hard
Hummmm.. thinks harder
I guess my next blog post will be about pets, or maybe even crypto currency - but that’s SO BORING.. Or any other random thing. If you read till here thanks bye.