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ianmacdo
Oct 30, 2012
Earlier some people were complaining about how it is annoying to read books from websites. I just found a new great site
novel-ebook.com

It will make epubs for pretty much all of these webnovels, and you can customize what chapters you want in it. Its pretty good.

No annoying watermarks or ads either.

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Kalas
Jul 27, 2007

ianmacdo posted:

Earlier some people were complaining about how it is annoying to read books from websites. I just found a new great site
novel-ebook.com

It will make epubs for pretty much all of these webnovels, and you can customize what chapters you want in it. Its pretty good.

No annoying watermarks or ads either.

There's an excellent Firefox addon called WebToEpub that I use.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

GUYS GOOD NEWS

https://www.wuxiaworld.com/post/the-charm-of-soul-pets/bonus-for-sponsors

quote:

Hi all, we have added to the TCOSP team (another translator, Reiji)! Now that we've added to the team, we willl not only will posting be much more consistently, we'll also be able to open up more tiers in the future. But, to thank our existing sponsors, we're first going to up the number of chapters each one gets by 50%!

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Desolate Era: well knock me down with a feather. The guy set up to be the villain who does all kinds of nasty stuff to the protagonist? He loses fair and square and goes "alright fine I lose" and stops plotting and submits for the sake of the clan unity. Wow. I haven't seen that yet in any of these.

HerpicleOmnicron5
May 31, 2013

How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?


StrixNebulosa posted:

Desolate Era: well knock me down with a feather. The guy set up to be the villain who does all kinds of nasty stuff to the protagonist? He loses fair and square and goes "alright fine I lose" and stops plotting and submits for the sake of the clan unity. Wow. I haven't seen that yet in any of these.

Haven't read that, but I know for a fact that that's a lie and this guy's actually doubling down in secret.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

Haven't read that, but I know for a fact that that's a lie and this guy's actually doubling down in secret.

Why tell me that? What possible good would it do to spoil me on that?

Jester Mcgee
Mar 28, 2010

A lot of things have happened to me over my life.

Pretty sure it's a joke, because that's almost always how those sorts of storylines go in Xianxia.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Jester Mcgee posted:

Pretty sure it's a joke, because that's almost always how those sorts of storylines go in Xianxia.

Ahhh. I see. Well. I'll keep reading and report back if he does turn out to be actually evil, because for now it's a really nice change.

HerpicleOmnicron5
May 31, 2013

How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?


StrixNebulosa posted:

Why tell me that? What possible good would it do to spoil me on that?

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

Haven't read that, but I know for a fact that that's a lie and this guy's actually doubling down in secret.

I haven't read it! It's just how literally all of these rival characters go. Even Vegeta pops off at Goku one more time after years of being buds.

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
You're underestimating how quickly power inflates in IET novels. When a bad guy surrenders he instantly becomes irrelevant because a few chapters later the main character has gotten 10x as powerful and can kill him with a thought.

Megazver
Jan 13, 2006

Jester Mcgee posted:

Pretty sure it's a joke, because that's almost always how those sorts of storylines go in Xianxia.

Almost, yeah, but there are exceptions. In Library of Heaven's Path, Zhang Xuan's academic rivals often go "poo poo... I guess he was out of my league the whole time" and sometimes become his allies in following challenges/benefit from his training.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

quote:

The current Wang Lin no longer had the naive nature or the kind heart of a village boy; he would now kill anyone who dared to get in his way.

There was no right or wrong on the battlefield; only life and death. If he had a sliver of pity, then the person to die would be him. Along with the power that the Ji Realm had brought him, it also quietly changed his nature. The Ji Realm focused on the extremes. If the user planned to walk the path of good, then he would be a hero of the generation who would fight all evil.

If one walked the path of evil, then that person would definitely be a demon king; evil enough to even cause the demonic cultivators to fear him and be worthy of the title of demon king.

Under the influence of the Ji Realm, it was impossible to have a personality that switched between good and evil.

Wang Lin, with his honest personality, wanted to become an immortal hero and create a righteous path to honor his ancestors. Unfortunately, Situ Nan’s appearance caused his personality to slowly change, which eventually led to disaster.

What family was there to honor when his family had been wiped out? The Ji Realm caused his personality to change. Since he couldn’t become a hero of his generation, then he would become a demon king.

WAIT WHAT

You can't blame this on Situ Nan! Situ Nan has advocated for being a merciless rear end in a top hat sure but Wang Lin never would have taken him up on that except for

- his first sect basically trying to murder or cheat him at every turn
- the second sect doing the same
- corpse sect being corpse sect
- that one guy who tried to kill him and chased him into the jungle and basically hunted him down
- the revenge of that one guy who killed his family

like what the gently caress, Situ Nan's been an influence but if Wang Lin's sects hadn't been 1000% assholes he wouldn't have gone full sociopath

Kalas
Jul 27, 2007
In pretty much every one of these novels, good sects that nourish the MC will get wiped out tragically giving them a reason to go full murderhobo.

The evil sects will get wiped out by the MC, possibly after being infiltrated and looted of all their evil techniques first.

Jester Mcgee
Mar 28, 2010

A lot of things have happened to me over my life.

Or if it's an Er Gen novel the protagonist joins the evil sect and just has a really great time.

IShallRiseAgain
Sep 12, 2008

Well ain't that precious?

Kalas posted:

In pretty much every one of these novels, good sects that nourish the MC will get wiped out tragically giving them a reason to go full murderhobo.

The evil sects will get wiped out by the MC, possibly after being infiltrated and looted of all their evil techniques first.

Another possibility is that the protagonist will go full psychopath to protect a supposedly good sect. They will never question the protagonist's action aside from a little reluctance at the start, but will then treat them as their savior afterwards.

Also, even though demonic sects are a common trope, often the only difference between them and regular sects is branding.

Jymmybob
Jun 26, 2000

Grimey Drawer
That's a weird passage because it doesn't even really hold true for that long. Wang Lin's basically as close to true neutral as a webnovel MC gets.

Meanwhile Yang Qi from Sage Monarch is Lawful Evil if you take his actions as written instead of how you're supposed to view him.

mossyfisk
Nov 8, 2010

FF0000

Megazver posted:

Almost, yeah, but there are exceptions. In Library of Heaven's Path, Zhang Xuan's academic rivals often go "poo poo... I guess he was out of my league the whole time" and sometimes become his allies in following challenges/benefit from his training.

Yeah but that's because LoHP is a confucian farce pretending to be a xianxia story.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Emperor's Domination is actually making me angry, so this is a first. I know he's an rear end in a top hat arrogant enough to be an rear end in a top hat to anyone he pleases, but this... this is really hosed up. He's assigned to teach 300 people, right? So what does he do? He loving beats them up for every lesson. Literally every lesson is him going through these teenagers and younger and beating them with a stick until they can't stand. Every time.

I'm sure he's about to reveal some "amazing technique" or bullshit that makes them all super powerful martial artists but right now it just looks like school-sanctioned abuse and I loving hate it.

HerpicleOmnicron5
May 31, 2013

How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?


StrixNebulosa posted:

Emperor's Domination is actually making me angry, so this is a first. I know he's an rear end in a top hat arrogant enough to be an rear end in a top hat to anyone he pleases, but this... this is really hosed up. He's assigned to teach 300 people, right? So what does he do? He loving beats them up for every lesson. Literally every lesson is him going through these teenagers and younger and beating them with a stick until they can't stand. Every time.

I'm sure he's about to reveal some "amazing technique" or bullshit that makes them all super powerful martial artists but right now it just looks like school-sanctioned abuse and I loving hate it.

That's actually just normal martial arts training. It's how they still do it at the Shaolin Temple today, and it's how they've done it for centuries. For the people it works for, it works. For those it doesn't, which is surprisingly few that don't wash out because they have the sense to not willingly be beaten daily, they end up training too hard and suffering permanent damage. This guy goes into his experiences at the Shaolin Temple.

I decided to spoiler tag all of that, not because it's actual spoilers, but because it probably will just make you more angry at the real world.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

That's actually just normal martial arts training. It's how they still do it at the Shaolin Temple today, and it's how they've done it for centuries. For the people it works for, it works. For those it doesn't, which is surprisingly few that don't wash out because they have the sense to not willingly be beaten daily, they end up training too hard and suffering permanent damage. This guy goes into his experiences at the Shaolin Temple.

I decided to spoiler tag all of that, not because it's actual spoilers, but because it probably will just make you more angry at the real world.

Thank you for giving me the choice. I clicked and lo, I am angry! Furiously angry! But not at you. Thank you for the information. I hope reform can come about someday, as children shouldn't have to fear their teachers.

LLSix
Jan 20, 2010

The real power behind countless overlords

Cinnamon Bun posted:

Vibrating Magic Wand of Cure Hysteria of Common quality, old.

"Wikipedia” posted:

Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis for women, which was described as exhibiting a wide array of symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, nervousness, sexual desire


Really, Cinnamon Bun? Really?

NinjaDebugger
Apr 22, 2008


LLSix posted:

Really, Cinnamon Bun? Really?

Did you not get the actual joke there?

Dikkfor
Feb 4, 2010

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
a while back there was a brief discussion about the foreigner explores the dungeon. i don't remember what thread that was, though. still, it starts with a guy having a ridiculously difficult time after being the sole survivor of an intentional isekai expedition. he doesn't have special abilities, there's no rpg system, and most of his guns were immediately stolen and then destroyed, with no hope of obtaining more. everyone he meets is either indifferent to his plight or actively attempts to rob and/or murder him. also, he has to explore a dungeon to get a specific item deep within, but even getting that basic qualification was absurdly difficult because no god would have him. he did get a god in the end, but it is a lousy, obscure god of deception with no other worshippers. also, since his aptitude for magic is beyond lovely, he has no particular skill with medieval weapons and adventurers of this world are all vastly physically superior to him, he seemed to be beyond hosed.

sounds kind of interesting, right?

well all of a sudden a ghost randomly gave him excellent archery skills to save his descendant, a sexy elf princess whose difficult situation was resolved by the two of them randomly getting married. there are also a few other beautiful demihumans who are totally into this guy, for no particular reason. and now it is in the death throes of any isekai story, the dreaded japanese cooking wankfest. there's no storage items, weight reduction or baggage carriers. so this guy who is explicitly slower and weaker than literally everyone else just carries a wide array of cooking equipment and ingredients which apparently does not have weight or volume into the dungeon because he doesn't like preserved rations.

so, every single interesting aspect is gone now, replaced by painfully generic isekai schlock.

90s Cringe Rock
Nov 29, 2006
:gay:

LLSix posted:

Really, Cinnamon Bun? Really?
Still counts as a club +1 for hitting ghosts immune to non-magical weapons.

Megazver
Jan 13, 2006

90s Cringe Rock posted:

Still counts as a club +1 for hitting ghosts immune to non-magical weapons.

Yeah, it works! She used it!

Nalin
Sep 29, 2007

Hair Elf

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

so, every single interesting aspect is gone now, replaced by painfully generic isekai schlock.

Oof. I've enjoyed the manga so far. Not looking forward to the future of that one.

darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

so, every single interesting aspect is gone now, replaced by painfully generic isekai schlock.

Are you telling me it's not exciting to you when every chapter has "First I washed my hands, all the way up to the elbow"?


On my end, I've started reading a web novel that's practically a Mushoku Tensei clone, except with a fiercely devoted little sister (currently age 2). The protagonist has so far invented and sold the rights to produce potato peelers and nail clippers.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
i always enjoy when intellectual property rights somehow exist in this otherwise crude medieval setting devoid of complexity and nuance.

LLSix
Jan 20, 2010

The real power behind countless overlords

I want to complain about Ascend Online. It's a LitRPG and the first book in the series is free on amazon. It was listed as one of top 5 litrpgs of all time on a review.

The author clearly doesn't have an editor. They probably don't even consistently use a spellchecker because I would often find the same word twice in a sentence, and it would only be spelled correctly once. Stuff like "uman" and "human" on the same line. Somehow there are multiple books in the series that sell for as much as 30 dollars a piece.

I don't have any major complaints about the author as a person (none of the usual ickiness you find in webnovels, likable main character, multiple female characters who are as prominent as the male characters). So I really wanted to like this, but I don't. I can't think of a single story-arc that doesn't have a major plot hole. It's about a VRMMO. Sometimes the players really ham it up, which is funny and what you'd expect from people playing a game. Most of the time they act super serious and there's a plot line where a bad player has been torturing other players and it's just so, so, so dumb. Characters have stats, skills, and typical MMO style powers, but fights run on the power of plot and have very little connection to previously established mechanics. I'm completely baffled that people are willing to pay real money for this.

Fallorn
Apr 14, 2005
Oh poo poo thats the one with the AI that goes a little stabby stabby.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
The Sword and the Dress is a fun story about a romance between two idiot musclebrains who don't entirely understand the concept of romance, or much of anything else except sword fighting.

NinjaDebugger
Apr 22, 2008


gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

The Sword and the Dress is a fun story about a romance between two idiot musclebrains who don't entirely understand the concept of romance, or much of anything else except sword fighting.

Oh poo poo, this is This Girl is a Little Wild. Had a manhwa but it died, according to the comments, at volume 2, chapter 5.5?

HerpicleOmnicron5
May 31, 2013

How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?


Just finished A Will Eternal. Er Gen’s got a weird style that I kinda love. Never afraid to let his dumb poo poo protagonists remain dumb shits even during pivotal universe defining battles. Highly recommended.

Kalas
Jul 27, 2007

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

Just finished A Will Eternal. Er Gen’s got a weird style that I kinda love. Never afraid to let his dumb poo poo protagonists remain dumb shits even during pivotal universe defining battles. Highly recommended.

Loved that through and through, ending was great and his 'advice' was hilarious.

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

The Sword and the Dress is a fun story about a romance between two idiot musclebrains who don't entirely understand the concept of romance, or much of anything else except sword fighting.
This is incredibly good. I tore through the manga version but it seems it was dropped after season 1, glad the novel translation caught up to it.

Evil Kit
May 29, 2013

I'm viable ladies.

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

Just finished A Will Eternal. Er Gen’s got a weird style that I kinda love. Never afraid to let his dumb poo poo protagonists remain dumb shits even during pivotal universe defining battles. Highly recommended.

A Will Eternal will forever and always be my primary recommend for just this reason. Except you can't really explain this particular point to someone to try and sell them on it because it's a bit too spoiler-y! Er-Gen does a great job giving Bai Xiaochun great character development while fundamentally keeping him the same person personality wise. Very in theme with the title of the book overall, and one of the many reasons to love it.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

quote:

“Hmph, didn’t you see the ten bodies that were originally being dragged behind that fiend? Those were elders of the Fighting Evil Sect. He can kill Core Formation cultivators as easily as he can kill bugs. If you guys are still filled with greed, that is your problem. I’m not getting into this mess. Goodbye!” One of the cultivators looked at Wang Lin, his eyes filled with dread. After he finished speaking, he took out a boat and quickly left.

- Renegade Immortal, chapter 153

I found the literal smartest man in all of web novels.

Silver2195
Apr 4, 2012
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-07-15/publishers-comment-on-amazon-kindle-delisting-of-at-least-15-light-novels-manga/.161872

I'm a bit baffled by this. Some of these titles do have a reputation for being extremely skeevy, but what did Grimgar do to get delisted?

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gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
what a strange selection.

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