Abraham Yeung - Blog Week 4 Q1 - Ravings of a Webnovel Addict
I love webnovels and light novels. While I might not be technically addicted to them, I do spend about 90% of my free time reading them and recently, I’ve been trying to download some of my favorite series so that I can read them offline. I once again stumbled onto the series Reverend Insanity, and I have once again discovered the charm it has. It’s unique enough to remain captivating, while it remains low-quality enough for it to have that terrible-translation-charm. Additionally, it was shadow banned by the Chinese government because it apparently spread an anti-government agenda, which is a cruel irony since I remember finishing it and lamenting the fact that the story ended on a cliffhanger.
I’ve recently begun to reread this two-thousand chapter long unfinished webnovel, and its distinct style is apparent once again. The author, while not being great at descriptions, manages to build a compelling world. In order to progress the story, he uses a long, extended allusion to a myth that appears in the world: It’s like I’m reading two stories that are basically unrelated at the same time. While building upon the main character’s story, I am simultaneously reading a mythological story from that world, and not just a short one. The myth of the world of Reverend Insanity has almost fifty whole chapters dedicated to it, each of them detailing a story about the first human. It is phrased like a childhood fairy tale, and each story teaches a unique lesson that relates to the current predicament of the main character. As the author slides these mini-stories into the main story, it provides a break from the action while remaining short (and topical) enough for me to remain interested in the story.
It’s also such a fresh breath reading a true villain story (yes, the main character is a terrible person) from the giant sea of anti-hero stories where the main character is just misunderstood. However, the story manages to make the main character intelligent and hardworking yet still manages to capture the feel of “I’m thirteen and this is deep” , which is somewhat endearing.
Now, I definitely would not recommend this as a “beginner’s webnovel” of sorts—Reverend Insanity is way too graphic for the typical webnovel. It also subverts the classic webnovel tropes and is no way a good representation of the vast majority of webnovels, and that is precisely what makes it have charm. It goes beyond your expectations, and delivers a shocking, well-written story, and I love it for all the philosophical grandeur and simultaneous silliness that it gives.
The art is by OSOT, from the three kings arc in the story. Check out their art, it's really cool!
Hi Abraham, as an avid webtoon novel addict myself (You can say you're not addicted, but it's okay if you are), I practically rushed to read your blog. I find your depiction of Reverend Insanity refreshing. Most of the webtoons I read are incredibly lengthy and pirated as well, and it's not a hobby for everyone. Many people simply don't understand why you and others like us subject ourselves to the torture of reading webtoon novels with thousands of chapters that go on yearly hiatuses, cough, cough, Operation True Love. But you managed to explain the dedication people miss it takes to complete webtoon novels. I applaud you for presenting the niche of the hobby to the general public. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt’s so hilarious that the Chinese government banned Reverend Insanity, and I love that you continue to read it in spite of that. After all, “any book worth banning is worth reading.”
ReplyDeleteI must say, I have never read or even experienced a story where the main character was an openly bad person. Would you say that this negative quality is an intentional play by the author, or is it that the author accidentally wrote them into an insufferable character? I know of quite a few stories that follow the structure of the latter lol.
Also, two thousand chapters is crazy. Massive respect to you! The storyline structure you describe--having two simultaneously progressing yet unrelated stories--sounds quite intriguing. Perhaps I will attempt to read the web novel one day--only after exceeding the “beginner” level of webtoon reading, of course!
Abraham, a 2000 chapter long webnovel that is unfinished is crazy. How do you stay focused and interested in reading something that long? I also really enjoy true villain stories, I am actually a huge K-Drama fan myself which is very different from what my friends like to watch but K-Drama’s have some of the best villain stories but most of them end up becoming good or dying in the end so I don’t know if that applies to your webtoons but I thought it was cool that you liked villain stories. Webtoons have always fascinated me because there are so many chapters and pictures and images and effort that goes into making them and they seem to be really popular with a lot of people which is really cool because I always find it hard to stay interested in something for such an extended period of time. If you have any recommendations I would really love to read some and see why they are so popular with everyone.
ReplyDelete