Savage Divinity

Over the past few years, I've seen stories on RR come and (unfortunately) go, meaning I attempt not to get too attached to them. I've also noticed patterns about how and why some stories enter the Top Weekly/Monthly Fiction lists, top weekly review lists, etc. and this story has me baffled. Savage Divinity has the quality, quantity and update speed (still somehow daily, warning: author may be a robot) to qualify it both for the latter and, despite my best intentions, the former. 

The characters are so fleshed out and individualistic they are beautiful in their imperfections, the power structure cleanly and clearly laid out, the MC strong-ish but by no means "OP," the world-building unique (which I want to emphasize how shocking it was to me given how many stories I've read), the main enemies (minus one hilarious encounter) nowhere close to caricatures (the "enemy's" reason for fighting is so sad I actually empathize with them in their plight, if not their means - we've only had one or two snippets of their POV but it's heart-breaking in-between the lines), the plot organic and believable, and finally, it has DAILY UPDATES.

If this story isn't #1 on the Top Monthly and somewhere in the top 20 for the Best Rated soon, I don't understand anymore. Help this story get the exposure it deserves so the author knows how good it truly is. I hesitate to hope for this given I've seen authors scared away by rude and uncouth commentators, but this story is good enough that I want others to read it for the author's sake.

TL;DR: Story is gold, read it.

Imagine this, someone starts drawing a well known shounen character. You perhaps know a great amount of said character, know a little bit about them, or know of them but never got into the anime/manga they are from. As you observe them draw you notice they take their time, build up a good foundation with slow strokes, but still hold your interest in watching them draw. Eventually you think to yourself, damn the drawing is probably as good as if the original artist drew it themselves if not better. Then they start adding detail. They already have a good drawing laid out for all to see, but it's not what the artist wants, the artist wants to add their own touches and make it more their own. So they start throwing shading and lighting to the picture, adding more cosmetics, even adding coloring. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your view point) the coloring doesn't match the original and eventually the artist changes the looks of the character even further to emphasize their own originality. This isn't a bad thing, but for some like myself it feels disappointing. The detailing and coloring ended up making you like the picture less, you still like it, but not as much as you did before. That's what this novel has been to me.

The author took a widely used concept (MC reincarnation into another body and that MC has to struggle through the new world's rules to become strong and get what he wants)
Maybe you're familiar with this setup, reading tons of xianxia and wuxia novels, maybe you've read lots of fan fictions pertaining this style of setup, or maybe you're new to it.
It's been used over and over again and this novel doesn't do anything new besides being written better than most.
The author made a great start introducing the background and world building through a slower but interesting first 30 chapters or so
The writing has been consistent, allowing for a good flow from the start of a chapter to the finish, unfortunately some paragraphs are often repeated throughout chapters just worded differently
The grammar has been consistently good with only a couple of mistakes in each chapter
Eventually the author puts more and more of what they want into the story, which is fine, it's their story and they have all the reasons to do so, but that's the problem. It doesn't feel as good as it could be. Like the choices the author chooses to make are holding back the novel.

I'll give detailed and better explanation for my score but only through the spoiler as I will need to reference the novel to get my point across. I am currently up to date at chapter 216, so this will showcase what I've read so far.

Everything else I'm reading feels bland compared to this. It is an emotional carousel, I'm crying, I'm laughing, I'm worried. 

I haven't found a story (or I don't remember about it) that uses perspectives so artfully, they feel like natural transitions.

All characters make sense, their background relates to their personalities, their actions relate to their personalities.

An Interesting take on politics in a fantasy setting.Makes sense!

I am loving the pace!

A wonderful story. I hate it though, I had to put all my Xianxia reading list on a break xD. 

I hate the MC in this story as much as i have ever hated a main charecter. He barely learns anything for himslef, relying on being told what to think and when to change his mindset. he denies his own feelings for three different love interests for no explainable reason and openly gas-lights them with affection and crushing their feelings. He keeps saying that he doesn't want to get married but never says why, nor does he ever have a good reason not to marry the women who love him, who he obviously has feelings for, as seen in his demon induced fantasy, and the mentions of him getting jealous every time they are close to another man or their marriage is talked about that doesn't include him

unfortunately for the retarded MC, the story around him is good. all of the supporting cast is memorable and believable, besides how in the world they bother with the MC.

if this story did not have the main character it does, i would rate it all 5 stars. but the brick-like MC kills it for me, i can't stand anything he does ever.

This is one of the more well written story's on RRL, and I would put it slightly behind Emerilia in terms of writing quality.

My only serious complaint with the story is with the MCs ridiculous self-recriminations about nearly everything. He is depressed, he is perpetually unsure and his personality more closely resembles one of those small naked dogs than a competent warrior.

All that said, his caracterization would be fine if not for the entire chapters dedicated to his depressive ramblings. The MC get an amazing power or defeats a powerful foe, better dedicate a chapter to how self-conscious and insecure the MC is. Save a village of people, better find a way to blame himself for something or other. 

We spend so much time listening to this, it boggles the mind the MC can do anything other than curl into the fetal position and suck his own thumb.

When the author gets out of his own way, and lets the characters and story work, it's great, but then he feels compelled to scream "MY CHARACTER IS NOT A MARRY SUE! SEE!" with the next chapter ripped straight from an emo goth teen's diary.

EDIT:

The more I read this story, the less I like it. This is through Ch. 274 and I have lost interest. I loved it in the first hundred or so chapters, like it up until the Sanshu Arc ended, and now I am kinda meh about the story. The whiny MC is just too much. There is no reason he should still be doing the whiny self recriminations into ch 246 but he is. And now its gotten old.

To all those out there questioning whether Savage Divinity is worth the read, question no longer. What I originally thought to be "just another reincarnation story" has turned into so much more. It can't be classified as reincarnation, xianxia or anything else. The story lives. It sounds cliche, but this story is thriving, growing (almost every day. thank you ruffwriter) into one of the best character driven pieces I've read. Not just on RRL, I'm talking anywhere. 

The characters are everything in this story. The author transitions brilliantly between all of them, making for a world with as much depth as anyone could hope for. Characters laugh and they cry. They argue and compromise. They have hopes, dreams and fears. There is no "cut-out" character that feels flat or disruptive within the story. 

If there was ANY reason a person may want to pass this story, it would have to be a dislike of gore. But the gore isn't simply for the sake of gore. The world of Savage Divinity is dark. It immerses you in a way most stories will never be able to. You FEAR for a character's well being. It's often a kill or be killed world, and by god you don't want these characters to die.

Yet even among the darkness of the world the author has ways to legitimately insert comedic relief into the story! I have laughed, OUT LOUD, several times throughout these first 53 chapters.

All in all, I cannot find a true flaw with this story. The grammar is damn near perfect. The chapters had started somewhat short which scared me at first, but (even with almost daily updates) the chapters have only gotten LONGER! It is a definite must read, and I can hardly wait for the next chapter.

This story is a really good read though, admittidly, hard to get into. The generic name doesn't help (Savage Divinity? bleh) and also the first 20 odd chapters are more a prologue than anything else.

Once you do make it past that though, the story is engaging. A long, interesting, fantasy story. With a very gradual power progression for the main character, and many non copy paste situations and fights. Which was a welcome change from a lot of other novels in the genre.

Also, it has pets. Adorable pets. In fact I think the various animals/mounts in this story have better charactization than the humans.

On the bad side, it does derail a bit later on, though. There is one arc in particular that is pretty awful and knocked at least half a star off all catagories. In fact, if I ever reread this I'm going to skip from chapter 136 to 159.

Thankfully it now seems to be recovering to where it was beforehand. A definite recommend to anyone who likes long stories.

I've read up to chapter 110ish. The reason I don't know the exact number is because I just can't stand how the character progression is going. Now, let me explain. It's not terrible it just isn't something I prefer compared to other stories. Let me give you an example of how the character progression works.

It's like a seesaw. Imagine the character on one side and a crap ton of weight on the other side. This crap ton of weight is their doubt in themselves and in others, as well as how everyone lacks the ability to give support to others and has a constant raging self-hate boner. Now the character will slowly progress through their POV (oh yeah this story has multiple POVs) the character will slowly go down on that seesaw until they reach the ground, this signifies their progression. But, once they make a mistake or we swap to another character POV all of that progression gets destroyed by the massive weight on the other side of the seesaw. This has caused me enough frustration to give me a migraine (I'm not kidding I have some Advil right next to me). Then after all of this once we swap back to their POV we see that self-hate boner goes into full effect. It's like going into the minds of the clinically depressed. I honestly have no desire of reading this constant back and forth on the 'character progression seesaw'. 

Otherwise, the grammar is great barely any mistake though I do spot a few every chapter. The story is fun I have eaten up all plot to be seen from what I read. The style is fluid although clunky in some parts, but isn't really anything to detract attention from the story. The one and the only complaint I have is the character progression conundrum I talked about. So if you can get over that it's a great story that I would recommend. Sadly that problem honestly makes me want to forget I even knew this book existed. But, if this problem is addressed and fixed I will come back and read all of the milky chocolate goodness that is this story.  

This  story has probably the best start i have read in ages. It really  draws you in and gets you pumped up.

I loved this story at the start but now every chapter has become a chore to read as the characters just annoy me.

All the strong female characters seem very similar and do not have depth. There do not seem to be any strong male characters. They are all either power abusing rapists or sidekicks to the females.

I started reading this story because I felt it was deep and delved into the minds of the characters while building a solid world around them. But as the story progresses the author has thrown all of his/her strengths out. World building has become sloppy and the characters even worse.

Making the other side illogical evil assholes to drive the story along and make the protagonist side look good is what xianxia do. I expected a lot more from this author.

Finally, the MC’s mindset. I get the whole traumatized by the whole slave experience  part but the self debasement has gone on for long enough. Moreover what was the point of him being an older otherworlder if he just behaves/thinks like a regular teenager of the current world. The only use of this plot device seems to be to delay romance between the MC and the females of his age that seem to be enraptured …

I apologize if the review came of as caustic but it may have been spurred by the frustration I felt by the slow deterioration of the story’s quality. I really want the author to improve because I believe he/she can be a much better author.