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.

Score after 100 chapters
Everything was just fine, but I just had to deduce the hero's thinking about what was happening as well as the whole of it!
I can not understand why he is so dumb and flawed!
He contradicts himself so much that it seems to me that I'm watching a five-year-old in contrast to a man of mature age. He perceives himself as a garbage so often that it seems to me that he is a secondary character!
He always needs something that should inspire him, motivate him. His psychology is so incomprehensible that I even think that he is not a man but simply a beast that needs a walk!
The author either has to correct or finish this story because his logic is so sluggish and unjustified that it starts to stir me up!
He understands his feelings but at the same time is so profound and defective without taking it, makes him regret himself, making him even more defective, which is contrary to his older mind! Honestly barely able to read the last chapters. The author should read more about the adult psyche, and especially about part of the relationship! His knitting of the characters' relationship is so boring that I start to think when this psycho opens up to myself! I do not demand a super-powerful hero, but not such garbage!
But about the world and enemies, I'm just delighted with the imagination of the author. The world is directly filled with that excitement and expectation! It does not immediately open, but is examined as if giving you a little interest in the question "What if there is ....?"
The author gives part of what is missing from other works - Interest voprinimat something with his imagination .....
I will mention the enemies! They have a distinctive reason to be an enemy. Some of the pride, some just because they want them to be, some of them for chasing something, and some of them for being demons! There is no shit that stuffed Chinese novels, which makes the enemy any passerby!
But the protagonist simply kills me, I can not continue reading this story if it continues!
I would be less worried if in the story there was no theme of reincarnation! The dude is just so badly described. It does not have a spark between plus and minus. It is very difficult to understand, it has enough motivation, but it is stupid and requires something more. He requires information from the training but does not notice the fact that he is not the only one! There are a lot of children who train without excellent teachers! It should be much better, but by reading you come to the conclusion that he's shit! Its so hard to understand! Honestly the author add more informativeness to his thoughts, or else simple ones older than you do not play any significant role!

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.

I originally had a great time reading this story, but lately the pacing has been killing me. Even with multiple chapters a week, so much of the story is effectively filler that we can go weeks with the story hardly progressing at all.

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.

If you have read this book and think it is crap, I mean really crap but still wonder why it remains famous and that you kept reading it until you discovered that despite being open minded it hit your tolerance limit, I have also wondered too. My answer is so simplistic that it shows that the world is so fucking complex.

1. The "title" is too cool.

2. The opening writing is like poetic thinking or poetic emulation for the cool kids.

3. The poetic/explorative opening makes it not directly fit into a cliche and makes room for your expectation/imagination to be broad.

4. The first 100 chapters seemed like exploring a new born world not yet written about and I dont mean delusional world, more like a truely possible world.

5. And lastly, the main character seems to be self aware and exploring his morality without demanding or forcefully imposing it on others against their wish, culture and experience (basically he respects the discovery that he experiences in the world and other human beings).

But, by the time it reaches a third of the book all of it becomes trash, everything flips on its head, all you liked or could endure about the book reverses like a mirror surface or the back of something you don't like. The moral of the story is, yes you can be a successful writer writing crap, without having to change your nationality to chinese* as long as you meet certain basic requirements (Is a good novel a crime? or just too much effort or too little discipline or xyz responsibility).

*I refer to the sheer number of chinese novels filled with bad character development or with delusional constructs, rather than chinese as individuals.

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.

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 like the story and everything about it except when Rain is in his WHINY mode. It was like this with Baeldgh(cant be bothered to remember his name) too. Its like oh my gosh give me a break, you were in this world for like 5 years and he should be an adult but he always acts like agsty teenager with parenting issues(i know because i was like that). Because he is such an unlikeable character it holds the story back. And i know its a character development but its too slow and hurts to read. 

As i said i like the story but when he is whiny all the time it grinds my gears >:(