The Jester of Apocalypse

I'm always down for a good cultivation story, so I've given this one more leeway than most.

At the story's start, the main character is abrasive, stubborn, foolish, and intelligent. He then gets stuck in a time loop of sorts. All of these character traits actually become somewhat benifical in this situation. I also love time loop stories for the tension trying and failing repeatedly brings. 

He eventually frees himself from the loop, at which point he's basically the same characterwise except both powerful and insane. Which is fair considering the circumstances, but what worked for a time loop story doesn't work what ever the story is turning into. 

In my opinion, he is unlikeable, unrelatible and without motivation. Neave wants to survive, get stronger and kill some people at this point. Combined with his insane, foolish, self destructive tendencies with no indication of getting better, I was honestly more interested when he just wanted to run the library. 

There were some neat ideas, however I just can't see whatever path the author is going to take to bring this story to a satisfying  conculusion. 

The first chapter was a pain to read because the author just doesn't understand proper tense use. This gets better in the following chapters but never entirely goes away.

And then the characters goes to hell in chapter three and the entire things slows to a crawl, utterly destroying any pacing the story had because the author feels the need to give far too many details on far too many loops the character goes through.

And on top of that you've got a thoroughly unlikeable main character. You kno wthe type, the unsefferable know it all with an over inflated sense of their own worth because they're "smarter" than everyone else.

The MC is supposedly 11 but really acts more like a 16 years old. That shows the author does not have a good grasp of how people behave, on top of that the MC is made into a very particular brand of Mary sue, the type where horrible things happens to them just so they can show off how strong willed and better they are than other people.

TLDR: unlikeable character, horrendously paced and in dire need of an editor.

The story keeps you interested. Several characters have been setup in addition to our protaganist, hinting at the possibility of many interesting stories with reocurring characters ahead. 

As for our main character, he gets into plenty of fights. Honestly, a bit too many for my taste, but I'm confident that many fans of the genre won't be bothered by that at all. I'm curious to see if he has already achieved the final form of his personality, or if he will grow/heal into something else. The title points the obvious, but that doesn't mean that this story won't end up with our hero no longer being the 'Jester of the Apocalypse'!

It's still early for me to review a fiction, but since there are no other reviews I figure I should put one out there.

As of this review, we're 9 chapters in and have made it to the arc promised in the description - the 'hellish loop'. I think we might even be getting close to the end of the loops, but it's hard to say. That depends on Neave succeeding at what he's trying this time.

The interactions at the sect before Neave was trapped made sense; they were well-written and the people were understandable. The time he's been trapped has also been well-written and understandable, showcasing the environment, the challenge, and Neave's various issues and attempts to overcome it. It keeps moving and doesn't feel stale.

I'm personally looking forward to seeing how Neave handles things after he gets back out; that's going to be a make-or-break point for the story. He's been changed by his time stuck alone, but what does that really mean when he's back with people?

Written extremly well with an interesting premise that got me to binge all the available chapters. I dontt really know how to explain the smile I had on my face reading this. I've read alot on this site and very very few feel this tight and well written with so few chapters.

The story is great, the loop is satisfying and the characters are well written and reasonable. 

But the thing I didnt expect was the comedy. Or should I say I did expect it but then it seemed like it wasn't trying to be one. But every once in a while there's a decent joke that genuinely made me laugh out loud. The humor really isn't the focus of the story, but it seems like funny things just happen naturally to the main character. Fitting with the theme of the book. 

The other thing that really impressed me were the detailed fights. I hope the author keeps putting in the same amount of effort into the fights in the future as well. 

Be warned though, the story does not shy away from gory and self harm stuff. It isn't too bad in my opinion and it doesn't feel forced either. In fact, given the theme of the book it is almost to be expected.

Another thing I see a lot of people mentioning is the grammar, but as far as I've seen if the story had grammar issues, the author has fixed them at some point. The prose isnt masterful though, even if there is actual poetry in the book. That personally doesnt bother me however. 

Overall good progression fantasy, love it. 

I'm really liking where this story is going and I can't wait for more. 

Chapter length is fantastic which really helps with combat sequences. Story is focused on the main character but there is still enough information about the other characters that keeps them engaging.

Hopefully this story stays for the long haul as I am invested in it's future.

A bit of a slow start compared to some other novels on this site; the mc is not very likeable in the first couple chapters, but he undergoes changes and by chapter 10 he is much more enjoyable to read about. MC quickly becomes OP for his rank and age (real-world age that is), but there are still plenty of humans and monsters stronger than him, so he is far from invincible. The worldbuilding and power system is quite enjoyable, and a lot of MC's strength comes from his, what we know for now, unique ability to use the power system to his advantage, which needs experimentation and exploration to do: Therefore a significant part of this story is MC doing just that.

The powerlvl in this novel is not too crazy, atleast on the continent and among the top rankers from what we've seen so far, it does not reach continent-destroying or worlddestroying powers like some other cultivation novels. This powerlevel fits the novel well, where MC can battle monsters in a forest without destroying the forest. Although cultivation realm matters in this novel, it is not a complete suppression of rank; matchups and how one uses their abilities matter too, and even lowrankers can have absorbed a useful ability, so the strongest powers in the world cannot simply do everything by themselves, since there is a limit to how many special powers one can efficiently learn (and it is not high)

Slight spoiler starting from ch 10

If you enjoy cultivation novels with a different path to power than simply sitting still and absorbing energy, a different system and interesting abilities for the MC to explore and absorb, and are not scared away by the MC being a little crazy, give this a try. Do not be discouraged by the MC's personality the first couple chapters.

I Love this Story so far. one of the reasons is that we have an insane protagonist (and he feels actually insane) who is damaged beacause of the loop but it isnt at all the case that his insanity overwrites his personality. so go Autor keep up the amazing work.

I basically seperate web novels into 3 tiers. Drop immediately due to horrible writing, read while waiting for better authors to put out new content, and worthy of paying a monthly patreon subscription to get my fantasy crack novel fix. This novel is tier 4, cultivation novel heroin. In other words, I am willing to shell out money for advance chapters just so that the author will write faster and more consistently.