TNT: Talisman Emperor Chapters 1-40 by Xiao Jinyu

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering a new series. It’s Talisman Emperor Chapters 1-40 by Xiao Jinyu!

Plot Synopsis: Chen Xi was a jinx who radiated misfortune the way a torch radiated light, and everyone around him knew it. His entire clan was annihilated when he was a baby, and not too long after that his parents disappeared. His marriage contract? Poof. Torn to shreds and gone up in smoke before the eyes of everyone in the city, almost humiliating his grandfather to the point of suicide! Cultivation? No time for that, he had a family to take care of! This is the story of Chen Xi, a youth forced to stop cultivating and instead craft talismans to pay for his younger brother’s tuition…

Plot: This is a pretty fast paced novel and these first forty chapters are really quite entertaining. Chen Xi is a pretty unlucky fellow and doesn’t fall into the traps that some characters have in other series, “cough” Linley “cough”. This is quite a fun series and frankly one of the better ones out there. It also helps that isn’t published by Qidian which means no bullshit on the publishers side.

Characters: The entire cast is great, although my favorite might just be Du Qingxi.

Overall: A great series to read, although few chapters have been released thus far, only a bit over 240.

For those who like: Xuanhuan, Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Martial Arts, Romance, Great Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

TNT: Tips on How to Enjoy Web Serializations

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m back with some tips and tricks. It’s some Tips on How to Enjoy Web Serializations!

Web Serializations?: What I generally cover in these columns are Web Serializations, what is known more commonly as Web Novels.

Ok so tips?: Yep I got a few really easy tips to get the most out of every Web Novel you read. This can hold true for any piece of written work, but I find that they are really great for Web Novels in particular.

Tip #1 Stockpile!: Let any Web Novel you read get a good amount of chapters built up before beginning to read. Give yourself at least 3 whole days worth of chapters to read, and by whole days I mean days where you would do nothing but read those chapters. For me that means I often have to wait for at minimum a stockpile of at least 250 chapters worth. I read much too quickly, and if I don’t stockpile at least that much I’m liable to just go through it too quick.

This is for chapters that come out to at least 2,000 words per chapter on average. If they are shorter that means I’ll need to increase the amount of chapters I stockpile. The same is true in reverse, if they are incredibly long chapters I can get away with less chapters.

Another way to stockpile is to do it based on Arc or Volume, if there are Arcs or volumes indicated in the table of contents it’s totally doable to just stockpile chapters until an arc or volume is completed. This allows the author to go through a relatively self contained plot thread from beginning to end.

Tip #2 Binge!: Once you’ve stockpiled enough chapters to get a few days worth of solid reading, binge read that story and it alone. Don’t read anything else, unless you are like me you’ll probably confuse yourself if you are reading more than a single story or if you’re really skilled two, at one time. So go through those chapters and enjoy the story.

Tip #3 Once Caught Up Stop Reading!: If you are reading a Web Novel you’ll come to realize that most of the story is so splintered into  small chapters that it’s really hard to appreciate the story if you continue reading every time a new chapter is released. Don’t do this, it’ll ruin the stories for you. Seriously it sounds counter intuitive, but absolutely do not continue reading once caught up. Follow Tips #1 and 2.

Tip #4 Rotate!: In order to allow all the above tips to occur I rotate stories I’ll read. Assuming all series release with similar amount of chapters per week, it’s easy to set up a rotation of different series to read in order to really get the most out of stories. In reality this can’t happen due to how different authors, and by extension translators, work. So you’ll need to build a vast library of different series in order to really get a solid rotation. This might end up being 20+ series, but you’ll be able to get a good amount of chapters stockpiled for binge reading for each series if you go through the rotation.

For me I’ll constantly add new series to my rotation and drop those which I’ve found to be not worth reading in comparison to other stories. I’ve stopped reading stories due to many reasons, sometimes I just find they are inferior to other similar stories and so I’ll drop them in favor of the other. There are plenty of other reasons as well, but the biggest is the one I just mentioned.

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday! Hopefully this helps those fellow enthusiasts of Web Novels, and other media, enjoy the stories more!

 

TNT: Emperor’s Domination Chapters 1-40 by Yan Bi Xiao Sheng

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’ve got a new series! It’s Emperor’s Domination Chapters 1-40 by Yan Bi Xiao Sheng!

Plot Synopsis: A boy that was imprisoned for millions of years had regained his mortal body. He became a disciple of the declining Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect where its Founder used to be his disciple. Now he will bring this sect back to its former glory.

This is his journey to reach the apex and take revenge on those who had imprisoned him.

This is his story of meeting old friends and making new companions.

This is his path of traversing the Nine Worlds and becoming the next ruler of the Heavens.

Plot: The plot is excellent, and it’s not quite like any other series I’ve ever read. Yes Nie Li, Yun Che and Chu Yang have similar attributes, but they go back in time/get resurrected. Li Qiye was trapped as the Dark Crow, a incredibly powerful form that he was stuck in for an extremely long time (over a million years is a very conservative estimate so far) and his body has the worst attributes for cultivation. But that won’t stop Li Qiye from his ambitions and these first forty chapters are the foundation for his ambitions.

Characters: Li Qiye might just be one of my newest favorite lead characters I’ve ever read. He’s definitely as shameless and ruthless as Nie Li and Chu Feng respectively and I enjoy him quite a bit. Li Shuangyan may be our female lead, but I’m not sure of this fact. Which is simply because of how Li Qiye treats her, which isn’t badly he just won’t let her become arrogant at all. I enjoy her quite a bit as well, although we don’t get to see much of her in these first forty chapters.

Overall: A must read for any Chinese fiction fans, it’ll become an instant hit.

For those who like: Xuanhuan (Eastern Fantasy), Cultivation, Martial Arts, Fantastic Protagonist, Excellent Cast of Characters, Amazing Plot.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but really do give this series a shot, it’s quite good.

TNT: Great Demon King Chapters 41-80 by Ni Cang Tian

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering another set of chapters in Han Shuo’s adventures. It’s Great Demon King Chapters 41-80 by Ni Cang Tian!

Plot Synopsis: Han Shuo was picked up by an evil demonic asshole who wanted to take over his body to live longer. When he was about to be killed two immortals who were chasing the asshole disturbed the ritual and ended up killing the demon. Han Shuo woke up in the body of a recently deceased slave in a Magical Academy, named Brian. He discovered he had gained almost all of the memories of the demon, although some were obscured from his immediate recall until he became more powerful.He decided to get revenge for his body’s previous owner. He tried to scare the wits out of the culprit, a female Necromancy student named Lisa, and failed miserably. He started to practice the methods of body refinement in order to become stronger and overcome his faults. He quickly became much stronger and started to learn Necromancy.

After dealing with a few bullies and even getting Lisa to apologize for killing him, it turns out she did it to free him from his misery, and even getting the beautiful teacher Fanny to help him out with learning magic. Shortly after he was assigned to be the mule for the annual training expedition to a nearby forest filled with monsters for the Necromancy students and left with Lisa and Fanny. As he quickly proved his worth to the rest of the students by saving their hides and killing monsters they met a passing Knight named Clark. He saw that Clark was looking at Lisa and Fanny with evil intentions so Han Shuo got Clark to implicate himself as a voyeur by leading him to a creek where Fanny and Lisa were bathing in order to drive him away from them. However after Clark left, a giant monster serpent emerged from the water where Fanny and Lisa were bathing….

Plot: This set of chapters starts right after that cliffhanger and concludes the Dark Forest arc. However Han Shuo’s adventures only get more intense and awesome from there. I really enjoyed this set of chapters as it’s a huge turning point for Han Shuo. It also showcases Han Shuo’s increasing reputation and his burgeoning romance with Fanny and Lisa.

Characters: We don’t really get to meet many more characters in this, though Fabian and Phoebe are the two standouts. However Han Shuo’s antics still make him my favorite character thus far.

Overall: An excellent set of chapters in a series that any fantasy loving fan will enjoy greatly.