2018-04-23, 23:44 | Link #101 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
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Quote:
Back to Paladin, finished vol 1. I think writing wise, characters, the art, I like everything; but I just don't think the author really put in any thought to the underpinnings of his whole world. Even if I take the creator god dying out of the picture. The notion of Good and Evil being opposites, makes no sense, and that was the catalyst that started everything, the word good was said and evil came out. In reality Good and Evil are both opposites of Neutrality not of each other, they are just the opposite opposites. The portrayals of Gracefeel and Stagnation also both seem to be poorly written, and seem more to hint at an underlying Eastern leaning bias then anything well reasoned out. Gracefeel represent reincarnation, which is more of an eastern philosophy while Stagnation represent more of permanent afterlife Western philosophy. One is portrayed and the proper way, while the other is purposefully villianzied. Hell just the fact that all of stagnation minions have to be some bastardized form like liches and mummies. His argument for reincarnation somehow being the proper path don't really make anymore sense than what Stagnation wants, and neither is particularly better than the other. Also Gracefeel is kind of hypocritical, because its eternal reincarnation, so in the end its no different from stagnation anyway, the soul is permanent it just gets washed clean each time, but in some sense its just as stagnant. Also Gracefeel and the gods themselves contradict the reincarnation cycle, and even ultimately the reincarnation cycle becomes a contradiction because the goal is stated in the light novel to have your soul purified and become a god. So you ended up essentially where stagnation would want to start out. I know I am over analyzing this , but as hyped as this novel was, I was expecting a little bit better. That said, author said he is Conan fan in the afterwords, so all is forgiven, and even if the premise if flawed what he did with the first novel was still really good. Im still rooting for Stagnation to ultimately win in the end. |
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2018-04-27, 20:09 | Link #103 |
Osana-Najimi Shipper
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Mt. Ordeals
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Holy crap, what the hell happened in volume 2? Volume 1 was AMAZING in how the author shown the characters. It was like as if I knew personally Gus, Mary, and Blood. The interactions and their personality were meticulously fleshed out,
In volume 2, NONE of it is there. I barely know the half elf guy. The bard and the merchant just felt like they were there. A lot of the characters felt more like they were 'quest givers' and something to move the plot forward (the 'grandma' of the half elf guy is the biggest culprit) rather than actual characters. Will figures out that the bishop of the local church is better than his attitude through him conducting "evening prayer", rather than him observing any of the good deeds the bishop does behind the scenes. And so on and so forth. Overall a very big disappointment. I thought this guy would be the exception to the typical LN writer , because it's very obvious his first volume is not only influenced by western fantasy fiction, but also how such fantasy fiction is written in the west. Volume 2 had him do a totally 180 and it's written in the same way vast majority of LNs are written, which while a lot of people enjoy, is really not my cup of tea. That said, Volume 1 alone is worth its price and also the price of the volume after, because I do still think it's an excellent book. So despite my disappointment in volume 2, I don't think I wasted my time and money at all with The Faraway Paladin. Just my recommendation for most people to stop at volume 1 lol. "Same shit, different names"?
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Tags |
different world, high fantasy, paladin, reincarnation, undead |
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