Comprehending ‘The Way’ by the Pond

Desolate Era #3

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, 我吃西红柿

Fate had never been kind to Ji Ning. Wracked by illnesses and infirm his entire life on Earth, Ning knew early on that he would die as a teenager. What he didn’t know was that there really was such a thing as life after death, and that the universe was a far larger place than he thought.

A lucky twist of fate (one of the few in Ning’s life) meant that Ning was reborn into a world of Immortals and monsters, of Ki Refiners and powerful Fiendgods, a world where Dynasties lasted for millions of years. A world which is both greater…and yet also smaller…than he ever could imagine. He would have the opportunity to join them, and in this life, Ning swore to himself, he would never let himself be weak again!

The Era he was born into was a Desolate one, but Ning would make it his era.

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novel, Asian Literature

Unknown Binding

About the author

Associated Names:
* Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi
* I Eat Tomatoes (English)
* 我吃西红柿 (Chinese)
* หว่อชือซีหงสื้อ (Thai)

Reviews

[Lazybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revenge is best served cold.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metric system - Those are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 3/5 stars
- Development: 4/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 5/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 3/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 4/5 stars
- Plot twists: 1/5 stars
- Pace: 5/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 3/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: -/5 stars OR -/5 negative stars
- Holes: 1/5 negative stars
- Impact on series storyline: 4/5 stars
- Self contained (Y/N): N
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): Y
- Adult (Y/N): N
- Violence level: Ok, killing for futile reasons
- Tech level: Tribal
- Religion level: Daoism
- Main genre: Xianxia
- Subgenre: Wuxia
- Point of view: Main character third person
- Aftertaste: getting better
- Quote: Lonely people often would become accustomed to think about many things. Some thought about too many things and would go insane, while others would see through their own heart and mind and become wise.
Series Storyline
- Originality: 3/5 stars
- Development: 4/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 3/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 3/5 stars
- Plot twists: 2/5 stars
- Pace: 4/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 1/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: -/5 stars OR -/5 negative stars
- Holes: 3/5 negative stars mainly caused because the author don't want the main character to have a reasonable age
World
- Originality: 2/5 stars
- Variety: 1/5 stars
- Consistency: 3/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 1/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): N
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): N
- Journey (Y/N): Y
- Main scenario: Main Character traveling the world to grow stronger
Characters Quantity
- Total amount: a handful
- Points of view: 1
- Main characters: 1
- Secondary: a handful less one
- Ordinary: one or two scores
Characters Quality
- Overall: 3/5 stars
- Main: 1/5 stars - again because of Ji Ning unreasonable age
- Secondary: 4/5 stars
- Consistency: 1/5 stars
- Connection: 2/5 stars
- Underworld Crew (Y/N): N
- Training (Y/N): Y
- Notable best characters: nothing catches the eye
- Notable worse characters: Ji Ning
Rules
- Devised system: 4/5 stars
- System complexity: 4/5 stars
- System explanation: 3/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): N
- Type of Rule: Cultivation and supernatural skill levels
Xianxia
- Battle phase: 3/5 stars
- Skill innovation: 3/5 stars
- Treasure hunting phase: 1/5 stars
- Cultivation phase: 5/5 stars
▶◀
The good: the cultivation is interesting, the main character insights of the Dao are picturesque and serene, the pace of the story is pretty nice
The bad: No treasure hunting or cheating against others.
The Ugly: The acting and descriptions of the main character that should be 17 or 18 at least but is 11 instead. The constant use of unmeaningless onomatopoeias also hit the nerve.

[Andrew Dato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finishing this third book, I continue to wonder the definition of a book is in this case. This feels like a section of a book then a full book since there is no beginning or end with the book leaving off on a cliff hanger for the next book to pick up. Besides this weird definition of the book, I'm starting to understand a bit more about this series.

The first two books, I felt they were very standard and the main character was very over powered. In this book, I still feel he is over powered but there is a nugget of something interesting happening here. First of all, the way the main character acts feels very dark at times. On one hand, when you look at his actions they seem very heroic like taking justice for peoples deaths. But the way he goes about said deaths are very villainous. In one case in the book, he chases after a person, who has clearly surrendered, and kills him in a very brutal way. On a different example he strings a person up and proceeds to watch them die slowly. It is very interesting where the actions of the character feel like they are building up to something but I haven't seen it yet.

Moving from there, the overall plot feels like it hasn't started and that he is just training to get to the plot. There are inklings here and there but all of it still feels like an introduction. On top of that, the world remains to seem interesting to me. The way the magic system works and the different parts f the world seems to be building to something interesting. I will have to see where these books go from there.

[Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of entire series.

One of the best progression fantasies, I've ever read. Just brilliant. It suffers from awkward and stilted dialogue and prose because of the translation, but once you get past that style...certainly one the most fun books I've read.

It's a bit longer than Coiling Dragon (which I'd recommend everyone to read first before getting to this) and the progression elements are done brilliantly. The action is near non stop and pacing never drops as we keep shifting gears.

Highly recommended.

[Mnoraznan · Rating 5 out of 5]

engrossing development in martial techniques

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Don Freecss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it

[Kisssun · Rating 3 out of 5]

اوه طبعا
المجلد كان يدور على التلميذ الزيفو في الجبل
وأيضا ظهور متدرب شيانغ من حرس المطر اذا كتبتها بشكل صحيح
مجلد جيد

[Saurabh Modi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my first reading of this book, I really liked it.

In my second reading, I still like it, but a little bit less.

I think the difference here is due to loss of novelty. When I first these books for the first time, I was still very new to this genre. I also wasn’t very used to Er Gen’s works, which I’m very partial towards, when it comes to this genre.

Irrespective of the reasons above, with this book, the story does get significantly more engaging than the previous two books as the world and the lore are being solidified. There are some obvious problems with the dialogue and character work, but they start fading as the story gets much more interesting.

The good about this series - if you’re looking for lot of really fun battles and rich story with a lot of lore and crazy progression, this story might be it. Nobody writes escalating storylines while keeping you hooked like Er Gen. The stories might be a bit simplistic, but they are fun.