Never before had she read such a jumble of injustices.

From the first to the last chapter, the hero had to pay the price while the villain was redeemed. She snorted in annoyance as she scrolled through the endless comments complimenting the story enthusiastically. Yet, she did not feel like giving the author a piece of her mind knowing how she would feel if she were on the receiving end of her criticism. Plus, the narration was not all bad. Both main characters were well developed. But it was exactly that development which bothered her, it was utterly unfair.

How could you expect the reader to empathise with the protagonist when he was a piece of shit down to the hairs on his chinny chin chin? And how could one hate the villain with all the misfortune heaped on him?

The young woman rubbed at her face while she started thinking about how she could assemble her review. As a reviewer she was obliged to give her opinion, also in light of the fact she was one of the few people to have been selected to read -GodIsAWoman- 's completed novel. What unfeeling creator the villain had ended up with.

Shi XinNian was obviously an orphan. And the same went for his ‘good’ counterpart, Liang HaoHan, brimming with talent and, to begin with, hope.

She closed her eyes as she typed random letters. In a distracted manner she typed the poor antagonist’s name who had been picked to excuse the worst sides of the protagonist, who, while being just as unfortunate, had been favoured by the choice of the author. After all, was he not the Immortal of “The Rise of the Last Light and the Fall of the First Sin”?  He was the one who would bring deliverance from the wickedness of the antagonist, who, however, from time to time almost looked like a cruel mockery of what a true villain should be.

“Shi XinNian.” She whispered.

She was truly sorry for him. And that was perhaps where the author’s true talent shone. She had felt so much empathy for that character that, had she been the Mistress, she would have brought him into the Infinite Real. But that was not the case. The choice had been obvious. When one compared the two, anyone would have chosen the smiling and helpful student when the other option was the mistreated and forgotten one. The one who had lost the righteous path by following in the deviant steps of that devilish Demon.

She puffed out some air and stretched her fingers in preparation of writing her review.

… And it is for this reason that I find myself rating the novel 3/5, seeing how, in spite of the discreet writing and the engaging plot, there were numerous plot holes that I have pointed out.

SPOILER

Where did Shi XinNian sister’s precious sword end up? I had guessed it would be essential when it came to power plays seeing how it had belonged to their mother, one of the most powerful Demons of the Phantom Dimension!

The author also seems to have completely flunked the protagonist as well, transferring onto a lukewarm Liang HaoHan all of the characteristics that should have belonged to Shi XinNian. Actually, those same characteristics had been his for the first part of the novel and had not been completely wiped out after his stay in the Phantom Dimension where a truly heartless villain should have emerged. Leaving him instead in no man’s land and giving me hope until the end that perhaps he could be redeemed with the predictable ending of almost any other book.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all in favour of heartless villains when they are captivating and complex, but this special consideration I have for villains is also the reason I detected the fallacy in Shi XinNian’s design. He was almost placed there as a scapegoat in the absence of a bigger evil. His being a villain was not even due to the predictable clash between the ancient Sworn Brothers. It all seems to have been left unfinished, as though the plot had not originally accounted for this insipid and clumsy villain. Sometimes I struggled to even understand what was truly evil about him considering how changeable his character was. Almost as though he did not want to be the way he was.

I would have much rather Shi XinNian be a schemer and violent, even bloodthirsty. Instead, the author hesitated for the entire narration showing us an unbalanced development of both the plot and Shi’s personality seeing how at the end he seems to go insane. Furthermore, an insanity that was not even explained.

After posting she waited for the replies that inevitably started arriving. It was mostly people insulting her, and a few who agreed. However, one message caught her attention.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

We agree with her criticism of the narration. If you would like to further express your opinion, please take part in this questionnaire to understand where the writer could improve.

Link: https://www.GodIsAWoman-novels.com/

It had to be a scam, right?

She distractedly put the tablet down on the sofa and got up to make herself a cup of tea. The noise of the city outside had become louder as the evening progressed, people who had finished working were returning home to their families. She turned to look at her small apartment. Empty. She sat at her dining table as she thought that she did not even have a plant as she often managed to kill them quite quickly.

She picked up a magazine she had abandoned that morning and flipped through the pages with despondency. It highlighted that month’s new publications, a gift from the publishing house she worked for. She was a freelancer, nothing too stable, just hired by publishing houses as a proof-reader or consultant for some authors.

However, the work she had done on the novel by -GodIsAWoman- had not been for her job. She had been selected thanks to the numerous comments on the website and, upon seeing her references, she had been welcomed as a reviewer on the Western team that worked for the woman, who was a Chinese author of novels quite popular around the globe. In her target market, at least. At that thought she lifted her eyebrows as she sipped on her tea. She had to admit that danmei novels were not that popular at the moment, however the author seemed to be doing well.

She was not paid, but as a VIP member she received the chapters in advance. This time though she had been disappointed. “The Rise of the Last Light and the Fall of the First Sin” had potential, but many characters had not been well fleshed out and the plot went on endlessly in a constant crescendo without ever reaching any resolution. At one point she had even believed that the two main characters’ Mistress, Zhang YueLiang, would have played a much more prominent role. All things considered, she was a legend in the novel, and she appeared even more frequently than the head of the Immortals as confidante and guide and had held an important spot in the lives of both the main characters. But she had ended up skewered without any revelations regarding her past.

A bust.

Yes, the author normally wrote danmei Wuxia or Xianxia, but this time there had been no romantic subplot. She had imagined there would have been one between the two main characters, but they had only been Martial Brothers and then enemies. The few romantic relationships had come across as dull and flat. A few flirts for the protagonist and many women for the antagonist, but no meaningful relationships for either one of them. That story truly was mediocre, nothing more and nothing less.

She stood up to stretch and went to take a shower to try and lessen her frustrations. She had devoured that novel hoping for something, but it had left her unsatisfied.

After she was done while her hair was still wet she sat on the couch and turned on the TV to finish watching a series on Nextflix she had been asked to review on the blog she wrote as a way to pass the time. She was about to start when she remembered she had not had her dinner, so she grabbed her phone to find the closest place she could order a pizza from. She was staring at the ceiling while she waited, and ten minutes later her doorbell rang so she went to open her door.

“Thanks.” She said to the delivery person, and before they had the time to say anything to her she gave them the money with a smile.

“Enjoy.” They said with a wave as he started leaving, having perhaps deduced she was not in a chatty mood.

She sighed and beelined for the couch finally starting the episode. The following forty minutes were filled with plot twists and action, after all she was close to the end of the show. Then, to her surprise, while she was fighting with some cheese that was not feeling very collaborative, the protagonist kissed one of the dullest female characters in the whole TV series.

“Seriously? - she exclaimed indignantly – You have Fanny and instead you make out with Janet? Why? – she waved a slice of pizza at them threateningly – This woman has nothing, I repeat, nothing, on Fanny.” With those words she collapsed back on the couch.

Nothing seemed to be going right that day. She gave the screen a withering stare as the end credits started rolling and interrupted the automatic playback, too shocked to keep going. She put down the now empty box of pizza and she grabbed some water from the coffee table. As she was drinking her eyes were drawn to the tablet once more. She had to complete some daily missions on the game she was playing so she picked it up and unlocked the screen. Only then did she realise she was still on the webpage of the novel where that strange message was still waiting on her reply even though other people had posted comments under her review. She scrolled through and noticed various criticisms.

LadyJinToTheRescue 11m

How can you say something like this? Shi XinNian is a bastard through and through without even an ounce of gratitude. Did you not see how he killed the Mistress?

RushVonMercenary 10m

Yes, but you must admit Mistress Zhang YueLiang was not exactly a pillar of morality. She mistreated Shi XinNian without showing any remorse for tens, if not hundreds, of pages.

She nodded in agreement as she kept reading the thread.

NotYourUsualFleme 5m

Well, it was obvious she should mistreat him, he had no respect for anyone. Do you remember his treatment of Ming? And was it not he who brought the yaoguai to the Celestial Meeting?

RushVonMercenary 4m

There are numerous doubts on that, after all it was Ming who accused him of the betrayal. Furthermore, he was respectful to the Mistress and Great Master from the beginning. And those two should have had a better character development.

“Too true, those two never sat right with me. Their behaviour was too strange.” She said in approval, enjoying the disagreement she had caused. This always happened between fans: there were those who still supported the author but were capable of pointing out the flaws in her work, and those who thought she could do no wrong, who always made her doubt they had actually read that failure of a Xianxia novel. After that, obviously, there were the haters, but she thought of them in the same way she would of garbage, so she automatically skipped their comments.

LadyJinToTheRescue 1m

Oh, come on, you want to redeem him for that little respect he showed? And what about what he did to Liang HaoHan?

At those words she shook her head, it was impossible to reason with them if they brought forward that argument. If only they were objective they would have noted that the wrongs done to Shi XinNian were much greater seeing how he had even tried to reconnect with his Martial Brother after coming back from the Phantom Dimension, but he had never been listened to.

She accidentally tapped on the screen and the comments thread went back to where the scam message was. She looked at it for a few seconds deep in thought. She sighed and decided she would be drawn into what, by all accounts, looked like a trap. After all, she had no personal details saved on that tablet. To her immense surprise, a second window opened onto another section of the author’s official website. She nodded to herself while she scrolled through, after all this was her third novel, she had a decent fanbase, and that had been the reason she had hoped this last novel would be as captivating as the previous two which, in spite of their faults, had satisfied her overall. She scrolled further with a finger as she blew a strand of hair off her face.

The first questions just tested her general knowledge of the plot, and then focused on the writing style to finally ask about character development. She decided there could be no harm in giving further feedback just in case -GodIsAWoman- ever decided to actually read those comments.

Having completed the questionnaire, she leant back and rested her arms behind her neck. Suddenly the tablet’s screen lit up on a different page.

The service thanks you for your feedback.

Your profile has been analysed and calibrated. Your results show a high affinity for Mistress Zhang YueLiang, we ask you to confirm this choice.

The young woman stared in amazement and was about to grab the device but the countdown she had just about noticed lasted literally all of one second and then ran out.

We have received your confirmation, please wait a few moments.

We hope you will be satisfied with your experience.

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked in confusion as she puzzled over where the new countdown would take her.

She saw the numbers count down slowly as the screen started showing lines of code in a manner similar to the Matrix. She barely had the time to formulate a coherent thought before a light washed over her.

5

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Welcome to “The Rise of the Last Light and the Fall of the First Sin” Customer Service.

We hope you will be satisfied with your experience.

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