Review Detail of yaoyueyi in Crocodile Tears
Review detail
oh my god. where do I even begin. this novel is just the most gorgeous original novel I've ever found on webnovel. let me just say that first. my overall review is not a perfect 5 stars, but more on that below. [overall rating: 4.6 stars] this is probably the highest rating I've ever given any novel haha, especially since I'm being completely honest with my review below & not sugar coating anything. [writing quality: 5 stars] stunning. that's the best word to describe the writing. absolutely stunning. the author shows a clear display of prowess with grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. so much of the imagery and words of foreshadowing resemble poetry, almost. the flowing prose is exquisite and quotable in so many lines. the best thing is that the FL, youshi, loves poetry too. the quotes of poetry & the resemblance to poetry in the actual writing is gorgeous. though there are still mistakes once in a while, they're all minor & barely noticeable & this barely affected my overall reading experience. I would say that the quality of the writing beats 95% of novels on webnovel. that's how good it is. it's probably b/c the beauty of the writing that really made me love this novel so much from the start too, haha. [stability of updates: 5 stars] though the author never explicitly noted anywhere (or so I believe. at least, not in the synopsis) what the update schedule is, a look at the currently published chapters shows that the author does have a schedule of some sort. even though the updates aren't as frequent as the majority of readers desire (but honestly, webnovel readers are crazy with how much they demand authors to write), I think many people forget that this section of the rating is determined by /stability/ of updates, not frequency of updates. so hopefully, future readers do not score low on this section b/c the updates are really truly stable as of this moment! it's honestly impressive that the author can put out such quality at the speed that they do. my one suggestion is to get a solid schedule & mention it somewhere in the synopsis so your readers will have an idea. a solid updating schedule can also bring you a lot more readers :) [story development: 4 stars] as I've only read up to 14 chapters at this moment (& there are only 14 chapters out, so... ), it's still a little early to tell exactly how high this score should be, but so far, so good. (that's really one of the only reasons for why I don't want to give a full 5 stars yet) the author has given lots of foreshadowing in the writing. it's especially delightful to read the parts where youshi is almost narrating from the future, quoting the things that she may do in the future as to provide a shocking reminder to the reader of the direction her story is heading. I personally don't find the story paced too slow. by webnovel standards, is it? yes. but the events in the story unfold naturally, and I honestly prefer this healthy progression of the plot in comparison to whatever webnovels generally have w/ instant romance in like the first 10 chapters. I'm also a fan of slow paced stories, so perhaps this could be because this is my preference, and therefore I can be a bit biased... but really, I'm loving the plot development so far. so grateful for works not filled with cliches from chapter to chapter. the only complaint I really have is that during a few of the earlier chapters, where youshi's life got turned around as her true identity was revealed to her, things did seem a little bit rushed-- I feel like I couldn't quite see the emotions that clearly during that part & this just happened so suddenly, but otherwise, everything else is fine! [character design: 4 stars] again, this rating isn't a perfect 5 stars b/c it's a little too early to tell yet. it makes me a little shocked at first to learn that youshi is 15-- she's so mature for 15-- but I guess that with the situations that she went through and the time period she's in, it does logically make sense for why she behaves that way. all of the characters have their layers and emotions, so it's really appreciated that side characters are given a chance to have some depth as well, which is very rare for webnovel. the author does repeatedly mention that not all characters are as they seem though, and this bothers me a little bit, just because I think that readers don't deserve hints like this. it would be more emotionally wrenching whenever characters readers did not expect to act like such to be revealed to the readers, and I think the impact of those future chapters would be a lot better if the author didn't mention the overlooking characters part. (or, if it's really necessary, once is enough). also, this makes me very paranoid/suspicious of every character, which is not a fun experience while the story is still in the light hearted stage. I can't wait to see how the main characters develop to become who they're hinted to become in the synopsis. :) & also, again, I'm really grateful that romance is not instant in this! I think the author did mention that romance would take a while in a comment, and this is a fact very appreciated with me. <3 [world background: 5 stars] the author is clearly very well versed & has a deep understanding of chinese culture! so many authors on webnovel write chinese characters/worlds but have so little understanding of the culture that it's kind of irritating to see some of them write the things that they do. but the culture in this novel is especially immersive without being like some other novels where the author forces random pinyin words down the reader's throat every couple sentences. I believe that the setting of this novel is during the sui dynasty (or around that time) but I could be wrong on that. wondering if the novel is set in an accurate historical background, or is the author going to make more fictional events with this? but anyways, the world background is just great. it's the perfect amount of world building and story development at the same time-- no giant info dumps-- and the descriptive writing, once more, helps bring the world to life! with all that said, overall, this novel is just amazing!! 10/10 rec. it exceeds so many webnovel standards, and I can't wait to see how the story & characters develop. hopefully, it'll be getting some more readers in the future so that more can appreciate this gorgeous novel. I'm also veeeeerryy picky with the kind of novels I like to read. (my standards are a little too high lol) so far, there have been 0 original novels that have lasted in my library. this is the 1st one that I hope I'll be able to read until the end! :D
Crocodile Tears
Jenjibread
Liked by 13 people
LIKEReplies3
Omi when I finished reading this like I didn't even know what to say. Just thank you so muchhhh for giving my story a chance and like it means so much to me T^T [Writing Quality]: My writing is super fluffy, and I guess I've always been just worried that it will distract the reader from the actual storyline. I'll definitely be working through the previous chapters as I go and try to comb out any potential syntax/grammar issues. I've been trying to update faster so the quality died off a little ;-; (sorry) [Stability of Updates]: Thank you so much for the suggestion!!!! I'll definitely try to put that into the synopsis. Right now, I've been trying my best to update daily. But once school starts again, it'll probably become on a few set days per week. [Story Development]: To be honest, I don't really like the first few chapters. I think I was just trying to rush through them a bit so that it could go into the actual plotline. I was super paranoid that no one would read my story if I dragged out the beginning too much and would basically give up on it because it was too slow. Then I reread it and was just cringing the entire time because it was way too rushed. I'll probably go back sometime this week and try to extend some of the chapters so that they are more flushed out. [Character Design]: I keep on forgetting the fact that not a lot of people are familiar with this piece of history kek. To me, I think it's because I see their ends too clearly already that I sometimes forget that I'm writing a novel and not just telling a piece of history from an alternate perspective. I tried molding each character after the historical descriptions of them, but that meant that there is less freedom with how they are allowed to act. I'll definitely try to tone down the suspicions in the beginnings tho! It's just that I wrote this story to counter some of the historical stereotypes so much that I forgot most people here don't even know the stereotypes kek. Do you mind if I bug you once I fix some of the foreshadowing and ask for your advice to see whether the designs are better then? Thank you so much once more for taking the time to read this story. [World Background]: I wrote the story just because of how underrated and often misunderstood the Sui dynasty is. I started it because I visited Emperor Yang of Sui's tomb back when it was first excavated and basically fell in love with this piece of history. So most of the novel will be based off actual historically recorded events but will have a general backstory/explanation of why those events happened. With the Sui dynasty, there are just general misinterpretations that I will be trying to correct in this story. Other plot developments are just my thoughts on the lead-ups or the results of the events and will be molded to fit the historical timepiece and/or the character in history. And once again, thank you so much for writing this review. Like it means so much to me!!! I'm really hoping that I don't end up disappointing you ;-; I'll definitely work on the points that you suggested and try to polish the story a bit so that it makes for a better read. And thank you so much for the votes!!! ^-^
noo the quality of the writing is still really good!! & the first few chapters weren't bad at all; it was just that there was this one chapter (I think) that all the events felt a little bit rushed. but I understand if it's for the sake of the plot :D but about the foreshadowing, I think there might be a misunderstanding?? I really like the foreshadowing in the writing; I really do. I just think that outside of the writing, there shouldn't be too much reminders of what might happen to them to still preserve a sense of mystery (unless the reader wants to spoil themselves by researching about it lol) but if you have any questions, I would love to help!! <3 thank YOU for writing such an epic novel so far! :D
Jenjibread:Omi when I finished reading this like I didn't even know what to say. Just thank you so muchhhh for giving my story a chance and like it means so much to me T^T [Writing Quality]: My writing is super fluffy, and I guess I've always been just worried that it will distract the reader from the actual storyline. I'll definitely be working through the previous chapters as I go and try to comb out any potential syntax/grammar issues. I've been trying to update faster so the quality died off a little ;-; (sorry) [Stability of Updates]: Thank you so much for the suggestion!!!! I'll definitely try to put that into the synopsis. Right now, I've been trying my best to update daily. But once school starts again, it'll probably become on a few set days per week. [Story Development]: To be honest, I don't really like the first few chapters. I think I was just trying to rush through them a bit so that it could go into the actual plotline. I was super paranoid that no one would read my story if I dragged out the beginning too much and would basically give up on it because it was too slow. Then I reread it and was just cringing the entire time because it was way too rushed. I'll probably go back sometime this week and try to extend some of the chapters so that they are more flushed out. [Character Design]: I keep on forgetting the fact that not a lot of people are familiar with this piece of history kek. To me, I think it's because I see their ends too clearly already that I sometimes forget that I'm writing a novel and not just telling a piece of history from an alternate perspective. I tried molding each character after the historical descriptions of them, but that meant that there is less freedom with how they are allowed to act. I'll definitely try to tone down the suspicions in the beginnings tho! It's just that I wrote this story to counter some of the historical stereotypes so much that I forgot most people here don't even know the stereotypes kek. Do you mind if I bug you once I fix some of the foreshadowing and ask for your advice to see whether the designs are better then? Thank you so much once more for taking the time to read this story. [World Background]: I wrote the story just because of how underrated and often misunderstood the Sui dynasty is. I started it because I visited Emperor Yang of Sui's tomb back when it was first excavated and basically fell in love with this piece of history. So most of the novel will be based off actual historically recorded events but will have a general backstory/explanation of why those events happened. With the Sui dynasty, there are just general misinterpretations that I will be trying to correct in this story. Other plot developments are just my thoughts on the lead-ups or the results of the events and will be molded to fit the historical timepiece and/or the character in history. And once again, thank you so much for writing this review. Like it means so much to me!!! I'm really hoping that I don't end up disappointing you ;-; I'll definitely work on the points that you suggested and try to polish the story a bit so that it makes for a better read. And thank you so much for the votes!!! ^-^
yaoyueyi:noo the quality of the writing is still really good!! & the first few chapters weren't bad at all; it was just that there was this one chapter (I think) that all the events felt a little bit rushed. but I understand if it's for the sake of the plot :D but about the foreshadowing, I think there might be a misunderstanding?? I really like the foreshadowing in the writing; I really do. I just think that outside of the writing, there shouldn't be too much reminders of what might happen to them to still preserve a sense of mystery (unless the reader wants to spoil themselves by researching about it lol) but if you have any questions, I would love to help!! <3 thank YOU for writing such an epic novel so far! :D