Review Detail of Raycast_5 in Sword God in a World of Magic

I almost never leave reviews, but this novel needs one. First off, let me state that this novel is by far the best written I have encountered here. By the standards of Webnovel, it is a diamond. It is so good however, that I’m not holding it to those, I am going to hold it to the standards of actual published books. If you judge it as such, unfortunately, the novel falls short. Let’s start with my number one issue: PACING. The novel is slow, tediously, almost painfully, slow. I know some novels start off this way and then pick up the pace but with this one, I feel that is highly unlikely, mainly due to mthe writing style. The author apparently feels the uncontrollable urge to explain absolutely everything, no matter how meaningless. Everything, from the mechanics of the weather to how the sewage system works is expounded upon with excruciating detail, all while letting us know the mc’s feelings about it, and the feelings of the people who built the sewers as well. At the rate this is going, the icecaps will finish melting before Shang gets anything done. Exposition is like sugar on a cake, too little and the cake is bland, too much and it’s inedible. Info dumps can be useful tools when used properly, in faster paced novels they are meant to get the worldbuilding out of the way so you can get to the action faster, a bit crude, but it works. Another way of exposition (and the best way in my opinion) is to spread bits of information about the world as the character explores it making it feel more natural and engrossing. The operative word being “bits” of information, you can even alternate these methods if you want, along your story. What you should not do however is make every ”bit” an infodump as the action of the story stagnates. Overall, the author is good writer, his style reminds me of Robert Jordan’s, and most people would agree he was a great writer. Unfortunately I cannot keep reading this novel, for the same reason I never finished the Wheel of Time, the same reason Jordan died before he finished writing his epic tale, the pacing is glacial.