Review Detail of Kergonan in Martial Arts Master

CuttleFish That Loves Diving is one of my favorite Chinese writer and since I finished his last completed story and the current one is far from over, I decided to proceed with one of his earliest work, « Martial Arts Master ». So, did this string of excellence date even further back ? The characters are of excellent quality, even if, as it is logical, not everyone has the same depth. The protagonist, Lou Cheng, is a very well made contemporary martial artist, obviously not with the usual callous attitude found in this kind of novel, although he shows ressources of strong willpower and lateral thinking, he has the refreshing normalicy of a modern young adult/student. Outside of martial arts and his passion for his girlfriend/wife, he is a serious, tame otaku as well as a good son and friend. Speaking of his love interest, Yan Zheke is a real deuteragonist in this novel (in fact, if not for her noticeably shorter « screentime », she would be a true second protagonist). She is equally well-written, strong and feminine, remarkably intelligent (often more perceptive than the MC) and driven. The rest of the cast is excellent, with each character having his own flavor, whether it is for the sassy best friend Cai Zongming (who really deserves the nickname « Talker »), the mentor, geezer Shi, the other friends, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke’s parents and grand-parents (all of them likeable and concerned about their descendants’ life, but quite different in their behaviors and backgrounds), the rivals, competitors and antagonists, all of them are finely made, this is definely a big strong point of the book. The setting is also pretty good, in fact I find that it is the one that best answers to the « Magical Realism » definition. It is our contemporary world, but an added level of low-to-mid supernatural abilities. China, America and Japan are all present (although with some liberties, but nothing major) with their real names and other countries are also present, but under different name (Gaul for France, Albion for the United Kingdom …). As for supernatural powers, they are part of the world, almost entirely because of martial arts, but they are not omnipresent (being a martial artist at a significant level is a full time job that relatively few people have the talent for, especially at the higher levels) nor omnipotent (martial artists are powerful, but they can’t go against the might of a state level, well equipped and trained army, even at the « Physical Invulnerability » level). As it is, the setting created here by Cutttlefish That Loves Diving shines because he has made it « credible ». On a side note, there is a patriotic bias of the author, but it keeps quite clear of the obnoxious nationalism found in a lot of Chinese contemporary fantasy novels. The power system is also quite well-made. In fact there are quite a number of them, all linked to martial arts (even distantly) but each with distinct characteristics, strength, weaknesses and cultural background. One is clearly based in the hard body training of Muay Thai, a Japanese one has clear influence of Karate’s Kiai, others in America and Europe are based in Christianism, Satanism, Animism/New Age, and I leave the Egyptian one and the rest to your imagination. The most detailed system is the Chinese one (logical) and it is quite diverse in itself (one sect is Buddhist, another Taoist and pretty much everyone at high level has powers related to one or more elements), unified by the various stage the martial artists go through : Body Refining, Dan Qi (use of Chi), Inhuman (acquisition and /or reinforcement of supernatural abilities) and Physical Invulnerability (relative). The protagonist is a peculiar case, as due to events I won’t spoil here, he includes elements of the mostly abandonned Cultivation system in his martial arts path, which makes him a bit of a trailblazer and is a significant part of the plot. For the plot, sadly it is where it shows that the author was writing one of his early novel. The story is good, but he tried to include too many genres into one. You see, Martial Arts Master is a martial art novel, a sport novel, a romance novel and a cultivation novel, all rolled into one. And while Cuttlefish tries to keep every plot type separated in its own chapters, it is simply too much, even if each element is very good by itself (especially the cultivation and romance parts, which seem natural and believable). Add to that long chapters (good to keep most fights in one chapter) with pacing problems (mostly due to the overwhelming number of tournaments chapters compaired to other types of action chapters), and you get a story that, while being good, very good in some parts, is also rather heavy to digest, forcing the reader to take breaks regularly (which is a pity, as the food scene are very good ; clearly Cuttlefish is a gourmet). The somewhat abrupt ending is, for this reason, appreciated. The translation is pretty good, especially for the description during combat, although with (I may be mistaken) some technique names of the side character change from one chapter to the other. So, in conclusion, Martial Arts Master is clearly an early novel of Cuttlefish That Loves Diving : the characters are excellent, the setting and power system are very good but the plot, although good, is overstuffed and suffers from pacing issues (something the author greatly improved in his next novels). With the few translation problem found there, you got a good story, with some very good parts and some others you really have to push through. Overall, my final verdict is a 7 out of 10. It is obviously above average, but not in the same league as the excellent novel Lord of Mysteries and Throne of Magical Arcana (both 10 out of 10). P.S : Thanks to Cuttlefish That Loves Diving for writing this book and Larbre Studio for translating it.