Binding to Geniuses to Become Stronger is a story about Fang Lang, a transmigrator with below-average talent. Right before the Imperial Examination, he awakens a system that allows him to bind to various geniuses to get a myriad of benefits.
Now, I definitely wasn't expecting a story of this quality to be a system novel, it's really good. There are some iffy parts that are erring the lines of nationalism/morality, which probably turned quite a few people off. The nationalism isn't that bad.
Translation quality is pretty good. There isn't any obvious mistakes and it isn't overly repetitious. Furthermore it is very stable, and words don't randomly change. (4/5 stars)
Story development is great. I'm going to be completely honest, I don't really like these types of stories where the main character is a pawn in various grand schemes and will inevitably save the world. However, the story is very good regardless. However, this story lacks meaningful breaks in between combat. It feels like it's just constant combat and cultivation throughout the story, and it becomes rather draining to binge chapters. The system itself is rather iffy, it changes the emotions of people he binds to so they have a sense a familiarity towards him. As you can tell from other reviews, many people find this questionable at best. It isn't too bad, there isn't actually any full-on romance at chapter 153, only hints of it. A few other people complain about nationalism, but it isn't as bad as they describe. It is basically anti-foreigner in a land with only one big dynasty. (i.e questions such as "should foreigners take up important positions") I'd like to give this 3.5 stars, but I can't, so I'll just round it up to 4. (4/5 stars)
Character design is all right. Characters are relatively fleshed out, there hasn't been any meaningful arcs that fully flesh them out, but this novel seems to be somewhat slow in the first place, and I have only read to chapter 153, so it's alright. Main character is the classic old-school xianxia protagonist, defying heaven, fighting against people stronger than him, constantly pushing their limits, etc. It's pretty good, especially considering this a system novel. Antagonists aren't blatantly braindead, some are kind of stupid but it fits with their character. (i.e third prince) I do think the characters could do with some more fleshing out, I feel like the author started to flesh them out but it is extremely slow, so they seem somewhat 2d. I think this is my main problem with the novel so far. (3/5 stars)
World background, like the rest of the story is pretty slow. It's pretty bland overall, there isn't anything that really sets it apart from other novels. The whole demon vs human setting has been used many times in other novels.
Overall, this is a pretty good story. There isn't much nationalism contrary to many's beliefs, it's based on actual history. The system isn't blatantly overpowered either, and the story itself is decent. Whilst the world background is relatively bland and character design is somewhat 2d, it is far above the average novel on this site. I give this novel 3.8 stars out of 5.
