Die Zhiling

最强男神 [The Strongest God]

★★★★☆ [4/5 stars]

This novel has 400 chapters and it is looooong! Okay, I've read novels with more chapters than this, for example Card Room which was written by Die Zhiling as well with 600 chapters, but why do I feel like TSG is much longer than CR? This novel has a slow-paced, e-sports-focused plot with a romantic subplot. I don't mind slow-paced novels, I actually liked them because of how developed and detailed they are. I just felt like 400 chapters is just too much for this novel? I mean, I won't mind if it ended in chapter 300 because I felt like there are some dragging chapters here and there. But! Regardless of that point, this novel is great! I find the concept of 'Wulin' (which I think is based on the real online game with the same name) and how the competition progressed so interesting.

Liu Chuan (MC) has a very interesting and enjoyable personality. He was described as someone who can attract hatred (in a joking way) whenever he opens his mouth. He's very popular in the e-sports circle and all professional players 'bully' him but respected him at the same time. He's one of the best pro player that retired once to finish his university degree but plans to strive his way back to being a pro player. You can actually see how he recruited and cultivated a lot of talented newcomers. Though Liu Chuan himself has no character development (since he's already like a mature, experienced person in his career who already grew even before the story starts), he's actually the one who paved the way for his teammates' character development. Because of his existence, a lot of characters reached where they are right now. He's a sunny person and he's kind of arrogant (in a funny way) but he respected his opponents a lot and he never looked down on them. I actually loved how persistent he is and he's a type of character who is far-sighted and planned well for the future. Some might not understand his decisions because a lot of people only see what's in front of them, but Liu Chuan is different. I admire his character a lot.

The romance in this novel is actually not the focus, but it doesn't mean it's not there. His and Wu Zewen's (ML) personality is like day and night, but they actually complemented each other in a lot of ways. If Liu Chuan is Longyin Team's pillar, Wu Zewen is Liu Chuan's pillar. It's so satisfying to see how they supported each other. There are also a lot of side couples here! And they're all so likeable. This novel has a lot of relationship tropes. There's a colleague couple, fan-idol couple, master-apprentice couple, captain-vice captain couple, old-classmates-who-hadn't-seen-each-other-for-a-long-time couple and a couple who looked like an old husband and wife. I enjoyed all the supporting characters within the MC's team, as well as the characters from the other teams. They're so fun to read. I think they all have their own happy ever after, both in career and love life, but I would just like to mention that there's one character that I just hope got his own happiness in his career. It's Li Cangyu (Lao Mao/Old Cat), the captain of the Canglan Team. He was just a supporting character who didn't appear very much but I actually loved how dedicated he is. He transferred from the other division of e-sports to Wulin when the novel started so he and his team are actually the real newcomer in the Wulin circle. Even the other pro players, especially Liu Chuan, respected him a lot because of how talented and strong he is, but unfortunately his teammates aren't that great and it was so hard for him to carry his team on his own. I really felt bad for him and he deserved to have his own official recognition. It's just sad that there was actually no clarification about what happened to him and his team after the 13th season competition :(

Overall, I highly recommended this. This novel is a worth read, though it only has like 14 chapters that has English translation. I MTLed the 400 chapters and thankfully, the MTL was decent enough. This is actually a very good e-sports novel in my opinion and I saw that this has 2 more sequels (from the same franchise but not really affect each other)? On my way to the second novel!

最强男神 [The Strongest God]

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