This was super good at the beginning warm up match. I'm genuinely trying SO hard to finish the first game but it's just that same dumbass sh*t that makes me drop every other infinite flow. Side characters are all dumbed down and they all blindly follow and believe the MC 💔 I swear these authors completely forget about the human mind's complexity and diversity. Like I promise you NOBODY is gonna start shaking in their boots when some guy starts acting like a psych ward patient on f*cking crack bro... more>> 😭✌️ that whole scene of him switching personalities and everything after that was corny asf. So friggin dookie brah. But the games are pretty good tho <<less

yet another novel that deserves a MUCH higher rating than it has (4.7 minimum, in my opinion)

this novel is commitment so get ready to explore the plot alongside the characters. If you think you know what's going on, trust me buddy you dont (speaking from experience)

honestly reading some < 3 star reviews here has me pissed so im just gonna say two things:

1. 1. if youre impatient, dont read this novel
   2. if youre not planning on using your brain (cause trust me, this novel will make you), dont read this novel

yall fr cant be complaining about not understanding the plot, if you were never planning on trying to understand it at all. Also it's a mystery novel as well, do you know how those work? If youre not familiar with those, then here's a head's up: they tend to not reveal everything right from the get-go. They need patience, they need time and most of all, they need you to actually focus, notice and remember details.

TLDR: if youre looking for a time-pass novel, this aint it. If youre looking for something that's gonna end up consuming your soul with the SHEER intensity of the plot, this is it. Sacrifice your soul for it. Do it, it's worth it.

"An Wujiu offered him a human name, and gave him a reason to pursue after it.

Whereas Shen Ti not only saved him, but also he himself by returning back into the past."

——— Zhi Chu

*･゜ﾟ･*:｡.:*･･*.*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･

... more>> Survivorship Bias has been on my tbr list for such a long time, and despite my several attempts to drop the novel mid-way through, I finally binged the it till the end a few days ago after deciding to give it a try last month =3=

This is Zhi Chu's first infinite flow novel so some flaws are expected, but the contents nevertheless vividly reflected her detail-oriented writing style, whether it's rhetorical or logical.

However, one of the minor pet peeves that I had while reading through this novel is you are required to spend an overwhelming/unnecessary amount of brain power to make sense of the plot, and may need to go back to read it twice because some details could be easily missed if you were to skim through the text too quickly... (Or maybe that's just me~)

*･゜ﾟ･*:｡.:*･･*.*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･

Now let's talk about the premise of the story——

The moment our MC, An Wujiu wakes up after losing his memory, he finds himself in a dangerous virtual game, the Sacred Altar. In order to return to reality and see his critically ill mother, he has to step into this dangerous world of deceit and deception, break through levels and accumulate points. In the midst of all this, he meets a special yet mysterious individual, Shen Ti, and discovers the meaning of survival together with him.

P.S: Both the shou & gong aren't ordinary individuals~

————

One of the aspects of this novel that left a deep impression on me was that even though all the hidden truths have been foreshadowed earlier on in the text, Zhi Chu's logical thought process nevertheless struck me once I connected them altogether. In addition, all the side characters aren't just tools of the plot and got the screen time they deserved (づ￣ ³￣) づ

Through various death games, the author also proved to us that the bond between both our main leads, An Wujiu and Shen Ti transcends life and death.... Wandering between the dividing line of extreme good and evil, An Wujiu acquired life-long friendships, family connections and met his lover under the premise of no recollections in this death game.

Our MC isn't somebody whose adept at expressing his thoughts, in the case of extreme benevolency, he would have the desire to save everyone, but in the case extreme wickedness, he wouldn't give a damn about anybody's life and death, until the appearance of Shen Ti which became his sole exception. That being said, as the storyline progresses, we get to see that the dividing line ceases to exist and An Wujiu's two sides merge together to become a whole.

Simply put, this is a story about time, where two disjoint timelines merged together because of a coincidence. Moreover, it is also a fantasy world full of shadows of reality, which leaves readers with a deep sense of immersion as well as a lasting aftertaste ଘ (੭*ˊᵕˋ) ੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚ <<less

I haven't finished Survivorship Bias yet, but it has my favorite flavor of story :P I really like dark games that require out-of-the-box thinking and Survivorship Bias shows exactly that! I haven't finished reading it (as I'm relying on the translation) but I really like the amount of creativity for each of the scenarios An Wujiu goes through!

Pretty sure this isn't a novel (correct me if I'm wrong), but this reminds me of Kiss the Abyss too haha

There is a lot of potential to this novel, but it is just so damn dry.

The writing is extremely inconsistent, hopping between MC's POV and thoughts to just 3rd person, entirely cutting off MC's internal monologue and thoughts. And then we randomly and inconsistently get internal monologues from side characters that are honestly just boring. Which, honestly, I prefer it without the over-saturation of thoughts and it's clear that the author isn't able to write different personality POV so it's probably all for the best they didn't do it for... more>> MC's psycho switch. But the idea here is consistency and logic flow. Because the author doesn't establish anything actually important.

The style in general is also just too heavy on the exposition and play-by-play of inconsistent logic. The author tries way too hard to word vomit game rules for each instance, which makes me feel like I'm repeatedly reading new game manuals without having enough time to actually play and enjoy a game. And we just have to accept that the characters are sooooooo smart because the author said so by including Big Kid Words like "game theory" and garbage about infinite levels of "manipulation".

Sometimes the characters are smart and meticulous, sometimes they're extremely s*upid and fall for very poorly set up ploys. Especially the players who are set up to be the episodic antagonists. They randomly have moments of genius but otherwise are extremely cartoonishly s*upid and evil for no reason.

Friendships with side characters are also build out of nowhere. It makes sense to establish alliances within the game world to get more points. But why would smart individuals who have independently survived through multiple games of deceit and deaths suddenly decide, hey we won due to MC being extra dangerous and deceitful and vicious so we gotta become BFFs and ride and die together and move in together IRL outside of the instances.

The just immediately lose their own personalities and goals and turn into MC's accessories until once in a blue moon, it's convenient to suddenly remind us they actually have some individual traits. But only if it enforces plot armor and shows us how diehard obsessed they are with MC.

This series isn't completely unreadable. But it's neither comedic fast food nor a good meal. <<less

Umm, so where do I start?

I only finished the first arc so I can only give critique or thoughts perhaps on the 1st arc.

Well, it was promising, if you base it solely on the synopsis, it was an interesting concept.

... more>> However, at first read, I felt that I could not resonate with the story at all, I felt disinterested and often I wanted to skip some chapters. But as I've read a few Unlimited-Flow novels, I figured maybe it would get better for the latter chapters.

I endured reading, I intentionally tuned out the flaws I've detected. Like the lack of elaboration, I figured it should be the author's style to be ambiguous and reveal the rest later on. I can't pinpoint where it lacked or where I was dissatisfied but I got fed up with all of it. The surface-level absurdity of the villain's side considering they are on the verge of death: the villains' intention here just didn't ignite me, so it seemed their intentions were just surface level but the punishment became extreme. It's like a 1:4 ratio.

And the flaws... Sigh, maybe its just me or I just can't enjoy the story at all without questioning the character's logic. Like why didn't he know? Didn't this particular event consider a piece of evidence? Why? How? I'm sorry but I also have to point out the style of revealing how they devised their plan in a dialogue setting and the character's dialogue also doesn't seem to work, it ended up sounding cliche. Like a-confrontation-with-the-villain-and-hero-where-the-hero-is-on-the-verge-of-death-but the-villain-still-has-the-time-to explain-the-plans-and-how-they-got-into-that-type-of-cliche-level.

Personally, not a big fan of the 1st arc, and I decided to read another story, hereby dropping this and who knows if I'll pick it up again. But I also respect others if they enjoy it. It's just, that it didn't touch me that much so I'll have to drop it. I love the author's other story though like lovely allergen and fanservice paradox. S/he is a good writer, so I am sure s/he'll improve in this field of genre.

P.S: This is my first time giving a review. This is not to discourage anyone from reading, just sharing my thoughts after I've read the forst arc, who knows it may be good for the 2nd and other arcs and people certainly has different taste, or preference in writing style. So, the ones I found dissatisfied with, may not be applied to you. Mind you, I also have some badly rated danmei that most people in the review section kept hating on as to where the story lacked but as I read it, it ended up being my favorite danmei. Ehem* insert Peach Blossom Debt. So yeah.

That's all. Happy reading! <<less

Zhichu.. Oh Zhichu, how I utterly adore your writing.

The fact that this is her first (?) UF novel is insane.. It was simply mind blowing. I loved-no- adored the friendship between An wujiu and the side characters. I loved how they all truly loved each other and never hesitated to die for one another.

I also loved Zhong yirou & Yang erci as well as Nan shan & Wu you. But most of all, I absolutely loved shen ti & an wujiu.. They were just.. So devoted to each other.... more>> An wujiu's pain hurt so deep..I just wanted to hug him, my poor baby.

Overall, although I felt as if some parts were dragged out, I still really liked this. I was scared the ending would disappoint me, but thankfully, it didn't! <<less

Oh, what a good novel. I liked the story, the relationships and, of course, the love of the main characters. It was both fun and sometimes boring, and also painful. BUT there were many warm moments, especially when it was all over. Perhaps I don't really like the highly aggravated good sides of the main character. However, I like a lot of other things about him. And I'm just crazy about ML.

I also want to say thank very much for the good translation.

The ML is such a fun character. One thing I loved was that the main couple wasn't just in a world of their own, they are both very unique individuals and it's so easy to set them aside from the world, living and dying only for each other, but that wasn't the case here. They had friends who they actually loved and cared for. Their friendly banter and heartwarming interactions always seemed like a silver lining especially when they're surrounded by chaos. Like one big gay family.

General premise at the start is a virtual reality world where people sign up willingly to then participate in survival type games, with an unclear end goal. The MC An Wujiu has a strange case of amnesia and dual personalities, with a kind and slightly timid side, and another cruel and crazy side. The ML Shen Ti is the carefree type, being similarly hard to pin down personality wise. They're both very layered and complex characters that take time to understand, making the start of the novel a bit confusing... more>> but also very interesting.

The author does a good job in keeping a sense of mystery while also revealing enough to not cause any sense of annoyance in the reader from being left out of the loop. I find that it's difficult for me to stay engaged when an amnesia plot is involved, but this novel kept me hooked by not having the amnesia really affect MC's behavior. ML as well is a character that will often lie carelessly, and his sincerity is always in doubt, but we often are given his POV as well in order see into his motivations and thoughts.

The scenarios themselves are interesting and I appreciated that MC didn't spend whole chapters explaining his schemes (like in a lot of other puzzle type unlimited flow novels) and the author more so just let things play out with a slight explanation afterwards. I find too much exposition takes me out of the game, and it feels much more organic to explain what happened after the fact. It's also boring to me when a MC is portrayed as this OP brainiac that other characters can only listen to and be awed by, so I appreciated that this MC wasn't like that. If he's scheming, it's all in his own brain, or he's actually working together with other characters.

I usually don't enjoy every arc in unlimited flow novels, and this one had a few that I had to force myself to read and mostly just skimmed over. The last arc though was quite unique and also played around with time, which is one of my favorite plot devices. The final reveal behind An Wujiu's mental state was pretty satisfying, but I really did just have to laugh for a while over the frankly crazy turns in the plot. Those last 10 or so chapters were very dense, though one thing that didn't get answered was the whole virtual reality setup of the Holy Altar, as it kind of got lost in all the increasingly more ridiculous plot twists.

It's a decent unlimited flow novel overall, and I did enjoy both MC and ML's characters. The side characters were generally likable but honestly didn't contribute too much to the plot and I feel like all the side couples were just added as unnecessary fluff. It's well written as usual for Zhichu, but the ending was just a bit too over the top for me personally. <<less

this novel is actually amazing. The romance, characters, plot, everything is there!!! Trust me and give this a try~ it's kinda slow in the beginning but it just gets better and better.

actual rating for this novel should be around 4.4/5

I finished reading it today!!! so happy 完结散花 for me!!

Okay, I won’t give too much spoilers but this is Zhi Chu’s 1st IF novel so some flaws are understandable but tbh even some of the instances get confusing you can still appreciate her writing because it’s simply just *chef kisses*.

So I think when it came to the plot the biggest kudo’s that I could give was the on-going mystery from the start until the end of the novel (I was pretty dumbfounded towards the last 10 chapters of the novel).... more>> And there are definitely twists you won’t see coming some things are predictable but some isn’t too vague.

Now on to characters! There’s alot of side characters in this novel that are quite well written with good backstory and foundation to support their motives. But maybe it’s JUST me but it felt like the side-couple card was really overkill this time (I’m pretty sure there’s at least... 4?) . Although overkill, they’re all very precious characters!

Now to the MC and ML. I loved how their identities were kept secret and slowly revealed until the end. Which built up anticipation for me to read this novel, the suspense Zhi Chu create was really good as both the ML n MC are amnesiac.

The intances are overall really good and unique especially with the warm up games! But again there were definitely some parts where I had to read twice to understand. And the last 10 chapters of the novel made me semi confused. <<less

5/5!! Can't input my rating cause I haven't exactly finished it, but as of c125 its definitely 5/5!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is really good! I love that I saw this after its finished cause I really missed reading this kind of stories 🥹 (but I havent finished this yet huhu, I got distracted, and it's a kinda heavy novel where u need to focus) ANW, that does not take away its great story and characters, I'm actually quite accepting of the side couples because the main characters/couple like them too (the only... more>> time i'd care abt side couples fr 😒)

i love the games (?) but I stopped where they wasn't a time limit anymore to go back to the holy altar.

idc abt plot armors cause if we knew who they were supposed to be in the beginning, they were really nerfed hahaha

i love the Main couple's relationship 🥹🩷. An Wuijiu and Shen Ti are literally made for each other. I cried from their flashback but I'm really happy they met each other in the end 🥹

reread? Maybe not cause its unique but would continue reading if I get into the vibes again 😭 <<less

Really nice story over, I like how it all ties together. I like how it wasn't just the relationship between the MC and ML that was important, but also the relations they had with those around them and how it changed them for the better. However, I do have to say the secondary characters were very useless to the plot sometimes. For example, when they are first introduced they might do some amazing things and show you how inteligent they are. But then it feels like they aren't as important... more>> to the plot, besides to be a motivation for the MC.

Spoiler

] The secondary CP where one of them was 16 and the other an adult was very weird and creepy to me. Did not see the point of that at all.

Also the ending arc was a bit frustrating. I felt that besides the MC and ML, everyone else was pretty useless and they all just became people that needed to be saved.

[collapse]

But overall, a nice read. <<less