Original link: https://blog.loikein.one/posts/2022-10-10-plague-doctor-by-wallee-the-robot/
Warning: Contains major spoilers.
A few years ago, when I watched “The Lord of Mysteries”, I saw the author’s recommendation. At that time, the Chinese title was also called “Plague Doctor”. I have no impression at all, but the record is that I did read it once and didn’t like it very much. Reading it again after a lapse of two years seems to have a different feeling.
This is a wonderful, indescribable and indescribable story.
It has too many flaws, I can’t praise it as unreservedly as “Mystery” , or recommend it to everyone unconditionally, I don’t even know if I should say it without concealing its flaws, but it undoubtedly left a mark in my heart. its unique imprint.
The same Cthulhu theme, but these two articles have written completely different flavors. If “Mystery” is a self-consistent world completely detached from reality, a steampunk fairy tale with occultism, then this article is a kind of documentary based on real life experience, especially the experience of living in China… Sex Fiction. Some of the descriptions of Chinese officialdom, especially some of the cool-looking behaviors of “The Crow” in the second half of the plot, seem particularly enjoyable today, but it also makes this story unable to read the lightness of escaping from real life. Instead, it makes it heavier.
The beginning of the story is no different from other ordinary open-hanging cool articles. When the male protagonist was terminally ill and desperate, he got a system that could treat and strengthen himself, and then… he did not reach the peak of his life. After becoming a genius in the eyes of everyone, he was greeted by the slowly unfolding mystery of his life, the suspicions from his teammates, elders, and leaders, as well as repeated difficulties and subsequent self-doubt and self-denial, mental breakdown, even the demise of the body.
During this whole process, his character and behavior continued to develop, from being pushed by the system and the plot at the beginning, to trying to control the situation in a gentler way, and finally changing into a “raven”, there are traces to follow , and sympathetic.
I especially like the episode of The Nightmare, the feeling of surviving in a desperate situation as if walking in iron armor in the mud, and the mutual help with Zu Ge, which can also be called a highlight episode from the full text.
The development of the whole story is driven by disaster after disaster. When disaster strikes, everyone makes a lot of choices, either voluntarily or compelled to make, and through these choices, almost every character is established, which is one of the best features of this article in my opinion.
The protagonist group, especially the heroine’s shaping, deserves to be emphasized. When I first read this article, I classified this article as non-romantic, but this time I re-recorded it and changed it to romantic, because although the romantic element is thin, it is an essential part of this story, and it can even be said that The female protagonist in this story has almost the same (sometimes slightly more) penmanship and importance than the male protagonist. If there is no female protagonist, many of the bridges that seem to be “tests” will become a mortal situation, and even if they can be solved, there will definitely be a greater price. The heroine is very lovable. She seizes every opportunity to be a lazy fisherman, and she can also become a fat cat. In times of crisis, she has a temperament that may seem to be reliable (?), and I think there should be no readers who will dislike her. The always relaxed and pleasant interaction between her and the male protagonist is the only bright color in this whole dark story.
The male protagonist’s college classmates were also very vivid at the beginning. Unfortunately, as the plot progressed, their appearances gradually decreased. At the end, if there was a need for the plot, they showed up and ignored it. The rest of the initial teammates and Xiaoxu and others were also so. I feel that after writing more and more of the main supporting characters, the author begins to have insufficient writing ability, and the arrangement of this large group of people is not clear. Personally, I feel that if you want to maintain these roles, you need to arrange more appearances, otherwise it may be a more natural way to completely change to a new team after a certain instance.
As for Yu Chi and Feng Peiqian, I feel that the author wants to imitate Dunn and Dai Li in “The Mystery”, but the writing is too blunt, and Feng Peiqian can hardly be regarded as an independent character, and most of the time it is to be funny , so that the sensationalism did not incite, but instead created a kind of embarrassment.
He said so many good things, but also some bad things. I cannot accept the description of “government” in this article. Rationally, I can really understand the setting that such a mysterious ability can affect the lives of most people in society, and it is difficult to describe it from a perspective that is completely divorced from official organizations. The protagonist of “Lord of Mysteries” also joined the official force at the beginning, and his memory and sense of responsibility for his colleagues at the time even connected the whole story later. However, the setting of this article is closer to reality than “Mystery”, and although the male protagonist finally left the official organization, the first thing he did after his new organization surfaced was to cooperate with the official. I feel emotionally There is no way to accept this.
The male protagonist has always been a character of a doctor with high character. This is a very successful portrayal. I also like and respect such a character very much. But his loyalty to “human beings” and his loyalty to “organizations” are mixed together, resulting in a kind of… I want to ask the author, do you really know that these two things are not the same concept? sense of play.
What I also can’t accept is that Tong Ye has been disappointed by the “organization” time and time again. The tragedy in the first half of his life was caused by the “organization”, but he himself has gradually become the kind of leader who does not need to be sincere to others. , so that in the end, when the “raven” shot him and let him be the governor, although I couldn’t think of a better solution within the framework, I couldn’t relax. Perhaps in Western fantasy novels, a government similar to the Chinese government is biased towards a positive portrayal, which in itself is unacceptable to me, and it may or may not be a matter of personal taste.
Of course, there are very few online articles that can escape the trap of how to describe other countries. In a novel set in real world cultures, I most respect novels that call countries by their real names; second most respect is to shape countries that are detached from the structure and geography of the real world, and give them unique Novels with personality and names; the most disdainful is the use of real countries, but they have to be installed with specious names such as “Beautiful Country” and “England”. This article, unfortunately, is of the last kind.
I wrote almost everything I wanted to write, and that’s it. The title of my review for this book was “The Praise of Humanity”, but I didn’t show it after thinking about it, and the level of this article is not worthy of this title, but if you want me to summarize this article in one sentence , then it really is, and can only be, a story about humanity and courage.
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