Review #1 Novel [The Earth is Online]
Information
Original title: 地球上線 / 地球上线
Translated Title: The Earth is Online
Alias: TEIO
Author: 莫晨欢 [Mo Chen Huan]
Link information: Author's Profile and Author's Weibo
Total Chapter: 245 Chapters (240 Chapters with 5 Extras)
Country of Origin: China
Year started: 16th November 2017
Year finished: 10th November 2018
Original publisher: JJWXC
Existing Licenses:-
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Mature, Mystery, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, BL
Tags: Unlimited Flow, Calm and Clever Protagonist, Post-Apocalypse, Romantic Subplot, Survival Game, System Administrator, Teamwork, Strategic Battles, Plot Heavy
Trigger warnings: None
Synopsis of the book
半年前，数以万计的黑色虚影巨塔出现在全球各地，悬浮城市上空。化学家、物理学家、宗教……全部束手无策。
半年后，人们习惯了，不再关注它。
唐陌有一天看见一只飞虫撞上了虚影黑塔，没有穿透过去。
第二天，一道儿童般清脆的声音向全人类发布公告——
『叮咚！2017年 11月 15日，地球上线了。』
傅闻夺×唐陌
黑塔三大铁律——
①一切解释归黑塔所有。
②6点-18点是游戏时间。
③请所有玩家努力攻塔。
Six months ago, tens of thousands of black phantom towers appeared all over the world, floating above the cities. Chemists, physicists, religious people… all of them could do nothing.
Six months later, people became used to the towers and no longer paid them attention.
One day, Tang Mo saw a flying insect crash into it instead of going through it. The next day, a sharp and clear child-like voice issued an announcement to all humans.
“Ding dong! November 15th, 2017. The earth is online.”
Fu Wenduo x Tangmo
The black tower’s three iron-clad rules:
1. Everything is explained by the black tower.
2. 6 o’clock to 18 o’clock is the game time.
3. All players, please strive to attack the tower.
Non-Spoiler Review
The Earth is Online or its abbreviation TEIO is among the first few Unlimited Flow style novels I have ever read. For readers unaware of what unlimited flow is about, the easiest way to explain is that a person (or a player) entered a separate space or instance where they will face various challenges to survive. It may range from puzzles to a fight for survival, ensuring that the contestants can finish the required missions or die trying. This is different from the Korean novel dungeon genre by the way since usually they aren't required to kill every monster inside the instances (kill all monsters inside the dungeon otherwise the dungeon will explode in the real world). Most of the time, Unlimited Flow requires the players to teleport into a different dimension altogether; however, TEIO is a bit different in this regard. All population on Earth was pulled into the instance, hence the moniker of Earth being online, get it? The theme of survival in this book will make your head spin especially due to various puzzles and games implemented in the novel. Overall, you will feel smarter after figuring out the ins and outs of the puzzle.
Regarding the writing style, Mo Chen Huan is actually among my top favourite Chinese Authors. They favour smart and cold main characters (or shou) which is pretty evident in their other works. To be honest, if I have to give some criticism, it has to be the fact that they are pretty patriotic (if I say it nicely...). If you want me to explain more in-depth, it is about the fact that their worldly perception is quite narrow in my opinion hence there is a feeling that their world-building ended up flat at one point due to lack of other nationality present. It is understandable however since their novel is tailored for Chinese readers originally (which also gained a lot of international readers by the power of fan translation. Thank you for the interest in licensing this wonderful novel, please look forward to buying the books to support the author!).
From the beginning of the novel, the readers will experience the mundane life of the main character before the tragedy happens worldwide. From here, we read how the protagonist faces various obstacles and you also need to remember that this is also a Boys' Love novel. The protagonist will also meet his male lead alongside other characters who will become his companions. To survive till the end, what will he face eventually?
Is the novel worth reading? Yes. I would say this novel is one of the first ones I would pick for if ever anyone tried out the Unlimited Flow genre for the first time. It is easier to slap them in the face with this novel to be honest rather than explaining one by one about whatever the heck is unlimited flow about. Honestly, this novel is actually my first introduction to this genre back in 2018 so I would encourage first-time readers of this genre to read this first.
Beware that below is the very very spoiler review regarding the novel above so if you don't wish to be spoiled, stop here and exit from the post. In order to create more spaces so that you won't be spoiled, I will be talking about tongue-twisters inside the quotes.
Betty Botter [Tongue Twister] (don't pronounce the Ts for maximum satisfaction)
Betty Botter bought some butter,
But, she said, this butter’s bitter;
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter
Will make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter
Better than her bitter butter
And she put it in her batter
And it made her batter better,
So ‘twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
Spoiler Review
The reason why I gave this review is because I like the novel itself and ever since the news that there will be an English publication soon, I decided to do this spoiler review and why you must buy it. If you do not trust my non-spoiler review, feel free to read ahead in this as I explain the reason why you should give this novel a chance.
The term unkillable cockroach or just "打不死的小强" is an infamous troupe quite often used in some Chinese novels, especially by the Qidian community. It refers to how much a character was simply invincible and persistent despite how annoying their presence was, making them pseudo-immortal hence rendering them unkillable. I wasn't exaggerating as this is referring to my favourite character of all time, Bai Ruoyao. He is the reason why I put my current nickname the way it was (I actually mistyped his name originally but wind up liking it more that way. Who would have thought that it was a reference to this novel, amirite?). A parallel to this is Joker Immunity and while a lot of people actually disliked this character, I know others who definitely loved him as much (similar to Thanos in Squid Game Season 2). What I mean is that you need to keep this character in mind since he is the key to the novel's ending.
Since I read this novel back in 2018-2019ish, there are parts that I don't remember much. Due to that reason, this won't be as detailed as I want so apologies. I will try my best to remember some parts. The part I remember the most is Tangmo as the Red Riding Hood, Tangmo Underground with the wormlike creatures and Snow White alongside Cinderella. The parts I remember liking were honestly their attempts to get rid of Bai Ruoyao but failed multiple times especially after his deceit was revealed. To be honest, learning about his death definitely makes me sad but afterwards, I learned what it meant to be a cockroach. As for what I dislike, I decided to present my cooked brain on the Red Riding Hood timeline for finding that damn golden mole. You will find yourself mathing so if you dislike maths like me, don't bother to calculate properly.
Regarding the main characters, some older readers are put off because they find them bland. It can't be helped, most Unlimited Flow novels typically have characters with this personality. Due to that, the side characters usually shined the most which is why I highlighted Bai Ruoyao a lot. Tangmo and Fu Wenduo belong to the character archetypes where they are a power couple with overpowering abilities. This is apparent in their fighting styles as you read the stories so if you're a fan of power fantasy, you should be familiar with this type of troupe. I actually am fine with this type of protagonist since I dislike weak characters more in comparison to Mary Sue or Garry Stu archetypes. If characters are weak, at the very least they shouldn't be super mega annoying which is already a low bar for me in my opinion. At least they shouldn't be the author's self-insert (like Ascendant of Bookworm. Fight me because that is my least like book compared to a lot of others and I am someone who used to read Wuxia, Xianxia and even Harem novels that weren't even BL).
I actually find it funny how in the extras, you will find out that Tangmo and Fu Wenduo are destined no matter whether the Earth went online or not. While it took a lot of chapters for them to end up together, in the extras it happened in a flash. Even to this day, it still makes me chuckle. Had they met earlier, they wouldn't have trust issues with each other.
Some element that needs to be answered, however, is how the world-building is essentially incomplete and all over the place alongside a lot of unanswered questions. It's just like how one day, a mysterious decided to pull people all over the world into a game just for their satisfaction. You will encounter this when you read about the Cinderella within one particular arc. There is also a shock element in the novel in one particular place which is India if I recall. Honestly, the diversity of the characters is also lacking because I only remember Chinese, Russian and Indian. A lot of countries weren't even mentioned which is why I mentioned that it is quite flat. With the release of the official book, I definitely need to reread the novel once again especially since there will be a lot of international audiences who will read them this time. I will link this post to my threads so you are welcome to voice your opinion regarding the book. I would love to read what you think about it!
In conclusion, while the story is not that perfect, it is a nostalgic piece for me and other danmei readers who read it. Feel free to share your love regarding the books if you buy them and tell me who your favourite character is.