I hate it when I hear about something that I find interesting, because if I then involve myself in the interesting thing, I get thrown in the deep end, and that’s what happened after hearing about Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. 15 days after starting it, I managed to finish up to the current point of the web comic, and also the entire web novel. My eyes!
It was definitely an interesting read, I loved the meta-ness of the story and pretty much everything I tried to guess was wrong (but I was never good at guessing what happens in a story in the first place). The first quarter of the story was so-so for me, survival of the fittest type stories aren’t for me, though the game element definitely was. The novel is also infinitely more gory than the comic, which makes sense given the scenario, however, it never felt like there was enough description about just how terrified the main characters felt – especially Dokja. Yes the Fourth Wall was protecting him, but I felt that self doubt and anxiety were lacking, especially for a character who was bullied and lead a “boring” life. The main point of comparison I was using was the Fool series by Robin Hobb, which also features a first person narrative where there was a lot (almost too much sometimes) of introspection. Upon reflection, I guess this part was also a nearly single minded quest for survival, and as the story progressed, the emotions started hitting home.
The second half the story was amazing. I guess half is an estimate, it’s so long that I can’t remember exactly where it got interesting, but Dark Castle seems to be the turning point. I really enjoyed meeting all the constellations, especially the Olympus and Underworld constellations because of how recently I played Hades; it was the game characters that I envisioned when reading about them. Hades is adorable in ORV! Because it went very deep into world lines, multiple iterations of the same character, it very much fit some of the concepts in my own story – without inspiration, my characters die. It’s also where the emotion and the will of the characters could be seen and they all had wonderful personalities and goals. No longer simply about survival, it was about fighting for the ending they wanted to see. Oh, and they finally had times of “relaxation” and humour too – [Murim Dumpling] 999 and the SSSSS grade retired Sun Wukong, as well as the Sub Scenario where Dokja has to resolve his company’s complaints. Those were well needed, well deserve breaks that were incredibly refreshing to see.
The disconnected film theory though? That was a hard no when it was first introduced, but, once it actually started being portrayed through many of the characters, it started making sense and I liked the concept of it. It was only the whole “if a character in the past dies, the future character immediately dies too” was the thing I had issue with.
The ending (not epilogue – the ending (chapter 516) was extremely satisfying, I did enjoy it! The epilogue on the other hand, the first bit I could take, and I do appreciate learning about who the author actually was, but, I hated the circumstances that lead to the author writing Three Ways to Survive a Ruined World. It also felt very drawn out. So yes, I’m glad the questions were answered, but no, I wish there was a way for the answers to exist and stay the same but with a different reason, which is impossible I know.
Oh, and the Fourth Wall – what an interesting “character”. At first, I thought it was the scariest character in the entire story. I was so curious as to what the wall actually was. And then, when there were two walls, I became jealous that there were two and wanted a wall for myself! But, by the end of the story, when I learned what all the walls were, the Fourth Wall, I felt sad for it. I had kind of wished for it to be something other than what it was revealed to be, but I mean, imagining what a Fourth Wall would be is beyond me lol. So I’ll accept what it was in the story, though I no longer want my own version of a wall.
All in all, if I were to summarise the story, it’d be:
[Kim Dok Ja is an id iot]
Kim Dokja is an ugly squid
Kim Dokja is an idiot
Lastly, I think it’s time for me to meet the old gods. HP Lovecraft here I come!!