[LotM newbie] Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint vs Lord of the Mysteries

I just finished reading two of the most popular and beloved webnovels right now and decided to make a comparison between them, because I feel that if you combine good parts of both series, you will get the absolute peak. It’s crazy how ORV and LotM are so different and so good at what they’re doing right. Let's begin.

Entertainment: ORV

One of big advantages ORV has over LotM is that it’s much more entertaining. There is not a single boring point in the story: things are always happening. It’s partly because there’s only one storyline, while in LotM there are around 50 storylines going on simultaneously, and if you don’t like some of them, you have to wait until we move on to something else. On top of that, ORV has 551 chapters, while LotM has 1394 chapters. Even if you count that LotM chapters are shorter, ORV is still at least 2 times smaller than LotM. So it’s not only easier to read ORV, it’s also faster. Winner is ORV, it’s obvious.

Plot: LotM

However, there is a reason why LotM is so bloated: it’s because there is actually a lot of things going on, every detail is important. You jump from one storyline to another and see how small conspiracies are combined into big conspiracies, then they are combined into a huge conspiracy, and it’s such a rewarding experience. Mind is blown away, because of all the twists and turns. The plot of ORV is not bad, it’s still good, but it pales in comparison with LotM.

Heroes: ORV

ORV is a story about one group of characters. We spend a lot of time with them and a build an emotional connection with them. Three main heroes go through some impressive character development and while the others may not have that, they are still well written. LotM heroes are pretty good too, but we spend little time with each one, because there are so many of them. They are cogs in the plot machine and it’s not bad, but not great either.

Worldbuilding: LotM

As we now know, LotM has a lot of characters, the protagonist has like 20 friend groups and he constantly jumps between them, because everyone is important. But in ORV, there is one group that actually matters. They immediately become the biggest threat in the universe and it seems like the whole world revolves around them. The worldbuilding is almost nonexistent, while in LotM there is a complex geography and history. There are different time periods, every period has it’s own important figures and you have to remember all of this in order to understand what is going on. In short, it’s not even a competition, LotM has done a lot of work in this aspect.

Message: ORV

LotM has some good messages about struggles of poor people; it does a really good job at making you empathize with them. But it’s not really subtle and we didn’t need LotM to realize that being poor sucks. There is also a theme of how the protagonist becomes more and more lonely, but there is barely any resolution to this, because the story is not finished (there is book 2 and book 3). ORV, on the other hand, is a great subtle commentary on escapism, consumerism and capitalism. Look at what happened to the first murim, for example. ORV collects all possible power fantasy clichés, but it’s not about power fantasy. Meanwhile, if you strip all the complexity away from LotM, you see that it’s a standard ‘from rags to riches’ story. That’s it.

Power system: LotM

I like what ORV’s power system means from meta perspective, but practically it’s just ‘the more stories you have, the better. The better the stories are, the better’. Eventually it just turns into an aura competition. But in LotM, the power system is peak. It feels like a super complicated rock-paper-scissors, where you need to know your abilities, the opponent’s abilities, use different types of mystical items and be aware of the area the fight is in. It’s objectively one of the best power systems in anime.

Ending: ORV

In LotM the ending is somewhat disappointing, because it’s not the real ending. If you want to see the conclusion, read book 2 and 3. It doesn’t help that the good guy wins, because he’s good, and the bad guy loses, because he’s bad. That’s literally what happens. But in ORV, I’m convinced it’s one of the best endings in the whole entertainment industry overall. Do you know stories that tell you to never give up? ORV is the best instance of this type of story. I’m shocked by how masterful the ending is.

Writing: LotM

One of the reasons why ORV is so entertaining and easy to read is because it consists of dialogues, system messages and small descriptions of action and locations. In other words, it’s not really a book. It doesn’t have long paragraphs, like normal novels do. LotM is better in this regard, but it has some problems too. Like, when see read a paragraph of thoughts, but don’t see whose they are. We read a second one and only then, in the end, we find out who that was. Also, the big reason why LotM is sometimes boring is because it wastes our time. We can spend half of a chapter thinking about a solution to a problem only to figure out that this solution will not work and we have to come up with a different solution. It’s just…no comments. But objectively, LotM has a better writing.

Villains: ORV

Oh, boy, they are not good in LotM. 95% of bad guys are just boring, faceless dudes, whose biggest characterization is that they are cult members. In ORV the general quality of evil-doers is much higher. Take for example the disaster of questions. This guy appeared only for one fight, but I can tell a lot about him: he was a wannabe isekai protagonist, but was sent to a world where only monsters exist. After constant fights for survival, he lost his morals regarding a value of life and even genocided a whole civilization just because he is used to kill. There is a message about how power fantasy stories are scams and how by being a hero who kills hordes of enemies you lose your humanity. Now, what can I tell you about Zaratul, one of the main antagonists? Absolutely nothing. Amon is good, though. And the big reason why I liked ORV’s ending so much is because I’m a fan of stories that don’t have antagonists, where the conflict happens because of a situation heroes find themselves in, and there is no big bad wolf that needs to be defeated and then everything is fine. And ORV is the best example of this trope I know.

Verdict: ORV

After finishing writing this post, I came to conclusion that ORV is both fun and thought provoking. It’s rare to see. It does some things the best, like nobody else does them. Meanwhile, LotM is just complex. It’s good, but not special.