Review Detail of Valixiant in Lord of Mysteries

Usually, when I write reviews, I will look at other reviews (positive and negative) in order to consolidate my thoughts. However, with this novel, I can't really find any reviews that have the same problems I have with this novel. First off, let me just say, this novel is pretty good. The pacing, characters, plot, and especially world building, are great. Just these facts alone put this novel far above the large majority of novels on this site. That said, this novel all suffers from a problem that makes it truly great, and it affects the novel quite a bit. I saw another review that describes this novel as a plain glass of water. It's refreshing and tasty for those who haven't had it for awhile, but it makes you want something more. Lets start off with the plot itself. The plot idea is great and unique. However the execution (while above average) was somewhat poor. In most stories, you can feel the rising action and climax. This novels rising action and climax feel almost blurred, and it's hard to tell exactly when they are. This novel gives a constant stream of information to the reader. (As expected of a mystery novel) However, it feels like they just throw more and more information, along with more important information, to represent the rising action. This causes the novel to lack a meaningful form of impact. For example, the ending was volume 1 was supposed to be relatively important in the main character's growth, and is supposed to be somewhat impactful. Due to the execution, it fell short and felt extremely lackluster. To put it in another way, it feels like the plot is constantly stagnating, as if theres supposed to be a "true" rising action, but it never comes. This point reflects on the entire novel in different ways. For example, the character development. This novel, doesn't have a whole lot of it. The main character certainly grows, in the sense of a tree growing taller, rather than a tree growing branches. More and more information is provided about these characters, and their own intricacies. However, once again, none of this is very impactful. Other novels have 1d characters due to the lack of information while only providing key details occasionally. This novel is the opposite. All these characters are unique, but they never truly have the chance to grow in a meaningful way. Like with the plot, this makes it seem like all the characters have yet to be fully fleshed out, and at chapter 1k+, I truly wonder if they ever will. Riding on the previous point, nothing is truly fleshed out. For example, this novel suffers from being relatively linear, especially in it's characters. There are almost zero neutral characters. They are all evil or good. This causes the novel to seem lacking. Referencing my point about plain water, it keeps you feeling like there should be something more. As for the plot armor? It's rather excessive. Due to the main character's personality, he constantly embroils himself in matters way out of his league, yet always survives them. He works terribly hard and gets rather minute gains. I don't mind the fact that the main character is good-natured and gets himself involved in evil plots, it's the fact that the main character constantly says he doesn't want to get involved. This in particular is what annoys me. This changes (somewhat, they kinda just gloss over this aspect in general) later on. Overall, it's a great novel that can be referenced to a plain glass of water. Tasty and refreshing, but leaving you wanting more. This novel definitely needs more impact, as well as fleshing out the story and characters in general.