Ten Day Ultimatum Review
Web Novel Review: Ten Day Ultimatum by Member of Insect Killing Squadron
The Story
Ten people awaken to find themselves sitting around a circular table in a sealed room. There are grids on the walls and everyone is fixed in place unable to leave their seats. As if that wasn’t weird enough there’s a man wearing a suit and a goat head mask. Not a plastic mask, no that would be too normal for this place. The man is wearing what appears to be the head of a real goat.
The man wastes no time and quickly intimidates them by showing them how dangerous he can be. He then tells them that they’ve all been brought here to create a new God and that they’ll start by playing a game.
Qi Xia is among those trapped in the room. As he listens to the rules of the game and watches the reactions of those around him he’s plotting his escape. He wants to get out and he’s wondering if he’ll have to sacrifice the lives of the other players to do so. Is that something he’s prepared to do if it means his freedom?
Who’s it for?
This novel is for fans of horror and the supernatural. There’s a lot of mystery and suspense regarding what’s actually going on, why they were taken and where they are. It has non-stop action and features survival games, death games to be precise. The type of competition in which losing will leave the participants either dead or badly maimed.
If you like clever protagonists, even overpowered ones, you might like Qi Xia. He is the main character and his intelligence often steals the show, but his companions are all interesting in their own ways. They are a diverse group of people and the bonds that form between them are strong.
Riddles and logic problems also pop up throughout the story. Some of them may be familiar to you and trying to solve these brainteasers can be fun.
The Downsides
If you’re opposed to graphic violence, blood or gore then I’d suggest that you skip this one. There are many potential triggers in Ten Day Ultimatum. I won’t be listing them in detail due to spoilers, but please note that things like brutal murders and various types of abuse are present in this novel. I’m not trying to scare anyone off the story, but I had to mention it.
There’s a great translation of the novel on Pure Love Translations. It has trigger warnings that give readers a heads up about possibly problematic chapters. The additional footnotes and breakdowns are pretty useful to international readers to help you understand exactly what’s going on.
Next this is a very long web novel. However, the fast pace along with the author’s tendency to end chapters with a cliffhanger means that you usually won’t notice its length or how long you’ve been reading.
The huge cast of characters is a bigger issue because the story is so complex. The timeline, characterizations and overall morals of the people within this world are all over the place. There are explanations for most of this, but it gets hard to keep track of everything and everyone, especially later on.
The novel starts with a big cast and the list of important characters keeps growing as the story progresses. The number of subplots or side stories increase as time goes on. Getting stuck reading the backstory of characters I disliked or didn’t care about while waiting for the main plot to continue sometimes tested my patience.
The Romance
There is no romantic storyline in this web novel. There are several close friendships though. If you choose to ship any of the characters or want to believe that there’s something more going on in a particular relationship you’re free to do so, but romance isn’t really the point. Relationships matter but this isn’t the place for fluff.
Final Thoughts
What I love about this web novel is how unpredictable it is. The story is gripping and the characters are compelling. It’s wildly imaginative.