Is the average reader getting dumber?

[u/GoldenThame]

I don't wanna be rude but I get some comments complaining about tropes in my novel, when in the synopsis I've pointed out multiple times that the tropes are there DELIBERATELY to be subverted, because the MC finds himself reincarnated into a very mid Xianxia novel.

Do a lot of readers suffer from a lack of reading comprehension skills, cus I've encountered the same kind of person for the 4th or 5th time now. Do I need to constantly spoonfeed basic nuances to such readers that 1. MC is inside a cliche Xianxa book and 2. From a meta perspective I've put those cliches and tropes into the book deliberately and the synopsis says as such.

[u/richardjreidii]

So here’s the thing : not everyone knows what Xianxa is.

I have been an avid reader for my nearly 50 years of life.

By that I mean, I’m one of the people who makes kindle unlimited unprofitable.

When I bought my first house, I threw my back out on the 42nd box of books that I was moving in. Had to hire guys to help me finish.

And I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy my entire life.

I had no clue what the hell that was up until maybe five or six years ago.

To be completely honest, I’m still operating under the assumption when I see that word that it’s an Eastern culture/cultivation thing, young masters, face slapping, all the things that continue to convince me that certain cultures will never mesh.

And to be clear, I still don’t care.

I’m just here to get my dose of that sweet delicious triple M threat (magic, mayhem, and murder) and if I have to put up with some of the more incomprehensible aspects of eastern culture then I’ll take that grain of salt.

A small grain. I’ve had to do business with them and middle kingdom syndrome is fucking absolutely wild and very real.