Reading novel is always difficult. Having lived in an English-speaking country for many years, and communicated fluently with locals, even in certain cases passing their radar without being identified as foreigner, it is still pretty hard to read a reasonably popular English novel. The words they use, the rhetorics are all so different from everyday spoken language.
In case of Chinese novel, depending on author's style, if you are not reading those period novels, the idioms will not be a huge problem. Although I do see that since the flexibility of the Chinese language, author tend to create new combinations of characters into their own vocabulary to keep the their language fresh, which might be low-effort to the local readers but might present great challenges to language learners.
In case of Chinese novel, depending on author's style, if you are not reading those period novels, the idioms will not be a huge problem. Although I do see that since the flexibility of the Chinese language, author tend to create new combinations of characters into their own vocabulary to keep the their language fresh, which might be low-effort to the local readers but might present great challenges to language learners.