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As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill To Rise In The World (Light Novel) #2
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World vol 2
Ars Louvent isn't just the heir of a petty barony-he's also a reincarnated Japanese office worker! He isn't a fighter, and he doesn't know the first thing about his new world, but he does have one advantage that's crucial for anyone who hopes to get by as a lord. Namely, an unprecedented eye for talent, granted to him by his special Appraisal! Thanks to that skill-and to his lack of consideration for his prospective retainers' ages and origins-Ars has managed to gather up a formidable team of talented followers. Unfortunately, the empire he lives in is teetering on the brink of civil war. To make matters worse, the cornerstone of House Louvent and Ars's father, Raven, has passed away at the worst possible moment! Ars has no choice but to take up his father's mantle, make full use of his retainers' talents, and protect and expand his territory as war rages around him, lest he lose everything he holds dear!
249 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2023
27 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 20, 2024
As another reviewer pointed out, a nice mix of a serious and at the same light-hearted (without shifting into comedy) story. The fact that those around the MC all have a vital role to fulfil, and it is a story about politics and military campaigns which have been done reasonably well, are for me another big plus. There is little action though, and some of the behavior of the main characters do get into the over-the-top extreme common in anime. For example, we know Mireille is lazy and rude, no need to make it so extreme you wonder why she still lives. Not that is was new, and for the most part a minor complaint, I do find it a bit irritating though. No cliff hanger ending, but it is very much the first volume of a 2-part (at least according to the afterword) arc. So a good read that fitted my expectations.
August 17, 2023
Off to war!
Sort of.
Ars Louvent, leader of a tiny barony and otherwise small fry in a metastasizing civil war in the Duchy of Missian, makes purposeful strides toward maturing in his role as a civil leader of the people. Readers may query why a 12-year-old boy and his group of retainers, awkward and outcast though they may be, feel destined to contribute to several war councils. Regardless, REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT v2 makes good on the author's promise to complicate the politics of Missian as much as possible, if only to expose Ars to new, fun, and strange scenarios that push his plucky little appraisal skill to its limits.
Conflict is on the horizon, and Lord Couran Salemakhia is calling upon his allies to position him for steady progress toward eventual victory. Ars somewhat comically complains that he is of little use for much of the novel. But in truth, the young man fills in many of Lord Couran's numerous and often unobvious gaps in strategy and organization.
Need an ambitious advisor or two for the war council? Ars attends the meeting with Rrietz, Rosell, and Mireille Grunzeon in tow. Mirelle is his newest retainer: an exiled, warmongering alcoholic with ties to Salemakhia's brother. She's a petty woman, but her eye for detail is second to none. Quite a find.
Need a stealthy way to overtake nearby land and county while marching toward the final battlefield? Ars hires the delightfully surreptitious Pham, the cross-dressing spy master, to pull off a handful of clever clandestine scenarios.
REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT v2 reads like a bridge between daily life as Ars knew it (as seen in the first volume) and the eventual and strident chaos that awaits the duchy as civil war festers in earnest (likely occurring in the next volume). The current book leans more heavily into equitably merging statecraft and battle strategy — an interesting and far more attractive narrative turn than either in isolation. For example, a good portion of the novel is dedicated to conducting cross-border negotiations with the Duchy of Paradille (to acquire supplemental infantry forces). Can Ars overcome Duke Mahkfa Sarcassia's blind allegiance to the empire? Or sidestep the uncanny brilliance of the duke's smarmy retainer, a "genuine, hardcore edgelord"?
The war council debates are fun, albeit brief, and the story's assorted ambassadorial negotiations provide crucial insight into the necessity of rounding out Ars's skill set (along with Licia and Rossell's). One thing this book does extremely well lies in its portrayal of how Ars becomes increasingly integral to Missian's future through his accidentally brave political intrepidness.
And when Ars is presented with the truth of a bloody battlefield? What happens then? Interestingly, he becomes frightfully aware that using his appraisal skill to spare the life of an enemy soldier, mage, or strategist invariably means condemning all others to death:
"I believed that averting my eyes from the consequences of my actions was unconscionable for a person of my status [..] They were dying because I hadn't picked them out as being talented, so I felt I had an obligation to see this through to the end [..] Taking part in the battle meant putting your life on the line, and I knew they'd accepted the possibility of their deaths, but I still couldn't help but grieve for the futures that had been denied to them" (pages 223, 234-235).
To wit, the novel retains much of the minutiae of intrastate governance. The previous volume was full of it. And readers will still need a notepad to keep track of all of the names of people, places, castles, vassals, retainers, and more. At this point, one is resigned to the fact that these unnecessary details are but a woeful affectation on the part of the author. Further, when Lord Couran orders the County of Canarre to march into battle, Ars and his crew tread through several smaller counties and take to the field of conflict on multiple occasions. The good news is that Mireille, the new strategist, while being snarky and lazy at all hours of the day, becomes a bear once the swords are raised. The bad news is that readers still don't have a map of any kind, and the book's growing breadth of terminology only complicates the theater of the mind.
But the book is another surprisingly entertaining read. AS A REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT, I'LL USE MY APPRAISAL SKILL TO RISE IN THE WORLD v2 illuminates the relationship between duchies, clarifies the dynamics and alliances of the civil war, and introduces new characters and retainers whose detriments compete more earnestly with their skills.
The light novel's diversity of personality is probably it's most significant contribution thus far. Licia's obsessiveness. Rietz's anxiety. Charlotte's ego. Mireille is a fun character, and one hopes her role will increase as the war effort comes into greater focus. Another new character, Shin Seimallo, is an annoying engineer with an eye for airship design. Shin is likely a plant for a future adventure.
And the protagonist, Ars, is cleverly designed such that he never knows as much about himself as he knows about others. When the young man engages Lord Couran about such things, he merely shrugs his shoulders: "I'd more or less surmised that my Valor and Intelligence were less than exceptional, but I had yet to pin down my Leadership or Politics scores, even in a broad sense [..] I didn't believe I was talented, in any case, but I didn't see anything wrong with indulging in the fantasy every once in a while" (pages 112-113).
Sort of.
Ars Louvent, leader of a tiny barony and otherwise small fry in a metastasizing civil war in the Duchy of Missian, makes purposeful strides toward maturing in his role as a civil leader of the people. Readers may query why a 12-year-old boy and his group of retainers, awkward and outcast though they may be, feel destined to contribute to several war councils. Regardless, REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT v2 makes good on the author's promise to complicate the politics of Missian as much as possible, if only to expose Ars to new, fun, and strange scenarios that push his plucky little appraisal skill to its limits.
Conflict is on the horizon, and Lord Couran Salemakhia is calling upon his allies to position him for steady progress toward eventual victory. Ars somewhat comically complains that he is of little use for much of the novel. But in truth, the young man fills in many of Lord Couran's numerous and often unobvious gaps in strategy and organization.
Need an ambitious advisor or two for the war council? Ars attends the meeting with Rrietz, Rosell, and Mireille Grunzeon in tow. Mirelle is his newest retainer: an exiled, warmongering alcoholic with ties to Salemakhia's brother. She's a petty woman, but her eye for detail is second to none. Quite a find.
Need a stealthy way to overtake nearby land and county while marching toward the final battlefield? Ars hires the delightfully surreptitious Pham, the cross-dressing spy master, to pull off a handful of clever clandestine scenarios.
REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT v2 reads like a bridge between daily life as Ars knew it (as seen in the first volume) and the eventual and strident chaos that awaits the duchy as civil war festers in earnest (likely occurring in the next volume). The current book leans more heavily into equitably merging statecraft and battle strategy — an interesting and far more attractive narrative turn than either in isolation. For example, a good portion of the novel is dedicated to conducting cross-border negotiations with the Duchy of Paradille (to acquire supplemental infantry forces). Can Ars overcome Duke Mahkfa Sarcassia's blind allegiance to the empire? Or sidestep the uncanny brilliance of the duke's smarmy retainer, a "genuine, hardcore edgelord"?
The war council debates are fun, albeit brief, and the story's assorted ambassadorial negotiations provide crucial insight into the necessity of rounding out Ars's skill set (along with Licia and Rossell's). One thing this book does extremely well lies in its portrayal of how Ars becomes increasingly integral to Missian's future through his accidentally brave political intrepidness.
And when Ars is presented with the truth of a bloody battlefield? What happens then? Interestingly, he becomes frightfully aware that using his appraisal skill to spare the life of an enemy soldier, mage, or strategist invariably means condemning all others to death:
"I believed that averting my eyes from the consequences of my actions was unconscionable for a person of my status [..] They were dying because I hadn't picked them out as being talented, so I felt I had an obligation to see this through to the end [..] Taking part in the battle meant putting your life on the line, and I knew they'd accepted the possibility of their deaths, but I still couldn't help but grieve for the futures that had been denied to them" (pages 223, 234-235).
To wit, the novel retains much of the minutiae of intrastate governance. The previous volume was full of it. And readers will still need a notepad to keep track of all of the names of people, places, castles, vassals, retainers, and more. At this point, one is resigned to the fact that these unnecessary details are but a woeful affectation on the part of the author. Further, when Lord Couran orders the County of Canarre to march into battle, Ars and his crew tread through several smaller counties and take to the field of conflict on multiple occasions. The good news is that Mireille, the new strategist, while being snarky and lazy at all hours of the day, becomes a bear once the swords are raised. The bad news is that readers still don't have a map of any kind, and the book's growing breadth of terminology only complicates the theater of the mind.
But the book is another surprisingly entertaining read. AS A REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT, I'LL USE MY APPRAISAL SKILL TO RISE IN THE WORLD v2 illuminates the relationship between duchies, clarifies the dynamics and alliances of the civil war, and introduces new characters and retainers whose detriments compete more earnestly with their skills.
The light novel's diversity of personality is probably it's most significant contribution thus far. Licia's obsessiveness. Rietz's anxiety. Charlotte's ego. Mireille is a fun character, and one hopes her role will increase as the war effort comes into greater focus. Another new character, Shin Seimallo, is an annoying engineer with an eye for airship design. Shin is likely a plant for a future adventure.
And the protagonist, Ars, is cleverly designed such that he never knows as much about himself as he knows about others. When the young man engages Lord Couran about such things, he merely shrugs his shoulders: "I'd more or less surmised that my Valor and Intelligence were less than exceptional, but I had yet to pin down my Leadership or Politics scores, even in a broad sense [..] I didn't believe I was talented, in any case, but I didn't see anything wrong with indulging in the fantasy every once in a while" (pages 112-113).
November 2, 2023
Good story
I really enjoy reading this series. It's fun and serious all at once. I look forward to more from this author.
I really enjoy reading this series. It's fun and serious all at once. I look forward to more from this author.
August 19, 2024
Let loose the dogs of war! My favorite character is introduced here. I just love the dynamic. The other person did a way better job reviewing than I ever could.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews