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Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero's Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes Novel #1
Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero's Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes (Light Novel) Vol. 1
Someday, the hero Mazel will battle the Demon Lord with the fate of the realm at stake. But until that day...he better be carrying plenty of potions! While the hero is off saving the kingdom, it’s up to Lord Werner—a Japanese office worker reincarnated into the world of a classic RPG—to keep the rest of the world from becoming collateral damage. There’s no hero, luminary, or warrior of light who doesn’t need a friend like Werner! But can he truly defy the flames of fate and change the bittersweet ending of the game?
320 pages, Paperback
Published March 19, 2024
41 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 27, 2024
This would have been four stars easy if the info dumping wasn’t there. Does the reader REALLY need to know there are SEVEN and NOT six types of noble titles and how they are all rated?
No. No we do not. Boring as heck and took time away from a very interesting story and interesting MC.
I am looking forward to the next one, just hoping the info dumping is less of a landslide.
3, I will read the next one but will keep my hopes to a dull roar, stars.
No. No we do not. Boring as heck and took time away from a very interesting story and interesting MC.
I am looking forward to the next one, just hoping the info dumping is less of a landslide.
3, I will read the next one but will keep my hopes to a dull roar, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 29, 2024
Loved it
To anyone looking for a MC that doesn't have OP powers or is "the chosen one" this is a must read. Werner is an intelligent, crafty MC done right.
The story doesn't go out of its way to make him be in the right, and we are able to see all the groundwork Werner does to overcome the challenges to come. And the other characters have their own agendas and brains. I love the Crown Prince that feels like a breath of fresh air of the comically stupid and incompetent nobles that appear in light novels.
The only problem I had with it were the passages to teach us about some aspect of history. If you love that stuff, great! But it also slowed down the writing and left one confused.
9/10
To anyone looking for a MC that doesn't have OP powers or is "the chosen one" this is a must read. Werner is an intelligent, crafty MC done right.
The story doesn't go out of its way to make him be in the right, and we are able to see all the groundwork Werner does to overcome the challenges to come. And the other characters have their own agendas and brains. I love the Crown Prince that feels like a breath of fresh air of the comically stupid and incompetent nobles that appear in light novels.
The only problem I had with it were the passages to teach us about some aspect of history. If you love that stuff, great! But it also slowed down the writing and left one confused.
9/10
June 6, 2024
A fantasy novel about saving the continent from an encroaching legion of beasts, monsters, and fiends, magical or otherwise, should not be this fabulously boring. Similarly, an adventure about navigating the intersections of noble scrutiny and commoner need, institutional or otherwise, should not be this woefully sluggish.
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v1 sets for itself an extraordinary challenge: to squeeze an engaging, ongoing adventure out of a decidedly simplistic, low-concept premise. Cleverly, one might abide the curiosity of an administrative professional dedicating all of his time and resources to helping a not-yet-legendary hero be as strong and competent as he can be. Regrettably, readers of HERO'S FRIEND v1 are stuck with messy and disorganized backstories, atrocious and profligate worldbuilding, and irrelevant, clerical nonsense that routinely get in the way of the actual story.
Werner Von Zehrfeld is the son to the Kingdom of Wein's minister of ceremonies. Being reborn into the nobility is a pretty good deal. The problem? The coming resurrection of the Demon Lord and his numerous, frightfully powered minions foretells of a laying waste to the continent. Werner's seen this all before, in his past life, and his recognizing his new-world schoolyard buddy, Mazel Harting, as the soon-to-be hero should ease everyone's worries, right? Not quite. The hero is a bud, yet to mature. Also, stampedes of hideous demon beasts are threatening to demolish a good chunk of the capital, putting the health and safety of the royal family at stake.
HERO'S FRIEND v1 holds that the secondary and tertiary characters associated with a hero's party are worth paying attention to. As such, readers are introduced to a plethora of second- and third-level infantry commanders, forgotten younger siblings, overlooked knights, and seldom-discussed court mages. The novel's net of main characters contains all of the individuals a typical adventure novel might overlook.
The book takes this nifty approach and tries its darndest to spin an exciting tale, but only rarely and with exception truly holds readers' attention. Three major issues hamper this novel: (1) unbalanced character stakes, (2) administrative discourse, and (3) scatterbrained worldbuilding.
Of the first, the book's cast is good, but characters drift into and out of focus with unsatisfying relevance and with indistinguishable weight and value. For a good example, one needn't look beyond Hermine Fürst, a female knight and the daughter to a neighboring count. The young woman earns respectable time on the page as a character who doubts Werner's fortitude but slowly grows to respect him. Hermine sees Werner on the battlefield, as well as in more noble settings, and her support for him grows when she learns the guy isn't all hot air. She is frequently, ironically, disregarded as a side character by the narrator, but her presence in the story presages something intriguing. Will the author actually capitalize on this investment?
Bad examples, however, appear more frequently. Felix Ernert, a rogue, is slated to join the hero's party. But the kid's arrival feels wholly accidental when he appears during a random visit to the adventurer's guild, in the middle of the book, only to disappear and never be heard from thereafter. Felix is introduced as though he might tip the balance in a crucial moment, but he's around for fewer than a dozen pages. Recruiting an essential character for a weeks' long assignment, only to disregard him, is a rather faithless move.
Of the second issue of administrative discourse, one grudgingly acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of this novel tracks Werner running around, filling out paperwork, holding meetings and negotiations with nobility and commonfolk, and simply barking orders. The novel truly shines during two short instances of actual combat, but beyond that, HERO'S FRIEND v1 is entirely devoted to the minutia of fantasy world clerical work. How does one retrieve water from a well? How does one discern whether the well is deep or shallow? How does one go about memorizing royal forms of address? What are the economic allocations necessary to secure a merchant caravan? How does one harvest, sort, organize, and sell magical weapons at scale?
Very little information found in these conversations is relevant to novel's greater story about defending against demons and saving the kingdom from darkness. Readers needn't read pages and pages of administrative blather to know whether Werner is taking action behind the scenes, but it would appear the author felt different.
Similarly, of the third problem, worldbuilding, readers would be better served by skipping whole sections of the book. So much of the novel's worldbuilding is so utterly useless that it's almost admirable. HERO'S FRIEND v1 includes paragraphs upon paragraphs, and pages upon pages, of narrative discourse on the nobility's taste in food; the sewage system; writing utensils; popular and civilian use of luggage and second-hand clothes; a comparative analysis of land governorship; and most painful of all, a sleep-inducing, nine and half pages expounding on the country's peerage system.
The occasion to feed readers' intellectual curiosity hits a brick wall when the story deploys so many awkward and staggering narrative ticks that prevent reader engagement. With all due apologies to the translators and editors who had to wade through this book from the beginning, readers will encounter an array of rhetorical asides that shove the narrative well askew (e.g., "by the way," "but I digress," "another fun detail," "my thoughts were veering off track," "another thing worth mentioning," etc.).
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v1 has potential, but spoils its own opportunities. For example, Werner's work behind the scenes means he's in touch with dozens of people on all levels of power to ensure the hero, his buddy, rises up the ranks. But Werner's successes curiously unbuckle the possibility that he's less of an ally and more of a foil (or even a villain), who benefits from others' success (Werner: "Far better to be a hypocrite who took action than a saint who did nothing," page 232). Regrettably, readers gain little insight into the hazards this perspective might preclude.
Elsewhere, the novel plays with the increased likelihood that as Werner and Mazel gain experience, their lives proceed in ways that diverge from Werner's past-life knowledge (although not with enough certainty to warrant a shift in narrative quality). Acknowledgements of fault and supposition go a long way, in fantasy stories, toward skewering the inevitable. For example, when the hero party defends against a black mage who is supposed to be mid-tier, but ends up looking like quite the badass boss, Werner is rooted with legitimate fear.
HERO'S FRIEND v1 is a long slog. The novel's page count could be reduced by one-quarter or one-third, if one were granted the luxury of cutting out all of the fantasy jargon and irrelevant worldbuilding notes. Much of this extraneous information reads as if it were added post haste. Regardless, the book's actual focus and its actual story isn't too bad. One simply has to dig around for it.
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v1 sets for itself an extraordinary challenge: to squeeze an engaging, ongoing adventure out of a decidedly simplistic, low-concept premise. Cleverly, one might abide the curiosity of an administrative professional dedicating all of his time and resources to helping a not-yet-legendary hero be as strong and competent as he can be. Regrettably, readers of HERO'S FRIEND v1 are stuck with messy and disorganized backstories, atrocious and profligate worldbuilding, and irrelevant, clerical nonsense that routinely get in the way of the actual story.
Werner Von Zehrfeld is the son to the Kingdom of Wein's minister of ceremonies. Being reborn into the nobility is a pretty good deal. The problem? The coming resurrection of the Demon Lord and his numerous, frightfully powered minions foretells of a laying waste to the continent. Werner's seen this all before, in his past life, and his recognizing his new-world schoolyard buddy, Mazel Harting, as the soon-to-be hero should ease everyone's worries, right? Not quite. The hero is a bud, yet to mature. Also, stampedes of hideous demon beasts are threatening to demolish a good chunk of the capital, putting the health and safety of the royal family at stake.
HERO'S FRIEND v1 holds that the secondary and tertiary characters associated with a hero's party are worth paying attention to. As such, readers are introduced to a plethora of second- and third-level infantry commanders, forgotten younger siblings, overlooked knights, and seldom-discussed court mages. The novel's net of main characters contains all of the individuals a typical adventure novel might overlook.
The book takes this nifty approach and tries its darndest to spin an exciting tale, but only rarely and with exception truly holds readers' attention. Three major issues hamper this novel: (1) unbalanced character stakes, (2) administrative discourse, and (3) scatterbrained worldbuilding.
Of the first, the book's cast is good, but characters drift into and out of focus with unsatisfying relevance and with indistinguishable weight and value. For a good example, one needn't look beyond Hermine Fürst, a female knight and the daughter to a neighboring count. The young woman earns respectable time on the page as a character who doubts Werner's fortitude but slowly grows to respect him. Hermine sees Werner on the battlefield, as well as in more noble settings, and her support for him grows when she learns the guy isn't all hot air. She is frequently, ironically, disregarded as a side character by the narrator, but her presence in the story presages something intriguing. Will the author actually capitalize on this investment?
Bad examples, however, appear more frequently. Felix Ernert, a rogue, is slated to join the hero's party. But the kid's arrival feels wholly accidental when he appears during a random visit to the adventurer's guild, in the middle of the book, only to disappear and never be heard from thereafter. Felix is introduced as though he might tip the balance in a crucial moment, but he's around for fewer than a dozen pages. Recruiting an essential character for a weeks' long assignment, only to disregard him, is a rather faithless move.
Of the second issue of administrative discourse, one grudgingly acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of this novel tracks Werner running around, filling out paperwork, holding meetings and negotiations with nobility and commonfolk, and simply barking orders. The novel truly shines during two short instances of actual combat, but beyond that, HERO'S FRIEND v1 is entirely devoted to the minutia of fantasy world clerical work. How does one retrieve water from a well? How does one discern whether the well is deep or shallow? How does one go about memorizing royal forms of address? What are the economic allocations necessary to secure a merchant caravan? How does one harvest, sort, organize, and sell magical weapons at scale?
Very little information found in these conversations is relevant to novel's greater story about defending against demons and saving the kingdom from darkness. Readers needn't read pages and pages of administrative blather to know whether Werner is taking action behind the scenes, but it would appear the author felt different.
Similarly, of the third problem, worldbuilding, readers would be better served by skipping whole sections of the book. So much of the novel's worldbuilding is so utterly useless that it's almost admirable. HERO'S FRIEND v1 includes paragraphs upon paragraphs, and pages upon pages, of narrative discourse on the nobility's taste in food; the sewage system; writing utensils; popular and civilian use of luggage and second-hand clothes; a comparative analysis of land governorship; and most painful of all, a sleep-inducing, nine and half pages expounding on the country's peerage system.
The occasion to feed readers' intellectual curiosity hits a brick wall when the story deploys so many awkward and staggering narrative ticks that prevent reader engagement. With all due apologies to the translators and editors who had to wade through this book from the beginning, readers will encounter an array of rhetorical asides that shove the narrative well askew (e.g., "by the way," "but I digress," "another fun detail," "my thoughts were veering off track," "another thing worth mentioning," etc.).
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v1 has potential, but spoils its own opportunities. For example, Werner's work behind the scenes means he's in touch with dozens of people on all levels of power to ensure the hero, his buddy, rises up the ranks. But Werner's successes curiously unbuckle the possibility that he's less of an ally and more of a foil (or even a villain), who benefits from others' success (Werner: "Far better to be a hypocrite who took action than a saint who did nothing," page 232). Regrettably, readers gain little insight into the hazards this perspective might preclude.
Elsewhere, the novel plays with the increased likelihood that as Werner and Mazel gain experience, their lives proceed in ways that diverge from Werner's past-life knowledge (although not with enough certainty to warrant a shift in narrative quality). Acknowledgements of fault and supposition go a long way, in fantasy stories, toward skewering the inevitable. For example, when the hero party defends against a black mage who is supposed to be mid-tier, but ends up looking like quite the badass boss, Werner is rooted with legitimate fear.
HERO'S FRIEND v1 is a long slog. The novel's page count could be reduced by one-quarter or one-third, if one were granted the luxury of cutting out all of the fantasy jargon and irrelevant worldbuilding notes. Much of this extraneous information reads as if it were added post haste. Regardless, the book's actual focus and its actual story isn't too bad. One simply has to dig around for it.
January 18, 2025
Light novels are great diversions between heavier reads, and I greatly enjoyed this one. I think the subgenre of gamelit where a person wakes up as a character in one of their favorite games is a fun premise and I also liked that this story didn't feel the need to tack on any "villain" tropes that have become popular recently.
Our main character, who was a middle-aged office worker from Japan, wakes up in the body of a 7-year-old boy who hit his head during a carriage accident. While acclimating to his new life and world, he realizes that he's living in a world he recognizes from a game he played in his younger years. Unfortunately, the plot of the game involves a demon invasion that destroys the kingdom's capital and massacres much of the population before the hero character rises and embarks on a campaign to slay the Demon Lord.
Our MC is not the hero character.
So his goal is to refine his skills and do what he can to survive as a background character until the Hero can do his thing. Over the years, he develops a bit of a reputation for his diligence and also ends up befriending the hero.
While the MC firmly believes the world events will follow the game's plot, his efforts to survive have already begun to alter the course of events slightly. It remains to be seen if he is truly the unimportant background character he thinks he is.
I tend to enjoy gamelit influenced by strategy games even more than the typical chosen one, zero-to-hero RPGs with an OP protagonist. While this story seems to follow an RPG game world, it gives the best of both ideas by having the MC as a background character. Even when our MC plays an important role, he tends to do so by enlisting the help of other capable characters rather than just cheat-skilling his way through things as we often see. It's a refreshing change of pace.
Our main character, who was a middle-aged office worker from Japan, wakes up in the body of a 7-year-old boy who hit his head during a carriage accident. While acclimating to his new life and world, he realizes that he's living in a world he recognizes from a game he played in his younger years. Unfortunately, the plot of the game involves a demon invasion that destroys the kingdom's capital and massacres much of the population before the hero character rises and embarks on a campaign to slay the Demon Lord.
Our MC is not the hero character.
So his goal is to refine his skills and do what he can to survive as a background character until the Hero can do his thing. Over the years, he develops a bit of a reputation for his diligence and also ends up befriending the hero.
While the MC firmly believes the world events will follow the game's plot, his efforts to survive have already begun to alter the course of events slightly. It remains to be seen if he is truly the unimportant background character he thinks he is.
I tend to enjoy gamelit influenced by strategy games even more than the typical chosen one, zero-to-hero RPGs with an OP protagonist. While this story seems to follow an RPG game world, it gives the best of both ideas by having the MC as a background character. Even when our MC plays an important role, he tends to do so by enlisting the help of other capable characters rather than just cheat-skilling his way through things as we often see. It's a refreshing change of pace.
January 6, 2025
Thank you Jerry
March 2, 2024
I want to start off by saying I really recommend this one for isekai fans.
It’s an interesting angle because we follow the hero’s friend, Werner, instead of the actual hero. I also enjoyed the fact Werner uses his intelligence to try to figure out situations rather than just brute strength.
The reason I rated this one 3/5 instead of higher because there are a good bit of info dumps that bog down the story and aren’t really relevant.
Still, it’s an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next volume.
It’s an interesting angle because we follow the hero’s friend, Werner, instead of the actual hero. I also enjoyed the fact Werner uses his intelligence to try to figure out situations rather than just brute strength.
The reason I rated this one 3/5 instead of higher because there are a good bit of info dumps that bog down the story and aren’t really relevant.
Still, it’s an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next volume.
February 24, 2025
I randomly picked up this one at a Barnes and Noble because i thought it looked interesting. I always wanted to read a story about the friend of the MC and thought this would scratch my itch.
Unfortunately....it really didn't. Main dude of the book gets reincarnated to a generic fantasy world where you get one skill designated to you. he gets spear using. he becomes friends with the protagonist of the game this world is based on. They then have to fight off a demon army. pretty generic.
I have two big issues with this first volume. 1. The main character is DULL. he really doesn't have any kind of personality to speak of. All i can really tell you about him is... he is kind of smart, and good at tactics and navigating the political world. that's about it. Other than that... nothing really. he's a dull blank slate and i couldn't tell you two things about his personality.
The other issue is the book spends WAYYYYY too much time talking about medieval politics and battle strategies. literally half this book is dedicated to the guy talking about how the politics work in the nobility system here. Dude. it's a light novel isekai with magic. you're not writing "a song of fire and ice". calm down. I found myself zoning out a few times while he was discussing how the tier system of politics work for the 10th time.
The other characters in the book are just as dull. I think the biggest issue in this is that everyone feels really really MUTED. like nobody is awake. it all feels very low key and dry. i'm not saying you need characters bouncing off the walls, but i need some emotions to keep me awake. it almost seemed like this guy was discussing drywall at times.
I'm HOPING the first volume is the only volume guilty of this. like i'm hoping he just spent most of the time setting up this world in this volume and so in volume 2 it will get to the good stuff.
Also, side note, i'll say that for "running the kingdom behind the scenes" this guy is a noble and actually does get a LOT of praise for his actions. people know him and he gets promoted to a higher nobility title so.....not sure where this "behind the scenes" comes from. yeah he's not the "hero" but he's very well respected and well known so......not sure what they mean by that.
other than that, i mean....i read it in like 4 days and i kind of want to see where it goes and if it gets better hoping this was just the exposition dump volume. will give volume 2 a try. if it's not good, i'll just dump it.
overall, not great. 2.5 out of 5 rounded up to a 3.
Unfortunately....it really didn't. Main dude of the book gets reincarnated to a generic fantasy world where you get one skill designated to you. he gets spear using. he becomes friends with the protagonist of the game this world is based on. They then have to fight off a demon army. pretty generic.
I have two big issues with this first volume. 1. The main character is DULL. he really doesn't have any kind of personality to speak of. All i can really tell you about him is... he is kind of smart, and good at tactics and navigating the political world. that's about it. Other than that... nothing really. he's a dull blank slate and i couldn't tell you two things about his personality.
The other issue is the book spends WAYYYYY too much time talking about medieval politics and battle strategies. literally half this book is dedicated to the guy talking about how the politics work in the nobility system here. Dude. it's a light novel isekai with magic. you're not writing "a song of fire and ice". calm down. I found myself zoning out a few times while he was discussing how the tier system of politics work for the 10th time.
The other characters in the book are just as dull. I think the biggest issue in this is that everyone feels really really MUTED. like nobody is awake. it all feels very low key and dry. i'm not saying you need characters bouncing off the walls, but i need some emotions to keep me awake. it almost seemed like this guy was discussing drywall at times.
I'm HOPING the first volume is the only volume guilty of this. like i'm hoping he just spent most of the time setting up this world in this volume and so in volume 2 it will get to the good stuff.
Also, side note, i'll say that for "running the kingdom behind the scenes" this guy is a noble and actually does get a LOT of praise for his actions. people know him and he gets promoted to a higher nobility title so.....not sure where this "behind the scenes" comes from. yeah he's not the "hero" but he's very well respected and well known so......not sure what they mean by that.
other than that, i mean....i read it in like 4 days and i kind of want to see where it goes and if it gets better hoping this was just the exposition dump volume. will give volume 2 a try. if it's not good, i'll just dump it.
overall, not great. 2.5 out of 5 rounded up to a 3.
March 18, 2024
Picked up the first volume of the manga a while back and became very interested in this series. When I saw the art of the light novel looked so different (more typical 'anime' than the manga, which had wonderfully diverse character designs and details), I almost skipped it, but I am so glad that I read it. It's an isekai-into-a-video-game story, but it skips many of the things that slog down these kinds of light novels by jumping almost immediately straight into the action and interesting bits. While the story does slow down slightly for exposition between events (to a degree I know not everyone will love), I was fully engaged and am eager for the second volume to come out already.
While I loved it, this book will most certainly not be for everyone. I liked how the game our MC was dragged into was an older, classic JRPG rather than a modern game. I enjoyed how, thus far, the character's actions are more running parallel than alongside the protagonist's journey, though they are friends and obviously interact. While typical for the genre, even the way that the MC is gaining favor from powerful allies feels much more organic than in many other stories of this type. If you're not a fan of isekai, it's probably not going to convince you, but I think it's a good one. Granted, I like isekai stories that explore the minutia of why a world would operate in this way.
The Airship release has a few typographical/translation errors (misspelling Feli as Feri exactly once, a missing quotation mark, a line that stuck out because I'm pretty sure wasn't translated correctly because it would make more sense the other way around) but, as someone who has often put up with fan translations, did not think this detracted from the overall reading experience.
Overall I think the manga is the superior version, but that's not a knock against this story. It just has a killer manga adaptation that expands the source material. The light novel is still a fast, intriguing read and I can't wait to see what the next volume has in store. If you have even the slightest inkling that you might like this story, pick it up.
While I loved it, this book will most certainly not be for everyone. I liked how the game our MC was dragged into was an older, classic JRPG rather than a modern game. I enjoyed how, thus far, the character's actions are more running parallel than alongside the protagonist's journey, though they are friends and obviously interact. While typical for the genre, even the way that the MC is gaining favor from powerful allies feels much more organic than in many other stories of this type. If you're not a fan of isekai, it's probably not going to convince you, but I think it's a good one. Granted, I like isekai stories that explore the minutia of why a world would operate in this way.
The Airship release has a few typographical/translation errors (misspelling Feli as Feri exactly once, a missing quotation mark, a line that stuck out because I'm pretty sure wasn't translated correctly because it would make more sense the other way around) but, as someone who has often put up with fan translations, did not think this detracted from the overall reading experience.
Overall I think the manga is the superior version, but that's not a knock against this story. It just has a killer manga adaptation that expands the source material. The light novel is still a fast, intriguing read and I can't wait to see what the next volume has in store. If you have even the slightest inkling that you might like this story, pick it up.
March 10, 2024
Written by Yuki Suzuki, Reincarnated Into a Game follows all the hallmarks of a typical modern isekai story. Spinning the tale of the protagonist, Lord Werner, sees him use his memories of the game world to survive as well as knowledge from his former world to stand out and influence events to a brighter future.
Whilst there's nothing inherently wrong with treading on familiar ground, on this occasion, Suzuki's foray into the familiar left me out in the cold.
I suspect the reasons why I didn't warm to Werner's fantasy journey mainly stem from the author's tendency to wander. Despite a gift for the descriptive, the author, in this case, tends to focus on the wrong things. More often than not, possible world-building aspects that could help build tension and a sense of scale to the encroaching demon army are left as mere footnotes. Instead, we're left to explore the "magical" world of nobility and the slight difference between titles in the game world and that of Earth. This unappealing foray also isn't helped by the fact that the author likes to give this information in blocks, which can really bog down the pace of the plot.
Thankfully, there are themes that stop this series from being a complete disaster. Whilst small, the blossoming romance that begins to develop by the end of the volume shows promise. Their potential relationship has ramifications more widely in bridging the gap between the bureaucratic aristocracy and those who gain valour on the battlefield.
Furthermore, the protagonist's realisation that his actions change events in the game world has intriguing possibilities. Without foreknowledge of the future, he'll have to think on his feet to avoid now all too real dangers.
Unfortunately, whilst I didn't enjoy this novel myself, those who enjoy a lesson in noble society over action may find something to entertain themselves with here.
Whilst there's nothing inherently wrong with treading on familiar ground, on this occasion, Suzuki's foray into the familiar left me out in the cold.
I suspect the reasons why I didn't warm to Werner's fantasy journey mainly stem from the author's tendency to wander. Despite a gift for the descriptive, the author, in this case, tends to focus on the wrong things. More often than not, possible world-building aspects that could help build tension and a sense of scale to the encroaching demon army are left as mere footnotes. Instead, we're left to explore the "magical" world of nobility and the slight difference between titles in the game world and that of Earth. This unappealing foray also isn't helped by the fact that the author likes to give this information in blocks, which can really bog down the pace of the plot.
Thankfully, there are themes that stop this series from being a complete disaster. Whilst small, the blossoming romance that begins to develop by the end of the volume shows promise. Their potential relationship has ramifications more widely in bridging the gap between the bureaucratic aristocracy and those who gain valour on the battlefield.
Furthermore, the protagonist's realisation that his actions change events in the game world has intriguing possibilities. Without foreknowledge of the future, he'll have to think on his feet to avoid now all too real dangers.
Unfortunately, whilst I didn't enjoy this novel myself, those who enjoy a lesson in noble society over action may find something to entertain themselves with here.
March 5, 2024
I’d like to give this 3.5 starts but we don’t have this option.
The prologue is rather bland as the author lays out the characters and setting.
The first chapter is action packed and exactly what you expect from a novel. Turned my interest up significantly.
And then the second chapter becomes an excessive info dump about noble titles in this world and how they compare to Japan, and then another info dump about medieval food, seasonings, how that compares to Japan and differences (or lack of) between regions.
Honestly there was probably about 15-20 pages that were completely unnecessary and a competent editor would have cut that crap right out (yes, I am calling the editor of this book less than competent in his work on this volume).
Outside of that drudge, the book was quite entertaining. It was a little bit of a roller coaster, what with the bland prologue, the exciting first chapter, the buzz kill in the second chapter, and then the rest of the excitement that followed. It would have merited the full 4 stars if the editor had done his job and told the author to dump the aforementioned excess or trim it down significantly.
I am looking forward to the next volume and I hope there is a lot less unnecessary info dump.
The prologue is rather bland as the author lays out the characters and setting.
The first chapter is action packed and exactly what you expect from a novel. Turned my interest up significantly.
And then the second chapter becomes an excessive info dump about noble titles in this world and how they compare to Japan, and then another info dump about medieval food, seasonings, how that compares to Japan and differences (or lack of) between regions.
Honestly there was probably about 15-20 pages that were completely unnecessary and a competent editor would have cut that crap right out (yes, I am calling the editor of this book less than competent in his work on this volume).
Outside of that drudge, the book was quite entertaining. It was a little bit of a roller coaster, what with the bland prologue, the exciting first chapter, the buzz kill in the second chapter, and then the rest of the excitement that followed. It would have merited the full 4 stars if the editor had done his job and told the author to dump the aforementioned excess or trim it down significantly.
I am looking forward to the next volume and I hope there is a lot less unnecessary info dump.
June 10, 2025
Godness understood this would be a strategy-fighting story, but it was incredibly boring; all they did was talk about strategy. In addition, all the noble babble, which was unnecessary, I had to stop over 10 times to drink some coffee to help me through it. Dropping the series. On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
November 21, 2024
This is a very unique book as it’s mostly explaining the “world” or the “game” based on the player’s eyes. I read the manga first and I loved Mazel, but when I read the novel I understand why people love Werner (bc I also love him now).
June 17, 2024
Great story, great character but the author tend to ever explain everything and dragging the pacing to halt with randomly long info dumping.
Still a great LN overall.
Still a great LN overall.
June 30, 2024
Great story. MC is not OP and is likeable. More focus on strategy, planning and management. Some explanations drag on a little. Overall an amazing start to the series I would highly recommend.
September 21, 2024
Could use a bit less exposition, but it was really fun.
July 7, 2025
The art is a little hard to make out in heavy scenes but i like the story line so far! And im excited for vol 2 now!!
October 8, 2025
won't be picking up vol 2 but i'll keep up with the manga
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