What do you think?
Rate this book
Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! Light Novel #7
Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!, Volume 7
PRINCESS PROBLEMS
After their showstopping defeat of the crystal life-forms, Hiro and the gang head to the imperial capital for Hiro's award ceremony. No shortage of trouble awaits them in the heart of the empire, from Elma's overly affectionate brother crashing the party, to a reunion with Chris, to the emperor liking Hiro a little too much. Just when the crew thinks they've seen it all, they learn that the imperial princess...is the spitting image of Mimi?!
After their showstopping defeat of the crystal life-forms, Hiro and the gang head to the imperial capital for Hiro's award ceremony. No shortage of trouble awaits them in the heart of the empire, from Elma's overly affectionate brother crashing the party, to a reunion with Chris, to the emperor liking Hiro a little too much. Just when the crew thinks they've seen it all, they learn that the imperial princess...is the spitting image of Mimi?!
204 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2022
26 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 17, 2024
One common presumption embedded in adventure narratives is that the main character, no matter how credulous or good-natured, will encounter trouble ad infinitum. REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 takes this tiny, coherent bit of vanity and extends its utility to its logical extreme. Captain Hiro heads to the capital planet of the Grakkan Empire for an awards ceremony, but once he arrives, it's just one headache after another: bad press, petty in-laws, annoying royalty, mischievous exes, and so on.
REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 focuses on the social and political aftermath of the Crystal War. Hiro's crew makes a pitstop at the capital planet Grakius to snag a few awards before heading back out to its usual merc work. The bad news is that Hiro and his crew are stuck on Grakius, hedged by overzealous guards, for a whole week or more. As such, rivals are bound to come out of the woodwork. The good news is that despite the emperor's high-pressured curiosity over who Hiro is and where, specifically, he comes from, Hiro gets more than a few chances to let off a little steam.
The current volume's pacing slows down quite a bit and makes room for a few crisscrossing backstories. As much as Hiro hates interacting with nobles and their odd social hierarchies, he quickly finds he's got little other choice: Elma's high-ranking family has come looking for its runaway daughter; Chris is the daughter of a count; and Mimi bears a striking resemblance to the emperor's daughter, Princess Luciada.
Fortunately, the slower pace isn't entirely bad. Elma's story, and Elma's family's story, as employees of the emperor's Imperial Family Affairs, comes under tight scrutiny. Apparently, everyone's favorite tsundere space elf ran away from home, fled an engagement, and rebuked her obsessive elder brother. Elma is a reliable secondary character in the novel series, so it's good to find her individual motivations slowly and gradually aligning with those of the main character. Elma's relationship with Hiro initially began with an array of misconceptions, as all great romances do, but now, the taciturn elf couldn't imagine being anywhere other than aboard the Krishna.
While on Grakius, Hiro meets with the emperor of the Grakkan Empire, a middle-aged guy with a personality prone to meddling. The emperor is smart enough to realize Hiro's unusual rise to power and fame is best kept in the good graces of the star systems he commands, but he's also just flippant enough to demand that Hiro complete a "hellish triathlon" to prove his skills to everyone else.
And so, while Hiro curses the emperor under his breath, he competes in a tournament of sword duels, ground combat, and ship battles. Those rivals coming out of the woodwork? Those suspicious palace guards who never take their eyes off Hiro and his crew? Those space mercs who want a piece of fame for themselves? Including the sudden appearance of a fellow platinum-ranked merc? Hiro's tests of skill won't exactly be easy.
This deep into the novel series, REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 is a good showcase for what this author does well. Character voice, particularly for Hiro, is extraordinarily good and extraordinarily consistent. On balance, the character's waffling, grumbling, confidence, and belligerence come through solidly.
For example, even as everyone denounces Hiro as a womanizer, for his commanding all-female crew, he equally argues his innocence and accepts his internalized guilt. Women hate him, but that comically of makes him kind of cool (in his own eyes). Similarly, Hiro's hilarious indifference to ranking up just makes everyone mad, as he'd rather earn their respect through his work on his ship than with a medal on his jacket ("Yeah, that's not very surprising. The problem is that I don't actually care," page 65).
And when Hiro takes out a few combatants in the tournament, readers thankfully forgo dozens of pages of nondescript and irrelevant action by earning a front-row seat only to Hiro's individual matches. But nestled somewhere in the fray is an excellent nugget or two on Hiro's fighting technique ("As long as you're human, the ways your body can move are limited. Once you know those limited ways, it's too easy to predict an attack from any given stance," page 179).
REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 doesn't have a lot of action, but it does move the greater narrative forward. Mimi does have relatives, and they are still alive (probably). But where? And Hiro is super-close to earning land-holder rights. But where would he settle down? Would it be so bad to set up a vacation home in the Dexar System, where Chris lives? As long as that stupid emperor stays out of his business, and as long as Serena doesn't get it in her head to keep calling in favors, then maybe, just maybe, Hiro can get back to enjoying his life as a space merc.
REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 focuses on the social and political aftermath of the Crystal War. Hiro's crew makes a pitstop at the capital planet Grakius to snag a few awards before heading back out to its usual merc work. The bad news is that Hiro and his crew are stuck on Grakius, hedged by overzealous guards, for a whole week or more. As such, rivals are bound to come out of the woodwork. The good news is that despite the emperor's high-pressured curiosity over who Hiro is and where, specifically, he comes from, Hiro gets more than a few chances to let off a little steam.
The current volume's pacing slows down quite a bit and makes room for a few crisscrossing backstories. As much as Hiro hates interacting with nobles and their odd social hierarchies, he quickly finds he's got little other choice: Elma's high-ranking family has come looking for its runaway daughter; Chris is the daughter of a count; and Mimi bears a striking resemblance to the emperor's daughter, Princess Luciada.
Fortunately, the slower pace isn't entirely bad. Elma's story, and Elma's family's story, as employees of the emperor's Imperial Family Affairs, comes under tight scrutiny. Apparently, everyone's favorite tsundere space elf ran away from home, fled an engagement, and rebuked her obsessive elder brother. Elma is a reliable secondary character in the novel series, so it's good to find her individual motivations slowly and gradually aligning with those of the main character. Elma's relationship with Hiro initially began with an array of misconceptions, as all great romances do, but now, the taciturn elf couldn't imagine being anywhere other than aboard the Krishna.
While on Grakius, Hiro meets with the emperor of the Grakkan Empire, a middle-aged guy with a personality prone to meddling. The emperor is smart enough to realize Hiro's unusual rise to power and fame is best kept in the good graces of the star systems he commands, but he's also just flippant enough to demand that Hiro complete a "hellish triathlon" to prove his skills to everyone else.
And so, while Hiro curses the emperor under his breath, he competes in a tournament of sword duels, ground combat, and ship battles. Those rivals coming out of the woodwork? Those suspicious palace guards who never take their eyes off Hiro and his crew? Those space mercs who want a piece of fame for themselves? Including the sudden appearance of a fellow platinum-ranked merc? Hiro's tests of skill won't exactly be easy.
This deep into the novel series, REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 is a good showcase for what this author does well. Character voice, particularly for Hiro, is extraordinarily good and extraordinarily consistent. On balance, the character's waffling, grumbling, confidence, and belligerence come through solidly.
For example, even as everyone denounces Hiro as a womanizer, for his commanding all-female crew, he equally argues his innocence and accepts his internalized guilt. Women hate him, but that comically of makes him kind of cool (in his own eyes). Similarly, Hiro's hilarious indifference to ranking up just makes everyone mad, as he'd rather earn their respect through his work on his ship than with a medal on his jacket ("Yeah, that's not very surprising. The problem is that I don't actually care," page 65).
And when Hiro takes out a few combatants in the tournament, readers thankfully forgo dozens of pages of nondescript and irrelevant action by earning a front-row seat only to Hiro's individual matches. But nestled somewhere in the fray is an excellent nugget or two on Hiro's fighting technique ("As long as you're human, the ways your body can move are limited. Once you know those limited ways, it's too easy to predict an attack from any given stance," page 179).
REBORN AS A SPACE MERC v7 doesn't have a lot of action, but it does move the greater narrative forward. Mimi does have relatives, and they are still alive (probably). But where? And Hiro is super-close to earning land-holder rights. But where would he settle down? Would it be so bad to set up a vacation home in the Dexar System, where Chris lives? As long as that stupid emperor stays out of his business, and as long as Serena doesn't get it in her head to keep calling in favors, then maybe, just maybe, Hiro can get back to enjoying his life as a space merc.
September 9, 2023
Kept me waiting
I know that an author's time isn't spent writing 24/7, but I just couldn't wait for more adventures with the crazy luck bestowed on this crew. Just the best blend of action and drama and Crazy circumstances we've come to expect. Couldn't set it down and now I will have to mope around waiting for the next one.
I know that an author's time isn't spent writing 24/7, but I just couldn't wait for more adventures with the crazy luck bestowed on this crew. Just the best blend of action and drama and Crazy circumstances we've come to expect. Couldn't set it down and now I will have to mope around waiting for the next one.
September 16, 2023
Nothing ground breaking, a tad predictable, but still entertaining and fun to read in a rather rare setting for Light Novels. By now you should know what to expect from the series though. If you like the earlier volumes, you will find the adventures of Hiro and crew in the capital a good read.
December 5, 2024
Had alot of fun with this volume and I feel sympathy for Hiro with all the stuff he keeps having to deal with haha. It gives the same excitement I felt with the first volume so im excited to see how the next volume goes
October 13, 2025
Felt like a filler
Not much happens and its very anticlimactic. I hope if picks back up and brings back the energy i loved when i first started reading the series. Taking a break from the series for now.
Not much happens and its very anticlimactic. I hope if picks back up and brings back the energy i loved when i first started reading the series. Taking a break from the series for now.
September 8, 2023
Love Hina in space?
Outerspace harem comedy. Not quite Love Hina in space, but there's plenty of action and comedy in this volume. Some mild violence.
Outerspace harem comedy. Not quite Love Hina in space, but there's plenty of action and comedy in this volume. Some mild violence.
September 10, 2023
Read it way too fast
Thoroughly enjoyable. As soon as I received it I started reading it and could not put it down. I cannot wait until the next one.
Thoroughly enjoyable. As soon as I received it I started reading it and could not put it down. I cannot wait until the next one.
October 24, 2023
Fantastic!
Fantastic book! I loved this book! Such amazing character development. I simply can not wait for the next book to come out!
Fantastic book! I loved this book! Such amazing character development. I simply can not wait for the next book to come out!
December 6, 2023
A lot of character backstories come together in this volume with some fairly satisfying payoffs. It was pretty good.
March 8, 2024
Too many coincidence, but still really enjoyable
December 28, 2025
Book seven keeps the series rolling with plenty of fast-paced action and lighthearted mercenary chaos I have come to expect. The highlight this time is the impromptu tournament, which ends up being more than just entertainment when it leads to a direct meeting with the king. The mix of over-the-top battles and superficial political intrigue gives this entry a little more weight than some of the earlier volumes. The main character is still simple, but he is consistent, and the series uses him well. Overall, this was another fun installment that proves the series still knows how to stay fresh while delivering exactly what fans want.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews