The Kept Man of the Princess Knight, Vol. 1

The Kept Man of the Princess Knight (Light Novel) #1

by Toru Shirogane, Saki Mashima (Illustrator ), Stephen Paul (Translator)

In a corrupt dungeon city, a man and the woman who owns him live out their lives. Arwin, the Princess Knight, is like a spotless crimson flower among the filth of this place. Matthew, one of the local adventurers, is among the lowest of the low, as far as anyone knows. He's a weak fighter and a coward, and he spends his money on alcohol and gambling. But no one knows the truth–he serves his princess knight, and he'll get his hands as dirty as he has to for her sake.

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Novels, Manga

280 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2022

Reviews

[Jen]

Ugh. I do NOT like being in this guy’s head. It’s nasty. I guess I’m not into anti-heroes.

DNF at 9% and I don’t care if it gets better, I refuse to read more of this.

1, I can see why the assassins were trying to kill him, stars.

[DreaNA *]

This light novel was surprisingly pleasant to read.
The author created a story about a cursed hero who is now living in secret, I liked the idea of discovering his past (tho it isn't presented like that and until you don't read the part about it, you won't know what it is about, Japanese, am I right?).
Despite that, the story is episodic (again, typical for this kind of book) which isn't unpleasant tho.
I read it quite quickly, being invested in the characters and the little plot that was there, the mysteries and how the guy fixed everything.

[Capt.]

I didn’t expect this to be this good. I also love that the whole book is in Matthew’s POV. Makes the mystery of the Princess Knight all the more alluring.

I also would love to commend on the translation on this, have not read the original text but the flow of the words really translates well to the plot and character’s personality.

[Shannon]

This was such an unexpectedly good read. I picked it up mostly on a whim because of the translator, Stephen Paul, whose works and style of translation I've enjoyed before, and this one didn't let me down either. Still, the translation can only be as good as the source material, and in this case, both were top-notch.

I liked how different the story ended up being from my assumptions based on the title and cover. It's way darker and twisted, and the main character, Matthew, is much more of an anti-hero than I anticipated. The world-building and pacing were excellent, and the way things build on top of each other and the things that are revealed about Matthew, Arwin, and the rest of the characters are so captivating. The end of the book kind of wrapped up like it was a one-and-done, so I'm glad the story is being continued. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Archziac]

Absolutely loved the character personalities and the developments and the mature scenario in the story. Eagerly waiting for volume 2.

[Sharakael]

This was the first time I read an antihero protagonist that was more of a villain. I read other novels featuring antihero protagonist before, but in those the MC would still defend his allies. Not the case in this one. I mean, if you change the protagonist to another character, Matthew would easily be the villain in that story. And for that, I admire the author.

Pacing was quick with barely any breathing space, characterisation was consistent and there were enough hooks to keep you going. The MC wasn't an entirely likeable guy, but he toed the line just enough that I was still on his side (instead of rooting for the other side).

Setting is dark and grimy, but the author still left slivers of hope which stopped this from going into the "fully depressing" territory.

The twist near the end was something I didn't expect at all, and that alone pushed this from 4 to 5 for me.

[Tanasinn]

This was an interesting one. I give it a 4. I was willing to give it a 4.5 until the conclusion of the last fight. It was... not great. But everything leading up to it was awesome. I knew I was going to read volume 2 before I finished, and even knowing how I feel about the last fight, I would still recommend this book.

I truly love how hate-able the main character is. The author specifically wrote him to ensure we would have a terrible first impression of Matthew. And second. And third... You love to see him get treated poorly. He's sarcastic, snarky, but most importantly, well-written. The author does a great job using his physical and mental characteristics to keep the plot engaging. Even more importantly, he's not just a PoS from start to finish. If you manage to reach the half way point of the book, you'll see that while he's not worthy of redemption, he's not filled to 100% capacity of shit. Maybe only upwards of 99%. But he does have a good side, and when we see it, it comes naturally and believably.

Until you discover Matthews and Arwin's secrets, you won't really know what the plot is, which I think worked to the book's strengths. The synopsis is pretty spot on: He'll get his hands as dirty as he has to for her sake. And this leaves a lot of wonder for the reader, because all we know at the start is how big of a sleeze bag he is. You're reading along, watching Matthews day to day life of debauchery and all the while, the plot is leading up to a reveal without you really realizing it. It was incredibly enjoyable. While I still dislike him as a person, I am still rooting for him to be able to complete his main objective. An author who can write someone that creates these feelings together has to be talented.

Onto some spoilers/meta stuff:
One line in particular really stood out to me, in a great way. It was during his flashback, from before he was with Arwin. Matthew was sticking his neck out for her, and he described his consciousness like a nosehair, and that really stood out to me, and not because of who we're talking about. The line itself was so unusual, but it fit the situation perfectly. Matthew, who we know is a piece of shit, was doing something good for no foreseeable benefit. Yet his consciousness, no matter how small, annoying, unsightly, and itchy, was still beneficial, just like a nosehair. I ended up tracking down an untranslated version of the book just to see if this was the author's line or a translator's punch-up, but it was the author's words, put down unchanged by the translator. Once I read this line and considering how good the book has been up to this point, I knew I was going to read Volume 2.

On the conclusion of the last fight (big spoilers):
The conclusion felt like the author wrote himself into a corner, especially when I consider how well thought-out everything leading up to this points felt. At the end of the day, Matthew wins it by trying really really hard and it just felt like a wet fart. The reasoning was "because I only have 1% of my strength when I'm not under the sunlight, I just have to put in 10,000% effort so that it evens out!" Yawn. Might as well have started screaming to power up.

[Aaron Meyer]

I came to this book many years after having read the manga for it. Those three volumes having adapted this volume of the story. I liked the idea of a disgraced and punished hero living his life as a playboy of sorts. Despite that he still had a set of morals he held to at least and he did have incredible luck in getting with Arwin. But with her also being fallible and addicted to a drug which he has to help ween her off of just makes the story a bit more real. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the adventure will continue in the next volume.

[Jason]

The MC was interesting and the plot was great. My main cons would be how they wrapped it up.

Pros: MC has serious growth throughout the book and his interactions with the princess and others has the reader in suspense. Plenty of plot hooks and twists. Climax was cool. Not your usual fantasy plot.

Cons: The ending felt like a "stick around for part 2". The time skips were necessary and done well and I generally don't like going back and forth in time in books so maybe biased.

[slugbiscuit]

I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it. The book is well-written, but the content is bleak AF, like a fantasy "Requiem for a Dream". Everyone is either a drug addict, a prostitute, or both, and all the characters seem to be headed for bad ends. The MC is like a sociopathic Escanor, but despite needing sunlight decides to live in fantasy Seattle as it is overcast 95% of the time. It's hard to root for a staight-up murderer, but I will probably read volume 2 out of morbid curiosity.

[WinterBat]

It’s giving edgelord fantasy. It’s well-written (translated), but kind of a tiring read with how gritty it is, like why would I, the reader, want to stick around in a world of this?

Resolution was a bit lame. The whole curse was that he’s so weak that even a small non-combative woman can overpower him on the regular, and his solution to take on a god-powered giant of a beast was… try harder.

[lamiaa]

it's kinda disappointing that the story is only from Matthew's pov and we don't get to read about Arwin's but I'll take what I can get and I hope we get to find out more about her in the near future.

[Morgan Wills]

Geez this is a new level of morally gray protagonist.

If you want to read a book about messed up people in a messed up city backstabbing each other over magical drugs, this book is for you

[huntërre thomässön]

Not a huge fan of the underlying plot and means that’s the story takes. Just not a story that vibed with me really.

[• Hutch]

As the story begins, we follow Matthew, a former adventurer, who has become a despicable sort, the kind of main character who is difficult to like. Somehow he has managed to find his way into becoming the kept man of the Crimson Princess Knight (Arwin), whose former kingdom has fallen prey to hordes of monsters. Arwin and her group of support knights are seeking an item within the dungeon that will help them reclaim the lost kingdom. Meanwhile, nearly everyone in the dungeon city despises Matthew and can’t figure out how he weaseled his way into his position with Arwin.
The story feels a little bland at the start and gives the feeling of just being an average tale that might meander along for a few volumes without really accomplishing much.
But as things progress and we discover more about Matthew’s past (why he is no longer an adventurer) and see him dealing with things that a lot of people in the city would ignore, it becomes evident there is a lot more to Matthew than meets the eye.
The second half of the story begins to delve into Arwin and the dynamic between her and Matthew. Then things take a very unexpected turn and suddenly this average story is now an incredibly interesting one with characters that are not exactly who we thought they were.
This is not your average cookie cutter type of fantasy light novel. The second half of this story ramps up in ways that I did not see coming and now I can’t wait for the second volume to arrive to see what happens next.

[Douglas Walters]

You can tell the author is a complete amateur: the setups resolve too quickly and the foreshadowing is blatantly telegraphed. While it is on the darker side for a light novel, the same tropey plot beats are still apparent and the MC is a cornball.

[Adam]

I really enjoyed this one. It manages to walk the line: still a "light" novel but dealing with mature themes in a satisfying way. No real complaints; just a good book.

[スパゲッティSmith]

Familiar elements of fantasy anime but the story is not, the author is willing to put dark in dark fantasy. Entertaining read