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After her sister’s engagement to the crown prince is broken off suddenly, tragedy strikes, and Lady Francette and her family lose all of their wealth and status. Left with nothing but her name and determination, Francette moves to the slums and ekes out a living selling homemade pastries.

That’s when she meets an unlikely new friend named Wibble, a talking slime who introduces her to the one and only slime duke Gabriel! To her surprise, the unusually stoic Gabriel soon asks for Francette’s hand in marriage--and she accepts. Now she must adapt to Triste and its eccentric people, and she soon finds herself breathing life into the strange but endearing backwater.

What was once a marriage of convenience becomes something much more in time...and—of course—expect lots of slime!

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 20, 2023

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Mashimesa Emoto

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for FaclessOneLN.
106 reviews6 followers
May 4, 2024
Written by Mashimesa Emoto and illustrated by Kasumi Nagi, J-Novel Club’s latest series involves a surprise proposal and plenty of friendly slimes.

A Surprisingly Happy Engagement for the Slime Duke is another series that adds to the ever-growing roster of fallen nobility given cute, happy endings. Typical of the genre, the story centres around Francette, a perfect mild-mannered young lady whose situation has become fraught after her ducal family was disgraced.

With her father too busy having affairs, Francette is forced to make ends meet by baking cakes, that is, until a knight in shining (or should I say slimy) armour shows up in her hour of need.

If everything I’ve written about the series so far seems generic, then you’d be right on the money. Everything about this series could be summed up by any number of reviews that I’ve already written on the genre already. From the perfect young lady, the strong yet demure love interest, to the threats that they face together, it’s all been done before and you’ll know the conclusion to the story before it’s even begun.

Whilst there’s nothing inherently wrong with being generic, in fact, there’s a nice comfort factor to the series, I do find myself wishing that there was something more on offer, especially with the series’ strongest aspect, the slimes.

The veritable twist in the fallen noble tale, the slimes take the form of both man-eating monsters and miracle helpers, once tamed. The main window into the actions of these creatures is through Wibble, Gabriel’s first slime and Fran’s faithful helper. Wibble acts as a great piece of comic relief. His tumultuous relationship with Gabriel serves as a way to bridge the gap between the fantasy’s two lovebirds.

Unfortunately, Wibble is the only slime we get to know throughout the volume, and as a result, the series’ main twist ends up lacking a certain level of depth. By the end of the first volume, both slime culture and why slimes act the way they do once tamed remain a mystery.

Despite a generic setting, Slime Duke’s first volume makes for a good spare afternoon’s comfort read. As mentioned previously, there’s nothing wrong with generic and Wibble’s antics about Triste can make up for almost any fault in the series.

Regrettably, a comfort read this series must remain. With little to no depth beyond the usual paint-by-numbers plot, it hardly makes an impact in an already saturated market.
Profile Image for Sammie.
304 reviews
July 31, 2024
This was a surprising hit! I finished the whole book in one breath because it was so interesting. It's set in a unique fantasy world where these 7 monster dukes exist. The main characters for this volume are the "slime duke" and the daughter of a fallen noble family.

Their characters are refreshing. The fallen noble, Lady Francette, is strong and independent. Despite a lot of bad luck that was none of her fault, she works hard and strives to live a happy, normal commoner life. The slime duke is an adorable dork. His character is one you don't often see for a male lead. He's a genius but timid; and he's been secretly in love with Lady Francette and watching from the shadows for some time. A series of events push together and begin their love story in Terise, the slime duke's home, and a place brimming with slimes, slimes and more slimes. Many people try to interfere but in the end, none succeed in stopping their happy ending.

Another cute factor in this series is the monsters. Since this volume is the slime duke's volume, we have a lot of slime characters front and center in the story. The can talk and do just about everything and anything so they are really important to the plot.

Since the next volume is slated to be about the "siren duke" this time, I'm really excited to see what her powers will be like and how she and all the other monster dukes will connect. It's not a usual format for a light novel series so I'm looking forward to it.
Profile Image for Mariána  K.
928 reviews1 follower
September 1, 2024
Very cute and lovable story

The cast is very likable and the world building is definitely a winner. I really like how much thought goes into the structure of the world, the monsters, all those details. The story itself was very simplistic though, the villains were underwhelming and easily defeated, and the stakes were all pretty low as far as tension and danger goes. Honestly, the story isn't much more than food porn and formulaic romance. But that aside, the characters are likable and like I said the world building is pretty good. On a side note, I think I would very much enjoy the story as a manga.

I'm not sure if I'm interested in reading volume two of the novels, I think it's already out. This volume wraps up and leaves off in a really perfect the end kind of moment. I feel satisfied enough to not continue the story into volume two. Maybe I'll change my mind when I want a little bit of comfort reading. Since I already know that the characters are charming and the world setting is interesting and well thought out it might be fun to revisit them like visiting old friends.
Profile Image for Mk.
489 reviews6 followers
January 5, 2026
This is not bad! I'd have read it earlier if the title used "Duke of Slimes" rather than "Slime Duke" because I thought the duke might BE a slime rather than just living in a slime-infested territory. Idk. It's silly and apparently there are more volumes but this really reads like a simple stand-alone.
22 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2024
Cute story, sweet characters, and an adorable slime. Nothing too intricate, but a fun read. Also, lovely illustrations.

Could be read as a one-shot. No need to read beyond the first volume to have a lovely wrapped up ending.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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