Disowned but Not Disheartened! Life Is Good with Overpowered Magic: Volume 1

Disowned but Not Disheartened! Light Novel #1

by Riko Saiki, Grant U (translator), Baracan (illustrator)

At age three, Tafelina Lowell Lera Duval was disowned by her birth parents, but was that actually a blessing in disguise? Raised in a remote region of Ozeria by the kind earl of Peylon, she was allowed to hunt in a forest full of monsters, invent magic tools based on memories of her previous life, and let her extraordinary magical talents flourish.

But that all begins to change with the approach of her thirteenth birthday. As the child of a noble, she’s obligated to attend an academy meant to raise and educate the next generation of nobles. That means moving to the royal capital, a sprawling city quite unlike her beloved home.

Lera soon feels like a fish out of water, and things only get worse with kidnappings, the appearance of her half sister, and more. But Lera’s not one to be disheartened easily and that isn’t about to change!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 10, 2023

About the author

SAIKI Riko
Name (in native language): 斎木リコ

Reviews

[Stas · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 67%

If I keep reading, I WILL Turn To VIOLENCE.

Supposedly she's very smart when it comes to magic, but being smart clearly does not extend to anything else.
I guess it should to be funny how many things fly right over her head, even though SHE IS RIGHT THERE.
I'm not feeling this.
The potential love interest? Would stab him, most violently.

HARD PASS.

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly entertaining characters if a bit simplistic story. I probably would have given it 4 stars were it not for it being set at school, the story not really knowing whether to go for villainess or OP isekai (and as a result doing neither well) and lots of things being rushed through.

[Alarna · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok. this had potential to be very interesting but it felt very rushed and things that felt like they shouldn't have been skimmed over was very vague and other stuff that nobody cares about goes into quite a bit of detail, like it kept focusing on drama and how it effects the lives of characters that whernt even really background characters they literally just show up for the strange political drama surrounding them and then disapare there hadn't had the slightest thing to do with the MC apart from she was in the crowd near them but so much time is spent on political drama of random people and i think it would have been better spent more on the MC either her classes or school life or those inventions she makes but all of that stuff is just glossed over in short paragraphs. :/

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It suffers from the common problem of light novels - major issues in logic. Authors have a tendency to write things that sound good without bothering to consider world building. One thing I particularly dislike that is unfortunately extremely common in reincarnation stories, is the idea that the reincarnate has stronger memories of their past life than of their current one. It makes sense for TRANSMIGRATORS because they were literally living their life when it was interrupted and they abruptly shifted into a new one, but remembering a past life is not the same. Your present memories would be much stronger, and the previous life would be more distant, like a story you read rather than an immediate experience. For example, the idea that she had to learn from her cousin what age is considered adulthood in this world, as if “this world” is foreign to her. That’s ridiculous. And of course she’s so dense she can’t understand when topics pertain to her or guys are interested in her. Gosh, who knows why that hot guy asked if I’m engaged and who my guardians are? He’s just interrogating me!

It also annoys me that she invents things so easily, just making everything modern into a magic device. No thought to how maybe things won’t translate well or would need to be modified, she just conveniently thinks of it and the institute immediately creates it. It works perfectly, no trial and error necessary. Like during the search for the kidnapped children, she decides that it’s not enough to have a pretty good idea where one kid is, she needs to take a few hours to invent an X-ray camera that can see the kid through walls. Yes, that’s what is a priority during a search for kidnapped kids, and it’s ok, it was pretty easy to create even though it took hours. Imagine saying “this recording device isn’t enough - can you make it see through walls? It needs to be able to take a photo of everything behind the wall, let me view it instantly, and also not let other people be able to see I’m doing it. I need it immediately.” And god forbid that you report a kid as abducted because that is so shameful it’s better to let kidnappers get away with it then to let people know your child was kidnapped. Yes, it’s so much more honorable that way. If security at this festival is so tight that everyone has to pass through the gates, they should be able to inspect every vehicle for the missing kids. And no, an insider opening a secondary gate shouldn’t get around that, because if it was truly secure, the guards would be watching ALL gates. It’s also crazy that they only fired the teachers that helped the kidnappers. I think the author missed that being an accomplice to kidnapping is also a crime.

The royal family is waaaaay too involved in petty crap. The concept of the academy being for boys and girls to acclimate to the opposite sex so they don’t fall victim to seduction for lack of experience is stupid when it establishes most noble kids already know each other from social events since they were young, and also that stupid seductions are still happening in the academy. Apparently the dissolution of an engagement is enough to literally end a noble family, and the royal family ends up mediating for some reason. It also says expulsion is enough to ruin you, and not attending the academy is also not allowed, yet some parents withdraw their kids if they get bad grades? Author, consistency please.

All the villains are laughably dumb, and the guys that like her seem to fall in instant love for no discernible reason. Not sure how her dad hasn’t been destroyed given how offensive and dumb he is - other families are completely obliterated for less than he’s done.

[Gioia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fresh and fun read.
Instead of the usual isekai packed with pointless bullying and OP heroines who are depressed and hated by everyone, here we have a disowned protagonist who quickly builds healthy bonds: a new family that loves her, true friends, and even some powerful allies. She’s strong but not exactly brilliant, which makes her point of view all the more amusing.

The best part? The bullying clichés get flipped on their head: those who torment her are punished (sometimes in hilarious ways) instead of getting away with it scot-free like in so many other series. The world is somewhat standard but consistent, and the witty dialogues make the whole thing a light, enjoyable read.

[Al Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book where the MC is just plain stupid. Tired of MC’s having decades of life experience and yet they don’t know anything about life. The laughable part is blushing over getting her hand held of kissed. The only thing I liked was that she had some family that loves and supported her. But I don’t think it’s enough to get me to read another book

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good fun

Some tropes but, in general, fairly fun if breezy read. I don't particularly empathise with the heroine yet. She's fairly emotionally blah really. But I enjoyed the cast of characters around her and some of the events. I will get book 2 if there is one.

[A S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and Pointless

This book was very boring. There’s no tension or interesting characters, and it seems like it was written by an AI who just put together basic Isekai tropes and mixed them up with no care.

[Ziad Maged · Rating 3 out of 5]

What on earth is with those names? Short of Mr. Funson and Sheila, I wasn't able to pronounce any of them. Also, Funson? Really? What kind of name is that?

[Susan Toussaint · Rating 5 out of 5]

💚💜💙💛

Wow, what an amazing start to a series. Loved our Legs and her adventures. Can't wait to see what happens next.