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Demon World Boba Shop #5

Demon World Boba Shop: Vol. 5

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Arthur has one more journey to make. With Coldbrook settled down, he’s sent by the town to the capital of the Demon World to present and explain their new inventions in front of the largest audience Arthur has ever seen.

With a fluffy owl, a water elemental, and a sparrow blacksmith that finds new ways to get into trouble, Arthur carries the hopes and knowledge of Coldbrook on his shoulders as he tries to find his footing in the capital. As he’s learned again and again, the Demon World is a friendly place. Somewhere that catches him every time he falls. That’s going to come in handy as he runs into his biggest obstacle yet.

The final volume in the fan-favorite cozy fantasy series, Demon World Boba Shop is “a story about community, and found families, and at times about how difficult it can be to let people help, and how much of a challenge it can be to find a way of being happy.”

373 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2025

69 people are currently reading
132 people want to read

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R.C. Joshua

12 books96 followers

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5 stars
306 (69%)
4 stars
105 (23%)
3 stars
28 (6%)
2 stars
2 (<1%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
19 reviews
January 25, 2025
Good, but .. unsatisfying.

I like Arthur. I like Mizu (even with her name being silly). And I like virtually all of the characters in the series. Lily is like one of my most favorite characters of all characters anywhere.

But this book felt like a much weaker volume in their stories than all the preceeding ones. I was enjoying it, mostly, up to all the Demon Council stuff where it started turning into an existential crisis for Arthur, and it got heavy in a way that didn't really match the vibe of the rest of the series, I think. Mizu and Milo and Lily did try to claw it back, but it feels more like Arthur was then written into a corner that the author didn't have a good exit strategy for.

Then the special Achievement earned on the return to Coldbrook was basically the System telling the readers not to expect any more of Arthur's cozy adventurers. And I get it, that stories have to end sometime and authors move on to other characters and other arcs, but I think it might have been better to leave things with a hopeful look to the future where readers can speculate and daydream on their own without having the story come to a crashing "several years later" ending that completely shortcircuits the payoff readers had been waiting for with Mizu's and Arthur's relationship.

Jumping from "oh, the culimination of their boyfriend/girlfriend relationship and the beginning of their husband/wife relationship is coming soon" to "by the way, you don't get to see that because it's several years later now and they've been married a long time" was HUGELY unsatisfied, like a restaurant burning down on your way to your fancy meal reservation.

And pretty much everything else after that point, with Euth and so on was ... just not the right way to end things, I think. Maybe setting him up to be the MC in a sequel/spinoff series, but I doubt that's one that I'd read. I'll just go back and reread the first three books in this series instead. (Book 4 had a little too much desperate action with the monster wave for my tastes)

One star off for Euth and the epilogue chat beween the old man and the system. One star off for the Demon Council stuff and Arthur spending so much time in existential crisis. One star off for the "several years later" robbing the reader of the relationship payoff. It should be much more stars off for that, but this is still not a zero-star or 1-star book. Deeply unsatisfied and feeling flawed, but not an unreadable disaster.
Profile Image for Abby Wu.
249 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2025
Arthur journeys to the capital, where he must make an important choice for himself. He can choose a simple, pleasant life over one of burdens and duty.

It was a nice finale to a cozy series. Besides the books being about Arthur finding his place in his new world, at its core it's always been about family. Arthur finally understands that and basically gives up future uncertainty, finding his true home with his friends. He has found that nice world he asked for from the very beginning. The simplicity in contentment and everyday life creates a fitting end to a lovely tale.
Profile Image for Colleen.
876 reviews
January 29, 2025
Absolutely loved this series. While reading it I had bittersweet feelings knowing it was the last one. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t read it slowly. Instead I could barely put it down because as usual, it was just too good! Please, please let there be a spin off or something!! Thank you so much to the author for writing this series. The relaxation and stress relief these books gave me meant more than I can say.
Profile Image for Old Time Tales.
321 reviews7 followers
June 6, 2025
A Cozy Ending.

This is not going to be just a review on the book, as the last in a five book series I'll need to rate the series overall.

And the rating is five star. It is a strange five stars, because this is a series about a young man from Earth who dies and ends up selling boba tea in a world full of friendly demons.

The demon world is a fun, friendly place where basically everyone looks out for and takes care of everyone else. There are challenges, and danger, but the idea is for everyone to pitch in and do their best to support the community.

The series main conflict is that Arthur is from Earth and he has difficulties adapting, no, sorry. He adapts just fine. It is UNDERSTANDING the true nature of the demon world that Arthur has difficulty with.

So we follow Arthur along and learn about the demon world as Arthur does. Sometimes we get frustrated with him, he can be a little dense sometimes, but sooner or later Arthur figures things our and manages to truly understand his new life and leave his old Earth ways behind.

The world building in this series was first rate. Since it is a world with a "system" much like a computer came there is a class and leveling system. Our Author did a good job designing the system and being consistent with it all the way through the series. As a matter of fact the "System" (now capital S) is actually a major character in the series and one of my favorite parts.

I love the history and mythology written into the demon world. It fits and makes sense. You can see how events over the centuries have created this society and it works.

The characters were a lot of fun. They all had their own little quirks and personalities which made them individuals and they stayed consistent throughout the book.

One thing that was difficult for me to accept was the whole demon thing itself. I never could figure out what made them demons, other than the fact that they were not human. Most of them were all animals. His friend was a sparrow. Friends Mom was also a sparrow demon, but Dad was a goat demon. How does this work? Is genetics just a matter of "It's just magic, relax and forget about it?" I mean, it doesn't really matter because it never became part of the story but it was something that I wondered about.

My favorite thing of all was Arthur's relationship with his friend Mizu. She was a water demon, which apparently means she looked human but with a deep aqua tint to her skin. Water demons had their own culture somehow separate from the other demons which caused them to speak in an unusual formal style. Whenever they participated in a conversation they would make some comment about how their ancestors had, in some AMAZING way or other, dominated yours. Mizu especially does this in the first few books and I was greatly disappointed when, during the course of the story, she adopted a more conventional manner of speech. But this made it better when she would, for some reason or other, usually when Arthur messed up, revert back to her old speech patterns.

Book five itself tied everything up well. We get to see the demon world capital. Or at least this regions capital, I was never sure. We get to see the wonders the capital has to offer, enjoy some great food, go to some crazy parties, see a wedding and just have fun.

Until we find out that somehow Arthur's teamaking skills are unique and will change the course of history. Actually it is more HOW he does it that is different and this puts him into the position where he must decide how he is going to spend the rest of his life.

Fortunately this is also the same time when Arthur truly learns the difference between choices in the human world and the demon world.

It was a great series, much fun to read, it is worth your time. It's one of those books where I wish that I had someone to talk about it!

Y'all take care. Make sure you read every day and read for fun!

PS I read this on my Kindle, as part of my subscription with Amazon.
Profile Image for Kimberley.
94 reviews
January 25, 2026
3.75 Stars

I read all 5 books after this got stubbed and I liked it. I love cosy slice of life works and I actively go out to find them to read. However. Most of the time, I bounce off the story before it’s a quarter of the way through. Because for all I love slice of life, it still needs to have stakes. And most cosy stories are too much fluff that it got dreadfully boring. Luckily, this isn’t one of them! I really like how intentional and preplanned the story was. Every book has a beginning l, conflict and ending. That it wasn’t Boba Tea lvl 1 and each book is about Arthur hitting the next level. It’s about finding family and a place to belong and slowly feeling safe enough to explore what you want to do. The best part is that the story keeps your attention to the whole journey by tossing decent sized stakes and problems to Arthur to handle. There might be some small parts that were not my interest because I’m not interested in the topic like camping or that I don’t the love interest was anything special or even the fact that I found the multiple romance in this story kinda meh (one character catches sight of the most beautiful thing they had ever seen/the women are the ones who in the know in the relationship), I still had a good time for the whole ride. If this is your thing, this story is one of the better versions of it, definitely.
359 reviews
September 5, 2025
How many weddings can we get? This series' answer is "yes".

It would be nicer if there was any specific touches, but the author subscribes towards philosophy "all good relationships are the same and all good weddings are the same". Happiness? That's what happens when a guy (who is soooooo undeserving of this cool woman he marries) and a woman (who is sooooo amazing) meet, get married and make babies.

There is not a single female unamarried character by the series end. Male characters? Sure. Female ones? Nope. To be fair, the author also tries ultra hard to make sure that absolutely EVERY character finds love in the most boring "love at first sight" way.

The fact that Euth was added in the epilogue was also bewildering. Could he not have been added during the journey to the capital? Would he not have spiced things up? Would it not be cool if there was this secondary storyline of him exploring the capital alongside the whole crew and slowly changing his understanding? He does look like a cool character and what does he get, a couple lines of pep-talk and "power of love strikes agaiiiiiin"?

Worst sin of all, though? Despite five books in the series, Arturh did not invent popping boba. What was even the point of it all?! Disgusting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
415 reviews7 followers
February 17, 2025
I absolutely adore the entire series, but as endings go, this one is...fine. But I don't think it quite lived up to the power of the first four books. If you got this far you should certainly read it, and you shouldn't let the fact that the ending isn't stellar stop you from starting the series if you haven't already.

For what it's worth, my issues with the series are basically that it wrapped up fairly suddenly, and in a way that arguably fit the protagonist and the story, but didn't quite mesh with how *I* would behave in that situation.

To be clear, this is still a good book and the capstone to a great series. Read it!
2,385 reviews
February 6, 2025
Sadly with a heavy heart, I'm writing this final review for the Grand Finale of this Ohhhh so awesome series. Hahaha I had you goin for awhile, didn't I 😆. This was absodamnlutely AwesomeSauce and the best evarrr. Arthur, Mizu, Lily and the others including Corbin (in stealth mode) make there way to the Capital so they can expound on their achiements, made at Coldbrook during the monster wave, at the expo making them some of many guest speakers there. Except for Corbin as no one knew that he'd tagged along, just so he could level. Arthur teamsters really had to do some soul searching before he could leave the Capital but Mizu had his back and could help him find his way. And man that ending was perfect 🥰! And just why am I heavy hearted welll it's over, we've come to the end of this glorious romp 😭.

Ohhhh here's the quote, I'll leave you with:


"I’m the best. Nobody can beat me up.” “What about Pomm?” “We don’t talk about Pomm."
Profile Image for AlishaReadsAllDay.
411 reviews3 followers
February 24, 2025
The final installment of the Demon World Series sees Arthur heading to the capital to present his town’s advancements to the denizens of the city. However, Arthur is faced with a hard choice as he is asked to stay in the capital and work his advancements there permanently.

As always, Joshua delivers a delightful story with a lot of heart. His characters are all wonderful and the story continues in the series’ quirky and inventive vein. Arthur bumbles, Lily argues, Milo causes trouble and invents a giant catapult, and Mizu keeps everyone-especially Arthur-in line. I don’t think books get much cozier than this.

Favorites:

-Milo’s catapult
-The teamasters at work
-Arthur’s presentation
-Skal having an unexpected role to play
-The bear elder
-Mizu being Mizu
-That epilogue, tho…
Profile Image for Zoe.
196 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2025
Cozy Ending!

I can’t believe this series is already over! I flew through it because it was so much fun and relatively low angst which made it an easy read. I think the first half and a bit more of this book was really fun. There were a lot of big city adventures and new things although there was a part in the middle that was a little more angsty than normal. It did help cause some big Arthur growth and some realizations about who he wanted to be which was very sweet. The only reason I didn’t rate this book 5 stars like the rest of the series is just that there was a transition in the last third of the book where there was a time jump and it was not in the standard epilogue way which was a little jarring. But in the end Arthur got his nice world and all is well! I am definitely happy I took a chance on this book and it really was very cozy.
Profile Image for Paige Borrelli.
11 reviews
January 29, 2025
A fulfilling conclusion to an altogether lovingly crafted story

After five books I'm still not sure what my class would be if I isekaied into this world, and because I read them I understand that's for the best. There's something very comforting in following the protagonist into a truly kind world, especially in 2025.

The thing that truly lets the spectacular worldbuilding shine is the character writing. Each character is wonderfully distinct, and that can be hard to do when many have the same motivations: to be better at their craft.

I enjoyed every page in all 5 books, even the ones that made me cry. And I cried a lot. I'd read 50 of these to be honest.

Profile Image for Brandy Williams.
7 reviews
Read
January 29, 2025
Something I didn't know I needed.....

I loved this series. I've been looking for cozy fantasies that are genuinely good stories, and this one fits the bill. Storytelling was tight, setting was comfortable without being boring, and the sentiments as sweet as a really good pastry. Not too sweet, just right. One of the lovely things about this series is that the struggle and conflict in the story are solved by the desire to do good and to BE good to one another. We need more of that. The fact that the author is also a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold was bonus knowledge for me. Keep up the good work as you can Mr. Joshua. You've been a cozy place in cold times.
Profile Image for Alice.
1,916 reviews103 followers
January 29, 2025
It was a tidy and cozy ending, but I can't say much happened in this book. Our main couple got in the last few chapters and we were introduced to another off-worlder and future "importing" plans, but other than our MMC finally understanding that he didn't have to do anything he doesn't enjoy on this world, there were no significant world-shaking improvements.

Overall the series was a low-stakes warming read and still worth the time.
Profile Image for Ashi.
28 reviews5 followers
November 24, 2025
I am going to miss the feeling these books gave me!
And most of all I am going to miss Lily and Arthur.

Did the last half of the book feel a little rushed? For sure
Did I wish there was a more warm and cozier ending? Yes.
Did I wish to see Arthur’s & Mizu’s wedding? Absolutely

But I still enjoyed it just not more than the first ones.

Overall the series is exactly the kind you read during a beautiful rainy and cold day!
It just warms you up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Grey Putnam.
4 reviews
Read
January 19, 2026
It’s a cute series about finding yourself and finding family, and I enjoyed it but the further I got into the series the more it bothered me that there was not a single lgbtq person in the whole world. All of the romance is very sweet and tame, it would have been nothing to have one gay relationship, and the series took such pains to pair everyone up that by book 3 it was starting to feel purposeful.
Profile Image for Mindy Moore.
8 reviews
February 15, 2025
Nice

Arthur finally has the realization sink in. He can have nice things, and that's ok.
It's been a process, a struggle at times. But his found family have been there patiently prodding him thru 5 books to figure it out. And as a reader, I have been pleased to be there to see it.
950 reviews2 followers
July 23, 2025
A great finish.

I really loved reading this book and series. It was fun and engaging. The story and characters were incredibly interesting and entertaining. It became my favorite series from the beginning. I'm a little sad that it ended. I enjoyed it that much. This book and series are definitely worth checking out. You will not be disappointed.
331 reviews5 followers
January 26, 2025
Awesome Last Book

It’s hard to say goodbye to a series that has brought you so much enjoyment.Especially from an author that can write a system book that isn’t based on lots of killing but on happiness. Thank you.
Profile Image for Ian Sellers.
102 reviews4 followers
February 4, 2025
The coziest and most perfect end to the series. I loved every word. It's always bittersweet reaching the end of a multi book story, but I was completely satisfied and it felt like the biggest hug in book form. Absolutely perfect
Profile Image for Tams1twtdbkwrm.
44 reviews
May 27, 2025
This One Made me Cry. In A Good Way

What can I say? I loved everything about this series. I hope the author will come back to it someday. I'd love to see more people find their way. These books touched me heart and soul. They were perfect. Nice.
Profile Image for Jessica Allred.
141 reviews
January 25, 2026
An interesting ending. I am not sure that I like that we missed Arthur's wedding. But there were enough hints at what it might have been like that we can imagine it.
Also not sure that I like the attitude of the kid at the end. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kaitlin Blaker.
40 reviews5 followers
January 24, 2025
I love this series, and this feels like the perfect ending (and maybe a beginning?). It's so cozy and wholesome, and all I felt at the end was relief and satisfaction.
13 reviews
February 4, 2025
Loved!

I have no idea why i loved this series so much it was just nice, it was nice to follow Arthurs adventures and all his friends. I will miss them.
Profile Image for Stacy .
71 reviews
February 17, 2025
This series has been such a comfort, cozy read for the past few months. I can’t explain how much this healed me and I wish there were a dozen more.
Profile Image for Heather.
65 reviews
March 2, 2025
It's over! It was a lovely series to get lost into.
2 reviews
May 2, 2025
I loved this whole series.

Such a heart warm cozy book I wish there were 10 more. I'm glad it went how it went though.
18 reviews
May 7, 2025
Awesome ending

This series has been such a pleasure to read. I look forward to all of the books being available in print so I can add the series to my actual shelves.
Profile Image for Em Sanning.
52 reviews1 follower
June 17, 2025
Really a very very nice ending. I will miss this world!
3 reviews
Read
July 14, 2025
Awww!!

Really good story! But I sure hope it's not the last in the series! I just want to keep visiting that world!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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