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I Like Villains, so I Reincarnated as One (Light Novel) Vol. 1
When one man is isekai'd into the game he's been playing, he winds up becoming the doomed villain. Can his knowledge of the game help him avoid a disastrous fate or will his meddling cause more harm? A fantasy light novel about rewriting fate and facing the inevitable!
Video game character Weiss Hamilton is destined to lose everything--his position, his family, and ultimately his life. A tragic villain who was overshadowed by his talented sister, blamed for mismanaging his territory, and fated to fall at the hands of the game's hero, Weiss is nothing more than a failure. And to be reincarnated as him? A fate worse than death! Or is it?
Armed with knowledge of the game's plot, the new Weiss has a second chance to rewrite his fate and become a proper villain with a better future. Using his own cheats to avoid every pitfall, Weiss has the ability to avoid doom and impending tragedy, all while winning the hearts of the beautiful ladies around him. Can he maintain this new course, grow his harem, and survive the plot that's written against him?!
Video game character Weiss Hamilton is destined to lose everything--his position, his family, and ultimately his life. A tragic villain who was overshadowed by his talented sister, blamed for mismanaging his territory, and fated to fall at the hands of the game's hero, Weiss is nothing more than a failure. And to be reincarnated as him? A fate worse than death! Or is it?
Armed with knowledge of the game's plot, the new Weiss has a second chance to rewrite his fate and become a proper villain with a better future. Using his own cheats to avoid every pitfall, Weiss has the ability to avoid doom and impending tragedy, all while winning the hearts of the beautiful ladies around him. Can he maintain this new course, grow his harem, and survive the plot that's written against him?!
291 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 8, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2026
Conventional but fun. The character archetypes are passionately unoriginal, the story moves a bit too quickly, and there's a continuity error on the second page of the prologue. And yet, the humor is pleasant, some character flaws are entertaining, and the book's magic system is easy to grasp. Conventional but fun.
I LIKE VILLAINS SO I REINCARNATED AS ONE v1 is fast, easy reading. The story falls in line with so many other isekai tales and doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the pack. The book will find a good home with readers interested in quirky characters and the fast-moving inevitabilities of subplots for which readers know where they're heading long before the characters do.
The teenage, recently orphaned Lord Weiss Hamilton is pretty crappy at running his domain. Good thing an anonymous Japanese man now lives in his body. The revitalized Lord Weiss has a lot of work to do: ease taxation; cut down on banditry; weed out monsters and beasts; stamp out courtly corruption. And that's just the surface-level stuff to make sure his own people don't put a knife in his stomach (again). I LIKE VILLAINS v1 is less about the protagonist trying to live out his life as a villain, and more about him attempting to rehabilitate his image. If Weiss can convince people that he's not such a bad guy, then maybe the hero won't take off his head when a major game event occurs. (And if Weiss can save his own hide, then maybe he can help save other game villains in the process.)
The fun thing about books with characters with nothing to lose is that they often take wild swings to make things right. That could mean taking a stroll through an unexplored forest, or that could mean crashing someone else's formal dinner party to task for military help. For example, Lord Weiss doesn't realize that when he proposes to help the local tsundere noble girl, she actively tests his honesty and his egotism in one breath. He wants to save her from a bad marriage, true, but he also desperately wants her men-at-arms' strength. Why not bring the lady some flowers, all appearances aside?
The tough thing about books with characters with nothing to lose is that the narrative pace is so fast and so direct that the story becomes predictable. Yes, this is another harem book, but why in the world would readers need to be introduced to three female co-leads in the very first volume? The result is a crowded book that overlooks the practical matters of running a territory (of indiscernible size, the author never clarifies), and instead focuses on the personalities of the people Lord Weiss runs into (at least the tiered magic system that ties them together is kind of neat).
The devoted maid (Rosalia) is hilarious, because she has the skills of a high-class adventurer and a high-class servant girl. The deadpan woman of the church (Astesia) is a bit softie on the inside. And the super-strong noble girl with the red-hot temper (Aigis) rests in the category of falling in love accidentally-on-purpose. But that's about it. I LIKE VILLAINS v1 might have pulled more laughs if it worked harder to show readers how and why Aigis is such a bitter girl (instead of offering a casual bit of backstory), and the book might have gifted readers a stronger emotional connection to Rosalia had the young woman expressed even the smallest sliver of doubt for her dear lord (instead of recklessly acceding to his every interest).
I LIKE VILLAINS v1 is a decent first volume, but its trajectory likely errs closer toward that of a rambunctious rich kid trying to convince people that he's actually a nice person. Lord Weiss doesn't do much actual governing beyond "paperwork," and the book's secondary characters, while engaging, are few and diffuse. Perhaps future installments will more earnestly expand what these characters can do, instead of mulling over who they are and how closely they hew to conventional measures of one-dimensional villainy.
I LIKE VILLAINS SO I REINCARNATED AS ONE v1 is fast, easy reading. The story falls in line with so many other isekai tales and doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the pack. The book will find a good home with readers interested in quirky characters and the fast-moving inevitabilities of subplots for which readers know where they're heading long before the characters do.
The teenage, recently orphaned Lord Weiss Hamilton is pretty crappy at running his domain. Good thing an anonymous Japanese man now lives in his body. The revitalized Lord Weiss has a lot of work to do: ease taxation; cut down on banditry; weed out monsters and beasts; stamp out courtly corruption. And that's just the surface-level stuff to make sure his own people don't put a knife in his stomach (again). I LIKE VILLAINS v1 is less about the protagonist trying to live out his life as a villain, and more about him attempting to rehabilitate his image. If Weiss can convince people that he's not such a bad guy, then maybe the hero won't take off his head when a major game event occurs. (And if Weiss can save his own hide, then maybe he can help save other game villains in the process.)
The fun thing about books with characters with nothing to lose is that they often take wild swings to make things right. That could mean taking a stroll through an unexplored forest, or that could mean crashing someone else's formal dinner party to task for military help. For example, Lord Weiss doesn't realize that when he proposes to help the local tsundere noble girl, she actively tests his honesty and his egotism in one breath. He wants to save her from a bad marriage, true, but he also desperately wants her men-at-arms' strength. Why not bring the lady some flowers, all appearances aside?
The tough thing about books with characters with nothing to lose is that the narrative pace is so fast and so direct that the story becomes predictable. Yes, this is another harem book, but why in the world would readers need to be introduced to three female co-leads in the very first volume? The result is a crowded book that overlooks the practical matters of running a territory (of indiscernible size, the author never clarifies), and instead focuses on the personalities of the people Lord Weiss runs into (at least the tiered magic system that ties them together is kind of neat).
The devoted maid (Rosalia) is hilarious, because she has the skills of a high-class adventurer and a high-class servant girl. The deadpan woman of the church (Astesia) is a bit softie on the inside. And the super-strong noble girl with the red-hot temper (Aigis) rests in the category of falling in love accidentally-on-purpose. But that's about it. I LIKE VILLAINS v1 might have pulled more laughs if it worked harder to show readers how and why Aigis is such a bitter girl (instead of offering a casual bit of backstory), and the book might have gifted readers a stronger emotional connection to Rosalia had the young woman expressed even the smallest sliver of doubt for her dear lord (instead of recklessly acceding to his every interest).
I LIKE VILLAINS v1 is a decent first volume, but its trajectory likely errs closer toward that of a rambunctious rich kid trying to convince people that he's actually a nice person. Lord Weiss doesn't do much actual governing beyond "paperwork," and the book's secondary characters, while engaging, are few and diffuse. Perhaps future installments will more earnestly expand what these characters can do, instead of mulling over who they are and how closely they hew to conventional measures of one-dimensional villainy.
March 13, 2026
For readers who love the reincarnated as a villain trope, you may enjoy this. Unfortunately, there wasn't much here that hasn't been done better elsewhere.
The main premise/gimmick that sets this book apart from others is the focus on sympathetic villain characters. The MC is a young man who plays games and relates strongly to sympathetic villains in the games. He wakes up in the body of one and works to repair the noble's image as well as help other villains from the game story.
While it's an acceptable starting point, it's not enough to hang a whole series storyline on without properly fleshed-out characters or worldbuilding. And everything about this book was just very shallow to put it mildly, or lazy to put it bluntly.
Despite occurring in a game world, there were no real mechanics to speak of, just half a dozen stat screens sprinkled throughout. The magic was bland shadow magic with no real grounding or rules, and the game world's lore was uninspired, with the good guys being the Church of Zeus and the bad guys the Church of Hades. There were no real mythology flavorings, just Hades members wanting to spread the slave trade and do other standard dastardly acts.
I think the whole "woke up as a villain" trope has gotten a little too popular for its own good, and I accidentally scraped the bottom of the barrel when I picked up this book and would have dropped it if it hadn't been so short and such a quick read. If it were on KU, it might still be worth an afternoon, but if you have to spend money to actually purchase the book, then I would recommend looking elsewhere for something better.
The main premise/gimmick that sets this book apart from others is the focus on sympathetic villain characters. The MC is a young man who plays games and relates strongly to sympathetic villains in the games. He wakes up in the body of one and works to repair the noble's image as well as help other villains from the game story.
While it's an acceptable starting point, it's not enough to hang a whole series storyline on without properly fleshed-out characters or worldbuilding. And everything about this book was just very shallow to put it mildly, or lazy to put it bluntly.
Despite occurring in a game world, there were no real mechanics to speak of, just half a dozen stat screens sprinkled throughout. The magic was bland shadow magic with no real grounding or rules, and the game world's lore was uninspired, with the good guys being the Church of Zeus and the bad guys the Church of Hades. There were no real mythology flavorings, just Hades members wanting to spread the slave trade and do other standard dastardly acts.
I think the whole "woke up as a villain" trope has gotten a little too popular for its own good, and I accidentally scraped the bottom of the barrel when I picked up this book and would have dropped it if it hadn't been so short and such a quick read. If it were on KU, it might still be worth an afternoon, but if you have to spend money to actually purchase the book, then I would recommend looking elsewhere for something better.
April 8, 2026
very low quality writing
April 19, 2026
Really cute! Would recommend if ur tired of normal mc’s this ones special and different
April 30, 2026
Extremely cute. At times there were confusing moments because the storyline went a little too fast, but still enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews