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Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Light Novels #2
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, Vol. 2
Love consultations, cook-offs, magic-item exhibitions, and more...I already had my "hands" full with requests from the people of Clearflow Lake, and now Captain Kerioyl and his Menagerie of Fools have roped Lammis, Hulemy, and me into some sort of investigation!
But after a series of unfortunate events, I've gotten separated from Lammis and find myself all alone in an area far deeper than I've ever been before! Something tells me I have another major battle ahead...What's a vending machine to do?!
But after a series of unfortunate events, I've gotten separated from Lammis and find myself all alone in an area far deeper than I've ever been before! Something tells me I have another major battle ahead...What's a vending machine to do?!
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2016
33 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 30, 2019
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. But it felt like two stories strung together and, while it did have some world building, it didn't have much tension or meaningful conflict.
September 29, 2018
I really liked the first Reborn as a Vending Machine volume. I enjoyed its very detailed focus on the main character’s/machine’s sales and the decisions made on how to reinvest the points earned in new products and functions. Apart from its humorous premise, it was a book about resource management. That is nearly all gone in the second volume, instead it plays up the series humorous parts as well as its (and yes this is very odd given that the character is a vending machine) dungeon crawling aspects. And while I still enjoyed the second volume, I liked the focus of the first book better.
January 29, 2021
Just as fun as the first. Theres more world building and adventure to this one.. I enjoy even the side characters and what they get up to. I really hope the series continues after volume 3. Wah I'll be really depressed if not.
February 26, 2019
Vending Machine: Boxxo -- Rank 2.
The marvelous adventures of Boxxo and Lammis continue amid the casual and frantic endeavors of the residents of the Clearflow Lake stratum. After the chaos of the first volume, one would think that Boxxo would try laying low for a while and build up his points, right? Well, that's kind of the plan. Except, his buddy Lammis is eager to get back to monster-hunting, while his less-friendly buddies, the Menagerie of Fools, remain dedicated to plundering the wares of their foes without a second thought. REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE #2 offers a fairly placid observation a battle's aftermath. More adventures are around the corner, true, but to get to those awesome new adventures, readers must to sit and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait.
The first half of the book tracks Boxxo as he acclimates to the Clearflow Lake stratum in its rebuilding phase: listening to residents gripe about their love life; attending community meetings to devise a plan against the dreaded Chains Restaurant; and standing in for a friend at a magic-item exhibition. Interesting, to be sure, but not particularly exciting. In this volume, the author assembled the necessary character dynamics by way of the monotony of daily life rather than through the urgency of a common crisis.
REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE #2 doesn't prove as intellectually curious as the previous volume until its halfway point -- showcasing a gripping battle between Boxxo, Lammis, and the Menagerie and a massive crocodile beast, the Octo Croc. From this point forward, Boxxo becomes an unwitting action hero, and the result is as hilarious as it is exciting. The character's ingenuity and logic are a force to be reckoned with. It's a shame the book's first 100 pages are dripping with tedium, but for readers willing to stick through the novel's slow parts, the latter 100 pages totally make up for it.
Furthermore, the added focus or detail on the secondary characters, although a bit boring, does have its highlights. Hulemy, the magic-item engineer, gets a lot of page time in this volume. Overall, this is excellent, since a bold, smart, and tactful female character is the perfect complement to Boxxo's pragmatism. Lammis may be Boxxo's emotional totem, but Hulemy is the perfect mirror to Boxxo's intellectual poise. At one point, it's quite clear she's grown fond of him, blushing at inopportune times and expressing genuine worry ("Hulemy puts her forehead on me and hits me lightly with her fist [..] her voice sounds unusually weak," pp. 160–162).
Quite the harem this guy has acquired, huh?
It's worth noting that this book sets aside much of the kitschy insider-knowledge that made the first volume a treasure trove of geek lit. As such, the title dips its toes deeper into the waters of middle fantasy. It's a bit of a mixed bag, really, since the transition requires a good deal of people-watching, but so long as Boxxo continues to work his way from one adventure to another, then it's all good.
The marvelous adventures of Boxxo and Lammis continue amid the casual and frantic endeavors of the residents of the Clearflow Lake stratum. After the chaos of the first volume, one would think that Boxxo would try laying low for a while and build up his points, right? Well, that's kind of the plan. Except, his buddy Lammis is eager to get back to monster-hunting, while his less-friendly buddies, the Menagerie of Fools, remain dedicated to plundering the wares of their foes without a second thought. REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE #2 offers a fairly placid observation a battle's aftermath. More adventures are around the corner, true, but to get to those awesome new adventures, readers must to sit and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait.
The first half of the book tracks Boxxo as he acclimates to the Clearflow Lake stratum in its rebuilding phase: listening to residents gripe about their love life; attending community meetings to devise a plan against the dreaded Chains Restaurant; and standing in for a friend at a magic-item exhibition. Interesting, to be sure, but not particularly exciting. In this volume, the author assembled the necessary character dynamics by way of the monotony of daily life rather than through the urgency of a common crisis.
REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE #2 doesn't prove as intellectually curious as the previous volume until its halfway point -- showcasing a gripping battle between Boxxo, Lammis, and the Menagerie and a massive crocodile beast, the Octo Croc. From this point forward, Boxxo becomes an unwitting action hero, and the result is as hilarious as it is exciting. The character's ingenuity and logic are a force to be reckoned with. It's a shame the book's first 100 pages are dripping with tedium, but for readers willing to stick through the novel's slow parts, the latter 100 pages totally make up for it.
Furthermore, the added focus or detail on the secondary characters, although a bit boring, does have its highlights. Hulemy, the magic-item engineer, gets a lot of page time in this volume. Overall, this is excellent, since a bold, smart, and tactful female character is the perfect complement to Boxxo's pragmatism. Lammis may be Boxxo's emotional totem, but Hulemy is the perfect mirror to Boxxo's intellectual poise. At one point, it's quite clear she's grown fond of him, blushing at inopportune times and expressing genuine worry ("Hulemy puts her forehead on me and hits me lightly with her fist [..] her voice sounds unusually weak," pp. 160–162).
Quite the harem this guy has acquired, huh?
It's worth noting that this book sets aside much of the kitschy insider-knowledge that made the first volume a treasure trove of geek lit. As such, the title dips its toes deeper into the waters of middle fantasy. It's a bit of a mixed bag, really, since the transition requires a good deal of people-watching, but so long as Boxxo continues to work his way from one adventure to another, then it's all good.
June 24, 2020
If you've read my review of the first of these light novels, then you probably already know I had a lot of fun with it in spite of my ever-shifting moods towards isekai and in spite of the book's inability to choose whether it wants to be a ludicrous story of fan service and vending machine absurdity, or something with an actual plot. Generally speaking, the same holds true for this second installment in the series.
We start off with some more wacky shenanigans overall, but roughly the last half of the book goes into a more serious level of story-telling, once "dungeon boss monsters" start showing up and Boxxo gets lost, and found, and found again. (Yes, he gets found twice, that wasn't a typing error on my part.) While I feel like the first light novel dipped somewhere in the mid-mark thanks to the sudden shift towards fan service, this one sort of dipped in the beginning and was very slow to get anywhere beyond general shenanigans. The second half and the ending picked up quite a bit by comparison, and I was able to bust through what I had left to read in one sitting.
I would love to consider this a portent of a more focused plot and better story-telling being written in, but based on reviews I've read for the third light novel, both on here and Amazon, that doesn't seem to be the case. While the first book was a decent entry into the world and concept, and this book upped the ante, all the reviews I'm seeing for the third one state that the plot starts to meander and read more as episodic slice-of-life adventures without an overarching plot. And it seems as though we're not getting more any time soon, as apparently the third book was published in Japan in February 2017, so there's a good chance that third installment is going to be the last. It's entirely possible the series got canceled, and if that's the case, I'm a little disappointed because, ridiculous as this story could get, it's at least fun.
At present, I'm not sure whether or not I'll pick up that third light novel, but I absolutely enjoyed this one and I'm glad that I bought it!
We start off with some more wacky shenanigans overall, but roughly the last half of the book goes into a more serious level of story-telling, once "dungeon boss monsters" start showing up and Boxxo gets lost, and found, and found again. (Yes, he gets found twice, that wasn't a typing error on my part.) While I feel like the first light novel dipped somewhere in the mid-mark thanks to the sudden shift towards fan service, this one sort of dipped in the beginning and was very slow to get anywhere beyond general shenanigans. The second half and the ending picked up quite a bit by comparison, and I was able to bust through what I had left to read in one sitting.
I would love to consider this a portent of a more focused plot and better story-telling being written in, but based on reviews I've read for the third light novel, both on here and Amazon, that doesn't seem to be the case. While the first book was a decent entry into the world and concept, and this book upped the ante, all the reviews I'm seeing for the third one state that the plot starts to meander and read more as episodic slice-of-life adventures without an overarching plot. And it seems as though we're not getting more any time soon, as apparently the third book was published in Japan in February 2017, so there's a good chance that third installment is going to be the last. It's entirely possible the series got canceled, and if that's the case, I'm a little disappointed because, ridiculous as this story could get, it's at least fun.
At present, I'm not sure whether or not I'll pick up that third light novel, but I absolutely enjoyed this one and I'm glad that I bought it!
September 26, 2021
This series continues to surprise me as I read each volume. For example, this volume deals with menstruation at one point, something I was not expecting. And even better, it handled it well and in in doing so, added a level of realism to the story and the world. After all, feminine hygiene products being introduced to a fantasy medieval setting would be a huge change for the women of that world.
We are also treated to the protagonist being away from his partner for a fair bit of the book, and it was nice to watch him try and problem solve his way through various situations. Like the first book, the author comes up with a number of creative situations to the problems the protagonist faces, and half the fun of this series is seeing just how he will get out of certain situations.
There are also some interesting side characters introduced in this book. Can't say I am a huge fan of the Glutton Squad or whatever their names were. Sure, they would be cute and all that if this ever saw the screen, but all in all they kind of annoyed me. But that's just me, other people probably have a differing opinion. I also liked the insecure social anxiety hero. I thought the addition of him was one that worked well in the story and added a very human touch to things.
All in all, I liked this volume and look forward to the third one. If you like unique isekai stories, this is the one for you!
We are also treated to the protagonist being away from his partner for a fair bit of the book, and it was nice to watch him try and problem solve his way through various situations. Like the first book, the author comes up with a number of creative situations to the problems the protagonist faces, and half the fun of this series is seeing just how he will get out of certain situations.
There are also some interesting side characters introduced in this book. Can't say I am a huge fan of the Glutton Squad or whatever their names were. Sure, they would be cute and all that if this ever saw the screen, but all in all they kind of annoyed me. But that's just me, other people probably have a differing opinion. I also liked the insecure social anxiety hero. I thought the addition of him was one that worked well in the story and added a very human touch to things.
All in all, I liked this volume and look forward to the third one. If you like unique isekai stories, this is the one for you!
May 2, 2021
Boxxo is back, and this time things are a bit more action-focused. But is that really for the best?
Unfortunately, a lot of the nerdy charm that the first volume has is lost in the second. Gone are the explanations of points values and careful balancing of Boxxo's spending habits. In a lot of ways, those aspects are what drew me in and kept me invested in the story of the first book. While this 2nd volume isn't necessarily any worse it just felt a lot less engaging. Boxxo's additional features continue to grow as he expands his arsenal and it was fun to see large enemies taken out but it still felt like much more of a drag to get through.
[2.5 / 5]
Unfortunately, a lot of the nerdy charm that the first volume has is lost in the second. Gone are the explanations of points values and careful balancing of Boxxo's spending habits. In a lot of ways, those aspects are what drew me in and kept me invested in the story of the first book. While this 2nd volume isn't necessarily any worse it just felt a lot less engaging. Boxxo's additional features continue to grow as he expands his arsenal and it was fun to see large enemies taken out but it still felt like much more of a drag to get through.
[2.5 / 5]
September 3, 2018
Reborn in another world
The author did a very good job in this book. It really stands out from the other reborn in another world books because of the main character being a vending machine and not a overpowered character.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
The author did a very good job in this book. It really stands out from the other reborn in another world books because of the main character being a vending machine and not a overpowered character.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
November 10, 2018
7/10
Second volume is almost as good as the first one, it develops a story in a good way, and the humour is still there.
Second volume is almost as good as the first one, it develops a story in a good way, and the humour is still there.
January 28, 2025
Not as good as the first, a bit too much fixation on body image for a machine.......and the adventure part felt a bit all over the place. Onto my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
February 14, 2022
Nice book, with a easy plot to follow.
However it hasn't happened much in grand scheme of things.
However it hasn't happened much in grand scheme of things.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews