The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind!, Volume 2

The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! #2

by Gamei Hitsuji, himesuz (Illustrator), Hikoki (Translator)

Finally striking out on his own, Suimei departs the castle and heads to the capital to join up with the local branch of the Adventurer’s Guild. He meets a beautiful and talented young woman there who’s received a strange bit of advice from the oracle. They both join up, and Suimei begins his new life as... a totally average mage in this world? What is he thinking? And what of Reiji, Mizuki, and Titania? How will any of them handle their first encounter with a real demon?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Adventure, Harem, Fiction, Young Adult

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2014

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second volume indulges in jargon and complex magical descriptions a bit too much, and I'm not thrilled with some of the more sexist aspects of it, such as Lefille's curse. But overall this is still an interesting take on the oversaturated isekai genre, and I'll keep reading.


Full Review Eventually Appearing on ANN.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume doesn't do much to advance our hero's journey (finding a way to create a portal home), just more presents problems and new characters for him.

We get to see the limitations of Suimei's abilities. I kind of zoned out towards the end, but I know he mentioned using his Mana Oven or whatever, which is like the highest powered magic he has. So demons are pretty strong in that world, he won't be able to just fry through a million of them in one battle likely. Suimei's goal is also a bit more childish than I took him for, as is his reason to fight (I thought he'd be more about himself, which I would like, but nope, he's more altruistic and empathetic than he put on in volume 1; kind of disappointing honestly).

This introduces a new main character, a red head, Lefille Grakis, who our main character meets by chance. She's still a bit mysterious I think, but we do learn a bit of her backstory (adventurer seeking retribution for some event from her past involving demons) and get to see what she brings to the table battle wise. This series seems like it will go harem, but I guess that remains to be seen. Most of the rest of the introduced cast are more side character in nature, besides maybe Dorothea at the guild.

Besides Lefille, we do briefly see Mizuki, Tia, and our hero, along with Tia's retainers. One of her retainer's hints of a skeem to take advantage of Suimei as a decoy (I guess they threw out hints of him being the hero?) to help our hero escape. Of course, the group is having none of this, and the hero runs off towards Suimei. I believe he didn't reach him this volume, so we'll see what happens in the next one.

Similarly, our mage friend, Menia / Felmenia is also on the hunt to catch up to Suimei. She had some last second preparation (she's got some writings with advice about his magic iirc), so she's still chasing his heels. We don't see much of her after the opening, so pretty much what we know from volume 1 is what we've got.

I'm intrigued by some things that weren't 100% spelled out in this volume. One was Tia's line about misreading Suimei. I'm wondering what she took him for, and if she had read his character right, what she would have done differently. Lefille seemed more mysterious than she let on, but I think I just misread that myself. There were little wrinkles at the beginning and at the end that I didn't really love involving mindwiping and infantilising characters. I just don't like when what seems like a character relationship setup is hampered by supernatural elements that keep characters from getting closer.

The final twist involving the Demon-Lord wasn't really anything too crazy considering other series that have featured that trope. I do feel like the Demons in this series will be more sympathetic at the end of the day, maybe even the key to going home, but where will that leave our hero's party and the initial kingdom (along with the rest of the world).

[Aelvana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suimei has split off from his friends and strikes out on his own---but his journey to find a way back to Earth hits some immediate problems. Just attempting the trivial task of joining the Adventurer's Guild has him accidentally violating a lot of social norms. And what should have been a simple journey to find more information leads him straight into an even bigger problem . . .

I'm still on the fence about the series but figured I'd read the second volume because my least favorite character from the first book doesn't show up at all. I can't say this volume did much to change my mind overall. For all the awesome fight scenes and interesting discussions of magic, there's still an undertone of voyeurism against the main girls, as well as a lot of the more tiresome tropes about how girls act.

That said, this volume mostly focuses on Lefille, a girl of unusual fighting prowess that Suimei meets when registering as an adventurer. She's competent, but guarded, and much of the plot focuses on slowly revealing her history. I felt like it might have gone a bit overboard with pushing her into despair closer to the end, but given that she doesn't get an awful ending, I'm more okay with it.

We also get the first real look at the demons. It's hilarious that Suimei basically fails to deal with them properly the first time around because he's overly focused on the mechanics of how their powers and resistances work, and completely misses the obvious. I do appreciate that he also points out his own limits, and that he doesn't anticipate being able to deal with the demon lord regardless--his methods are strong, but in some ways that's because he's only been up against relatively weaker demons. The jury's still out on whether it will truly require the Hero to defeat the demon lord, but I think there's a good chance Suimei may require the Hero's help once he gets dragged into fighting the final boss.

Overall, I only continued this because it was free for the month, but everything I like about the book tends to get mixed up with everything I dislike. I was more fond of Lefille than the girls in the previous volume, but that just made it worse to see her humiliated. I rate this book Neutral.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a lot happens in book two. Our non-hero fights a demon… twice. There is a lot of word vomit about the magic Suimei brings from his old world without ever going anywhere near explaining it, it’s origins, or its limitations. There are no rules to the magic so everything is very vague despite the many, many slow paragraphs of exposition on the magic. The dialog remains terrible with the oft repeated problem of literal translation where exchanges in dialog are immediately repeated in the narrative prose. And then, the author goes to the trouble of introducing a potentially strong female character only to derail her with a damsel in distress plot and over-sexualized curse. As expected, this volume builds upon the terrible execution of the first. It does not bode well for subsequent volumes in the series as the author’s acknowledgment suggests this is the end of the original web novel content he is rewriting from. If this is re-edited copy, I cannot imagine what initially published draft material reads like…

[Wing999 · Rating 3 out of 5]

To technical at times

It's not a bad story, but it was bit dry at times It also got annoying when in the middle of fight there was more time spent talking than anything else or there would be a scene where someone was trying to explain some event or another it took 6 pages to explain because the guy kept getting interrupted for stupid question that would derail from the main topic

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The in depth explanation of the magic system in this volume is amazing. I with there would have been more of that in volume 1 (I may have read this one sooner). Little on the dark side, but a great advancement in the story.

[Mhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Next book.

I really hate when bad guys come back after they are killed. You must have a really really good excuse to have them come back, and so far 25% into book three, I don’t see it. I’m not happy about the repetition.

[Alec Rebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is alright but the story doesn't have strong enough elements to keep me invested and the main protagonist says one thing and does another all the time

3.5

[Claire Allerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

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[Tom99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas mal, on en apprends pas mal sur le passé de Suimei et je trouve Lefille fait un bon personnage qui accompagne Suimei.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was mostly a load of melodramatic nonsense. What happened to not taking itself too seriously?

[Tesla · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10

[Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better. Ish

[David Anthony Beard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume introduces a new character (girl on the cover). The MC finally leaves the first city on his own to start his adventure. We also get out first look at the demons. It is shaping up to be a decent story.