Rentt ventures into a labyrinth to collect materials for Alize's first weapon, but while there he stumbles into trouble yet again. Monsters that shouldn't exist on the floors where he's finding them, things the Adventurer's Guild never reported . . . and when that's done, he needs to deal with some very unwelcome visitors to his small town.
I didn't realize it was possible until now for a fight with a dragon to be boring. I found myself really skimming the first chunk of this, where Rentt is dungeon-diving, and I usually like those kinds of bits. Once again, the skills Rentt actually displays during his dungeon delving is so far removed from what the plot would have you believe it's rather noticeable. He acts like a complete amateur. Especially with getting distracted mid-fight to monologue, or getting distracted staring at the scenery of new areas.
The meeting was a bit better, but I found the vampire hunter annoying and hope she has a minimal role in the story going forward. (I have one reasonable guess as to the actual vampire, if it is supposed to be someone we've already met.) At least her presence prompts Rentt to do something he's never considered before---leave town. That means future volumes may be a little more interesting.
I'm also a bit baffled the swamp request was such a big deal so recently and at this point I don't think he's ever done the request again. Or if he did the story completely skipped him doing what should have been a weekly delivery.
This volume was almost tedious enough to get me to quit the series, but given the ending promises at least a few interesting things, I might go on a bit farther. I rate this book Neutral.
Excessive, useless padding and taking forever to make a point is becoming the hallmark of this series. I find myself scrolling quickly through the pages, scanning for repeated words that signify redundant passages, trying desperately to find the plot.
Just like the previous books the author continues to ramble endlessly on redundant musings. It borderlines on information dumping except it's information that you've already been given in previous books and often previously in this book. The best word that I can think of that isn't mean would be long-winded. As for the story in this volume I was kind of shocked at how little progress was made towards the main plot line. About 75% at least of this volume is what I would call a fetch quest. If you're familiar with the video game world, particularly MMOs, there tend to be a lot of filler quests where you have to go collect a bunch of different items and submit them to create other items. This is much the same, because of financial problems Rentt Make the choice to go into the dungeon and collect the materials to make the equipment for his new apprentice, the young orphan who has zero money. After a sufficient amount of time running around in the dungeon collecting material components he comes back up to deal with the last bits related to the tarasque. To be fair I did find some of the combat interesting in the last half of the dungeon delving, there were some dramatically different events in comparison to what was shown in the manga, I think volume 11? I don't want to go into too much details there cuz spoilers but they did change out the dragon events. Next came getting resolution for the tarasque auction, which was also part of volume 11 in the manga, and that was a surprisingly small piece of the volume. There were a handful of interludes and bonus chapter type things, I have no idea why they weren't just called chapters for the most part because they were pretty much chronologically in place with the story. Maybe they just didn't want it to end up being categorized as an anthology by having the POV changing. I can see how that would get messy.
So to sum it up, I did enjoy chunks of this volume. I am not 100% convinced however that somebody who has read the manga up through volume 11 needs to read volumes three and four of the light novels. The manga does a fantastic job of abridging the light novel series. However, if you are a fan of the series and want to support more content than this is definitely the way to do it. There is a dramatic difference between anime, manga, and the light novels that if you are a fan of the series you will get more insight and intrigue by including this in your library. I know for a fact that when / if I reread the series I would skip reading three and four. I also think that I would very quickly be happy to purchase an abridged version of the series just so that my rereads wouldn't be torture. I'm just glad that I am an experienced enough reader that I can skim looking for the parts that are worth deep reading.
I like the direction they're going for the next volume, but this one had some pacing issues. It didn't really build up to any sort of finale, it just lingered after the dungeon hunt / mining ore event. Lots of setup for the next volume (the girls on the cover being Nive, a vampire hunter who may or may not be out for Rent's blood, and Myullias, a priestess who is a member of a big church in a major city but doing protection duty for Nive in negotiations).
Monster types are pretty interesting in this one as Rent goes further down in a dungeon to collect wood and gems / ore for crafting a wep / staff for one of the woman at the orphanage he helped previously (a girl he plans to train). Monkeys, Tree monsters, dragons, oh my! There's also a lot of hinting about ancient history, the mine's holding potential man-made gifts in them that they sucked in (potentially over 1000 years ago from a very advanced civilization). You wonder where they'll go with that aspect, or if it's just some random lore.
We do also get the hint of a long lived villain entering the plot, a special vampire that is said to be ultra powerful. Villagers have gone missing lately, and a vampire is suspected to be the culprit. Surely we'll meet them soon.
Rent's Vampire type form is also questioned by the book's end, with a promise that we'll be exploring a bit more of why he is the way he is in the future. The first lead? Rent's hometown and the shrine he fixed; we need to learn who or what god gave him the divinity he now possesses.
At the end of Volume 3, the author talks about changing the original direction of the story. PLEASE go back. Books 3 and 4 have been total trash. The MC wants to become a higher level, but is wasting time babysitting and spending time and money on an unnecessary disciple (this character's involvement needed to end with the orphanage story). Then they add religion, which is always a trashy topic, just as politics. The vampire hunter is also such a hateful character, hope she won't come back. This was supposed to be an ADVENTURE and self-discovery story. Another conflict is the "dungeon", wasn't he supposed to stay away from the Labyrinth because of some abductions? What happened with those? What happened to the flower hunting that will also bring him a lot of $$$? I feel the story is running rampant all over the place; it has lost its focus. I expect not to enjoy the next book either since the "solo" adventure now will include the Lorraine character, which I have NO love for, just another spoiled, selfish brat. But at least they go traveling, which might be a good change. If the next book is as bad as 3 and 4 have been, I will be dropping the story. So sad, I really enjoyed the beginning ones. On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
If you read my review on Amazon, you might think it is unfavorable. I did, in fact, complain about some of the author's propensities to write one sentence of action followed by 10 paragraphs of explaining the MCs life story and how it lead to that particular action.
In later books the author has reduced that some what.
Despite my complaints I have bought all of the books and have read them because the story is pretty good. I think it has unique features for the genre and the adventure itself is interesting.
If you are a person who is into the minutiae of every thought of the MC, this series will be amazing to you. I like SOME of that, but I am also impatient. But again, story is good. Don't let my review stop you from reading it.
Not much happens here. It's all fun, just poorly paced for being a single book. A problem as a volume alone, but quite entertaining if you're just reading through the series. This is just a symptom of books that were written for web consumption first. They aren't always designed for the size of standard novels. This is actually a good thing imho, but it can be strange if you pick the book up all by itself and attempt to judge it by its merits as a standalone novel.
Better than expected though sadly it stopped in what seems to be the middle of a conversation. I am thinking that is part of how they meet publication dates. Here is to hoping volume 5 continues off of the epilogue of volume 4.
Volume 4 is much like previous parts, a relatively short slice-of-life story told from Rennt perspective, including a bit of rambling that might make some sense (people are rarely completely focussed), but can drag on a bit or cause confusion by for example summarizing events too much or having you loose sight on what exactly is going on. Unlike earlier volumes it is less explaining the same thing multiple times and more side tracks and overly wordy which is an improvement. Plot wise this is mostly a setup for the next book since little of import happens. Still, I like the characters for the most part and find the worldbuilding intriguing (e.g. at least some thought is given to the fact that Dungeons for example are odd and that people would theorize on what they are) and I like slow burns, so I enjoyed it overall. A decent read for people who enjoy the genre and who can deal with the writing style.