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The Magician Who Rose From Failure Light Novel #1
The Magician Who Rose From Failure: Volume 1
The Raythefts are an old, minor noble house defined by magical talent and martial service. When six-year-old Arcus Raytheft, firstborn son to the family, proves disappointingly inept at magic, he is stripped of his inheritance and written off by his parents. His adoptive sister Lecia still adores him, but as the new heir, she is forbidden to interact with anyone who might drag her down.
But when one inheritance is lost, fate arranges Arcus remembers another life, in a world where science prevails and magic belongs to the realm of fiction. Suddenly endowed with the life experience of a grown man and pressed to find a purpose as his family turns against him, Arcus resolves to find a way to break the laws of magic and Raytheft tradition over his knee!
But when one inheritance is lost, fate arranges Arcus remembers another life, in a world where science prevails and magic belongs to the realm of fiction. Suddenly endowed with the life experience of a grown man and pressed to find a purpose as his family turns against him, Arcus resolves to find a way to break the laws of magic and Raytheft tradition over his knee!
289 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 17, 2021
98 people are currently reading
145 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 12, 2024
Meh. I don’t really like the magic system and the whole political thing with the nobles and the king and the crown Prince aren’t human and who is Sue and the convoluted plot by the bad guy and blah blah blah blah blah.
Whatever. I am also not a fan of tarting up the MC H’s eight year old sister on the cover. That’s just gross. Stop sexualizing young girls. She wasn’t sexualized in the book, thank goodness, but we don’t need that on the cover either.
2, not going to continue with this series, stars.
Whatever. I am also not a fan of tarting up the MC H’s eight year old sister on the cover. That’s just gross. Stop sexualizing young girls. She wasn’t sexualized in the book, thank goodness, but we don’t need that on the cover either.
2, not going to continue with this series, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2021
Good Start
This story is about a man reincarnated into another world where he is a noble disinherited for not living up to the Raytheft name. The reason being that he does not possess enough aether which his parents view as an afront to their family (he has above average which is low for a prestigous family). Now that he has his past life memories he strives to prove them wrong and to show them that talent and inherent power are not the same thing, and that a powerful magician does not have to be a strong one.
The magick system is antiquated as far as story going goes. While spell books do not seem to be a thing - though magicians do keep journals that essentially serve the same purpose to an extent and they do study from grimoires that contain stories and the Elder language - spell casting works on the fundemental process of utilizing what I have always called "words of power". How does it work, in this story the "Elder lanuage" is composed of words of power that can cause internal and external phenomona using an individuals inherent aether. The Elder language is the oldest language, probably the original and if you want to get theological it could be considered the words that spoke eveything into existence. Just be aware this theology was not eluded/implied in the story so far. Basicly the words act as a focus for which the intent of a spell can be directed. The words of course must be imbued with their aether/mana.
Fairy tales and even more modern works of fiction use the same magickal system. To name a couple would be books such as Harry Potter and Name of the Wind. Also, songs in many stories hold the same principle, many of Disney's movies are a good example of this (EX: Tangled, She sings to activate the magical phemomon in her hair, the wording has meaning and focuses the intent and so on).
This is done well by the author as he explains enough of this to ensure the readers understand the system and also shows how flexible and constraining it can be.
All and all this story was good but not original. If you are a fan of isekai light novels this one wont disappoint. You will see tropes that you normally do, like Arcus (MC) using the science of his previous life to assist him with his magickal studies and application. I for one enjoyed this and will continue this series, hopfully you will purchase this volume and do so as well.
This story is about a man reincarnated into another world where he is a noble disinherited for not living up to the Raytheft name. The reason being that he does not possess enough aether which his parents view as an afront to their family (he has above average which is low for a prestigous family). Now that he has his past life memories he strives to prove them wrong and to show them that talent and inherent power are not the same thing, and that a powerful magician does not have to be a strong one.
The magick system is antiquated as far as story going goes. While spell books do not seem to be a thing - though magicians do keep journals that essentially serve the same purpose to an extent and they do study from grimoires that contain stories and the Elder language - spell casting works on the fundemental process of utilizing what I have always called "words of power". How does it work, in this story the "Elder lanuage" is composed of words of power that can cause internal and external phenomona using an individuals inherent aether. The Elder language is the oldest language, probably the original and if you want to get theological it could be considered the words that spoke eveything into existence. Just be aware this theology was not eluded/implied in the story so far. Basicly the words act as a focus for which the intent of a spell can be directed. The words of course must be imbued with their aether/mana.
Fairy tales and even more modern works of fiction use the same magickal system. To name a couple would be books such as Harry Potter and Name of the Wind. Also, songs in many stories hold the same principle, many of Disney's movies are a good example of this (EX: Tangled, She sings to activate the magical phemomon in her hair, the wording has meaning and focuses the intent and so on).
This is done well by the author as he explains enough of this to ensure the readers understand the system and also shows how flexible and constraining it can be.
All and all this story was good but not original. If you are a fan of isekai light novels this one wont disappoint. You will see tropes that you normally do, like Arcus (MC) using the science of his previous life to assist him with his magickal studies and application. I for one enjoyed this and will continue this series, hopfully you will purchase this volume and do so as well.
December 30, 2021
I got to around page 100 and I just couldn't get into this one. I hate stories with a child genius and Arcus's backstory of living another life through a dream felt like it was slapped in there because it's a light novel and the author wanted his protagonist to be smarter than everyone else. The author wanted you to hate Arcus's parents by making them over the top scumbags and it felt very cartoonish. All the other characters are boring, the only one that was halfway interesting was Craib. Dialouge was cringe and nothing of interest happens (for at least as far as I got). The book is full of exposition and it felt like I was the one doing the studying instead of the protagonist.
March 16, 2024
This starts off well with a really interesting approach to magic where it all comes from reading ancient texts and using their ideas to construct sentences but ultimately it commits too many sins of the immature author to make me want to keep reading the series.
The big problem is that it's afraid the reader won't handle any adversity, the protagonist is in a really bad situation being both magically weak and disinherited but he solves all of his problems by just asking his uncle for help. Also later on it turns out that our protagonist isn't even weak, he's actually slightly above average and the disinheritance comes purely from his parents wanting an absolute powerhouse.
Thus we are left reading the tale of the above-average magician who has a giant advantage over everyone else in spell creation because of his past life memories. There's nothing interesting happening here, the only struggle that can occur has to be contrived.
And speaking of contrived struggle we get to the final chapter of the book where the second big sin of the author is committed, namely having his book immediately descend into chunni nonsense. As we've established our protagonist is supposed to not have much of a leg up over anyone else yet when the conflict happens the author doesn't even trust the reader enough to make the adversary more powerful than our child with average magical power.
In short this is an author who came up with a cool idea for magic but immediately squandered it because they were afraid of giving their protagonist an actual challenge. If you're going to do this kind of looked down upon because they're weak story you have to actually make the protagonist weak; instead he's so strong that after about 150 pages other characters are already calling the parents who disinherited him idiots.
The big problem is that it's afraid the reader won't handle any adversity, the protagonist is in a really bad situation being both magically weak and disinherited but he solves all of his problems by just asking his uncle for help. Also later on it turns out that our protagonist isn't even weak, he's actually slightly above average and the disinheritance comes purely from his parents wanting an absolute powerhouse.
Thus we are left reading the tale of the above-average magician who has a giant advantage over everyone else in spell creation because of his past life memories. There's nothing interesting happening here, the only struggle that can occur has to be contrived.
And speaking of contrived struggle we get to the final chapter of the book where the second big sin of the author is committed, namely having his book immediately descend into chunni nonsense. As we've established our protagonist is supposed to not have much of a leg up over anyone else yet when the conflict happens the author doesn't even trust the reader enough to make the adversary more powerful than our child with average magical power.
In short this is an author who came up with a cool idea for magic but immediately squandered it because they were afraid of giving their protagonist an actual challenge. If you're going to do this kind of looked down upon because they're weak story you have to actually make the protagonist weak; instead he's so strong that after about 150 pages other characters are already calling the parents who disinherited him idiots.
November 24, 2021
5 For The Philosophers To Ponder And For Me To Comfortably Ignore Stars
The Magician Who Rose From Failure: Volume 1 by Gamei Hitsuji, is the first installment into this world.
There were definite moments when the syntax used rubbed me the wrong way. I could imagine it was from the translation process? I'd have to check if this was even released in another language originally?? However, outside of these nominal instances there wasn't truly much I could find fault in with this work.
Arcus Raytheft has been an intrigue character to discover, and watch grow. Perhaps, the minute irritation attached "the man's world", instead of a name for this reincarnation would have been an appreciated aspect of his backstop to include. Alas, I enjoyed his relationship with his sister. As well, the ones he shared with his Uncle "The Crucible" and trusted servant Noah Ingvayne.
I truly cannot wait for Sue's identity to be revealed, or for the Prince and Arcus to cross paths. That initial introduction will definitely be interesting.
As the magic is further explained, the world inside this novel expands. While I wish we were able to understand more about the surrounding nations, and therefore further state of this world as a whole... Especially given how often the authors remarks on the other kingdoms or nations hostility towards the one in which Arcus and Co. reside.
The Magician Who Rose From Failure: Volume 1 by Gamei Hitsuji, is the first installment into this world.
There were definite moments when the syntax used rubbed me the wrong way. I could imagine it was from the translation process? I'd have to check if this was even released in another language originally?? However, outside of these nominal instances there wasn't truly much I could find fault in with this work.
Arcus Raytheft has been an intrigue character to discover, and watch grow. Perhaps, the minute irritation attached "the man's world", instead of a name for this reincarnation would have been an appreciated aspect of his backstop to include. Alas, I enjoyed his relationship with his sister. As well, the ones he shared with his Uncle "The Crucible" and trusted servant Noah Ingvayne.
I truly cannot wait for Sue's identity to be revealed, or for the Prince and Arcus to cross paths. That initial introduction will definitely be interesting.
As the magic is further explained, the world inside this novel expands. While I wish we were able to understand more about the surrounding nations, and therefore further state of this world as a whole... Especially given how often the authors remarks on the other kingdoms or nations hostility towards the one in which Arcus and Co. reside.
September 17, 2021
Overall writing: ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
Plot: ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
Biggest Con:
- Sometimes it was difficult keeping track of who the POV was coming from
Biggest Pro:
- An interesting plot that kept me wondering how things would play out
While this is another light novel where the main characters are mostly children, this one's done a bit more tactfully then others. I still had to knock a star off for it, though. I'm tired of reading about weirdly mature children, even if the story points out that they're weirdly mature and gives it reasons. Just use older characters and there's no issue with having to make excuses for their thought process.
That being said, the story flowed well and kept me entertained. It did more showing and less telling, which was nice. The foreshadowing was still obvious, but less painful to read. Overall it's a nice novel that has a nice flow. If you're looking for something to bide your time in-between other books, then I'd say give this one a try.
Plot: ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
Biggest Con:
- Sometimes it was difficult keeping track of who the POV was coming from
Biggest Pro:
- An interesting plot that kept me wondering how things would play out
While this is another light novel where the main characters are mostly children, this one's done a bit more tactfully then others. I still had to knock a star off for it, though. I'm tired of reading about weirdly mature children, even if the story points out that they're weirdly mature and gives it reasons. Just use older characters and there's no issue with having to make excuses for their thought process.
That being said, the story flowed well and kept me entertained. It did more showing and less telling, which was nice. The foreshadowing was still obvious, but less painful to read. Overall it's a nice novel that has a nice flow. If you're looking for something to bide your time in-between other books, then I'd say give this one a try.
February 11, 2021
Arcus Raytheft was born to a noble house of magicians. Unfortunately, his magical power isn't nearly as strong as his sister's---so he's disinherited in favor of her. Worse, his father is determined not even to leave him alone. Arcus is determined to prove magic is about more than just the amount of power you can handle, and he has vague memories of a life from another world to help him apply it in novel ways . . .
This isn't really a straight reincarnation story, as Arcus's previous life is little more than vague general knowledge for the most part. He's certainly still got that as a leg up, but he's not really out to push a different way of life or culture onto his society. Mostly, it functions as a way to give him resilience against his family's neglect and abuse, and a bit of perspective that helps him approach magic in a new way.
The worldbuilding is pretty solid, too. Magic is based on a small collection of old books, and spells are crafted by combining the phrases within while pairing them with magic. It's unclear what it is about those particular volumes that makes them special (maybe just the language they're written in, though it's implied to be the books themselves as a source of power). Arcus, given his small capacity for spellcraft, is therefore not going to be an incredibly powerful mage even with his creativity, but he still manages to be a deadly one.
Overall this was a decently entertaining read. I rate this book Recommended.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
This isn't really a straight reincarnation story, as Arcus's previous life is little more than vague general knowledge for the most part. He's certainly still got that as a leg up, but he's not really out to push a different way of life or culture onto his society. Mostly, it functions as a way to give him resilience against his family's neglect and abuse, and a bit of perspective that helps him approach magic in a new way.
The worldbuilding is pretty solid, too. Magic is based on a small collection of old books, and spells are crafted by combining the phrases within while pairing them with magic. It's unclear what it is about those particular volumes that makes them special (maybe just the language they're written in, though it's implied to be the books themselves as a source of power). Arcus, given his small capacity for spellcraft, is therefore not going to be an incredibly powerful mage even with his creativity, but he still manages to be a deadly one.
Overall this was a decently entertaining read. I rate this book Recommended.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
April 14, 2021
Poorly developed story.
The story is poorly written, the main character has a tragic background story which is not convincing and poorly executed. This line of tragic background is repeated with two of the other secondary characters, is just too exaggerated in an effort to make dramatic but instead fell flat and not convincing at all. The plot doesn’t make sense, the author repeats over and over certain descriptions and the same stories over and over. The action scenes are just boring as the characters cut the action to explain the magic they are using. The description of the main character is almost the same as the main character of a Familia story, white hair, rubylite eyes and fluffy as a rabbit.
The story is poorly written, the main character has a tragic background story which is not convincing and poorly executed. This line of tragic background is repeated with two of the other secondary characters, is just too exaggerated in an effort to make dramatic but instead fell flat and not convincing at all. The plot doesn’t make sense, the author repeats over and over certain descriptions and the same stories over and over. The action scenes are just boring as the characters cut the action to explain the magic they are using. The description of the main character is almost the same as the main character of a Familia story, white hair, rubylite eyes and fluffy as a rabbit.
December 28, 2023
A good enough book. I picked it up after hearing that it was a mix of isekai and basic shounen (specifically Naruto) fair, and I suppose it does have that to a degree. However, I was expecting a story about a kid working hard (and struggling) to get anywhere, but by the end of the book, he's facing off against grownass adults and winning as well as inventing incredible technologies by the age of 8-10. It's a bit of the same old stuff as always with these kinds of stories: a genius in hiding. I'd rather read about someone who has to work to get where they are rather than some genius that gets most of what he wants from the get-go.
February 23, 2021
An Isekai with a twist and a strong character.
I really enjoyed this story it was a lot of fun and the main character was enjoyable. There was good world building and interesting characters that brought the story to life for me. I like the main character as he was not a whiny little brat. I would like to read a lot more of the story to see how far it develops and in which direction it goes. Hope book two comes out soon.
I really enjoyed this story it was a lot of fun and the main character was enjoyable. There was good world building and interesting characters that brought the story to life for me. I like the main character as he was not a whiny little brat. I would like to read a lot more of the story to see how far it develops and in which direction it goes. Hope book two comes out soon.
February 27, 2021
The writing was very well done. The plot was not a been-there-done-that story.
The main character is a fun one. The characters introduced around him are also interesting. The world is designed with clear consistent rules that work. There are no areas where you start asking if the author ran out of ideas or time.
This is a darned fine read and I look forward to the next tome with enthusiasm!
The main character is a fun one. The characters introduced around him are also interesting. The world is designed with clear consistent rules that work. There are no areas where you start asking if the author ran out of ideas or time.
This is a darned fine read and I look forward to the next tome with enthusiasm!
February 19, 2021
A nice isekai twist
I liked how the author looked at bringing in prior knowledge for the protagonist, it's not something I see often. I wish they had not just "skipped" some time without much explanation of the months between but I understand wanting to age the character to better fit the circumstances.
I liked how the author looked at bringing in prior knowledge for the protagonist, it's not something I see often. I wish they had not just "skipped" some time without much explanation of the months between but I understand wanting to age the character to better fit the circumstances.
April 26, 2021
Doing something a bit different than the standard isekai fare. Only a bit, but the lack of immediate success, and the better integration of otherworld adult memories into a child's brain and body, are interesting. Could well yet go the usual power fantasy route, but a promising start.
January 21, 2021
This story seems to be a new take on the classic isekai genre. I won't spoil it but, if you like general fantasy or isekai but you are tired of the standard tropes, this might be a good fit for you.
March 7, 2021
Has some interesting ideas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2021
Good
A good start to the book series, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book released.
A good start to the book series, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book released.
June 16, 2021
I like this i expect this story to get better and better i must say i liked this very much than any other light novels
July 7, 2021
Great story and very entertaining. I will be reading book 2.
September 26, 2021
Typical of the j-novel
Just a fun read. More background to the characters than you would expect in a light novel.
At least in one man's opinion.
Just a fun read. More background to the characters than you would expect in a light novel.
At least in one man's opinion.
Read
October 23, 2021Good book
Good book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
Good book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
October 23, 2021
It's interesting
It has it up and downs, but over all its a good book. Somethings are a little obvious, but that distracts you from other parts of the plot.
It has it up and downs, but over all its a good book. Somethings are a little obvious, but that distracts you from other parts of the plot.
October 26, 2021
It's interesting and fun. It's a bit slow pace and wordy at times.
December 21, 2021
I enjoyed this story
January 8, 2023
I expected more from this novel but the author follows so many tropes, other than the world building and the isekai nature nothing new here (read upto 41%).
August 4, 2023
Amazing
Hope they make an anime out of this! It would be awesome! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! Eager for the next book!
Hope they make an anime out of this! It would be awesome! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! Eager for the next book!
September 23, 2023
good story building
The story is better than expected. The MC isnt too OP like most isekai. The story pace is just right neither too slow nor too fast.
The story is better than expected. The MC isnt too OP like most isekai. The story pace is just right neither too slow nor too fast.
Read
June 23, 2025I've read the first four books. I enjoy the concept of the books, but I feel the execution is lacking. There are abrupt shifts in which character we are following with little to no delineation in formatting. The first book dragged terribly but it did pick up after that. The female characters are, thus far, completely one dimensional. If I still remember this series by the time the fifth book is translated I'm sure I'll read it but it's already been around three months since the last one came out. I was going to look for the webnovel but I'm not sure it's worth the MTL effort. So overall, I don't think it's well written but I enjoy the world. I will probably try out the author's other series "The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind" which I've heard some people say is better.
April 30, 2024
It started out good, but the writing is a bit disjointed, not flowing smoothly, like the author didn't plot anything out and was just winging it as he wrote. A lot of coincidental things happen at the ending, but it was good enough to make me want to buy the next volume. I like the magic system and I like how Arcus is struggling to rise from adversity.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews