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The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary Light Novel #4
The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary (Light Novel) Vol. 4
Desperate for a job that actually results in success, Loren agrees to Lapis's newest instead of a quest, they'll partake in a monster hunt. But fate seems to have it in for Loren. The moment they hit the road, they come across a bandit army from whom they rescue a kidnapped elf child. The child leads them to the discovery of dark things afoot in the elven forest. Worse, there may well be a connection between these strange happenings and the darkness Loren and Lapis uncovered beneath the adventurer academy...
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 22, 2017
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29 people want to read
About the author
Mine
66 books29 followersMine is a Japanese light novel author best known for The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 8, 2022
Another lazy, tentative escapade turns into another melodramatic, anticlimactic endeavor. BROKE MERCENARY v4 repeats the same story beats of the previous volume but with even less flare and flourish for what makes for competent storytelling. At this point, one cannot help but assume the author is crafting fiction with inefficient and detrimental story structures because that's all they know how to do. To wit, it's never a good idea to smash together the last vestiges of a book's rising action, a scrawny climax, and an insincere denouement in the final fifteen pages of a story.
Loren and Lapis step off the beaten path in favor of a few low-key quests to fill their pockets. To avoid the big cities and villages is to avoid the troubles they often bring, right? Lapis suggests the duo take things easy by way of highway cleanup duty. Loren is strong enough to dice up a few ogres, which should make for some easy money. Until, of course, something goes dangerously awry.
BROKE MERCENARY v4 isn't a particularly good or entertaining book, but it does try to connect a handful of seemingly serendipitous and unrelated problems, and then drop them all into Loren's lap for resolution. It's a pattern the author has used in every installment of the novel series thus far, but never so simplistically and clearcut. Does the absence of throwaway secondary characters do the trick? Regardless, as Loren and Lapis find themselves the wards of a kidnapped elven child, all bets are off.
One finds it difficult to feel at all nervous, excited, curious, or anxious for the heroes of this novel series considering how much the author has ensured they never truly fall into ruin. For example, Loren is ridiculously overpowered, and he makes use of his bond with Scena to unleash hell upon hundreds of bandits on the scale of a small army. Clever, but unnecessary. When a character becomes so powerful that the "problem" he faces (e.g., returning an elven child to a dangerous forest) is more of a nuisance than an actual responsibility to resolve, the book becomes an exercise in narrating one long, tedious chore.
The invention of a dark forest that's home to all sorts of odd and dangerous creatures was a nice addition to the story. And the integration of elf people and fairy people whose habits and intuitions are different, even destructive to those of humans was a nice addition to the worldbuilding. But considering these facets of the novel served as duller set pieces to shovel Loren and Lapis in the direction of their appointed boss-level villain, said elements feel wasted. BROKE MERCENARY v4 does what all books in this series do: It dawdles on the moments that don't really matter, and readily neglects facets of the story that might otherwise intrigue. What's the point of journeying through a dangerous forest without learning anything about it? (The characters are running scared the whole time.) What's the point of being the first to encounter a fairy village and simply shrugging one's shoulders at its corrupt internal politics? (The characters kill the baddie, which takes zero critical thinking.)
In terms of character dynamics, readers might squeal with joy at how Lapis more openly confesses to her interest in being Loren's partner, but in truth, the priest character's childishness only goes so far. One would hope that by the fourth volume, these characters learned to be honest with themselves, but perhaps that was never the author's intention. And while one is thankful for not having to suffer the dialogue of Claes, the red-haired swordsman, as well as his harem, it would appear little else was gained from the effort. Without character goals or motivations beyond "adventure" in the abstract, one finds this novel series in the extraordinarily unenviable position of ignoring the most fundamental means of better driving a story. And so, once again, a lack of a competent and effective story structure and a dearth of substantive character development sink a novel.
Loren and Lapis step off the beaten path in favor of a few low-key quests to fill their pockets. To avoid the big cities and villages is to avoid the troubles they often bring, right? Lapis suggests the duo take things easy by way of highway cleanup duty. Loren is strong enough to dice up a few ogres, which should make for some easy money. Until, of course, something goes dangerously awry.
BROKE MERCENARY v4 isn't a particularly good or entertaining book, but it does try to connect a handful of seemingly serendipitous and unrelated problems, and then drop them all into Loren's lap for resolution. It's a pattern the author has used in every installment of the novel series thus far, but never so simplistically and clearcut. Does the absence of throwaway secondary characters do the trick? Regardless, as Loren and Lapis find themselves the wards of a kidnapped elven child, all bets are off.
One finds it difficult to feel at all nervous, excited, curious, or anxious for the heroes of this novel series considering how much the author has ensured they never truly fall into ruin. For example, Loren is ridiculously overpowered, and he makes use of his bond with Scena to unleash hell upon hundreds of bandits on the scale of a small army. Clever, but unnecessary. When a character becomes so powerful that the "problem" he faces (e.g., returning an elven child to a dangerous forest) is more of a nuisance than an actual responsibility to resolve, the book becomes an exercise in narrating one long, tedious chore.
The invention of a dark forest that's home to all sorts of odd and dangerous creatures was a nice addition to the story. And the integration of elf people and fairy people whose habits and intuitions are different, even destructive to those of humans was a nice addition to the worldbuilding. But considering these facets of the novel served as duller set pieces to shovel Loren and Lapis in the direction of their appointed boss-level villain, said elements feel wasted. BROKE MERCENARY v4 does what all books in this series do: It dawdles on the moments that don't really matter, and readily neglects facets of the story that might otherwise intrigue. What's the point of journeying through a dangerous forest without learning anything about it? (The characters are running scared the whole time.) What's the point of being the first to encounter a fairy village and simply shrugging one's shoulders at its corrupt internal politics? (The characters kill the baddie, which takes zero critical thinking.)
In terms of character dynamics, readers might squeal with joy at how Lapis more openly confesses to her interest in being Loren's partner, but in truth, the priest character's childishness only goes so far. One would hope that by the fourth volume, these characters learned to be honest with themselves, but perhaps that was never the author's intention. And while one is thankful for not having to suffer the dialogue of Claes, the red-haired swordsman, as well as his harem, it would appear little else was gained from the effort. Without character goals or motivations beyond "adventure" in the abstract, one finds this novel series in the extraordinarily unenviable position of ignoring the most fundamental means of better driving a story. And so, once again, a lack of a competent and effective story structure and a dearth of substantive character development sink a novel.
February 27, 2022
Loren's track record when it comes to quests is not too good, so he and Lapis decide to do some monster hunting instead. It seems to two forgot what happened in volume 2, or otherwise they would have been a little bit more suspicious. Unsurprisingly, things do not go as planned.
The story is carried by the interaction between Loren and Lapis and the ridiculous situations they find themselves in. Otherwise it is a fairly typical story for the genre despite its lack of isekai, the absence of a game system and the presence of strong opposition to harems/making fun of the more traditional hero. This should not come as a surprise four volumes into the series.
In other words, an entertaining addition to the series.
The story is carried by the interaction between Loren and Lapis and the ridiculous situations they find themselves in. Otherwise it is a fairly typical story for the genre despite its lack of isekai, the absence of a game system and the presence of strong opposition to harems/making fun of the more traditional hero. This should not come as a surprise four volumes into the series.
In other words, an entertaining addition to the series.
February 26, 2022
Lapis and Lorem, best duo.
Another great volume delivered by the author. A lot of fun moments and a really cool plot. The characters are nicely developed and the chemistry between Lapis and Lorem is superb. Plus each personality and quirks are delightful. Lapis is a wonderful character with a unique personality. The story in this volume is great taking us on a new quest, introducing another enigmatic character at the end. It looks like the seven sins gods are making their entrance.
Another great volume delivered by the author. A lot of fun moments and a really cool plot. The characters are nicely developed and the chemistry between Lapis and Lorem is superb. Plus each personality and quirks are delightful. Lapis is a wonderful character with a unique personality. The story in this volume is great taking us on a new quest, introducing another enigmatic character at the end. It looks like the seven sins gods are making their entrance.
December 30, 2022
Big sword continues swinging
February 5, 2024
Peak as always
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews