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Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Light Novels #1
Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Volume 1
After waking up at his own funeral, Tenma Otori gets a second chance at life when a god from another world presents him with an enticing offer: if Tenma agrees to be reincarnated in order to save their dying world, the gods will bestow cheat abilities upon him. Tenma accepts, and is reborn in a lush fantasy world filled with demi-humans, magic spells and items, monsters, mysterious forests, and more! As he grows, more of his gods-given powers and abilities—including his unique power to befriend adorable monsters like slimes and baby wolves—are revealed to his adoptive parents, two former master adventurers, and his grandfather, a famous wizard. But one fateful day, three mysterious strangers shatter the tranquility of Tenma’s village by trying to kidnap him, and that’s where Tenma’s adventure really begins...
- GenresLight NovelFantasyManga
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2022
227 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 3, 2022
The translation is screwed up at many places with grammatical errors, sudden switch between 1st person and 3rd person view and several spelling mistakes. Apart from that, the story is pretty generic. From the very beginning the MC is overpowered and has no particular goal in mind. For the first book of a series, it is a good starting point. Let's hope the story goes somewhere and these mistakes are dealt with in volume 2 onwards.
September 7, 2023
I hate the author. Who the fuck write a side story after what they just did to their characters. This is heartbreaking.
I wasn't a fan of the beginning, and I honestly think that Tenma wasn't strong bc of his mother's protectiveness. Maybe if he was stronger, the tragedy wouldn't have happened. I just don't know how to explain the rest of my thoughts so maybe when the shock of what I just read dissipate, I will find time to write a more coherent review, not that I'm good at writing them anyways.
I wasn't a fan of the beginning, and I honestly think that Tenma wasn't strong bc of his mother's protectiveness. Maybe if he was stronger, the tragedy wouldn't have happened. I just don't know how to explain the rest of my thoughts so maybe when the shock of what I just read dissipate, I will find time to write a more coherent review, not that I'm good at writing them anyways.
December 10, 2025
I finally read this after periodically seeing and passing over it on my TBR list for a couple years. After finally giving it a go...it was exactly as mediocre and tired as I expected it to be.
There's no other way to say it. Maybe some concessions can be made since this was written nearly 10 years ago and the genre has advanced since then. But honestly, even by olden day standards, I think this would still come across as pretty basic and childish.
The MC is absurdly overpowered with skills and blessings from ten different gods and magic is as simple as pictuing what you want in this story so things get nonsensical pretty fast. There's no real tension or any grounding in reality, which really undermines the story later on.
If you're looking for a quick read with standard cliches, then feel free to pick this up. If you're looking for something similar to this but better, then I'd maybe direct you to Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill by Ren Eguchi or By the Grace of the Gods by Roy.
This series has managed to continue for a dozen volumes, but perusing reviews for the next handful of volumes doesn't paint a picture that excites me. I think I'll have to search for greener pastures and exit this series early.
There's no other way to say it. Maybe some concessions can be made since this was written nearly 10 years ago and the genre has advanced since then. But honestly, even by olden day standards, I think this would still come across as pretty basic and childish.
The MC is absurdly overpowered with skills and blessings from ten different gods and magic is as simple as pictuing what you want in this story so things get nonsensical pretty fast. There's no real tension or any grounding in reality, which really undermines the story later on.
If you're looking for a quick read with standard cliches, then feel free to pick this up. If you're looking for something similar to this but better, then I'd maybe direct you to Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill by Ren Eguchi or By the Grace of the Gods by Roy.
This series has managed to continue for a dozen volumes, but perusing reviews for the next handful of volumes doesn't paint a picture that excites me. I think I'll have to search for greener pastures and exit this series early.
February 20, 2023
Zombies are confirmed to be weak to fire. You have tens of thousands streaming out of a FOREST. You have several extremely powerful mages capable of both flight and incredibly powerful fire magic (but even if the main character were the only one capable of those two things...) the fact that the idea of lighting the forest on fire wasn't so much as brought up a single time by any of the hundreds of characters under siege if only for the purpose of giving us readers an excuse for why this wouldn't have worked, and then hinging what is essentially the main character's origin story on this battle that had this potential solution as a very obvious loose end that could have prevented the whole tragedy in the first place, just leaves too much of a bad taste in my mouth to continue the series. The ZOMBIE DRAGON that was controlling the whole thing could potentially have been finished off by the forest he was hiding in going up in flames as well, or at the least, driven off by it. There's potential for more events with solutions like this being completely unaddressed in the future and I can't just look the other way and pretend they don't exist, so yeah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2022
The series premise has promise and the creative way the protagonist disappears suggest some future talent from the author. But the ending was BS. The side story has some interesting backstory and world building (?), but the synopsis for volume 2 need to be really good.
December 19, 2022
I could not find anything new or original in this re-launched reincarnation (Tensei) isekai (taken to another world) fantasy novel series. Previously written and published series, do the isekai and Tensei concepts better and are well-read and popular... Jobless Reincarnation, That Time I got got Reincarnated as a Slime, Arifureta from Commonplace to World's Strongest, Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody, In Another World with my Smartphone, KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! , Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind, I've been killing slimes for 300 years, Lazy Dungeon Master, How NOT to summon a Demon Lord, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, etc.... I do not consider Jobless reincarnation or Reincarnated as a slime good stories, but they have better characters, better character description, better game-like system of skills and abilities, etc. than this one.
This novel series has a lot of "snapshot moments" without really reaching any depth in the character or world development... the author skips entire years without describing a logical life progression of the characters or changes in this fantasy world series...Tenma, the main character has summoning (taming monster) skills, in addition to Over-Powered magical abilities. Tenma retains his past-life memories and hunting skills.
Microsoft bought the Disk Operating System for 17 thousand dollars and then sold it to Mom at IBM for millions, then Microsoft hired ex-Xerox employees and with that "borrowed knowledge" launched "Windows". Where I am going with this is, that an author/company can be successful or "more successful" with influence peddling and corruption than better authors or competitors, but I do not foresee this Isekai Tensei story being the next "Microsoft"...it's just derivative works plagiarism...That an author and international publisher, together, not fear lawsuits or criminal persecution is just impunity and lack of ethical values...
I find it of extremely bad taste, without rhyme or reason, to kill of main characters (family) and then have the main character, Tenma, gain from the senseless zombie genocide...I understand that there are no limits to psychopathy or sociopathy, but this light novel series is design to target young adults and underage readers and senseless genocide makes no sense. Benefiting from the death of thousands of people and family makes even less sense...I recommend to the author, to seek therapy.
This novel series has a lot of "snapshot moments" without really reaching any depth in the character or world development... the author skips entire years without describing a logical life progression of the characters or changes in this fantasy world series...Tenma, the main character has summoning (taming monster) skills, in addition to Over-Powered magical abilities. Tenma retains his past-life memories and hunting skills.
Microsoft bought the Disk Operating System for 17 thousand dollars and then sold it to Mom at IBM for millions, then Microsoft hired ex-Xerox employees and with that "borrowed knowledge" launched "Windows". Where I am going with this is, that an author/company can be successful or "more successful" with influence peddling and corruption than better authors or competitors, but I do not foresee this Isekai Tensei story being the next "Microsoft"...it's just derivative works plagiarism...That an author and international publisher, together, not fear lawsuits or criminal persecution is just impunity and lack of ethical values...
I find it of extremely bad taste, without rhyme or reason, to kill of main characters (family) and then have the main character, Tenma, gain from the senseless zombie genocide...I understand that there are no limits to psychopathy or sociopathy, but this light novel series is design to target young adults and underage readers and senseless genocide makes no sense. Benefiting from the death of thousands of people and family makes even less sense...I recommend to the author, to seek therapy.
November 19, 2025
This book was originally written around 2015. From what I’ve heard, they made very few changes between the web novel and the official release in 2022. Just proofing, no real content edits. I think maybe I’d have been more hyped for this if I’d read it back then. Even for something from 2015, it’s not breaking any new ground.
The first 25,000 words should have been the hook. They weren’t. It was an anti-hook. A lot of stat sheets, not enough actual character building. Never blow up a world if no one cares about it. It’s like action movies that always blow up a city. You’re supposed to feel something, but you don’t. You just watch it go boom, and as cold as it sounds, you realize you don’t care about anyone in that city. That’s a real empathy gap moment for me. But that’s how I feel when I see stuff like this.
Make me care. Show me the small. Don’t be afraid when you write, but keep it entertaining. This just kind of mushes along with pats on the back and “oh, how wonderful he is.” And that’s hard to read. You keep expecting to care about something for so long.
I think tiny changes could have brought certain things forward with solid content edits. Just spreading things around a bit, shifting a few scenes, could have really saved this book for me. It really shows how strong other books are when they make you care about the small worlds they build at the beginning. How they set you into these fantasy universes and make that small world feel important. You don’t get much time to set things up, and that matters.
Isekai is super searched right now, super hot. It was hot when this came out, and it’s still going, though we’re headed for the tail end of it. But if the genre wasn’t hot, I’d have DNF’d the hell out of this. I saw the series has a lot of books, so I’m gonna keep at it and see. But honestly, I feel like I’m wasting my time.
The first 25,000 words should have been the hook. They weren’t. It was an anti-hook. A lot of stat sheets, not enough actual character building. Never blow up a world if no one cares about it. It’s like action movies that always blow up a city. You’re supposed to feel something, but you don’t. You just watch it go boom, and as cold as it sounds, you realize you don’t care about anyone in that city. That’s a real empathy gap moment for me. But that’s how I feel when I see stuff like this.
Make me care. Show me the small. Don’t be afraid when you write, but keep it entertaining. This just kind of mushes along with pats on the back and “oh, how wonderful he is.” And that’s hard to read. You keep expecting to care about something for so long.
I think tiny changes could have brought certain things forward with solid content edits. Just spreading things around a bit, shifting a few scenes, could have really saved this book for me. It really shows how strong other books are when they make you care about the small worlds they build at the beginning. How they set you into these fantasy universes and make that small world feel important. You don’t get much time to set things up, and that matters.
Isekai is super searched right now, super hot. It was hot when this came out, and it’s still going, though we’re headed for the tail end of it. But if the genre wasn’t hot, I’d have DNF’d the hell out of this. I saw the series has a lot of books, so I’m gonna keep at it and see. But honestly, I feel like I’m wasting my time.
October 5, 2022
Isekai Tensei: Reincarnated to Another World Volume 1.
Sometimes to storytelling was too wandering. Like the author would explain something very detailed, but not reaching the main point, get off track for a while, and then turn back and finish explaining the initial core idea of concept. This happened many times. But I truly enjoyed the characters and the premise behind this version of an isekai reincarnation. Maybe it's a problem with translation? None of the wording was long per se, so it could just be that I'm not as adjusted to reading less English based writing?
I was almost overwhelmingly sad with how this story ended for Tenma's adoptive family. I would definitely read the next books, and love to continue following his journey as he grows and explores more of this world.
Concept wise, I genuinely enjoy isekai settings. I think the gods and their reasoning behind reincarnation from others worlds was interesting enough. I do wish we could have touched base further on the magical system, which seemed a little lack luster. They basically just yell put one word for the spell. Hopefully, there's more description later in the series?
My main detraction is how the grandfather's life story was detailed. There was an elite lack of structuring so it came across as essentially a multiple page long run-on... Or perhaps a rambling old man, which registers very Canon?
Sometimes to storytelling was too wandering. Like the author would explain something very detailed, but not reaching the main point, get off track for a while, and then turn back and finish explaining the initial core idea of concept. This happened many times. But I truly enjoyed the characters and the premise behind this version of an isekai reincarnation. Maybe it's a problem with translation? None of the wording was long per se, so it could just be that I'm not as adjusted to reading less English based writing?
I was almost overwhelmingly sad with how this story ended for Tenma's adoptive family. I would definitely read the next books, and love to continue following his journey as he grows and explores more of this world.
Concept wise, I genuinely enjoy isekai settings. I think the gods and their reasoning behind reincarnation from others worlds was interesting enough. I do wish we could have touched base further on the magical system, which seemed a little lack luster. They basically just yell put one word for the spell. Hopefully, there's more description later in the series?
My main detraction is how the grandfather's life story was detailed. There was an elite lack of structuring so it came across as essentially a multiple page long run-on... Or perhaps a rambling old man, which registers very Canon?
December 31, 2023
Poorly edited and weak plot.
The concept and idea of this book is nothing new in this kind of books, unfortunately the author relays in so many cliches and ideas from other books and media that at the end is not fun at all. The jokes and humor feels short and lacks as they are introduced in the wrong places. There is not any attachment to any character, and they're few. The biggest issue is the plot but be warned, big spoilers ahead. First, the worldbuilding is clumsy, for example the explanation of the currency and use of Gold for day to day doesn't make any sense for this type of society. The fights and action scenes are poorly developed, ending as plain and boring. For example, the authors foreshadows so many times that something bad is going to happen, that when it happened, it didn't surprised. The end is another example of poor planning. The MC's parents die protecting him, and only after three days he just goes over it, he didn't even try to come back and make sure they got a proper burial, he just decides to move and wander somewhere else, really disappointing scene. A poor plot, boring scenes and use in excess references to other media makes this book a forgettable one.
The concept and idea of this book is nothing new in this kind of books, unfortunately the author relays in so many cliches and ideas from other books and media that at the end is not fun at all. The jokes and humor feels short and lacks as they are introduced in the wrong places. There is not any attachment to any character, and they're few. The biggest issue is the plot but be warned, big spoilers ahead. First, the worldbuilding is clumsy, for example the explanation of the currency and use of Gold for day to day doesn't make any sense for this type of society. The fights and action scenes are poorly developed, ending as plain and boring. For example, the authors foreshadows so many times that something bad is going to happen, that when it happened, it didn't surprised. The end is another example of poor planning. The MC's parents die protecting him, and only after three days he just goes over it, he didn't even try to come back and make sure they got a proper burial, he just decides to move and wander somewhere else, really disappointing scene. A poor plot, boring scenes and use in excess references to other media makes this book a forgettable one.
March 6, 2024
Slow to start, pretty generic isekai op my story
The story is written in a diary esque format with a pretty generic base story of MC dying and getting reincarnated by several gods with special abilities and powers. Think "By The Grace Of The Gods", but the MC is raised in a village by humans instead of a cave by slimes. Starting out the story is really slow, which is to be expected considering he is reincarnated in the body of an infant freshly born and abandoned in a forest. It finally culminates in the final chapter(?) with him deciding to leave the village behind due to reasons. (Deliberately vague as to not spoil anything.) this is where the main story ends. Along the way the MC learns a lot about hunting, fighting, magic, and alchemy. So he becomes your typical OP MC. Still, it wasn't terrible. I actually enjoyed most of it. Though I found the MC making the exact same mistake several time rather irritating, it's more realistic that he did that since almost no one learns their first time. Anyway, I suggest this series if you are out of anything else to read and don't mind some generic plot lines. Though I'll end with a warning. It is a bit of a tragic ending.
The story is written in a diary esque format with a pretty generic base story of MC dying and getting reincarnated by several gods with special abilities and powers. Think "By The Grace Of The Gods", but the MC is raised in a village by humans instead of a cave by slimes. Starting out the story is really slow, which is to be expected considering he is reincarnated in the body of an infant freshly born and abandoned in a forest. It finally culminates in the final chapter(?) with him deciding to leave the village behind due to reasons. (Deliberately vague as to not spoil anything.) this is where the main story ends. Along the way the MC learns a lot about hunting, fighting, magic, and alchemy. So he becomes your typical OP MC. Still, it wasn't terrible. I actually enjoyed most of it. Though I found the MC making the exact same mistake several time rather irritating, it's more realistic that he did that since almost no one learns their first time. Anyway, I suggest this series if you are out of anything else to read and don't mind some generic plot lines. Though I'll end with a warning. It is a bit of a tragic ending.
October 27, 2022
Trope bland decent story
Extremely OP MC. Everything handed to him On a silver platter. Of course the whole book weeks of troop manga. The silliness is unfortunately a little child like. I was kind of hoping for something slightly more serious. The battles are unfortunately mostly foolish. Always leaving opponents unfinished so that they can make a second wind come back and do damage... All very trope. The only thing that was interesting was reading about the back stories of other characters besides the MC... Unfortunately probably doesn't make up for the rest of the day the rest of the book.
Extremely OP MC. Everything handed to him On a silver platter. Of course the whole book weeks of troop manga. The silliness is unfortunately a little child like. I was kind of hoping for something slightly more serious. The battles are unfortunately mostly foolish. Always leaving opponents unfinished so that they can make a second wind come back and do damage... All very trope. The only thing that was interesting was reading about the back stories of other characters besides the MC... Unfortunately probably doesn't make up for the rest of the day the rest of the book.
November 26, 2024
It’s a super generic novel with very little to recommend it. The main character is way OP and everything miraculously goes his way - he can do just about any magic, plus he ended up with a fenrir follower (I wish they’d follow normal terms and say “familiar”) just by chance.
Blessed by the gods, nice parents, recalling his past life…there isn’t a lot he can’t do. But that makes it boring and eye rolling. What a Mary Stu.
Why is there a horde of tens of thousands of zombie-everythings coming after the villagers? Why was a garrison randomly built near their villager by the lord of their land for seemingly no purpose but to harass the villagers and become a plot point? Why were the soldiers smug assholes who deserted their post and responsibility? Why was there a zombie ancient dragon (not just a dragon, an ANCIENT dragon, the most powerful blah blah blah, that he killed all by himself) that seemed to be controlling them? How is it controlling thousands of zombies to the point where they are able to plan and learn? Come on, it’s all so dumb.
It’s just not well written. Sometimes it’s hard to follow because there will be unnecessary details and then it seems to skip large parts of an event until you feel like you missed something. His parents and so many villagers dying was pointless and didn’t seem to make an impact, it was rather matter of fact. He’s so powerful that the battles just make no sense (I think this the author’s shortcoming in writing fight scenes). The short story about Merlin was even worse about telling instead of showing, and it just smacked of wish fulfillment. All it needs is a harem 🙄
How TF are there so many volumes in this series? Are editors all dead?
Blessed by the gods, nice parents, recalling his past life…there isn’t a lot he can’t do. But that makes it boring and eye rolling. What a Mary Stu.
Why is there a horde of tens of thousands of zombie-everythings coming after the villagers? Why was a garrison randomly built near their villager by the lord of their land for seemingly no purpose but to harass the villagers and become a plot point? Why were the soldiers smug assholes who deserted their post and responsibility? Why was there a zombie ancient dragon (not just a dragon, an ANCIENT dragon, the most powerful blah blah blah, that he killed all by himself) that seemed to be controlling them? How is it controlling thousands of zombies to the point where they are able to plan and learn? Come on, it’s all so dumb.
It’s just not well written. Sometimes it’s hard to follow because there will be unnecessary details and then it seems to skip large parts of an event until you feel like you missed something. His parents and so many villagers dying was pointless and didn’t seem to make an impact, it was rather matter of fact. He’s so powerful that the battles just make no sense (I think this the author’s shortcoming in writing fight scenes). The short story about Merlin was even worse about telling instead of showing, and it just smacked of wish fulfillment. All it needs is a harem 🙄
How TF are there so many volumes in this series? Are editors all dead?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2022
Great read
I normally have a few issues to bring up about a light novels, whether translation errors, too many typos for professional work, or just being too short. This book only has one thing that I believe is a negative and that is the end is a bit dark. Made me kinda depressed. Other than that a great casual isekai.
I normally have a few issues to bring up about a light novels, whether translation errors, too many typos for professional work, or just being too short. This book only has one thing that I believe is a negative and that is the end is a bit dark. Made me kinda depressed. Other than that a great casual isekai.
January 2, 2026
All of the battle conversation is very cringe.
I assume this is partially a translation issue. But it all makes the fights very lame sounding.
Enemies calling the MC "brat", and "snot nosed little jerk"... is so off-putting.
The MC also says cringy stuff every time he uses magic.
Conversations are way too cheesy and stupid for me.
DNF 57%
I assume this is partially a translation issue. But it all makes the fights very lame sounding.
Enemies calling the MC "brat", and "snot nosed little jerk"... is so off-putting.
The MC also says cringy stuff every time he uses magic.
Conversations are way too cheesy and stupid for me.
DNF 57%
September 17, 2022
Meh.
By the numbers, nothing new. The writing is flat. The plot is okay. The characters are forgettable.
The ending of the main story was weak. The side story was pointless.
I really wanted to like this one...
Don't bother.
By the numbers, nothing new. The writing is flat. The plot is okay. The characters are forgettable.
The ending of the main story was weak. The side story was pointless.
I really wanted to like this one...
Don't bother.
October 28, 2022
Little slow to start but a great book
This start is a little slow but once it starts to pick up it becomes a great book. The story is overall very good, I grew parts hard me scratching my head but you could not help rot for tenma.
This start is a little slow but once it starts to pick up it becomes a great book. The story is overall very good, I grew parts hard me scratching my head but you could not help rot for tenma.
December 22, 2022
fun story with strange humor
I like to main character and the adopted mother and father there was interesting Adventures as well as characters. the first book ends on a sad note and I hope the next book is more happy.
I like to main character and the adopted mother and father there was interesting Adventures as well as characters. the first book ends on a sad note and I hope the next book is more happy.
April 5, 2023
Great Story
This book was the perfect isakai story to read. It has all the elements that you find and it isakai, Yeah it was just a fun story with some parts that made you wanna cry and laugh.
This book was the perfect isakai story to read. It has all the elements that you find and it isakai, Yeah it was just a fun story with some parts that made you wanna cry and laugh.
April 5, 2024
entertaining but..
I liked the premise and the progression of the story, but the “battle thoughts” are waaaaay too over explained .. like yeah we get it.. it’s tough, move it along .. you could literally skip paragraphs and keep the plot intact .. good story though
I liked the premise and the progression of the story, but the “battle thoughts” are waaaaay too over explained .. like yeah we get it.. it’s tough, move it along .. you could literally skip paragraphs and keep the plot intact .. good story though
January 31, 2025
Interesting Reading
I read the manga and it was god but I love reading the Jr novels better. I like the detailed explanation and the it gives me a better understanding of the plot twist.
I read the manga and it was god but I love reading the Jr novels better. I like the detailed explanation and the it gives me a better understanding of the plot twist.
May 23, 2025
It started interestingly, fun, and very adventure oriented. However, suddenly it begin to turn political, military and noblelesque, so I compleateley lost interest. If nobles and politics is your yam, you will enjoy it, but it is not for me. On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
October 4, 2022
The tropes work for a reason...
Pretty standard Isekai Reincarnation story, but good nonetheless. I enjoyed it and will be getting the next in the series as well.
Pretty standard Isekai Reincarnation story, but good nonetheless. I enjoyed it and will be getting the next in the series as well.
July 9, 2023
It’s similar to blessed by the gods about the slime.
It has a slow pace feel to it.
It has a slow pace feel to it.
August 23, 2023
Seriously op 2yr old!!
Fun story, very much worth the read. Had a couple minor inconsistencies, but overall great story. On too book 2!
Fun story, very much worth the read. Had a couple minor inconsistencies, but overall great story. On too book 2!
September 13, 2023
Amazing
Just wow I was blown away by the plot twits , I was in the edge of my seat. The battle scenes were epic
Just wow I was blown away by the plot twits , I was in the edge of my seat. The battle scenes were epic
January 30, 2024
Good book
Good story love the book going to start the next book now thank you for this very hood book .
Good story love the book going to start the next book now thank you for this very hood book .
May 9, 2024
This guy got batman'd twice and already started his depression arc in the first volume 😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2024
A thrilling story where a ghost was reincarnated into a boy. This story will make you shed tears, smile in happiness, and be sad or mad for the characters. Definitely a 5* book.
January 19, 2025
Good read. Some unexpected things happened so I definitely enjoyed the book more than I thought I would.
January 5, 2023
Really nice atmosphere and comfy read for wasting time on rainy hour. Chase away the gloom.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews