The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom: Volume 1

The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom Light Novel #1

by Fudeorca, toi8 (Illustrator), Shaun Cook (Translator)

As a self-professed no-lifer, Yuri idles his days away in front of a computer. This all changes the moment his life in Japan comes to an abrupt end and he finds himself reborn in the strange new world of the Shiyalta Kingdom. His new life includes everything he once lacked: loving parents, a comfortable home, and a promising future breeding and raising birds on his dad’s ranch. For centuries, the kingdom he now calls home has enjoyed peace and prosperity, shielded by friendly nations that, like Shiyalta itself, were established with the collapse of a once-great empire. War is a distant problem, relevant only to Shiyalta’s ruling families whose warriors periodically set out to join the fighting upon massive birds trained by Yuri’s dad and others. But this peaceful existence can’t last forever. Something rotten lies at the heart of the kingdom, and it doesn’t take someone with Yuri’s exceptional intelligence to realize that those distant battles will only remain irrelevant for so long.

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Slice Of Life

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2020

Reviews

[ReadToBreathe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a feeling a lot of people are going to die and I'm not a fan of that. The princess was way too annoying, and the ML acted like a child instead of an adult. I like my reincarnated characters to be active not passive.

[Azbaqiyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot - 3 ⭐
Character - 3 ⭐
Writing Style - 4 ⭐
World Building - 4 ⭐
Art - 3 ⭐
Cover - 3.5 ⭐

Overall - 3.45 ⭐

[Russell Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun little isekai/reincarnation story that followed the standard formula, but did so while providing some unique flavor that showed the author actually spent some time building the world. I enjoyed the descriptions of the bird ranch, plainsrunners, and kingeagles.

The story scratched the itch I had satisfactorily, though it doesn't seem to be in any hurry to progress the plot so I don't feel any urgency to dive into the next book at the moment.

I'll probably wait for a couple more books in the series to release and see what to expect before committing any further.

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yuri drowned while rescuing a young teenager in Japan and is reborn as the son of Rook, a rancher of riding birds and kingeagles (giant eagles for riding). We follow his first twelve years, starting with his birth and ending at him entering the Academy, focussing on a couple of important events in his life which does involve the occasional bit of knowledge of his previous life. We also learn he is not a human, but they live in a world that is remarkable similar to Earth geographically, astronomically and biologically (except for the birds and Yuri's own race that is).

Personally, I like the slow-paced slice-of-life story and world building even though it feels more like a traditional no-magic fantasy YA story than an isekai. The world has an intriguing mystery behind it, and I like that it is both the same to RL medieval Europe and yet different. I would have given it 4 stars where it not for the MC. The fact that he thinks he is an adult and act like a kid is fine even if a bit exasperating at times. It makes sense in a way. I dislike his passiveness though, for a supposed intelligent person he lacks curiosity, and he is awfully quick to jump to conclusions based on his Japanese knowledge despite being proven wrong again and again. For example, early in the book he asks for an empty book for a diary, his father says books are really expensive, naming the price. He then wonders how many breads can be bought, but never asks and weeks later when actually buying the book he still has no idea on the value of money. And the story is filled with examples like this, and sometimes he even blames the adults for not telling him enough, again not seeming to learn from it at all.

Still, I enjoyed the book, and I am curious where things are going, but it is not the best of its genre.

[Vince · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated this volume 2.5 (rounded to 3 stars) / 5.

I decided to read this light novel because the manga adaptation caught my interest. Needless to say, that I love the world envisioned in the story. The main character somehow, feels like a mystery to me. The volume does not provide any information why he's more intelligent than the average adult of this world, except from "he's reincarnated". Are they implying that he is an average adult from a modern civilization and reincarnated to a medieval-like society that his knowledge is far superior? If so, I think it's rather weak and hardly believable.

I also like the structure of their society—where women held bureaucratic positions while the men held the military positions. It reminds me of the Bene Gesserit and the Great Houses from Dune. And the main character is being raised to be knowledgeable of both military and politics. I am looking forward on how this plot progress.

Nonetheless, this volume is still a good read despite its shortcomings, and I am looking forward on reading the next volume.

[Pablo García · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author repeats the same arguments over and over again. As if the author is not convinced that his arguments are good enough to be believable or understood by the readers... The plot and story are all over the place, so it is unclear what the point of the web/light novel series is centered around...
The main character, Yuri, is a reincarnated Japanese person, that really had no passion for life. Everything comes easy to him in his second life on "the second Earth", because this civilization/society is much less advanced than his past life's Earth (our current Earth). That being said, there are strange animals on that "other Earth", and the illustrator made the humanoid beings on that "other Earth" have half-ling/elf ears which is really NOT explained well. That and the arguments stating that the other Earth was the same geographical planet as our current Earth. Is it another dimension? Why make it the same planet and have it be so different with the people, the history and the animals? How can SCIENCE explain it? (Since the author explains a lot of things and how they work in the "real Earth today")
So, a lot of things happened with Yuri's family, but most of the things are left unsaid and unexplained. There is a strange friendship with Yuri and Carol, a stranger friendship/family relationship with Sham and Yuri, and Yuri going and attending the Military Academy makes no sense at all. Yuri was exonerated from 120 of the 180 academic credits needed to graduate. Apparently he needs to stay for 10 years to receive the martial arts /practical courses, to complete the whole 300 credits needed to Graduate and the age of 20 is required so as to be able to "go to war/if needed" when graduated...

[Daniel Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing in its Subtlety

Imagine Mushoku Tensei, but without the magic or the comedic depravity of the main character.

We have an MC who is laid back, down to earth, knowledgeable and analytical. Who still takes their duties and responsibilities seriously. The MC exhibits appropriate emotion during conflict, but also comes off as creepy. This is because they're a thirty year old in the body of a child. A child with adult sensibilities can be off-putting but thats precisely what makes some of the framing that occurs remarkable.

The worldbuilding is impeccable and the pacing is marvelous.

It started off slow in the beginning. If you download the sample that might not be enough to give you a true impression of the book.

Carry on for a few more chapters, you will come to love it.

[Jhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apenas y pude terminar el primer capitulo. No logre entender al prota ni a sus nuevos padres. El mundo se siente muy distante y los timeskip me molestaron mucho. Los encuentro innecesarios porque no dejan que creemos una conexion con los padres y los alrededores.
En cuanto al estilo de escritura, esta en primera persona y no es muy bueno la verdad, me costo un montón entrar en la historia por eso. Otra cosa son los diálogos, que tampoco son buenos (los adultos no lo parecen y el protagonista mismo habla de una forma extraña que no se siente natural).
En fin, tenia esperanza de que fuera al menos entretenido pero no logre conectar con el protagonista ni con el nuevo mundo donde reencarna.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a while since I read a book that was very well written. This is one. The story is beautifully told. The plot is solid. The main character has depth. The relationships betw3en the main character and the rest of the characters are explored nicely. The world is described in an effective way.

The main character is an young adult in Japan and becomes a baby in the new world. Throughout the story he has the thoughts, discipline, and wisdom of the older character. The insights just keep on coming.

A book worth reading. Make sure you have some time, because you will not want to put it down.

[huntërre thomässön · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.75-9/10

So, so close to 5 stars.

The world building is amazing. Never too slow, never too fast. Not too detailed, but not too vague. A masterclass, really.
Isekai stories with loving and supportive family members is always refreshing, or rather, heartwarming.
The MC is a wonderful balance of the things I look for. Not unnecessary brutish, but still cold to a degree. Cunning and capable. And, this one’s big, acts their age. The stories where the reincarnated 30-something salary worker is reborn as a child and acts like one, or for the love of god is attracted to one, are painful to read through.
Luckily the MC himself declares that acting his age would be tiring, so he stops doing it early in life (around…6? 7 maybe.).

Great LN, shame it’s not paperback but oh well.

Highly recommendable to non-LN readers or people curious about them.

[Chance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ain’t a high-fantasy or teach world but a normal medieval world with slightly different animals from are world an a race of people with slight-elve appearance.

Th3 story at times has illustration to show the different chacthers but there of low quality do I think it was intentional to show how less developed that world is do has the prontaginst uses ideas from our world to slove problems he’ll come in contact with actient knowledge that will be unrivaled lay a war loans in the near future.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting first volume. It's very verbose and told in a matter-of-fact tone, which can be a bit of a drag to read page after page, but it does overall have a good pace and interesting world-building. The main character can be a bit off-putting as well because he is, technically, a fully grown adult in a child's body, which skews his perception of the events happening around him (it also makes his a biiit too "perfect" - I hope more of his potential flaws and imperfections are revealed in future volumes). That being said, I am interested in continuing with the series.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is decent, but the guy is such a conceited, self-centred little sod I couldn’t enjoy it. I’ve read some far-fetched stories, but I couldn’t believe in a setting where he doesn’t get the stuffing knocked out of him every time he opens his mouth.

[Wisetell · Rating 5 out of 5]

:)

Better than I hoped it'd be. Great development, MC isn't a super weirdo, and interactions are normal. Magic is and isn't a thing at the same time it seems so I'm confused there still.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Reincarnated to new life genre, but not with magical and overpowered skills. Seems the next volumes would be a nation building genre.

[Michael Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone

[Iqbal]

Most of the book is exposition and world-building, but it... somehow works?

[Space Panda]

DNF at 15%.
I realized Isekai's books are NOT for me.
I don't mind them in Anime, not my favourite thing also, but I can see it without any problem. But in books I have a different taste.

[Ties · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit too young adult for me

[Douglas Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning felt rather refreshing for an isekai.

Yuri's mindset before reincarnating is relatable—demoralised and unmotivated due to circumstances only hinted at—uninterested in wage slaving anymore, secluding himself in a more rural area. He was neither suicidal nor particularly concerned with "living", merely passing the time engrossed in trivial, unproductive hobbies like gaming or reading. Your typical main character in such a story would be a NEET teenager lacking in life experience and lazy for no genuine reason, who gave up before attempting to reverse their fortunes despite possessing youthful vigour. Ironically, these are the ones often granted the convenience of a second chance, but not here.

The world is a low fantasy with no magic or LitRPG mechanics plaguing it, which puts it in rare company as far as light novels go. The introduction of Yuri's father, a nobleman who would raise a family of humble origins over aspiring to higher duties, is not dissimilar from Mushoku Tensei. But the grounded world-building present here is ultimately more creative than its predecessor, limited to superficial differences in appearance and affinities between races. I appreciate the effort to differentiate this world from Earth's using biological rather than supernatural means. The attention to detail on the rearing and riding of these giant eagles and ostriches was intriguing.

However, the shift from exploring the new world and animal husbandry to a succession conflict and school admission degraded the story. Various tropes I do not enjoy emerged: adults failing to question and adhering almost immediately to the alien knowledge of a young child prodigy, foolish antagonists, violent tsundere and a princess kidnapping event. I am not fond of the school characters introduced either.

[Alan Matiuševskij · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure how to describe this series (consists of 6 volumes and is still being written), but it has this flavor that I am craving for in fantasy.