JasperKazai’s Reviews > Country Mage > Status Update

I basically just skimmed through it after 70% or so. I was supremely bored by it, but it felt too late to drop it outright. It only gets stupider. It ends with a completely unearned foursome with barely any development - just happens because it happens.
This was absolute shit. But, I expected as much. Even the magic system is dumb and boring. I don't think I'll ever continue this series.

I know that harems are a ridiculous concept to naturally introduce into a story, but you could at least *try*. Instead, when James goes to help Corrine (help, not date, not fuck, no romantic implications), Lucy instantly suggests that he dates them both. Corrine is also instantly on board when James awkwardly brings it up (while helping her, not on a date). Just checking the boxes to move on without actually writing.

2 separate times earlier in the story, James and Sara go to bed together, but when James wakes up in the morning, Sara is gone. The 2nd time this happens, James thinks how it'd be great to wake up with her still there. Just now, he woke up, went to chop some wood, came back inside, then noticed Sara still sleeping. So the thing he wanted to happen happened, and he didn't even notice?! Terrible, terrible writing.

The reviews are right - this is boring. There's potential and promise, but they are lazy as fuck and squander it. I actually like how Sara is characterized - but there's not enough there. It's a good starting point, but there needs to be more to her.
Also, this magic system is incredibly stupid. He has to witness ancestral memories to learn spells, and incantations are all 3 sentences long. Terrible system.

So Lucy's 'fetishes' that she was legitimately embarrassed about are being cummed on, and having sex with her panties on. Those are the most fucking vanilla 'fetishes' ever. I don't think that second one even counts as a fetish. This is eye-rollingly stupid. Who wrote this crap?
Hey, at least she actually has a daughter. So while it's cringe that he keeps thinking of her as a MILF, as least it's warranted.

There have been multiple instances where a character is facing the protagonist (such as walking towards him) and yet he describes what their ass looks like. Just now, Lucy dropped a fork under a table, and when she bent down to retrieve it, he gets all horny about her underwear riding up her ass. But they were sitting facing each other. She'd have to have stood up, turned around for him to see. This writer sucks.

No subtlety or nuance. There's an older woman who he keeps thinking of as a MILF, and is dressed like a schoolgirl for some reason. They have dinner together, it's like their second conversation ever, and he basically confesses his love. She comments they don't know each other very well yet, but he thinks of her as 'a friend, or more than a friend' already. It truly reads like a teenager's poorly written fanfiction.

This popped up all over recommended books for me like a year ago, but I dismissed it because of the AI art cover (clearly an Ahri ripoff). Recently came across it again, and it has a surprising amount of actual reviews. Usually harem books have a slew of generic 5-star 'it good' reviews with no depth, but this has REAL reviews. Even though they're negative, it honestly intrigued me more than good reviews would have.