Rakuin no Monshou (Novel)

Description

The countries of Mephius and Garbera have been waging a war for ten years and are trying to put an end to this long fight through a political marriage between the two royal families. Orba, who was driven from his home because of the war and was forced to become a gladiator, looks exactly like the crown prince of Mephius, and it has been decided he will be substituting him during the wedding ceremony. On the other hand, Vileena, the princess of Garbera, has secretly decided to ensnare the crown prince for her own country’s interests.

Type

Novel

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

Emblem of the Branded (Novel)

Эмблема Заклейменных (Novel)

烙印の紋章 (小説)

烙印纹章（小说）

Groups Scanlating

Baka-Tsuki

Latest Release(s)

v.12 c.Epilogue + Afterword (end) by Baka-Tsuki 7 years ago

v.12 c.4-8 by Baka-Tsuki 7 years ago

v.12 c.0-3 by Baka-Tsuki 7 years ago

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Status in Country of Origin

12 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

2 topics, 13 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 9 / 10.0 (119 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.46 / 10.0

54%

21%

16%

Last Updated

May 3rd, 2020 1:10pm PDT - 5 years ago

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Genre

Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Mystery Psychological Romance Shounen Tragedy
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Categories

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Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

2008

Original Publisher

ASCII Media Works (Dengeki Bunko)

Serialized In (magazine)

Dengeki Bunko Magazine (ASCII Media Works)

Licensed (in English)

English Publisher

N/A

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #734

(-15)

Monthly Pos #1731 (No change)

3 Month Pos #3126

(-254)

6 Month Pos #5242

(+202)

Year Pos #6865

(+30)

List Stats

On 720 reading lists

On 615 wish lists

On 68 completed lists

On 20 unfinished lists

On 330 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

How does it ends?

7 years ago

English translation

10 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Great start, but then turns into Melodrama central!

by svyatoslav
8 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

The first 4 volumes are great. Deep psychological depiction of realities of war and of the people in it from the common rural villagers to royalty and everyone in between. There is not one word which is unnecessary. A few inconsistencies creep in at volume 3 and 4 but overall the character development is enjoyable, relate-able, well thought out and believable. Keeps you on the edge but every action taken by the characters mostly makes sense based on their personality, development and state of mind.

However, volumes 5 and 6 see the story progressively degenerate into a melodrama where random things happen just in order to drum up unnecessary theatrics. Basically the two volumes are 75% filler of mediocre quality where the main idea is to have the hero of the story overcome internal turmoil and find purpose in life. If it was the the first 4 volumes then this would've been accomplished in half a volume or a full volume max. The filler heroines are both poorly thought-out, inconsistent and frankly pathetic made to add cheap drama. The main heroine of the story is practically completely left out even though it would've been easy to have a parallel story centered around her ongoing. The battles also start losing logic laid out in the first 4 volumes with the appearance of superhero enemy generals who tare through hundreds of soldiers, dragons and hail of bullets on their own with only our hero being able to stop them.

Sorry for the rant but I absolutely hate it when authors suck us in by a great story only to see the quality deteriorate sharply either because they want to drag it out or because they just stop putting their heart and soul into it midway.

Rating-wise, I'd give the following:

volumes 1-4: score 9
volumes 5,6: score 3

...for an average of about 6. Perhaps the quality improves once we are back to the main story and heroine.

... Last updated 8 years ago

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This is so good

by sakirol
9 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

(Progress: Vol 7)
This is AMAZING!!! It is absolutely a must-read and feels different from typical LNs. It is more akin to western fantasy-adventure novels that span into several books. It reminds me of series like Eragon where you get completely absorbed into the world that the author creates.

Rakuin no Monshou has a great plotline and smooth transitions from one arc to the next while continually weaving everything together into one realistic political web. There is a ton of political conversation, war strategy, and backstabbing mixed in with a proportionate amount of blood-pumping action. And the main character is written so well that you get swept up.

If I had to name a weakness for Rakuin no Monshou ... it'd be the romance. IMO the romance is written very shallowly. The shallowness gets highlighted because the romance contrasts with how well individual characters are written. However, it's not a big deal since it's incorporated as only a minor part of the story.

... Last updated 9 years ago

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Caution!

by Akatsubaki
9 years ago

Rating: N/A

Read it at your own risk.
Consuming this series may lead into Addiction.

Side effects include:

Frustration of slow ch updates
Raws hunting
Putting faith on google translate
Temptation to read spoilers

If all the symptoms above happened, please find a help from any willing translator to translate this series regularly.

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Worth reading and trying out

by jrwoodwa
9 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Intriquing after the first volume foundation, I suggest giving it a try. It has some novel situations unfold in a somewhat strange setting (future world line of humanity where the next planet fared to far away has dragons and magic.)

Pros: It has a slight romance subplot (so subtle it plays right)
Complex strategy mind games, subterfuge, and action
Written intelligently and realistically
Character development is strong

Cons: first volume or at least the first chapters didn't grab my addiction (like steins;gate and I shall seal the heavens, the first several parts didnt hook me at first)
Many character names can be cumbersome to some to recall

Overall it's worth a few reads. Now that I am on Volume 3, I need to savor the chapters. 🙂

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Engaging Story

by lehur
9 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

One of my favorite and best LN
Why this is not stand out, coz it's do not feel like typical LN (its nuance is close to american or west novel)
Truthfully, I just read this until recently, coz I neglect it almost a few years coz there are 12 (I am planning to finish it all, I write this review based on story till ch 1, vol 4), but
You can count on me, if you want an engaging story that have a deep story and full of intrigue (political and war) with the main dish is romance (tho visually subtle) author wrote the romance implicitly, make a reader to think Vileena and Orba/Gil double having a little relationship, however at the same time makes the development of each character and their feelings felt real.

... Last updated 9 years ago

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One of the best light read, EVER

by yatty1910
10 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Strategy, romance, fighting, character development, engaging storyline, unexpected conclusion of each volume. What else can a reader ask for?

Rakuin no Monshou definitely deserve more attention that what it has been getting! Spread the words in hope that some english publisher catch a wind on it 🤣

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Good idea, good execution

by ds4h
10 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Really, can't frown upon this one. Engaging story in a rather complex world with characters that feel alive. One of the fewer light novels that takes things seriously and leaves comedic nonsense aside.

While not the same genres, but overall attitude reminds me of Daybreak on Hyperion or Desolation Era. Good read.

Thumbs up and recommended.

... Last updated 10 years ago

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Very very good!

by rhin33
10 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

The story is much more complicated than the average LN with good storytelling giving the reader enough descriptions without becoming boring.
The characters are distinct and interesting and not to mention with real motivations. However the thing that I liked the most in this novel is the realism - even though its a fantasy story with swords and magic, dragons etc I cant shake the feeling that it`s about 13-5 century somewhere in Europe.

I recommend it wholeheartedly 🙂

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Heavy read but very good

by Gale1
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This novel is one of my favorite reads of all time, but ill admit that not everyone would like it. It is NOT a light read at all, and if you don't pay at attention to what all the characters are doing you will get confused. But that is what i like so much about it, the strategy and the tension of this novel is awesome, and every time i read it i get so absorbed in it that when the chapter is over i feel like i lost a part of myself.

since the art doesn't matter much since its a novel ill talk about the story and characters. the story starts out with the main character in the arena of the sword slave battles, he is a gladiator and kills to live, however the story soon changes from him being a sword slave to a body double for the prince. As a body double he has to not only act like a prince, but has to fight wars, and eventually marry the princess of the country Garbera. But this story is not only about him being the princes body double, you soon learn that Orba(MC) has a pretty tragic past with everyone he knows dying. and the one responsible, a general of his own country's army, is one of the many people he sees often while in the castle. More than anything this story is about his revenge for his friends and family and his struggle to find out who he really is. there is a lot of emotion in this story which is written beautifully, and the slow and subtle romance between him and the princess is pretty adorable too. In my opinion this story definitely deserves a 10/10.

There are a lot of characters in this story, however most of them do not show up that often, so i will just talk about the two main ones. first Orba, Orba has a very teen boyish attitude sometimes, especially when talking to the princess, but at the same time thinks very deeply about things very often, and although he not the most mature protagonist, he has very strong beliefs and feelings and does not waver from them. However he often wonders about who he really is. is he the prince that uses people? or is he Orba the sword slave who hates people that use others? Also Orba is very good with a sword, and is often pretty epic in fights.
Next is the princess. while you don't know her nearly as well as Orba, she appears often enough for you to get to know her personality pretty well. She too like Orba has some very strong beliefs(although most of the time these clash with Orbas beliefs) and stand to them strong. she is a very strong willed person and hates the very idea of the Gladiator games. She has this idea in her head to make the prince fall in love with her and when he becomes king she will control him to control the country. However she is definitely still young and that show every now and then. She also thinks that the prince and Orba are two different people. And while she likes Orba, she sees the prince as almost a rival. although she does not have as deep as a personality as Orba does, she is not like most annoying female leads, and definitely not helpless.
I also give characters 10/10

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