The basic gestalt is that a 30 year old man dies of cancer, gets reborn with a stat sheet reminiscent of his favorite tabletop RPGs. He carefully plots out his perfect build while having increasingly more gutsy adventures.

I'd like to say it starts a bit slow but after 6 volumes, the pacing is simply all over the place. The vocabulary and sentence structure is compelling and fresh, but idk if that's the fault of the source material or the J-Novel translators. It reads easy but is constantly bogged down by asides and inane commentary. In the middle of what should be a compelling situation, the author meanders about with paragraph after paragraph of inconsequential theses. There are times where I genuinely felt like the author completely forgot the point of a given exchange. A woman asks a question, but that question is never answered as 2 pages later it fails to get addressed. This is a near constant scenario for the first 2 volumes. Despite the pillar of faith LN authors adhere to in first person, this author can't seem to decide on a particular narration. It goes from 1st person to 2nd person narrative to 3rd person omniscient in the span of a few sentences. Because of the abstraction created by a floating narration, it's very difficult to feel invested in the setting. Since I am unfamiliar with tabletop games, I can only assume the writer is trying to convey various roles, whether that be an NPC, GM, or PC. It becomes quite discordant despite the personal enjoyment I get out of it. I would go so far as to call it a technical train wreck. Interesting and fun on the one hand, baffling and frustrating on the other. Another fair criticism I will level at this series is the insistence to explicate any subtext that could be left to simmer on the conscious or subconscious mind. I can only describe it as tragically amateur; the result of which becomes an oppressive burden. This, in particular, conjures up an image of an author jealously domineering the gateway to interpretation. In measure, it could be forgiven, but this is as constant as the narration hopping. Having the author jump in my face an prolixly sermonize when I'm trying to enjoy myself is quite rude.

It does seem to settle down by the 3rd volume, by nature of the plot, but it does little to remedy the constant barrage of asides and trivia it throws at the reader. There's a certain quality to it that makes it quite impressive, of which I assume arises from natural talent. However, it is woefully poor in standard writing technique. There's a fine line of introducing setting, characters, and lore. This series needs a professional editor to make the asides more seamlessly fit into the story and to focus the wild prose. There's a lot of things to like about it, but it's so overshadowed by its flaws that it makes me hesitant to fully recommend it. By far, the most indulgent LNs I've read. As if, just like, I was sat in a chair across from an interesting nerd spinning fascinating tales over cheap beer.

Update: After reading 7-9, a lot of my criticisms die down, ultimately not all the way though. It's far, far more palatable. While I kind of tolerated it up until Volume 6, it got extremely good. It's a shame that there is no end in sight. Which is a good thing, but considering how long it takes LNs to be be written, licensed, and then translated. This isn't likely to finish before 2040. Still, I have to bump up my score for being so thoroughly entertaining during volumes 7-9

... Last updated on August 5th, 2024, 5:09pm