Hey hey! It’s been ages! Lets just say stuff happened and not all of it good.

Anyway, last we spoke back in April I was finishing up Ascendance of a Bookworm and OMG was that an amazing finish. Definitely can see why it’s loved by so many and it’s become my #1 LN series as well. So much so that I was a little sad when it finished. I haven’t read the side-story yet as I was still emotionally upset that Myne’s story was more-or-less over.

Afterwards I read <Reincarnated as a Sword> Volume 16 and it was dull by comparison. Now don’t get me wrong, Reincarnated as a Sword is still a great series but Vol 16 is the lull after the resolution of a major plot point in Vol 15 so it’s mostly a lot of resolution and set up with Fran revisiting old locales. Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it came off as relatively uninspired especially coming off the final book of Bookworm. For instance, Fran goes to magic school for a few books but rather than have a crazy adventure like what Myne did, Fran basically just does the usual Fran things of beating up bad guys. Honestly it felt like those events could have taken place anywhere and the school was just background noise.

More recently I read <Reincarnated as a Sword> Volume 17 and it picks back up but still suffers from revisited locales. Fran once again enters the tournament and it’s fun to compare her newly powered up self to her old self, but I felt like a lot of the tournament was just the author going through the motions although there are some VERY cool moments. We get some more backstory and one of the new characters actually has a lot of depth to her, which is a welcome addition considering we’ve mostly revisited old characters up to this point. Unfortunately the resolution in Vol 17 feels a bit rushed but the set up for Vol 18 has me excited for the next book.

Switching Gears, I read <The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind!> Volume 1. It was… mediocre. Starts with an isekai setup between three friends. One is the summoned hero and the other two were just accidentally summoned with him. The MC is actually one of the other two and the twist is that he already knows magic from Earth… because there’s a secret society of mages who practice magic without anyone else knowing. And Earth’s magic is centuries ahead of the magic in this fantasy land. So the MC is somewhat more OP than the summoned hero. But the entire book takes place inside the castle where they are summoned, the very few characters we see are one dimensional, the antagonist for this book is your stereotypical jealous person of status, etc. Seriously, in this HUGE castle we see a total of maybe 9 people important enough to be given names including the summoned trio. All-in-all the most interesting thing was the art, which I found had a unique and very interesting style. Really, the plot can be summarized as, Isekai, I don’t want to fight the demon lord, I’m going to sneak around and hide my abilities, Oh, you found me out, I’m still not going to fight the demon lord, oh there’s a bad guy afoot… and got 'em. The end. The best joke in the whole book happens in the first chapter when they get summoned. They hear footsteps coming and one guy is like, “I hope it’s someone important from this world,” and MC is like “What are you thinking? I hope it’s our friends with a big ‘SURPRISE’ sign.”

I think I’ll read Spider Isekai next as I have no desire to read The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 2… finishing the first book was a struggle.

<The Unwanted Undead Adventurer> Volume 14 - After all the wait, Rentt has become a pushover goodie-two-shoes character. ::: spoiler Spoiler After a group of thieves attacks him, he takes them under his wing, buys them new equipment, and plans on training them up in the dungeon until they can sustain their lives on their own as adventurers. I hate that so much. Later on, a pickpocket tries to steal his money, and he takes them in as well. He’s the Mother Theresa of Vampires. :::

<They Don’t Know I’m Too Young for the Adventurer’s Guild> Volume 3 - I understand the author’s MO now. Introduce a new character and make him really grating at the beginning of a volume. Then work on him for the rest of the volume until the reader actually likes them. This really works for me, and I hope the quality of the series will continue at this high level.

<Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless Village into the Strongest Fortified City> Vol. 6 - another war-centric volume. I hope this arc is done now, and the next volume goes back to city building.