#goodreadschallenge — Public Fediverse posts

The two stories in one volume is certainly a thing with this series at this point.

And for once we get some global plot being pushed forward, with some loose ends being tied. I did not particularly like how the Oriana Kingdom issues were resolved, but at the end of the day, it was entertaining and that's what matters.

The second half of the volume was once again, a short side adventure set in MC's previous world. And once again, lots of new characters were introduced, there's been absolutely minimal required world building to set up the scene, and then it all was discarded just like that. Except for a girl. You know, harem must grow. Priorities must be considered.

Kobo edition is once again featuring JPEGs for the bonus story for no reason, and I don't think Yen On will change it in the future.

Vol. 5 was released at the very end of 2022, so I wouldn't expect English version before June 2023, so I guess that's it for now.

Overall, I'm glad the series managed to keep up the pacing and story progression as well as it did, it certainly exceeded my expectation (albeit it was quite low to begin with).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5202928410

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The whole bunch of new characters introduced in Vol. 2 never makes a comeback. Instead, we get a new batch of characters, who promptly come and go. Except for the nine-tail fox lady.

We get two stories in one again, but this time they're somewhat connected and at least push forward the overarching Cult plot and flesh out some of the secondary characters. Oh, and the harem grows.

The deus ex plot convergence is less annoying as the author tries somewhat make the main protagonist a bit more competent than plain rock.

Unfortunately, one bit I didn't quite like is how the "cleverness" and "mysterious" vagueness that masks MC's lack of comprehension of events, comes out as simple cruelty towards Alpha at one point.

Kobo edition once again has bonus story as a bunch of JPEGs for no good reason.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5202924185

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This whole series is weird. The second volume improves somewhat on the first entry, but then the second half is basically an overblown side story that could've taken half a chapter.

There's been way less fanservice, and more action with actual worldbuilding in the first half. Harems are starting to merge too. A bunch of new characters are introduced, but nothing happens. I really hope it's just a long setup for the follow-up novels.

The story is still fun and gripping, but the schtick of main protagonist of foiling the grand schemes by doing random stuff out of boredom is starting to get stale. But I think it can hold on for another two volumes, so I might actually stick with it.

For some inexplicable reason, the bonus short story in Kobo edition of Vol. 2 is two JPEGs instead of actual text (with no alt text, as per usual).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5202917906

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I picked up #TheEminenceInShadow on a whim, after watching a random five second clip of anime.

Going into this blind was confusing. The prologue almost made me drop it instantly, I just do not appreciate the line it tries to walk between comedy and serious, but it's really just a short and hastily thrown together setup for the main narrative.

And it's great. I couldn't put it down until I read the first volume from start to end in basically one sitting. The plot and pacing are on point and keep this series above the average baseline, as far as #isekai genre goes. English translation and editing are also very good, flowing naturally and without annoying typos and missed edits.

Now, unfortunately it's not perfect. The world building is almost nonexistent, the author gives the barest of minimums to the character and setting backgrounds. The fanservice can be excessive (the whole chapter of girls shopping for panties, with quite detailed descriptions; there are two harems). The basic humor of physical gags and oblivious protagonist trope are not doing it for me.

All in all, I think I'll stick with it for now, there's only five volumes published as of this moment, with four of them being already available in English from Yen Press. Kobo edition is of expected good quality, with the usual minor issues when reading in dark mode.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5202915132

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