Fujino Ōmori

This series is hard for me to judge. I'm genuinely interested in what's going on and like the characters here. There's also some cool touches in this world, another one of which is revealed here - some more depth to how this "magical dungeon" thing actually works.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of substantial downsides. One is the very obviously gamey nature of the world; this is consciously based on JRPGs, and I feel like the implementation of that is a little clunky. I get the feeling show more it's not quite accepted JRPG tropes as the fundamental metaphysics of the world, but on the other hand, it uses them as overt and tangible parts of reality. I suppose I feel like it should be either a little more hardcore about converting those into "how the world works", or make them less overt and more narrative. But I couldn't put my finger on anything.

The other issue is that the writing continues to feel a bit awkward, not quite flowing as I'd like. I assume it's a matter of over-faithful translation, but I really should see if I can dig up a Japanese copy and see how they compare.

Fundamentally though, it's become an undemanding me-time read for me, and I'm okay with that. show less

I was a bit less struck by this volume, although it remained a fairly enjoyable read.

The book opens well, with best-laid plans ganging agley and the party soon stuck in an unexpected and perilous situation. There's also some interesting social bits creeping in as we learn more about the harsh "rules" of adventuring.

Unfortunately I felt the adventure rather bogged down, with the peril drawn out longer than I felt was interesting. Once I realised the course they were stuck on, I had to show more slightly mark time while waiting for them to get there, because the actual journey felt rather repetitive. I prefer dungeoneering sections to be mostly glossed over, with only the punchy sections shown.

The reunion and the 18th floor revived my interest and I enjoyed reading about them. However, the climax of the book felt, well, boring to be honest. The final battle is very long and drawn out, but of course we know the outcome. I also found the descriptions felt increasingly unlike the atmospheric touches I expect in a novel, and increasingly like artistic or stage directions, as though the author were actually telling us what the manga or the film of this scene should look like. I'm sure that's a consideration these days but it didn't feel right for a novel. Unfortunately I also found the repeated scenes of people charging up newer and more impressive secret powers not to be very interesting.

Fundamentally, what I find enjoyable about these books is a light-hearted mixture of adventure, socialising and discovering a fantasy world. The author's notes to this book explain that they wanted to focus heavily on the dungeon itself this time, and unfortunately I don't find the mechanics of the dungeon very interesting. This volume falls short on the conversations and interactions between ordinary people that I find interesting, and places an increasing emphasis on Dungeon Stuff and on heavy-handed foreshadowing of Bell's epic destiny. I suppose an epic destiny was inevitable in this series, and I'm afraid I will not retain my interest in the face of it. I prefer light-hearted adventures and romance in dungeon-town. show less

Trashy, shallow, silly, and ridiculous. This is not great literature, but it is fun and funny. I wouldn't recommend it for any impressionable young people, or anyone with high-minded tastes. Honestly I'm not sure who'd I recommend it to.

This is the only Japanese Light Novel I've ever picked up, and the first LitRPG. If you're not familiar with the term, a LitRPG is a novel that includes the conventions of tabletop role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons) or videogames. The characters show more have codified classes and skills that advance in an unnatural way according to the mechanics of the game.

It doesn't have any swearing or explicit sexual content, just a pervasive immature attitude towards sexuality (female characters are definitely described in a titillating way, characters often respond to someone else's lust by running away or becoming debilitatingly embarrassed, the protagonist is a 15 year old boy who has literally a dozen women and a handful of men pursuing him while he is actively clueless than he might be attractive to anyone). show less

The plots are shallow, the characters silly, the combat entertaining but predictable. There is very nearly nothing of value contained in these books. And yet I keep reading them.

Please do not take my continued enjoyment of this series as an endorsement of it. It's bad, it is just also very entertaining.