First im sorry, but I just got baited so I made this review.

Lol im choked when reading solmagnum low star review. I mean dude seriously? Plot is boring so rate it lowest? Although you manage to complete it *chuckled*

Consider the novel made at 2008 this novel probably one of earliest novel that take this kind of excellent from s*ave to king plot, except the ending bit rush probably. Dont get me wrong, im not new in kingdom building novel either. This one, are rare one. You didnt got OP MC... more>> that can rivalled army, the noble plotted each other and if you upset about romance, thats not the main focus of this novel either.

There's a lot lot more kingdom building novel that has more generic setting and worse plot, like novel where MC who is op in battle and s*x but useless in command army, MC who are un motivated but somehow he is brilliant in strategy as plot armor protect him and more. This one just like almost if plot armor barely exist. Sure he somehow 'survive' and have same face with prince but its not like he's having fun with it either.

However, it doesnt mean this novel perfect either. I'm bit disappointed about the ending. They should make some after story to clear some rushed thing happened in the end. The romance are god damn slow, probably one of slowest romance in my entire novel journey.

Overall its one of novel that im really enjoy especially at start. I know its too much to review 'like this' since people has different taste but I just cant comprehend to see someone manage to reading whole 12 volume just to rate it 1. I rather stop on v1/v2 if this novel isnt my thing, and do a review about why drop it. <<less

Wished the romance was more pronounced... Very unsatisfying ending I must say in regards to that.

As for the kingdom building/war story, I did very much enjoy it... Though did not enjoy the supernatural elements of the story.

Pretty great, others have given the good points already.

I would've liked a bigger role for Vileena, making her a true deuteragonist and thus allowing for more time to slowly build up the relationship between Orba and Vileena. I wish there were more meaningful interactions between them. I want more than "tsundere" and "trying to uncover his secrets" interactions. SmalL conversations here and there with couple interactions and inside jokes would give the relationship a lot more depth than what it now has.

Second, I think the whole setup of the background... more>> may have been a little bit too much for its own good. (By the way, the background may seem complex at first, but is in the end, if you think about it, in fact rather simple.) All "arcs" of the story are one after one swiftly resolved, a little too swift. At the end, I felt like, "is this it?". Such an elaborate background, slow writing, just for around twelve swiftly resolved story arcs and an ending? That honestly feels a little rushed. It's like the story stopped in the middle of Usain Bolt's 100m sprint.

Maybe the way the story plays out does not sit right with me. Yeah, thats probably it. It's not that singular actions in the plot feel wrong (although there are some very improbably parts), it's more the overall story that feels inadequate.

Well, these are only vague feelings. I don't exactly know how I feel about it. I would not call this some of the best fantasy ever, it is not in the same league as a literary superior work like Kingkiller Chronicles, but it's good. Better than a lot of Japanese LN. Normally I'd give it a 4, but this is NU and everything gets overrated so it's a 5/5. <<less

I almost never talk about a novel, but there is one and I have to comment, the novel so far is one of the few that I classify as almost perfect, we have all the tools in this story, the characters have personality, the author does not focus only one a vision we have many foci in other points of view, betrayal, revenge, romance, and more, I thank you already the translation of this, every time I read I feel a different emotion, another thing that does not change is... more>> that every final volume me surprising

PS: I'm sorry English <<less

Rakuin no Monshou is a disappointment. It's an overambitious fantasy novel that probably got axed or cut, considering the rushed ending that quickly and poorly wraps up a lot of loose ends.

This novel's worldbuilding is severely lacking, which is extremely important for a kingdom building novel, focused on a succession war and political tensions between countries. How many political figures do you really get to know in this novel? Rarely are politics as complicated as they need to be for me to be drawn into them, like Kingdom's Bloodline. Usually,... more>> politics get glossed over in terms of "the momentum." If some character in the story has some sort of momentum, all the sudden, all of the politicians start flocking towards them either as sycophants or opportunists. The only people skilled in political warfare are the select geniuses that the novel arbitrarily decides, and the main characters.

What about the wars and fights depicted? Not satisfactory. Every fight that the MC engages in, despite all the bad odds, ends up in his victory. It's as if he has some sort of plot armor since he's the MC! In the end, for me to really care about these "turning the tides" victories, I really want to be engaged in the preparation, the political repercussions, and the characters involved on both sides. While this is sort of explored in some fights, it's too rushed, and there are way too many fights. Every fight that the MC or Orba engages in and wins, the less impactful it is to me. Like wow, he won another fight. I don't care. There should be meaning and some sort of achievement that the reader feels when Orba reverses the tides of a fight. Too bad I never got that feeling.

I hate to bring it up, since I don't really care for the series, but Brandon Sanderson's stormlight archive series does a much better job at slower paced but more meaningful story. You might be thinking that this is natural, since Rakuin no monshou is a "light novel, " and Stormlight Archive series is a high fantasy. I don't buy it. There's plenty of webnovels and lightnovels with good story and worldbuilding; Rakuin no Monshou just doesn't have it.

For the amount of fast paced wars and stories, there's bound to be a good reason for that, right? The later parts of the novel definitely have some sort of culminating climax arc, right? I wish. There's just no reason for the rushing of a lot of the worldbuilding and fights in the earlier volumes, since it's not like the later volumes use that as a foundation for a cool story or anything. It's still just: more fights, more shallow political standoffs, resolving conflicts. The overarching story is extremely weak, and there should have been a lot more focus on the characters, the slice of life, worldbuilding, and the tactics of war rather than just fast paced volumes that gloss over a lot of key details.

There's also the magical aspect of the novel. For the amount of mysterious organization involved in the shadows of all of the kingdoms, there's nothing that actually comes out of it. Despite the hyping of magic and all of these important sorcerers that might come to something, this aspect of the novel just doesn't matter. There's barely any involvement when it comes to sorcery and magic that actually make an impact on the story, and I'm sure that's also because of the rushed ending.

What about characters? The only relevant characters are Orba and Vileena. Perhaps Guhl, Hou Ran, Zenon, Ineli, and a couple other side characters, but these characters are just OK. They aren't wooden puppets, but at the same time, with such an uninspiring and lack of worldbuilding and story, these characters just can't prop it up. There's a decent amount of coming of age and self-exploration into morality and the ego of Orba, and to some extent, with Vileena too. No complaints there, but also not exceptionally done. The other side characters are merely there to fulfill their purpose as representatives of certain kingdoms. The romance between Orba and Vileena could have been a great charm point in the novel, but sadly, there's a lack of interaction and focus in the novels about their relationship. Again, there's barely enough for it to make sense, but not enough for it to be good.

Overall, just a rushed, fast paced novel with nothing to show for it. There's barely any worldbuilding, lacking dialogue and characters, and the story doesn't go anywhere interesting despite its fast pace. Concepts and other characters that were the focus in the beginning just fade away as a footnote later on, like Ax Bazgan. Simon, etc. <<less

Let me tell you this first, the novel is great, easily five stars.

But - and this but is not small - the story is very slow paced on the beginning. So slow paced in fact that I dropped it after the 5th volume and only continued it because I've kept it in my reading list thinking that I'd might pick it up in the future. What can I say, I did and boii did I finish the last 7 volumes quickly. You might want to know this before you start... more>> reading, but it's not really a light-novel. There's nothing light about this novel and I probably would have had it much easier if I would have read a printed book. The chapters are very long, in fact one volume consists of about 6 to 12 chapters, resulting in an average length of more than 30 pages per chapter. That is not per se a problem, it makes reading this quite different from other LN or WN though.

As for the content of the novel, please refer to other reviews, as all the points have already been pointed out. The translations is faultless and as to be expected of Baka-Tsuki, though I still hate the formatting for phones, espescially with chapters this long.

And before I forget, the only point that did annoy me was the many unfinished things in the end. While I do appreciate that the author judged that anymore might result in volumes lacking in content, I feel quite similarily annoyed as after V4 of the Eragon series. You can't just bloody end the series without at least showing the things the readers wanted to read for the past 2000 pages. <<less

Despite the raving reviews I can't help but be disappointed with this novel. Maybe my expectations were too high from reading the overwhelming positive reviews? Maybe the reviewers have never read a good book before? In any case, heres what I feel about the novel.

This novel has a mix of political intrigue, military bureaucracy, battles and fights, strategy and tactics, a bit of romance etc, basically I feel author tried to branch out too much and forcefully balance the many sub-genres so that none take a too strong presence in... more>> the novel. In essence the story is wide as a lake but only ankle deep. Jack of all trades but master of none. This is the fundamental and fatal flaw of this novel. I guess author is trying to appeal to a, too wide demographic without any sacrifices?

The fights and battles cannot hold up a candle to other battle focused novels. The strategy and tactics are pretty shallow while the politics only skin deep and unable to compete with juggernauts like Kingdom's Bloodline that had schemes within schemes and unorthodox complex battle strategies in detail. The romance is pretty mild and draggy, for a lack of better word. You get my point.

The characters are well written and have reasonably good character development and natural interactions, though less so for some secondary characters but its still impressive. They are however a bit cliche and more of the atypical shounen characters (despite being a seinen novel). Moreover they seem more on a childish, immature, dumb side in terms of their train of thoughts and actions. They have depth but lack complexity and maturity of good character writing in their respective circumstances. To me they don't feel relatable or real.

The upside though is the world the story takes place in. Author did build an interesting setting. Basically humans have abandoned earth and searched for a habitable planet in colony ships. They found one and settled down however due to wars like with the indigenous habitants, lack of understanding of the world because it has a form of "magic", monsters and other light fantasy elements, civilization has regressed to a kinda of renaissance era. On one hand you have swords and primitive guns as well as drakes and other monster while on the other hand you have anti gravity vehicles and air ships powered by ether/magic. It is a truly unique world filled with potential that unfortunately author does not exploit. I wish the focus of the story was more on the world and humanity's history.

In conclusion, author goes a jack of all trades approach and various aspects or subgenres end up lacking. The characters are too cliche and shounen-ish. A big missed opportunity by not focusing on the beautifully crafted setting/world. <<less

If you're looking for a character driven story with a heavy dose of interesting military strategy, it'll be hard to find anything better. In terms of romantic subplot, it's a little dry and left a lot of potential on the table. It could have possibly been fixed with more short stories or a Final epilogue, but unfortunately, it didn't get either. Setting was interesting but a bit underdeveloped.

Characters*****

Romance**

Setting ***

Tension/Pacing ****

Intrigue***

Concept/Plot *****

Translation ****

Beautiful. Nothing less, nothing more. You have complex politics, strategic battles, human relations layed bare and a romance that you will definitely be rooting for. These are the one which make me remember why I love light novel and such. It might be a long read if you wanna start, but it is a read well worth the length. Dont expect comedy, and beware of traitorous men and really bi***ing women.

EDIT: This is Mango approved. Currently completed the seventh volume. I now consider this to be one of the most... more>> well written LN EVER. And to make it even better, the female lead is really well written. The conflict itself, both internal and external, is well thought out. <<less

One of the best JP adventure fantasy light novel that I have completed so far...

You can expect a good story, character development, would building, understandable drama, effective multiple POV, and unexpected ending in every arc

It's was a good ride till the end of story for me...

Meh. This is tagged as seinen, but it felt like a typical shounen with a little more death than usual. I didn't get far before I was too bored to go any further because the entire plot felt like nonsense. Using swords when guns and aircraft are available just sounds ret*rded to me.

Well I read it around 3 years ago and I am just giving the reviews cause people are saying this one is good. But no dont be confused by their flowery words this novel is just Average at best. I remember I was so frustated at this novel cause it tries to mix so many genre but fails to stay true to a genre. Plot itself is creative but author mixes so many genre that it just touches surface of political intrigue, war, military, romance and shounen genre but none... more>> of them are well done. It just average overall. It will depend if you have read other quality books of different genre to like this one. If you havent then you will probably like this but if you have then you will think this is no more than average tr*sh you wasted your time reading. <<less

This is one of the best novels out there, the reasons for it are:

• • The world building it's really great

• • The story is planned and it's also very good

• • The characters is the best part of this and I believe the most important aspect in every novel. This novel has a big cast of characters, they all have definied and believable personalities, the characters develop throughout the story. Especially the development of the protagonist and the main girl are amazing.

• • The relationship between the MC and Vileena is very well done, I needed to point this out because I'm tired of romance relationships coming out of nowhere and this one is really good.
  • The use of strategies to win every war fight and the politics are very good.
  • The dialogue it's intelligent and a remarkable part of the novel

I found a few problems, one of them is that sometimes the author starts a lot of events at the same time with a lot of new characters and it can become a bit boring at the beginning but when it all takes form it is so good.

The other is that I found the fights ok, I think that it can fit so well in manga format or anime than in the novel but it's just a small thing and it is not even a bad aspect of it.

The last one is the magic aspect of this, I think it was good in a way because it wasn't too op but sometimes I found myself thinking how many or what things you can do with magic in this novel. The point is I couldn't find rules on which it was based.

So considering all what I wrote I can tell you that this novel is really f*ck*ng great so I give it a 9/10. A must read if you like well written stories

I'll keep it simple. The author clearly put thought into the world and its inhabitants, unfortunately the plot itself is just boring. This is based on my experience with other novels that take the same tropes of revenge, court intrigue, romance, etc.. Overall every single development leaves a lot to be desired. If you are new to these types of stories you'll definitely enjoy it, but anyone with some experience will find it tedious.

I was between 4 and 5 stars, but after pondering, there are so many poor written novels out there and this one deserves it shiny 5.

Then why I was between 4 and 5 stars ? Because the end kinda felt rushed...

Basically, the first half is awesome, a true marvelous among light novels. The middle is OK, it introduces new characters that will be important later and even new plot possibilities.

... more>> But the end... It had so many things to pack that it felt rushed.

Also, the romance, forget about it. Yeah the first half make it look like it will have some romance, but nop, until the very end, there is just the "maybe things will happen between them".

Now that I wrote all this text, I'm thinking I should have give it 4 stars XD. <<less

The writing, the world building, characters, are really great. Top quality novel I would said. Although this genre might not be too popular. But I wouldn't said this is Fantasy, more like Historical.

The ending is quite open. Lots of things left unexplained. Maybe the author saved them for sequel?

The most disappointing is the romantic relationship between the protagonist and the heroine. I mean the relationship, interaction between them is really great. I read mainly just for those moments. But they keep being separated like 50% of the story. Even until... more>> the end there was only few line to close the story. Too abrupt.

Both the main characters are really great, but there are like two separated stories. It really a waste the series end too soon. <<less

Too many POVs for my taste. I'd rather just stick one, but I can tolerate up to around three different points of view in a story. More than that and it gets confusing; I no longer feel a connection with the actual main characters and stop caring about them, especially when they barely show up in an entire volume.

if you like lots and lots of POVs than go for it. If multiple POVs leave you skipping chapters looking for the actual main characters then this series will make you grind... more>> your teeth and cry in frustration. <<less

Characters we're not fleshed out enough in the end. There was some golden dialogue waiting to happen and things to be explained but it feels like the story was cut off. Some volumes were better than others. An abrupt and disappointing end after such a long read is really salt in the wound. It's a good world and has some good characters and events, it just wasn't fleshed out as well as it could have been.

While the first two volumes are interesting, most of the later volumes focuses more on meaningless banter and drawn-out intrigue rather than resolving events. If you're the type who loves to have endless suspense that always ends in an anticlimactic way and to be tortured with filler content, then this might be a good novel for you. Simply put, it absolutely pales in comparison with Dungeon Defense. And it's not deserving of anything above two stars.

As of now, this is one of the best novels I've ever read. The characters all are well developed, the story is very well written (the translators did an incredible job; if this is the best novel I've read so far, it's also because of them), and it keeps you glued to the screen.

The best thing, though, is the fact that this is the first novel I read tagged with "clever MC" which really has a smart main character. Not smartASS, but really smart, a strategist as well as a... more>> man of action. I also love the very analytical political undertones, which make a great contrast against the emotional angst and gradual character development of the MCs. It has both brains and heart.

I read the first three volumes in a breath.

Can't wait to see to the rest.

Very, very, very, very, very, very, very heavily recommended. <<less