Release that Witch

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

Chen Yan travels between worlds, ending up becoming an honorable prince in a medieval fantasy world. Yet this world was not quite as simple as he thought. Witches with magical powers abound, and fearsome wars between churches and kingdoms rage throughout the land.

Roland, a prince regarded as hopeless by his own father and assigned to the worst fief, spends his time developing a poor and backward town into a strong and modern city, while fighting against his siblings for the throne and absolute control over the kingdom. Join Roland as he befriends and allies with witches and, through fighting and even farming, pushes back invaders coming from the realm of evil.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Fang Kai Nage Nuwu
Fangkai Nage Nuwu
Fàng kāi nàgè nǚwū
RTW
ปล่อยแม่มดคนนั้นซะ
放开那个女巫
마녀 사용설명서
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Genjitsushugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki (45)
Tales of the Reincarnated Lord (25)
Sevens (22)
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (19)
Ascendance of a Bookworm (19)
Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter (17)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Kingdom / Sect / World Building
  2. Collection
  3. New list 1
  4. Wow there's a manhua version (ML)
  5. My top novels

Latest Release

Date Group Release
09/25/17 Seki – CA translations c378
08/28/17 Seki – CA translations c377
08/27/17 Seki – CA translations c376
08/25/17 Seki – CA translations c375
08/23/17 Seki – CA translations c374
08/22/17 Seki – CA translations c373
08/20/17 Seki – CA translations c372
08/20/17 Seki – CA translations c371
08/18/17 Seki – CA translations c370
08/17/17 Seki – CA translations c369
08/16/17 Seki – CA translations c368
08/15/17 Seki – CA translations c367
08/14/17 Seki – CA translations c366
08/13/17 Seki – CA translations c365
08/12/17 Seki – CA translations c364
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
359 Reviews sorted by


merddin
merddin rated it
October 24, 2016
Status: c110
This novel is a rare gem. In short - go read it immediately, you won't regret.

Going into the details:
It boasts a solid, captivating plot mostly told from the point of MC but with timely inserted chapters from different POV that don't just retell what you already know, like in many other novels, but help to deepen the world and characters.

Speaking of characters, you won't find typical 2D cutouts here, all named characters have a proper story and reasons for their actions. Despite harem tag, as of now there isn't... more>> one, even though a couple of witches show interest in the MC (who definitely isn't oblivious). The romance isn't strong at this point as MC is preoccupied with more pressing matters. MC is likable and uses his brain instead of godly cheats. Overall this feels more like a proper fantasy novel than a typical web novel. The author clearly thought out the story and knows where it goes.

On a separate note, translator of this series is seriously amazing. Releases are fast, regular and of great quality. Thank you, so much for this novel! <<less
20 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
LAFORGUS
LAFORGUS rated it
October 19, 2019
Status: --
It started greatly, but then author wanted to force the novel to have more chapters, so it became boring after :

Spoiler

The Dreamworld and Zero stuff, this should have been a short Arc to explain everything, or some mayor Plot, not a place to go on vacations to play and waste time.

[collapse]

The Technology on this novel advances too fast even with Plot Armor Witch. After 1K chapter I was skimming through the novel hoping for the Fillers Dialog to end soon.
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
sersafir
sersafir rated it
January 14, 2018
Status: c244
TLDR; That feel when you want to fantasize about a world you write with your gary-sue and your wife tells you what you're allowed to fantasize about. If your fantasy world's history is so easily stifled by the real world, it wasn't much of a novel to begin with.

When I first started reading this novel it was very interesting. Something stopped though. At around chapter 80-90 I quit reading the novel because it just stopped feeling interesting. I told myself it was just a temporary boredom, but I couldn't come... more>> back to it for over a year, and only when I noticed this was ranked #1 I kept on reading.

The church "turning out to be evil!" has become a cliché I'm so sick of.

The author appears to be a hardcore atheist allowing his feelings on the subject to bleed out into the book, letting the "evils of church" become the justification for his totally morally perfect character with an immoral past.

His free-market policies have become socialist at the current chapter wheat is to only be sold to Roland at the price Roland decrees. Any attempt to sell anywhere else meets with severe punishment.

The first issue I have with this novel is it suffers from going to another world and becoming a scientist syndrome. Yes I believe otherworldly knowledge would no doubt give you advantages but he apparently knows everything ever written on this subject with every formulae memorized for every scenario.

The author wants to show off how smart he is by describing manufacturing processes and other boring, tiring reading you might notice.

The second issue it suffers from is the lack of organic development. By circumstance and chance, these EXACT girls come to him right when he needs their exact powers. Too much "luck, " not enough logic.

Roland, our main character is far too perfect. His generosity and interest in improving everyone's well being makes it apparent that he may have been Bernie Sanders in his past life, except Bernie wasn't an engineer. Apparently he memorized virtually every formulae for virtually any scientific discoveries that could be made and used to advance his crummy town. He knows exact measurements for creating concrete. Of course the author can't spare us the explanation of every substance in it. We get it, you need a hot flame that only a witch can produce to give us concrete, you don't need to tell us what two-hours of research told you. We're expected to have the suspension of disbelief on a lot of things here, but his remembering everything he ever learned is hard to accept. According to the story he just got out of college, got a good job, then died during the job.

The "harem" tag is both unearned and misleading. It was very clear upon the earlier chapters the author's intention was to give a harem to the main character. As of chapter 244 it gives off a power fantasy of living with many beautiful girls with distinct personalities and ages all extremely grateful to one man, whom they've been isolated with for months, who can't leave him without risking death. By that standard I'd understand, but keep reading.

The focus of the beginning-early parts of the novel was centered around Roland and his relationship with the girls. One girl kissed him since she thought it was standard to do every victory. Other girls blush. Their perspectives occasionally call him handsome. It was very clear a harem was forming between him and the girls.

But then that all stopped. 150 chapters pass and no development. 90% of everything going on is now a long winded dry and sciencey explanation of how he's modifying the town and developing guns and walls and bridges and a pipe system and freeing s*aves.... when that stopped it talks about his evil siblings vying for power threatening to kill him until his newly developed genius invention saves the day... then it goes into detail about how everyone's thrilled! Huh, but the 'victory-kiss' girl isn't kissing him now... when did this get retconned? His close relationships toward the girls has been butchered with the exception of two girls who are both interested in him.

What killed off this developing harem? The author's wife. Yes, you read that correctly, the author's wife took an interest in his novel and specifically ordered him to not let it develop into a harem. This is the author's words, not mine. So now we're being forced to be distracted by how he's developing soap and bathrooms, how it turned out the father figure of one of the girls who "died" was actually alive and all this other crap instead of seeing any progress between him and the other girls. I now remember why I dropped the novel.

A similar thing happened to Fire Emblem:Radiant Dawn. The main writer's girlfriend didn't like the pairing of Ike & Elincia or Ike & Lethe, so in the installment he eliminated both pairings and only gave Ike special endings with Ranulf and Soren, (both men.)

EDIT: I'm glad they removed the harem tag lol. <<less
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
alexn
alexn rated it
June 25, 2017
Status: c813
Im glad I was s*upid enough to ignore this novel so far. Last week I got nothing ro do and tried read this, why not? Now im writing this review after reading last chapter on mtl. Im rarely write reviews, not only because my english sucks, but because im lazy to write about average good or shitty novels. TLDR: im writing this because novel is ectremely good or extremely bad.

You see I marked this 5 stars so its totally worth it. What stopped me, personally, from reading this before:

  1. Gloomy picture with shady witch, flying swords and mist and tree on background.
  2. Synopsis: Chang Yan+transmigrated+Roland (lol) +battle for the throne - this combo can kill your desire to read this novel.
What you sould do:

  1. Ignore picture above. Except cute girl you wont see everything else in one place ever again in this novel.
  2. Name Chang Yan mentioned 3-4 times in 800+ chapters, so you wont see it that often.
  3. Im already used to name "Roland".
  4. Synopsis made battle for the throne and battle with church as end goal. This novel at least isnt all about battle for the throne, trust me.
Good points:

  1. MC is not OP or omniscient.
  2. No harem
  3. Good and slow romance. MC isnt liked for no reason like in other novels.
  4. Novel ist all about MC, side characters are also good and we can see how MC grows from treir pov.
  5. Chinese novel without\about cultivation. Yep :D. Big point here.
  6. I cant remember all good points so lets go to the bad points to make this review shorter
Bad points:

  1. General knowlege of MC exceed normal persons knowlege level by far. I didnt get technical education and im not good at math or other exact sciences, but MC sure knows a lot details that he should not. Author sure could made this aspect better. Human brain can forget many things and thats totally normal, but author sacrifices it for the plot.
  2. Sometimes you can skip this "educational" parts because you either tired of this or already know it. But one thing I know for sure: when you start skip text in chapters - something wrong, so it counts as bad point.
  3. In comments on volare I often saw some people arguing about translator and his absence or something like that. For this rare and extremely good novel it deserves to be translated up to date like TMW for example.
Read this novel guys, it worth its rating.
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
kzwkrain
kzwkrain rated it
October 15, 2016
Status: c370
One of the best novels I had read. This story focuses on 3 things. Witches, territory management, and politics.

The MC has knowledge of Earth and will apply it into this world. But what's the point of following our step by step history? With the help of the witches, he is able to make steam engines, flictlock muskets (improvised musket), ironclads, hot air balloon, artillery, tnt, lasers and many more! With advance technology, he can rekt everyone in this world! Typical op MC right? Nah, that's not all. Firstly, he is... more>> not a strong MC in a sense that he can 1 rekt 500 like in most wuxia novels. He doesn't practice fighting (as of c370), so this is a rare Chinese novel with no bullsh*t cultivations! Secondly, it's not like all the technologies just pop up for no reasons. Even the MC can't remember how to create most of the stuff we have on earth. He teaches sciences to alchemists and witches and they will help him to research. Threats like assassinations are actually quite rare unlike most Chinese novels. So the MC don't have to fight experience assansins and own them. Wars are actually quite less as well. I can count it with my fingers.

There are some chapters that shows different perspective from side characters and it's interesting to read it. How should I say? Not too much and not too little. Just nice. So yeah, I recommend this to anyone reading it. Please continue to follow the series and support the translator if you want to continue reading the translated version. Otherwise I think you won't be able to catch up the on-going raws. From my knowledge, the raws update a chapter everyday. PS: the laser is a joke. <<less
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Randflag
Randflag rated it
January 24, 2017
Status: c233
Updated with score.

Release that Witch is a great novel, a rare gem among novels regardless of origin. Also honestly seeing some of the minor criticism of this novel, it seems like the people complaining do not even know what a mechanical engineer does or the coursework/experience needed to be a mechanical engineer, I'll go more into this later. Anyhow, this novel lacks the annoying tropes that you will find common in JP/CN/KR novels and is very well balanced. It's not going to win a Nobel prize in literature, but it... more>> somehow has a masterful balance of action, slice of life, political intrigue, romance, nation building, you name it. No element seems overdone or a weak link somehow the author was able to pull all the elements together with a strong cast of like-able characters. If I can rate this more than 5 stars I would considering the other "5 star" novels on this site. Release that witch isn't perfect but its heads and shoulders better than any other top tier novels out there.

Now I am going to debunking some of the criticism I've seen of this novel. 1. Roland knows too much science for a mechanical engineer. Sheesh, this right here tells me the person criticizing have no idea what it takes to become a modern day engineer. I was a STEM major and had lots of engineering friends at college, I can tell you engineering has THE most science intensive coursework out there, depending engineering field, you will be taking multiple college level chemistry/physics and even college biology depending field, and these science courses are the EASY courses in an engineering major. I've seen my engineering friends homework for their main courses and it's insane, they basically have to take all the modern science and solve problems with no guidance, their projects are basically if they can take all the science they learned and build something to solve a problem.

Think about it, what do engineers do in the modern world? Think of Apple and the Iphone. Before the Iphone, we had flip phones, now imagine you are an engineer in apple and being told to make a flip phone into a touch screen modern day iphone. Guess what, you can't complain because as a modern day engineer its your job to do things like turning crude flip phones into iphones with no instruction manuals, no guidance, just your knowledge of science and modern technology to make it possible. Now doesn't it seem like complaining about Roland knowing to o much seem silly now? He's building crude guns and steam engines and applying college level chemistry and some high school biology to his world, as someone in the STEM field it honestly doesn't seem too impressive to me. I've known electrical engineers who've built programmable robots in their garages when they were teens with parts from the hardware/electronic store and this was before their engineering education, now they are doing god knows what, probably building the next terminator and I'm not even kidding. The author honestly probably dumbed down Roland slightly or else there is no way a normal audience could follow if a real professional engineer busts out their real scientific knowledge assuming they have a decent memory. (I'm saying this as someone in the STEM field)

Now to moving on to the criticism of Roland being good government, military, leadership, etc. Honestly people criticism is shortsighted, the author has obviously done his research on what people knew and did not know during medieval times. Almost everything we modern humans know as background knowledge/common sense would be considered genius during medieval times. Let me ask you the following questions?

1. Have you ever watched war movies/war documentaries/play war games? - If yes congrats, you would probably be a military genius in medieval times. You'd probably have a basic (genius) idea that soldiers should be organized into some kind of squads, and since you watched war movies you know about the (genius) concept of boot camp. Also if you played starcraft you'd probably be aware of the (genius) idea of bunkers, etc etc etc. Notice how all these are common sense ideas? So why criticize Roland for having common sense ? Hell in medieval times people didn't even know about standing professional armies.

2. Have you ever been to school and experienced how your teachers teach? If yes, congrats you will probably be an education genius in medieval times, hell a chalkboard system of teaching is a modern invention that was considered genius.

3. Have you ever followed politics or took any government class? Congrats you probably are aware of several centuries of political theory that never existed/forgotten in medieval times. Also were you aware that modern governments have "departments" like transportation/education/etc, well congrats again you would be a genius in medieval times. Do you know the concept of professional police/fire fighters/etc, congrats again you would be a genius.

4. I can go on and on and on, I mean have you ever watched any TV show/movie or read any modern book ever? Well congrats you are aware of countless plot devices, narrative themes, etc that never existed in medieval times and would dominate the literature/play-write/theater scene. Introduce a story of a teenage girl who is lusted after by a hot vampire and werewolf and make up whatever terrible plot that comes from this premise, congrats your name will be chiseled in stone as a genius novelist... in medieval times.

5. Also people complaining about roland being a leader or good at speaking is just being silly. No where in the novel did it mention he was a shut out otaku/bas**ent dweller, if he is a modern normal human being he'd have tons of confidence in a medieval world since he knows 1000x more knowledge than anyone else. Even in the novel, Roland tells himself there is no reason to be nervous explaining things because even if he screws up or tells the wrong info, its not like anyone can check or would know any better.

Anyways I can list more and more, the more you think about it, the more capable the author is. The people criticizing the novel sound smart at first, but if you really think about it, their criticisms don't hold up, the author is just writing on a higher level. <<less
13 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Bull3thole
Bull3thole rated it
September 23, 2019
Status: Completed
I would give this a 2.5/5. Rounded this down because I enjoyed the first 700-800 chapters, but there are many flaws for this novel. The main reason is how the novel ended.

First of all, I have to agree with one of the reviewers who said this is a wish-fulfillment novel. You get to see the reactions of people when the MC turn a medieval time period into a modern world--this is the highlight of this novel. The MC is able to build guns, bathrooms, cars, different foods, and many more... more>> that shocks people. Some characters are developed decently, the beginning was great until it gradually got boring around 700-900 chapters and I had to force myself to finish this novel being 1, 000 chapters in.

Heres the negatives:

    1. You need to suspend your disbelief because it's impossible for a mechanical engineer to remember and do all these things. They try to solve this by introducing the Dream Realm, the arc was boring too, which makes the story even more ridiculous later on towards the end.
    1. Don't expect anything serious. The MC never fails and no one dies on his side (important characters) except for only one. ONE! The author even stated that he doesn't like writing tragedy in his novels.
    1. No harem but the romance is crap. The forced Nightingale romance isn't even resolved at the end.
    1. Witches that appeared for convenience so the MC can somehow solve his problem.
    1. Too many sides characters (witches). Some are developed, then forgotten and barely ever mentioned again.
    1. The ending is crap. The plot became overly complicated and they introduced some hidden boss in the shadows, which gets utterly rediculous in the last 200-300 chapters. The battle with demons ends quickly and everything starts rushing to end.
How it ended seems like the author didn't give a crap anymore and decided to end everything in 50-100 chapters. The author waste 1400 chapters writing about the MC building his utopia that he couldn't even end the novel decently. <<less
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Ardavix
Ardavix rated it
December 20, 2016
Status: c174
This novel is refreshing. You can tangibly feel the thought put into this novel's story and its sequence of events. After reading so many wish fulfillment novels I've become somewhat disillusioned with the lack of thought put into these novels and their subsequent plot holes. You can only say, "it's just a novel, " so many times before you sigh and drop novel after novel. That is not to say that I don't like wish fulfillment novels, actually, I really like them; however, I do wish that they were more... more>> thought out and better written. In any case, to be clear, this is no Shakespeare but it's a leap above its compatriots in terms of quality. Usually, I'm not the type to enjoy nation building novels; it's a trope that's been used so often in western literature that I tried to avoid it on this site. After having no more novels to read, I noticed how popular Release that Witch was in addition to how highly rated it was so I decided to give it a try. After 7 days and 174 chapters, these are my thoughts. 1. It's thought out: That's not to say that it has no plot holes but you can tell that it clearly wasn't rushed.
2. It's slow but that's ok: as mentioned, it was definitely not rushed; every sequence in the story is structured around it's central plot & premise: reincarnated engineer builds a nation using his past life's accumulated knowledge (emancipating witches is a subplot). However, each sequence leads seamlessly into each other whilst including the perspectives of other important and or relevant [to the main character's ambitions] characters.
3. It's another wish fulfillment novel: but it's not your typical wish fulfillment novel. Yes the story is all about the MC; however, the story isn't drowned out by the MC either. If I had one complaint ~ it would be that the MC is a little bit too smart. Forget about your average Joe, not even Einstein knew as much about so many things as our MC. Perhaps only Da Vinci could be as much of a jack of all trade - master of none as our MC.
4. 174 chapters in and I only had my blood boil over once: as mentioned, it's slow but the climaxes are worth the wait :P
5. Usually, when I read a new novel with 100+ chapters translated I storm through it in 2 or 3 days; even CD only took me a fortnight to finish and I started reading it when it was completely translated. However, with RTW, I seem to be taking it relatively slow reading about 20 or so chapters/day ~ probably do to the lack of blood boiling scenes.

Accordingly, I can happily recommend it; especially to people who enjoy nation building novels. Now then still 8 more chapters to go until I'm fully caught up :) <<less
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Tasear
Dream Seeker rated it
July 21, 2016
Status: c22
I am enjoying this one quite a bit. It's about discrimination and equality while discovering a peculiar strength of group or individual. I won't say it's a best seller, but it's got a nice style. So I recommend this a good causal read for anyone into fantasy/sci-fi.
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Ssjn4vega
Ssjn4vega rated it
July 1, 2016
Status: c10
Love it so far, it's interesting and new. I love kingdom building and I hate judgmental religions getting their comeuppance so this is a great story for me.
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Apfel666
Apfel666 rated it
April 15, 2018
Status: c771
Being an engineer myself, I don't see the problem of him having so much knowledge. Though I don't remember that much myself, but the MC is a Chinese and if they are good at sth, then it's learning by heart. And he is still far from the knowledge and intellect a random professor of my university. All in all, he is not a run of the mill average guy, but surely no second Albert Einstein.

Btw., Mechanical engineers also have chemistry, physics classes and ofc material science. The basic biology from... more>> high school even I do remember. And that little knowledge about war tactics you can get in any strategy computer game. Furthermore, there isn't a compulsory military service for students in China, but they still have to complete a basic course. About those ships made from
Spoiler

stone /cement

[collapse]
, I also didn't know that it's possible. But once you read the wiki page, there won't be much of a problem to build such a ship. Besides that, none of his knowledge was a surprise.

Besides that, there is a interesting main plot, fleshy side characters (too many for me to remember, but luckily there is http://releasethatwitch. Wikia. Com/wiki/Characters), interesting magic powers, funny and a few romantic moments. Also I can't remember scenes where I did cringe or that the main character ever was an arrogant dumbass. Those many chapters with side character perspective are really well written, but on the other side pretty annoying if you always read the newest chapter and wanna follow the main plot. Small advice: Always wait for 10+ chapters. Or risk being frustrated. Another positive point: While he keeps ups his morals & modern human rights, he has a rational mindset and doesn't back away when force is necessary.

5/5 <<less
11 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
milliontonnez
milliontonnez rated it
April 25, 2017
Status: c700
This one keeps getting better and better. The best part is that the MC keeps on thinking about the medieval era challenges and solving them by using solutions from modern times. High upkeep of knights/untrustworthy mercs? Make a standing army. Plague? Pubic health system. Low reserve of gunpowder? Chemical Industry. Spies/Thugs in the city? Police system.
11 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Mizura
Mizura rated it
October 30, 2016
Status: c119
This series is certainly better than what the title and cover suggests. As others have said, it's basically about an engineer reincarnated as a Prince in the middle of a succession dispute, and using the witches' abilities to get a head start in terms of technology advancement. The protagonist works in a logical way and the results are quite satisfying. There is also a decently complex plot in the background, and the battles are quite exciting.

There are several factors that really break the immersion factor for me though.

First, there's the... more>> fact that everything is too convenient, both in terms of psychology and in terms of skills. So the protagonist is from our world, so he is free of the prejudices of that world and is so much nicer to the peasants. No problem. Yet he seems absolutely fine with executing people and starting a war.... what? He seriously never even flinches at the thought of ordering the death of others. At this point, I'm pretty convinced that Roland is no better as a person than his siblings, except he happens to be better at HR, PR and management, and that makes it Really hard for me to want to root for him over other characters.

Also, he is an engineer. He brings about the wonders of cement, steam engines, guns and whatnot. Great, that's Really cool. Trade? I'm fine with that too. And then he proceeds with population census, games, and marching band songs, and let's not forget he's an expert at reading people (except for love matters)..... eh? Of course, the witches happen to have relevant skills, but it's starting to feel uncomfortably like the author went "hey, would it be clever if a witch had ability X and Roland did Y with it?" It also feels like the witches are all pretty just so that they'd make an attractive harem for Roland later on. The fact that the author keeps trying to convince us that Roland is not That omnipotent is seriously starting to feel like a farce.

Finally, there are the frequent shifts of POVs. On the one hand, it's nice that each character gets his or her own background. OTOH, it is Not so nice that most are basically "My life was shitty, other people were shitty, only Roland was not shitty so Roland is great." As I mentioned before, Roland's actions reveal that he's far from a nice guy, so the fact that the author is trying to hammer his greatness into us through the other characters is seriously off-putting. I'm fine with ruthless protagonists, but don't try to package him as a nice guy then. Then there are the other characters. None of them is like-able, save this one person who got killed off quite quickly. I'll reserve judgment for now, as there may be long-term payoff, but in the meantime I really wish the plot were revealed in less intrusive manners.

Basically, this is a solid story, but with 0 psychological depth and too many convenient factors that really break the immersion for me. It's still much better than your average world-building story though. <<less
11 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
fiel
fiel rated it
October 15, 2016
Status: c85
Rated 4.5 ~ 5.

The genre and the initial plot line itself is not unique. It follows the usual isekai story that starts off with the MC reincarnating to another world. However, the atmosphere is completely different from the immature isekai light novels from Japan, where the MCs are mostly high school boys without knowledge of the world. This novel has more of a territory government vibe than a fantasy and adventure one. Majority of the fantasy aspect of this novel only comes from the monsters and the witches.

The MC was... more>> a mechanical engineer in his past life. Which means that even though he was at the bottom of the pack, he was still a relatively accomplished man, with a mature thought and more logical approach to things. When faced upon the decision to execute a witch, he saves her instead and borrows her power rather than impulsively doing actions. Even with the overwhelming opinion of the majority that witches are people with evil magics, he remains skeptical of their truth. This situation draws out the curiosity from the readers unto the mysteriousness of these so-called witches. And by the story goes on, he unravels their secrets one by one.

You readers can expect that the MC does not have a weak and timid personality. And even though he falls to the category of 'OP', the author does not obnoxiously shove this fact unto your face unlike some of the other novels. He only utilizes his knowledge from the previous life as an engineer to his advantage in order to create machines, weapons and other things not yet existing in the current timeline. But since he needs the witches to speedily create and utilize these machines, it doesn't paint an OP character that 'can do everything by himself'.

There are many aspects to the story. Military and political aspects from his struggles as a prince who fights for the throne. Fantasy and mystery aspects from the witches and the witches. Potential romance aspect from the witch Anna whom he rescued.

There is even a slice life feel to the story from the witches that gradually comes to his side hearing of his benevolent personality. And yet surprisingly, the novel avoids having a immature harem vibe to itself. And it still maintains its personality.

The pacing is quite good and I never got bored. The witches are diverse in their personalities; at the same time, they avoid common generic archetypes. The explanation of the machines and how they work are quite interesting too, and even if you have no idea of the terms/words they use sometimes, the purpose of the machines are understandable enough.

The writing style is not bad at all, and the translation is doing an amazing job (as expected of volare).

It's quite a solid novel overall. <<less
11 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
SolidG
SolidG rated it
August 6, 2021
Status: c986
I was recomended this novel as one of the better world building novels out there and after reading a ton of reviews that praised the novel I had really high expectations for this one. To be completely fair, for the first 400 or so chapters it really did seem like all the hype was well warrented. However, there are a lot of little things that slowly built up that made reading this turn into more and more of a chore.

1. The amount of knowledge this MC has is completely unrealistic.... more>> Agriculture, botany, biology, chemistry, mechanical engineering, hand drafting, govermental affairs, educational systems, city planning, construction techniques, pyrotechnics/explosives, firearms, and more. The author says he's a "mechanical engineer" but thats kind of a catch all phrase and 99.9% of the time they specialize in one thing or another.

2. The main love interest is easily one of the most boring characters. In my oppinion, and the more I think about it the more obvious it becomes, she is completely mishandled. Both in character development and roll in the story.

3. Somewhere in there, and to be honest I'm not exactly sure when it happened, the author suddenly became super pro Communist China. And it's not subtle at all. Now I don't want to bash the author to much for this because it is a CN. But holy h*ll does he beat you over the head with it.

4. The introduction of guns and modern inventions in a fantasy setting is something I typically don't like to see. It kind of guarantees being overpowered. But in this case I let it slide because it seemed to works well with the story. It does make the battles and fights loose all tension though.

5. The MC has a solution to litterly ever single thing. And if he cant solve it through conventional means, the author will be kind enough to provide a witch who will solve it for him.

6. There are way to many characters. Mutiple times the author would mention a character and I would have to stop and figure out who she was. "Oh that's right, that girl from 80 chapters ago." About half the time they have very little to zero impact on the story except to solve a single problem and then filler content 80 chapters later.

7. Around chapter 750-800 things start going downhill real fast, it's as though the author had 2 different books and kind of just hulk smashed them together.

I could keep going but I'll leave it at that. The story does have its positives too which is why I kept reading for so long.

1. I think the magic in this world was actually handled really well. It's simple but offers a lot of freedom and unique abilities.

2. The concept is really unique and interesting.

3. Although it completly unrealistically fast, the progression of his area is really fun to keep up with.

4. Some of the side characters are actually fairly interesting and well developed. Although like I said earlier there are wayyyyy to many of them.

5. I was actually thrilled to learn that the main characters in this weren't children like in so many other isekai. Thats always something that is hard to relate with.

If you are reading this I hope that this doesn't competely dissuade you from checking this LN out but just tempers your expectations a bit. It is a decent LN and even more so for a CN but so many of the reviews make it seem like it's some sort of masterpiece. I went in with that same attitude and was pretty dissapointed so I'm just writing this so you don't do the same. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
7starkiller99
7starkiller99 rated it
October 20, 2020
Status: Completed
The rushed ending quite simply put ruins the entire experience.

Look, there are countless of these horrible webnovels.

The start is good, with worldbuilding!

... more>> MC makes a large and powerful kingdom. MC saves the witches. MC stops the pointless church that was founded by former s*aves of witches etc.

But just as MC was finally ready to unite humanity...

The novel ends in less than 50 chapters with rushed BS about his ‘dreamworld’ with no closure on:

His romance, his friends, the witches’ futures, the fate of humanity, threats from other worlds, the true meaning of his dreamworld, the relics left behind, and all the rest.

It's like a gainax anime ending or like the horrible tr*sh that was Shield Hero’s ending. Or perhaps even the garbage that was I have possessed the body of the demon sovereign.

Basically read up to fall of the church and then stop. Novel became disappointment personified after. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rainx
rainx rated it
September 8, 2019
Status: c970
Before I state anything about the story itself, I want to state that you are reading or about to read a Chinese novel. It does not matter if it's posted on Qidian or Feidian because these novels are mostly written by aspiring young writers (kids) and only a few of them managed to emerge after a severe fight and be a serialized writer. Even if I said serialized, they would have an editor but unlike Japanese or western books where the editors put in real effort into nurturing them, the... more>> editors here are just there for the sake of being there. Lots of Qidian serialized writer have not even met their editors' face at all. Thus, please stop bringing in comparison with western and Japanese novels that had editors helping them throughout their writing.

This is why almost 99% of the web novels in China are wish-fulfillment type of novels. Face it, this is what you get when you decide to even try out Chinese web novels.

Now, this story is about a mechanical engineer that tapped into the another world as a prince of a kingdom. The new world is a world that is akin to the medieval ages that we know of. Be aware, it is akin so don't take it as the same because the residents here have no idea what cement or steam powered engines are at all. Then, this world has witches. Yes, real witches that holds supernatural powers which are hunted across the world. This is also something that our history recorded before - witch hunt. Witches are cursed and must be killed - this is what the residents of the world was taught since little. Naturally, the MC does not care about it and instead uses the witches' power and continues bringing in technology from his (our) world into this foreign world. Fortifying his territory, expanding the territory and invading hostile territories. What we are looking at is how the MC acts as an adhesive that glues up the witches and his allies and takes on the new world.

The Pros of this Story.

Spoiler

If you get used to how a Chinese novel narrates a story and how the exposition goes, you will find it actually interesting here. Sorry to those that are used to western books because they would find it hard to get used to the totally different way of writing here.

So, the MC is not a useless guy that is backed by plot armors (there are but if you ignore a few spots, it's relatable) and only knows how to aggressively attract hatred from his surroundings due to his actions. This makes it slightly better than those novels with that kind of MC. Still, it doesn't mean that it's good. Then again, nothing is perfect so this MC is actually quite OK. He's a slightly clever guy, calculative and the type that knows when to act. Still, he has a lot of bad parts too.

It has interesting start but like many Chinese novels, it gets stale after it keeps dragging on. Sure, new things are introduced but they just aren't as appetizing anymore. It is still good but it just don't get any better. So, you decide for yourself after you read further. For now, I'll put the plot and story as a good. MC and witches collaborate and 'invents' new things while collecting more witches and assuring his denizens that he will lead them forward.

The relationship between the witches themselves are also a plus. Also, this MC only chooses the first witch as his wife so it isn't actually a harem. This would be a plus for certain group of readers. I don't really mind but I do have some words to say about it (below).

[collapse]

Cons of the Story

Spoiler

All right, this is the bad side of the novel itself. If you could bring yourself to ignore these points, it might be a good read for you.

    1. The MC is not a relatable guy at all if you consider it from the reader's point of view. A guy that could remember the inner workings of a gun? All right, a gun enthusiasts would be able to do so. How about steam engines and other innovations that he brought out? Nobody could remember those things. Not even a self proclaimed mechanical engineer. Even as unrealistic as it is, the author could at least make up some sh*t like the MC is suddenly able to remember all those blueprints and knowledge or the fact that he has a photographic memory of sorts. None, which is why I consider this a downside for the MC.
    1. Bringing in guns in a fantasy type novels where magic and swords thrive is a
      NO, NO.

      Although it was not executed that badly in here, it is still a big minus from me. It is like pouring cold water on a sick person, in winter nonetheless. It turned me off. It is a big mistake to bring in gun powders and expecting everyone to be happy about it nonetheless. Residents might be happy at first due to the victory and assurance the guns brought to them but the fact that guns are also a scary weapon that might one day be pointing at themselves instead never comes to them. They are all happy-go-lucky celebrating the fact that guns are made without a hint of worry. Still, just ignore it because it is a wish-fulfillment novel in the first place. Don't get your hopes high but it doesn't change the fact that this is a minus for me.
    1. Witches are girls, extremely beautiful girls. Only girls are witches. MC collects a lot of witches. Isn't this akin to a story where MC openly collecting extremely beautiful girls? No, people would argue that MC only likes Anna. Yes, and this is what irks me off. You don't go raising the flags on every beautiful girls around and ends up leaving them alone. If so, don't even raise any flags in the first place. This is my personal opinion so those reading this could just write it off.
        • I want to point out that I like both single-route ending and harem ending. All that matters is how they are executed and how the MC really feels about it. What I hate is a stallion novel where the scum of a MC can't wait to stick his thing in every beautiful girls.
          [collapse]
Basically, this is a good but not extremely good read if you could just exclude the bad points I mentioned. Do read it with some attention but don't take it seriously. You might find some joy in reading it then. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
traitorAIZEN
traitorAIZEN rated it
August 7, 2018
Status: c600
Too bad there's no 1.5 ratings.

The story was really exciting in the beginning, watching someone hated and useless turning the table and improving his fief is a fun read. But as more and more witches appear and the more he create modern stuffs, the harder for me to keep on reading it because of the issues I seen in it.

(might contain minor spoilers...)

First, the witches. They are just so convenient. So convenient that I wonder what would happen to the industries after they die since some of them... more>> heavily depend on witches' powers and those powers can't be transferred. So convenient that whenever the MC needs something, there will always be a witch that will appear to solve that. I even just consider them as humanoid version of skills he gets if this world follows a game system, and the MC will be that op character. But ofcourse the MC needs to be surrounded by females right? And since the MC needs a lot of skills, there will also be alot of witches that it becomes harder to track who is who.

Secondly, the MC. If I remember correctly, he's just a mechanical bluprinter/engineer. I understand him having the knowledge to create machines. Steam engine? Why not. Gunpowder? it's cliche so why not. Chemicals? Now you're pushing it. He's just a mechanical engineer but suddenly he becomes so all-knowing.

What really turned me off big time is the pace he pseudo-modernized his fief. Yup, 'modernized'. I consider it different from advancement of the civilization. And these heavily depend on the witches' powers. He tries to recreate the 'modern earth' in this tiny fief of his. He keeps churning modern stuff one after the other, and it's truly convenient that the people quickly adapts to them in just a short amount of time. Medieval era people easily adapting to modern technology, how believable is that?

Then theres the water system, heating system and then the last straw for me, electricity. Like wtf!? Are you gonna create televisions? internet? airconditioners? Or maybe flying cars? I doubt it'd be impossible since a new witch will appear who has the convenient power that can make them happen. And there's also those lightbulbs he created along with a half-ass explation. I'm sure if only we've invented laser guns and swords then he would've also introduce it to these medieval people. In the first place, the basic knowledge needed to understand the modern technology is not a familiar thing to these people.

This kind of kingdom building is plain s*upid. He should create simpler and more practical machines or methods that are more in line with the existing knowledge, technology and resources of this world. For example, instead of relying on electricity and lightbulb, he could've made a lamp or candle thats shines brighter and lasts longer. Who's to say it's impossible in this fantasy world? Atleast that way they won't heavily rely on the witch powers or complicated electricity producing machine that's way beyong their understanding. And that's also why the witches are so convenient, he can just use them as shortcut method to bypass any needed effort to study and adapt to this world and era. He migth have created books from his memory and somewhat educated the people but, I consider those knowledge as half-ass because it's impossible for him to know and specialize in everything of the modern era.

And if ever he and the witches suddenly disappear or die in battle (ofcourse we know they are the protagonists and there will be plot armor then eventually win in the end, but imagine if it's not that kind of story) , what happens then to these things he created? With the half-baked knowledge of the people, they won't know how most of them works. The most they can do is keep it as it is, not fully knowing the science know-hows behind each of them. And they'll slowly return to a lifestyle that befits their era, maybe they'll keep some of his reforms. Worst case scenario, there will be bloodier wars using the wepons he created.

Again, that's why I call it him 'pseudo-modernizing' his fief and but not actually helping in advancing the civilization. He spoonfed his advance knowledge to the people of a medieval era of a different world. Yes, his modern knowledge might've been the end results of the long effort of innovators in earth's history but, this should not be the end results in a fantasy world. He already provided the finished products so why should the people try to innovate and slowly, but steadily, create their own technology and way of life? The MC has deprived them of this choice. The people just need to follow the road he created to spare themselves any unncessary efforts, efforts that could have led them to a different road.

From a practical point of view, this story is so s*upid. But if your turn off your brains and just go along with it, then you'll probably enjoy reading it.

This review just ended up focusing on MC's use of the modern day knowledge. I couldn't help it because it's such a huge plot hole for me.
After reading some of the reviews after writing mine, I have to say I deeply agree with yowamu, youseiki, and triggerk's opinions. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
bloggbigg
bloggbigg rated it
October 27, 2017
Status: c502
This is pretty much one of the best things going.

Seriously- read it.

I read the few reviews that were 2 starts (none less so far) & so should you. In particular look for:

    • Heavy bias, name calling, unreasonable complaints/unfair expectations.
    • Real world political opinions not fulfilled in this fantasy story.
    • Early reviews made before the plot develops.
    • Complaints that the author/main character is 'too smart'
    • Complaints about the translation quality as if that reflected the actual work.
    • (and who knows what else later)
I'm not saying this is perfect/best, or that they might not have an actual point here or there- I'm just saying even if you somehow don't like it, it's damn solid writing.

The good:

It's well thought out & quite enjoyable.

The plotting is good. There is some scene switching which is sometimes unwanted as you're engaged with current characters- but the story develops in many different locations, and it's interesting even after you're mad it changed.

The characters develop pretty well. They also don't do game leveling or interfaced number ratings or any of that game-based stuff. All the characters have personalities, and a few experience some reasonable advancement. A few are close to caricatures, but many are acceptably personable.

This story is pretty much dual nature, with survival/nation building being one part, and character interactions/development being the other. What makes it unique is how the MC chooses to develop in the face of ever changing aggression from many unreasonable parties, who's aspirations go from simple greed to conquest of the nation to the unfathomable. Even so, it manages quite often to be conversations in a living room or office where people grow closer, as well as some heroic conflict against fearsome beasts or in some remote, snow covered area- and everything is potentially interesting.

The Bad:

It's being translated currently & ongoing- which means when you catch up to the translator, he's waiting on the author.

Some of the characters are pretty OP. Most authors can't handle high power scales without breaking their own stories, so this can be a concern. I suspect with this author it won't be an issue- but we'll see.

'Unwelcome' scene changes/cliffhangers- this is more an issue when you're waiting for translation, since these make you wait longer for your eagerly anticipated 'next part'. As mentioned before, they aren't really an issue otherwise.

A few interesting characters seem to 'disappear' for extended periods. This is really an issue of their being more interesting than the story needs, and there being quite a few characters as well. We'll see if they get more 'quality time' later. For me this was Kyle and Agatha.

The different:

Author apparently knows his science or how to research things (or both). Leading to a fairly solid world canon & apparently planned/non-deus ex plotting. This shouldn't be 'different', but most stories start out with a few good idea to last a few chapters & the rest is made up as they go along, giving diminishing returns.
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Providence
Providence rated it
October 8, 2017
Status: c468
Best novel I've read so far. I've never binge read as much as I did on this one.

IMO, the best thing about this novel is character development! And I am not only talking about the MC and the witches, but also the side characters too. This is what I've been looking for in all the novels that I've read. This is what the other awesome novels is missing to be called the best novel. This is what made this very novel interesting. It really makes me feel that I am... more>> also a citizen of Boarder town. It makes you want to read non-stop.

Next, the MC is not OP. The witches are also not OP. But the witches' power development is well thought. And in each arc the combination of the witches power with regard to the strategies of battle, as well as in promotion and execution of industrial revolution is paced perfectly.

The flow and pacing of the story is perfect. The characters are lovable in their own ways. Its always a complete scene - the side character stories is really one of my favorite part. Its not like some other novels that a side character will be important in one arc and will never be heard again. This also makes it very exciting because you'll see the development of the story from multiple points of view.

With so many witches, I was afraid that the possibility of a harem would ruin or make this a run of the mill story. There are only IMO, 2 points to nitpick on this story, that some readers might not necessarily like. The MC is an atheist and number 2, the sometimes very long details about engineering with all its jargon. But I guess, the author needed it to make clear of the progression of the industrial revolution in the story. If you don't want it, you can just skim it, but me, on the contrary is taking the challenge of understanding it and learning a lot along the way.

Personally, I love political war stories. But in this story, the MC being a mechanical engineer gives this story more depth. It makes the other political war stories superficially inferior. Other stories have weapons and magic too. But this story takes it to another level by giving it more depth through the progression of magic and weapons. And I am not only talking about increase in attack/magic power but a strict advancement of weapons and a well thought evolution of magic with a lot of challenges along the way. <<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.