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A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special
Type
Web Novel (KR)
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Rating(4.0 / 5.0, 387 votes)
5    54% (208 votes)
4    17% (65 votes)
3    14% (53 votes)
2    7% (29 votes)
1    8% (32 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
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One entry per line
Year
Example: 2012
2016
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
314 WN Chapters (Complete)
8 LN Volumes (Complete)
Licensed
Yes
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
Release Frequency
Every 3066 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #9391
Monthly Rank: #14778
All Time Rank: #989
Reading List
[Graph]
On 8224 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #16713
All Time Rank: #586

Description

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

In the Shadow World, daily life is filled with chaos and catastrophe.

Commoner magician Desir Herrman uses his prodigal skills to enter the Shadow Labyrinth – the peak of the Shadow World. But when his party fails to clear the Labyrinth, humanity falls into demise.

This should mean death for Desir, yet he finds himself sent back in time to when he was a boy attending the Hebrion Academy. This is his second chance.

Can Desir hone his skills as a magician so he can save humanity the second time around?

Associated Names
One entry per line
Gwihwanjaui Mabeobeun Teugbyeolhaeya Habnida
RMSBS
귀환자의 마법은 특별해야 합니다
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (8)
The Editor Is the Novel’s Extra (7)
I Obtained a Mythic Item (6)
Trash of the Count’s Family (4)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (3)
The Novel’s Extra (3)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Korean Novel
  2. Good novels
  3. (NoRO) Korean novels
  4. Completamente leidas
  5. Best Novel to Manhwa Adaptations

Latest Release

Date Group Release
12/03/18 Raining Black c1 part1
Write a Review
39 Reviews sorted by


Silver Celeste
Silver Celeste rated it
January 29, 2019
Status: c314
There seems to be some trend within all light novels (Korean, Japanese, and Chinese), where authors would take an amazing premise with tons of potential, write a strong opening and engaging first few chapters, then f*ck it all up and let the story dive into blandness and mediocrity. Alas, A Returner's Magic Should Be Special suffers from a similar fate. Note, this is both based on the manga and the LN.

Let's dive right in.

Firstly, the things I liked. The main characters are really good. All of them have established... more>> traits, personalities and strong motivations, and all of them are mostly consistently likeable from the moment they are introduced. Side characters are... usually bland, boring, uninteresting and one dimensional, but fortunately they rarely get the focus anyways so it doesn't impact my enjoyment too much.

The general premise is extremely strong and has great potential as well. The mere idea of a second chance type of story is already by its very nature extremely appealing to a reader, and it isn't difficult to get readers to root for a MC who travels back in time to save the world.

The story itself is not bad as well, it's pretty decent. The main appeal from second chance stories is the protagonist knowing events that will happen in the future and taking advantage of his knowledge, and this LN does it pretty well. It's not amazing, but it's good enough to be enjoyable.

Now, onto the bad things.

The first thing that annoyed me is how the strength of the characters are never clearly defined. The magic in this is based on "circles", and apparently the higher "circle" you are the stronger you are supposed to be. The problem is that we never have a clear idea as to how powerful each circle magician is supposed to be. How strong is a 1st circle magician compared to a 2nd circle magician? What spells can a 2nd circle magician cast that a 1st circle magician can't? How many 1st circle magicians does it take to match up to a 2nd circle magician? e.t.c. e.t.c. These things are never clearly explained, and it might not seem like a huge problem at first but when your main character is supposed to be an underdog who has a lower tier circle that everybody else yet manages to beat everybody else, then it becomes extremely important. The point of making an underdog MC is that he can't win through brute strength alone and must win through ingenuity and creativity, e.g. using shitty low level magic in unconventional ways. However, most of the time this MC just uses his bullsh*t ability of "analysis", which pretty much just means that no opponents can use any magic around him. The strength and extent of this ability is never clearly explained and often times merely functions as a "get out of jail free" card whenever the author wants to make the MC win a fight against a stronger opponent without much effort on the author's part. There are parts when he does use low level magic creatively such as his use of "grease", but these moments are pretty rare. The point is, if you want to have your MC be an underdog, the combat system must be well-defined in order for the readers to get a good idea as to how the MC circumvents this system to beat stronger opponents. This author can't do that (or is too lazy to), and it really shows later in the story, when magic fights pretty much boil down to whether the MC decides to use his bullsh*t analysis or not. The same goes for swordsmanship too. How strong is a pawn level swordsman compared to a knight levels swordsman? Is there a literal difference in physical strength or is it just in terms of skill? Why can't all magicians just pick up a sword, learn some swordsmanship and become a Magic Swordsman (Spellsword) ? Why can't swordsman learn basic magic and become one too? These are all questions that we never get the answer to, and it makes it rather frustrating as the story goes on.

EDIT: It's revealed later in the novel that only people born with the 'gift' of magic can use it, but it still doesn't explain why magicians don't all have mandatory sword training. This world places huge emphasis on Magic Swordsman being extremely unique and powerful and talented, above and beyond the average swordsman or magician, and yet there doesn't seem to be anything stopping magicians from all becoming swordsmen as well. Is there also a 'gift' of swordsmanship that gives you superhuman strength hence why your average magician can't just pick up a sword and become twice as powerful? Goddammit explain your world better.

Spoiler

Also later in the story the author just dedicates a few paragraphs where the main character just decides to combine "dragon magic" with his normal magic, and then boom, despite only being third circle he can now somehow cast spells that are as strong as six circle, and he can now 1v1 the strongest people on the planet. Like, the author just writes off the main character's largest flaw by inventing bullsh*t "dragon magic"! The main character doesn't even use his main skill of analysis against the more important people anymore, because the author must've realised how cheap the power of analysis his hence all his opponents now have ways to circumvent it, even though that's his most unique power! And despite still being students the main characters are already among the strongest people on the planet in just two years! How the f*ck did the author drop the ball so hard like this?

[collapse]

My second gripe has to do with the world building. This story uses the traditional "nobles vs commoners" storyline cliche trope that we've seen over a million times, especially with the recent boom in fantasy and isekai stories. There's nothing in this plotline that you haven't seen before. We all get it. Nobles are a**holes who suppress commoners. We've all seen this before. The author should understand that in a market so saturated with this trope that they should at the very least subvert it a little or try to change things up, which to their credit does happen a little. We do eventually learn that there was a recent uprising that happened 10 years ago that caused alot of the tension that happens in the current time era. But this just isn't enough unfortunately. Instead of these tensions coming to play in the main conflict of the plot, the villains seemingly just want to cause random destruction instead of being about class politics, which would honestly be much more interesting and relevant to the world building thus far.

EDIT: The author also takes the novel in a very, very strange direction towards the middle. Instead of actually trying to prevent the end of the world, the main villains turn out
Spoiler

to be a random terrorist group that was barely present in his previous life and yet now somehow has vast armies, technology hundreds of years ahead of everyone else and the strongest people on the planet on their side.

[collapse]
This decision feels so bizarre and strange to me, because it completely breaks the original premise of the novel. The main appeal of a second chance story is that the MC knows the future, and yet by having an entire secret conspiracy army pop out of nowhere for seemingly no reason like this in the current timeline, the author just renders the MC from a time traveller into merely a "strong dude". Literally, the MC now is just nothing more than a really powerful guy instead of a guy that knows the future. Sigh, way to go in breaking your own strong premise.

Ending Edit: Plot twists often happen out of nowhere for almost no reason. Meaningless revelations akin to the stuff you find in Kingdom Hearts are all over the story (omg! X's name turned out to be Y! this is so surprising even though there's no significance to either name omg.) Some characters would just turn evil for no reason seemingly because the author thought it would produce the most shock value. You could tell these moments were just randomly inserted in without any prior planning and then the author would haphazardly try make it make sense in the most ad hoc way possible. The author clearly had grand ideas but had no idea how or where to take them.

The main thing that annoyed me is the Shadow Worlds, the main selling point and the "villain" of the story. I've read the explanation in the novel and in the manga several times and honestly speaking I still have no idea what they actually are. Apparently they are different worlds that just "show up", and they are recreations of past events and they also eat land somehow. Honestly they are just excuses for the author to place characters in interesting situations, but please explain them better, because as they are right now they make me wonder among many other things: why the hell are they sending schoolchildren into dangerous worlds that could kill them? The shadow worlds are also an excuse for the author to integrate game elements such as "quests" and an omnipresent narrator in the background telling people "main quest: win the favour of X, 50% completion", "you have cleared the quest" and "you have now entered the shadow world" into this supposedly realistic world. Does anyone actually question why an omnipresent voice is telling people to clear quests? Does anyone know what the voice is and why it's there? Why is this never explained?

The last thing I hate is the pacing. Sometimes the pacing is extremely quick such as when they're training and shit, and other times the pacing slows down to a pathetic crawl. As a general rule of thumb for writers, it's only a good idea to slow down your pacing if you really wanna develop characters or foreshadow important future plot points or something, otherwise you're just wasting time and boring me.

Anyways, these are my main gripes. It always fascinates me how an author can take an amazing premise and drive it straight into the ground, but hey, I suppose that's what I have to get used to in the webnovel department. <<less
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TheJudge
TheJudge rated it
March 24, 2019
Status: --
This review is based on both the manga and novel, both are similar so far from what i've read. I had very high hopes for this novel/manwha in the beginning, unfortunately this had turned into one my biggest disappointments.

Great start, got me interested then like many novels the story, action and everything else takes a dive. The MC have already experienced many of the events yet aside from the usual "we need to prepare so we don't die in the shadow world " we know NOTHING, until the event occurs.... more>> Might as well call the MC a guy with vast knowledge rather than knowing the future because that's what has been happening so far. He tells his party absolutely nothing except for the fact that they need to "trust him and do as he says", that can only get you so far and I'm getting tired of it. I mean cmon, least you can do is explain why you want them to train this way or what his goals are, but nope, what we get is MC patting these two toddlers on the head for a job well done, and some giggling.

The pacing for this novel is all over the place, but for the most part very slow, especially once the party enters the first shadow world. MC also ends up making many mistakes and overlooking many important easy to spot problems because his mind is so clouded with "how to prevent the end of the world bs" that he fails to see what is right in front of him. <<less
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agathe
agathe rated it
May 10, 2019
Status: c230
alternate translation after here, are rather awful

i must say the thing that kept me going is that, for once, the premise of the story is that the main character is ready to share. He is committed to ally the strong against a greater evil. I like that a lot. No petty individualistic competition, not much silly vilain at every corner, a full cooperative ambition... and a world to challenge. There no place for revenge, it’s useless to beat your opponent in pulp, there are other ways to do when you... more>> consider long term consequences instead of your pride and ego.

How refreshing !

so, bad guys, bad things, they do exist, but, with a bit of smart. That « unfair » universe is being tackled, and through the actions of the hero, and through the visit of the shadow world, values of society are being challenged.

I did not find it slow, in fact, I found it pretty packed with lots of ideas and ambitions. Like many web novel, it would certainly benefit from being streamlined a good time, but I found plenty fun ideas, that kept me entertained

The monster alternative universe reveals itself to be more than a simple nightmare, offering the characters to get through by solving issues differently than the choice from the past, these winning choices being socially and politically quite meaningful, the alternate universe will provide clue to a bigger plot, but also, maybe ?, clue to a better world...

so yeah if you’re searching for another get stronger book, than might not be it, but if you enjoy this team building spirit with a greater goal, this is certainly more of a chess/ political puzzle book, than a single hero quest. The MC does not care a bit about is personal accomplishment, except to be useful, he does not care to beat the world, it’s never about « him », it’s about contributing to a better and a safer place...

i can only praise the spirit that is so far from many savage individualistic book that are out there nowadays, and i’m very happy to see it being translated :) <<less
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Pixeldrum
Pixeldrum rated it
January 30, 2021
Status: Completed
In the end, A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special has a lot of interesting ideas, but all of them fail to execute in a coherent manner. There's a lot of limitless opportunity in the concepts that get introduced to this novel, only for it to be closed out in a forgetful manner. Shadow worlds and their objectives. In the end, this mystery gets resolved, but it's so disconnected from the actual plot and doesn't feel anything more than a cheap copout. This is especially true for the "clear" objectives of... more>> the shadow world. A lot of the shadow worlds in the novel have simple clear conditions and there's not much variety in these objectives. Desir not only doesn't enter many shadow worlds, but the shadow worlds he enters end up being lackluster in their own right. There were so many different clear conditions that shadow worlds could have had, and so many different circumstances, but in the end, it gets utilized instead in the most boring manner, with mediocre plotlines in all of them.

The many different power systems that are introduced in the novel but end up being obsolete by the time the concluding arcs roll through. Imagery magic. Time magic. Artifacts. These terms get thrown around, but none of them get utilized to their full potential, and it mostly ends up being a backdrop to the story. When it's used against the main characters, they somehow manage to block against it, but that's it. When the main characters use the power, they achieve some magical breakthrough and get more power. In the end, these powers don't get explored, and it's just another blip in the text of either the adversary that they have to go through or the power-up that they conveniently get.

Characters are a huge problem as well. I'm not going to deny that the dialogue and some of the interactions of the characters seem pretty genuine, but the problem with these characters is the lack of dimensionality to their personality. As with a lot of stories where the "main character goes back into the past, " this novel introduces characters that the MC knew in the past and he has to befriend them again. The only problem is that as a result, their personalities essentially stay static and after a short arc of befriending them, they become best of friends forever with little to no character development. Any "maturing" that they do, does not actually change their personality much, but rather their determination in becoming more powerful. In the end, characters in this story lacked any sort of impetus of change. Rather than exploring each character in depth, they're kind of just "there." That makes for some not TERRIBLE, but certainly not great characters. I mean, there's no fun in reading about characters that have little change in their personality and whenever they are mentioned, it's usually because they're engaged in combat, not because there's meaningful dialogue and interaction that fleshes them out.

A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special lacks the finesse to finish the ideas that it introduces, and as a result, the entire novel falls flat. <<less
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storybookknight
storybookknight rated it
May 24, 2019
Status: c41
Not perfect, but so far a decent story. 'Badass goes back in time to try to fix everything' stories are pretty common amongst Korean webnovels; the thing that makes this one stand out from other such stories is that the main character is a team player and is working on helping other people get stronger alongside him rather than trying to do it all himself. Unfortunately, it suffers from a lack of depth; it's on the lighter side of light novels and so far a lot of the characters, setting,... more>> and so on are more 'sketched out' than deeply portrayed. It's clever enough for a fun read, just don't expect too much from it. <<less
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ARodz
ARodz rated it
March 14, 2021
Status: Completed
Too many plot holes to count -_-

MC underestimates his enemies too much every time and nearly gets burned only to be saved by PLOT ARMOUR...

Seriously if not 1 star rating then what else ?

Even if I admit the potential of the story I can't deny how horrible it turned out with the little intricacies not mended well it was glaring hole because of which I just couldn't justify it being more than tr*sh
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paulrip013
paulrip013 rated it
July 31, 2020
Status: c161
Beautifully made novel.

It has been some time when I had read a good story. I've read a couple good and bad ones from KR|CH|JP. I'm currently at chapter 160's or so, trying to avoid the big plots that's about to happen to avoid cliff hangers.

This review is only based on my opinion, and I'll try to avoid any spoilers. Ready?
    • [ Environment ] The environment. I'm talking about the geography. The changes in locations, the iconic spots, big and small places used in the story. Typically in novels, they start from one small place to a bigger one, going further and further away, expanding the story map. This novel introduces a simple one, with factions among nations, and factions within factions. The simplicity of the map gave me the idea that the story would end up short, think about it, there's not much improvement to be made if the places are cut short. But wait, there's more. The story introduced a way to counter that - [ The Shadow Worlds ]. The idea of a shadow world is basically a recount of historical event, much like [ Assassins Creed ]. Through the use of shadow worlds, the author made the introduction and creation of locations and scenarios interesting and flexible to changes without making a drastic and unreasonable changes to the locale. This also lets the story move along the map smoothly. [10 out of 10 for smart play]
    • [ Characters ] The MC is basically a returnee from the future, you'd expect he'd know some people from the past. The story goes the other way around. He knew the characters based on the future, and not of the past due to his origin story (which hasn't been told yet).

      And because he doesn't know them from the past, plot -
      Spoiler

      they are slightly different and needs major help, causing the [ Butterfly Effect ].

      [collapse]
      . I've seen some character improvements, but since this is still too early and that the characters seem to be in high school by their age (wasn't mentioned, but definitely young.). Knowing that the MC is a returnee, I wouldn't expect any major improvement on his personality. I just hope there wouldn't be any degeneration, considering that he's surrounded by "KIDS" (barely legal/young adults). [8 out of

      10 for the character creation].
    • [ Perks | Skills ] An action novel is shitty without its perks, treasures, weapons and skill systems. The novel stuck to the basics, with Warrior wielding swords to Mages throwing fireballs. It's so basic that it's easy to follow through. If you've read a couple of novels before, or mangas/manhwas, you'd easily understand how the skills systems work as you go through the first few chapters of the story line. The good part is that the MC is OP within reason, skills are reasonably OP, and items are reasonably OP. He is titled -
      Spoiler

      The Greatest Anti-Mage

      [collapse]
      . The items he use are gained from his knowledge of the future, some of them still being developed, and not much has reached the MC to be used. The MC isn't really that OP when you analyze it well. He is so weak that he has to use items to buff him up so he could barely cope with the others. He's only able to surpass the other characters due to his Analytical Skill and Tactical Experience which he has developed prior to the time travel. How he improves is another story.

      The down side is how the author doesn't thoroughly explain the skill system. [7 out of 10 for skill mastery]
    • [ Time Travel Buff ] Like any time travel-based story or resurrection-type story, the has to be advantages brought by the MC. But with this novel, there isn't much. This is mostly due to the humble background of the MC. Item creation, treasure gathering, skill mastery - all that are the basics any time travelers would bring to the plot.
      Spoiler

      But not every novel introduces the [ Butterfly Effect ], yes, it happens on this novel.

      [collapse]
Over all, I love the novel (so far). The varieties, the variables, and all the chaos that's happening from all through out the timeline. I highly recommend, however you want to read it. Have as much fun as I do.
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Luminescent
Luminescent rated it
April 10, 2021
Status: Completed
A Returner's Magic Should Be Special is a perfect novel. The way the story progressed was beautiful; there is no other way to describe it. Everything had meaning and led up to the next event until the amazing/perfect ending. The novel is a masterpiece. It may not be noticeable at first, but when looking at how perfectly everything intertwines it becomes apparent. As for the ending, it was absolutely beautiful. Everything was wrapped up perfectly, with the best part being the last interaction with Adjest; the romance that was blossoming... more>> throughout the story finally had a perfect conclusion. This may not have been the first novel I read; I have read thousands of chapters of ongoing novels, however, this is the first novel I had completed; and it was worthy of the title of being my first completed novel. <<less
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pomoli
pomoli rated it
April 18, 2019
Status: c31
This is a pretty good beginning: the MC is clever and mature, the other characters are interesting.

Only some are kinda caricature like.
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OgreMeShrek
OgreMeShrek rated it
December 26, 2020
Status: c261
This we'll be just my thoughts on the novel. I actually liked this novel alot at first. I did start from the manwha or manga so I cant say a whole lot about the first 91 novel chapters but this got my attention for a little bit. I read for hours the only thing I really did for 2 days and found myself not wanting to stop reading but now that I'm at chapter 261 I've found myself want to skim through stuff and wanting to just finish it already.... more>> I might've burned myself out to be fair but I do believe it started going down hill after the time skip maybe? Or it could've been around chapter 200. Also the villains have no imagination to their names. Only one did they explain his real name. I mean they literally just went by the mask they wore. This is an alright novel but really only if you dont have something else to read. I say maybe a 3/5. It's okay but has its good moments. I'm gonna state it plainly and say I'm a big fan of OP characters and Desir is OP but other than a couple moments do you really get pumped up. I also wish they would've went more into his past life but it only mentions it in very rare moments. I am gonna finish it but I think I'll wait till the last 10 or 20 chapters are translated and take a breather for a moment. <<less
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Thousandswords
Thousandswords rated it
November 2, 2020
Status: c10
A really badly written novel. The main character is s*upid. He doesn't act like an adult even after going back in time. It's like his intelligence deceased due to going back in time.

Also, he talks like a computer while fighting for no logical reasons.

Not worth it.
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orario
orario rated it
September 20, 2020
Status: c202
A decent MC, no harem tr*sh and no cute ditzy girls playing hero and acting as though everything is a game. No, it's life and death. Though it starts a bit slow, it's a rather gritty and cruel fantasy world and it keeps getting darker the further you go into the story. The antagonists are shrouded in mystery and their true motivation unknown. They are also very cunning, shrewd and powerful which makes you feel very tense at times, anxious to see how will the protagonist handle the situation.

I also... more>> love the dungeon-like instances, how unique they are and how they actually influence the reality - for example, there were times when they learned in dungeons that depicted a certain event set decades in the past that the history that they knew in the present was false. That things had been covered up - and learning the real truth about the past helped them greatly in the present.

Lastly, the supporting characters have their own personality and they are actually useful. Yes, they are very important. Multiple times (up to the last chapter I read) the MC would have not been able to kill his enemies had it not been for his 3 teammates working together with him or saving his life.

I have to mention as well that the MC doesn't just focus on growing stronger alone. This is commendable. Instead, he focuses on growing together with his friends, acting as a mentor for them in order to prepare for the apocalypse in the future. To make humanity survive.

All in all, a solid novel. 5 stars from me. <<less
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shubh
shubh rated it
May 20, 2020
Status: c117
5/5

This is amazing novel.

It's one of the few novels in which MC is intelligent and uses his past knowledge in creative ways. When the world is in danger, you don't go solo to save it!! You use everything you have got!!

He helps in the research of defence artificants and develop a new type of magic for everyone.

He creates a team of members with great potential and teaches them too. He unites different factions.

Definitely Recommended
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Laeman
Laeman rated it
February 14, 2021
Status: Completed
The novel had a decent starting premise and the world as a whole was interesting especially the whole shadow world thing. But through the story the whole magician system was overturned with the mana pool and the mana circles. Reading the whole story gives you some answers but many are left unanswered.

... more>>
Spoiler

The thing with the MC being very weak because he can't use high tiered magic because of his mana pool is completly overturned and he is able to use magic much more powerful than some gifted magicians.

[collapse]

Spoiler

The whole romance at the end was nice but there was no hint that the MC had any kind of feelings towards the opposite gender but was rather invested to prevent the the death of the people. It is much more confusing as at the beginning it was mentioned that he had a lover who died in the shadow labyrinth but nowhere was her name mentioned or her existence.

[collapse]
<<less
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cleesus
cleesus rated it
January 23, 2021
Status: c314
My real rating is around 3.7.

I have a long history with this novel/manga.

I originally started reading the manga back when it only had like 9 chapters translated. Kept up with the manga for awhile and switched to the novel which had like 40 chapters translated at the time. After I switched to the MTL version which was predictably horrible.

Decided to wait a for someone to fully translate it which took like 2 years. I had to explain that to establish how interested I was in this story. Unfortunately I do... more>> not think it was worth the wait. The story starts off pretty interesting with a lot of potential, as a lot do, but it just doesnt hold up until the end.

I have a few big problems with the story, but one of my biggest is the fact that
Spoiler

Desir promises to tell his secrets, aka the fact that he is from the future to two of the people he is closet to. He even tells Adest he would do so next time he saw her which was like chapter 230 or something, only to never do it and its not brought up again.

Several people question how he magically knows everything he knows but they never push him about it and just continues to turn a blind eye which is hilarious. He literally just tells everyone to shut up and listen to him, people who have no real reason to do so. Even when some explanation makes sense.

[collapse]

Besides that I feel like the characters were kind of basic and one dimensional, the also barely grow or change in any meaningful ways. What you see in the first 40 chapters is going to be what you get for the rest of the novel pretty much. Adest is sort of a exception since she has more of a spotlight placed on her vs the two amigos who might as well be comedic supporting cast.

The story starts to drags after the first half and by the end I couldn't wait for this to be over. If you are expecting romance, don't, it never really happens besides a glimpse at the end.

Honestly the shadow worlds are the most boring part especially that first one that lasted too long, the desert shadow world was mostly fine.

The power scaling is all over the place and you never quite know how strong one power tier or person is vs another, you dont know how strong the different tiers of magic is vs sword aura users. Only thing you do know is that the MC will magically be stronger than everyone and just get powerups because he feels like it.

IDk it starts off fun and gets boring and the villains are corny, the have a ton of power for no reason and the author tried to be M. Night Shyamalan <<less
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Pavilion
Pavilion rated it
May 8, 2022
Status: c53
Be careful of spoilers. I briefly mention couple events from the first 35 or so chapters. Actual review:

Very childish book. The main character, the man whos seen through death and lived as a one of the last heroes of mankind, the superb magician who bested his peers and finally (kind of) succeeded in saving the world is just a child. The 'fist clenches', the sudden blushes when he encounters a woman; all of that crap just makes this story very cringeworthy to read. Every decision he makes is just something... more>> a middle-schooler might of chosen to do, this is a big no-no for me since he's supposed to be reborn kind of character with knowledge of the future.

This is just generally very headache inducing story. The story itself, as in general plot and worldbuilding, was nothing special either. It was adequate at best. There were some parts where just a portion of the story was obviously skipped due to.. Lazy writing I suppose? Like say the main cast of characters are on a quest somewhere with a goal in mind, it could be that next paragraph the goal has been completed and they're just dusting off like 'Ok now that we're done with that lets go..'

I wouldn't say the writing was anything to admire about either, for some unknown reason this author decided to write many events in a really weird way first giving up the conclusion, then writing the actual event. Like say the cast attended a tournament, but before the actual content for the tournament, it was revealed that they had succeeded in it. It just read very weird, not too bad but more of a trying to appear 'classy' or different from norm which just didn't work in a novel like this.

What annoyed me the most was that it constantly felt like the MC had absolutely no impact on the bookworld. He introduces epoch making ways of handling magic, greatly superior training methods for upgrading strength tiers and many other groundbreaking things- yet nobody in the universe seems to give a shit. He even has to go as far as to trade some of those advanced knowledges for petty things like small material items. Same with his knowledge of the future things- when he revealed an attempted theft he knew would be happening absolutely nobody even questioned him. That's just not how human beings function. It's no longer being protected by the plot, its bending the rules of the world to fit the authors narrative.

And those are just some of the reasons why I didn't really like this book that much. Two out of five stars is very fair. <<less
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Toanngo
Toanngo rated it
April 14, 2022
Status: --
A returner veteran that act no difference from a high schooler. The MC pretends to be smart most of the time while smiling "mysteriously" made the story seems s*upid to read. Now you tell me, who would open a treasure in side somebody's territory, in front of the boss no less, and after getting into trouble he "smiled" and say some dumb words like "are you really doing that" kind of thing. Man this novel is such a waste of time.
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zaneith
zaneith rated it
February 4, 2021
Status: Completed
The characters and the premise are interesting. The execution at the first half was done well. But quickly spiraled downhill. It's like you'd already know how things would pan out after the first half.

Quickly lost interest after around 200 chapters. It was a chore to finish it. Despite all this, the ending was lukewarm at best.

Conclusion: Read if you want a returner story with smart MC and don't hesitate to drop if you lose interest.
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AdalSaira
AdalSaira rated it
July 20, 2020
Status: --
i love the mc's personality so much. This is one of my favorite adventure novel (cause it's obviously not harem, duh). Also, the shadow world is so awesome. The task about fixing the past mistake on history that never written. Many 'what if' and regret about the future. The trust from old companion. Again, I love the MC so much. If I were to meet him in real life, I wish to join his hell training too \ (>o<) /
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Shaze
Shaze rated it
February 15, 2022
Status: c60
This series should be called: A Returners Magic should be special, but isn't.

In 60 chapters, the MC hasn't shown any special magic at all, and only seems to have experience and analytical ability. That's it. All the other three supporting team members next to him are better, and have more growth progression, or rather any.

The shadow world is another problem too. They seem to be like a play that your members are dropped into random roles of, and given goals specific to that role. I honestly skimmed this part, as... more>> the idea seemed too complicated and pointless, yet another excuse to neglect the so called 'specialness' of the MC in favor of something else.

Maybe it does get better, but at this point I've lost interest in the MC and his story, which focuses too much on setting and side characters, rather than MC growth of any kind. The time skips also felt wrong, like I'd missed an entire arc when I blinked somewhere. <<less
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