Black Iron’s Glory

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Welcome to Freia. A continent perpetually torn by war. Hundreds of years ago it was ruled by Magi, people capable of magic who viewed themselves as superior to those who could not. For thousands of years they ruled over common people… but times change.

Magic is a finite resource, and with its steady depletion, the magi grew weak. Eventually they were overthrown in a great war that saw them made all but extinct. Magic fell with them, becoming taboo in every way, the object of villainy in the novels of romance and heroism.

War is a human condition, however, and it has continued to wage unerringly between the successor kingdoms and empires as the common man fights to become master of the world left behind by the magi.

Magic has gone, but power remains, now wielded in the form of firearms and manpower. Muskets echo on the fields and cannons thunder on the ocean, even more so now that the greatest kingdoms on the continent have pushed out to colonise the far-away land known as Nubissia.

Born into this world of chaos is a young man, reincarnated from a salaryman in 21st century China. Lacking the prejudice against magic, and possessing a hobbyist’s knowledge of firearms and tactics, our young protagonist forges his path in a world where magic and musket war.

Associated Names
One entry per line
BIG
重生之黑铁的荣耀
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Tales of the Reincarnated Lord (7)
The Amber Sword (2)
Throne of Magical Arcana (2)
Release that Witch (2)
Warlock of the Magus World (1)
Pivot of the Sky (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels i Have Read
  2. Good Translation (Male)
  3. Peak Fiction
  4. Favourites
  5. War Strategy

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65 Reviews sorted by


Tzze
Tzze rated it
April 5, 2019
Status: c139
I am writing this review because of chapter 139.

Overall, the story has an interesting premise, and the character development and introduction of side characters and world building is well done.

However... nothing really happens. 138 chapters in, and we are still confined to the events of one small town, and the main character is a complete miss-match of professed ideals and actions that I thought it was deliberately done to make the character of questionable morality... until I read the author's moral self-righteous insert in chapter 139. Text below.

... more>>
Spoiler

"He was reminded of all the novels he'd read back on earth. He usually found himself disbelieving the ability of the antagonists to actually be so ghastly. He doubted people were capable of such bestiality. He'd discussed it with his old boss, in fact. The discussion had been somewhat more abstract, however, concerning the different fundamental values between the Chinese and most foreigners.

His boss felt their own values were obviously superior, so much so, in fact, that merely suggesting they could be compared to foreigners was an insult. Claude had questioned how he could believe that if the stories about their behaviour so frequently showed they behaved much better than the average Chinese.

His boss had quite literally spat that he should not believe so-called experts. Sure, the Chinese were far from perfect, he knew no one who claimed they were, but they had a moral baseline, a fundamental set of axioms and principles that were to be adhered to at all costs. The foreigners did not. The Chinese had two thousand years of civilisation which taught them the proper decorum of public life, such as to respect their elders. He'd never seen a single foreign teaching that taught the same.

They were barely any better than savages. They did their neighbours in for the smallest profit and dragged people to court of things as insignificant as sneezes. They harped on about 'democracy' and 'freedom' but all they had, and wanted, was the freedom to do everyone else in for their own benefit. If he doubted anything his boss said, he could just look at crime statistics. The absolute numbers were several times worse for them despite their population being much smaller than Chinas. It was clear as day who was superior.

Claude could not argue with the man on the spot. And his experiences in this life, while having failed to discredit the foreigners' values, did validate his own. He'd respected his parents and elders, cared for his siblings, and stood with and in defence of the family in its time of need. His wretch of a brother, however, had done nothing but try to enrich himself at his family's quite literal expense."

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Okay, on one hand Claude is arguing against this line of reasoning, but lets take a look at the moral personhood of Claude. The first day he received mind magic, he began indiscriminately using it on random creatures, killing someone's pet cat. Its implied he felt some level of guilt here, but he did not really care. A few chapters later, he is killing and maiming humans with his newfound power with barely any guilt. In pursuit of his brother, he later kills dozens more - with basically the same amount of guilt someone would feel for smashing a fly. Supposedly, this is a transmigrated fully adult man from a peaceful society. If Claude's mental or physical age was younger, OK, young people need time to develop, but his physical age is 18 and is mental age is much older. He is responsible for his actions. Does he not see the problem with his open acceptance of killing, bordering on outright mu*der, as both times above he initiated the situations that resulted in the need for violence when he had clear alternatives, but was secure in his belief that if it came to violence he could use his magical powers to kill his way to victory.

Then, a few chapters later, we are morally harangued about the inherit morality of Chinese filial piety, their treatment of their fellow man, and their lack of criminality compared to Foreigners, the product of two thousand years of civilization. I guess mu*der, theft, fraud, and so on are not crimes? Like many other protagonists in novels, Claude truly believes only in one singular morality; that might makes right. But unlike those other protagonists, who accept that they engage in mu*der and slaughter and normally accept a 'live by the sword, die by the sword' mentality, Claude thinks he is morally superior and engaging in respectable behavior. At least in the author's previous work, Lorist made no bones about his moral aptitude - he knew he could get what he wanted via strength, and that in a time of war and bloodshed strength was of utmost important, and that is ultimately what Lorist cared about, not questions or morality or superiority.

The main character is the worst kind of hypocrite, the one who doesn't realize he is one and never will.

2 stars for the good world building and interesting backstory, no additional stars awarded after the Author had the gall to moralize to me in an adolescent power fantasy story with a protagonist obtaining magical powers and immediately using them to do harm to others. <<less
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Rextraos
Rextraos rated it
July 25, 2019
Status: c235
What can I say? I'd like to call myself an avid supporter of this novel even with the inconsistencies, slow pacing and info dumps, however, as of this chapter I'm dropping it. Why? Because the MC is morally bankrupt. This wouldn't be an issue if it was designed this way from the beginning or slowly turned into that, however, the novel makes it explicitly clear that he is morally better than everyone else, that everyone is ignorant and unable to change with everything he does being the correct choice.

... more>>
Spoiler

He's always talking about his isekai pride, how he's morally better than everyone else, and yet he can cheat on his girlfriend without blinking an eye, no afterthoughts, no follow up two chapters later only infodumps.

It's likely he'll get into a relationship with the lady he cheated her with no doubt, he never really liked Kelfie anyways... other than kissing her, feeling her up and officially making her his girlfriend.

Poor girl is waiting at home, how would he feel if he came back after the war and heard she lost her v**ginity to some guy he never met that charmed her just for a few days of meeting?

I have no problem with his personality always switching between psychopath genius to masochistic idiot, him killing pets for shits and giggles or massacring dozens of people whenever he goes out for his spontaneous..."walks".

This though, is where I cross the line, I shouldn't have expected much from this MC seeing as he died at the age of 35 in his previous life due to viagra... f*cking idiot.

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The translator is really good though, hope he moves onto other novels, as clearly this one isn't worth his talent.

Oh, and I commented on almost every chapter up to 150 but only occasionally after that. If someone reads past me and it's actually bearable please tell me to give it another chance by replying to any of my posts there.

EDIT:
Spoiler

I gave it another try and a dozen chapters later he already found another girl and is trying to get into her pants, having already stolen a kiss. Needless to say, I am not impressed. The girl's mother was right when she said every man is a mean liar and only gives things expecting something in return, this guy is scum and quite frankly I am glad he is fictional.

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Due to the above, I will not by any means ever give this another chance, like if someone you cared about stabbed you in the back and you forgave them only for them to stab again, this time much more thoroughly. <<less
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ZhaWarudo
ZhaWarudo rated it
January 21, 2019
Status: c65
A guide whether you should read this or not, and if yes I'll explain what to expect for those of you who are impatient.

    • Did you read Tales of The Reincarnated Lord for more than 50 chapters? Did you like it? Continue, you'll like this one too.
    • You didn't read it or gave up before ~50 chaps? Here's what you should keep in mind then. Slow start, info dumps about kingdoms and their history, does it mean you have to memorize it? No, don't be a whiner, you can also skim trough it if you want, if it's important it will be repeated.
    • Does slow start mean it's boring? Hell no. It's boring only if you expect MC to become strong in a day and godlike in a year but then is such a thing even a novel? Vomits...
    • Will there be kingdom building. I bet there will be, there is foreshadowing of MC complaining about muskets (first rifles from 16th century) and pathetic military tactics.
    • How long will it take? Currently there are 65 chapters that are about twice the length of usual webnovel chaps. MC is still in his home town, still in school, had some adventures but is only now starting to learn magic. So I think another 30 chapters before he becomes a low ranking officer in the army, starts the real rise to power.
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Mount Tai Unleashed
Mount Tai Unleashed rated it
December 22, 2019
Status: --
AVOID the novel

EXPOSITION for days. All tell and no showing. Can put you to sleep if you're not careful.

HYPOCRITE Main character[Thinks he's better than everyone else when he's really no different and most often worse/ cheating on his girlfriend and then cheating again with someone else]

... more>> NATIONALIST Author who calls foreigners[Anyone who isn't chinese] savages with no morals at all, and he thinks chinese are the master race.. Get off your high horse author scum.

NTR/CUCK: Author has a weird fetish for cheating scenarios, both in this novel and his previous novel [Tales of a reincarnated lord] His love interest cheats or leaves with another man.

This is probably not only a fetish but a reason to justify the blatant cheating the protagonists in his novels do. IE-[They cheated so why shouldn't I?] s*upid logic.

I seriously suspect that the author got cucked in real life and the after effects show in his novels.

If you hate any of the above mentioned, avoid this novel like the plague and go read something else. <<less
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grkmori
grkmori rated it
December 5, 2018
Status: c250
Review:
The Black Iron's Glory [BIG] tells a story of a transmigrator on a body of a 16 year old middle schooler on a continent were magic ('almost') disappeared. The MC, Claude, seems attracted to the magic in this continent named Freia, that is much like late middle ages in his previous world (Earth), there are already classic firearms (like arquebus/muskets). Magic has become forbidden after wars against magicians were held in the past, and those who could cast magic were labeled as outlaws. Being the second son of a... more>> civilian family, as many wars are still held between the kingdoms on the continent of Freia, when Claude turns 18 he will have to join the army (as meat shield). Maybe something will happen that will change his future...

Some words of advice:
First, you may find it a little slow, boring, too much details and not enough climax on the beginning, until you reach chapter 130ish, but still a good read. Around chapter 130 things starts turning around and the author starts with the never end events like you would expect on a novel.

Second, this story is not about swords and bows (like Tales of Reincarnated Lord [TORL]), but about magic and firearms. The tech age is a little more advanced, there are already firearms, but still archaic (those that you need to put the gunpowder and the round bullet separately). As a reincarnated, the MC seems to be developing new firearms that the bullet and gunpowder are in a cartridge.

Third, this is not about 'kingdom building' (doesnt seem so IMO).

Fourth, this is the same author of TORL, he writes stories on a believable manner, different from classical chinese novels. E.g: on classic chinese novels there are 10 chapters of a prolonged fight against a... minion from a sub-boss, where they summon a creature of 100kkk meters long (Earth radius is ~6, 4kk meters), and he trows a spell that kills 12 billion people and destroy 2 planets... Or on classic chinese novels has something like: a world has 10 humans levels, on the first you are a normal human; 2nd level you can blow your house; 3rd level blow a city; 4th level blow a region/county; 5th level blow a continent; 6th level blow a planet; 7th level blow a star; 8th level blow a galaxy; 9th level blow a universe; 10th level the MC is so overpowered that the author label him of something over Gods... Yeah... thats classic chinese novels... but not for 'Smoke Is a Path', the author of TORL and BIG, he writes much more down to reality stories, and you may think: "Oh it will become boring fast!?" and I would answer "On the contrary!". The story becomes much more relatable and reliable, the world building more exciting, the fights more believable, the level ups and skills more challenging. Smoke Is a Path writing overcome these difficulties and is good enough to give you a nice reading. I was searching every now and then for this author next novel after he dropped TORL, and here we are.

Fifth, if you are searching for a well written story, logical and rational character designs, with a good description of the world, this is the author for you. But if you are searching for fast paced, a lot and prolonged fights, characters with inhuman MC growth (typical chinese novel), this is not for you. The lots of descriptions and details that put you into the characters and the world will make those who like a more action/fast paced novel to dislike BIG.

My opinions:
BIG story seems well written, a likable story, good world building, good characters as TORL... but I have to say, I was expecting something different from this author, something closer to TORL.

First, like ppl said on other reviews, the start (until around chapter 130) is too slow, many details and the description of (it seems) a lot of unimportant events that wont affect much of the story. Event though they are good chapters and a good read. Once through those 130 starting chapters you stumble upon a nice turn of events and that turn this novel (it seems like) into a 5 star novel (I changed it from 4 stars).

Second, it seems it wont be about 'kingdom building' (IMO it seems so, or not until very late in the novel) as TORL. (Update c500. Yes, it has 'kingdom building', but it is much later on the story).

Third, TORL there is a lot of people/friends of the MC that develop together. But on this novel, because magic is 'forbidden', it wont be that easy to develop together with other people. So I am betting that on BIG it will be a more solo storyline. Losing one of the good points of TORL.

Forth, the MC seems a bit screwed about killing...
Spoiler

Later in the novel he walks to back alleys to find gang members to... steal pocket money... because magic is 'forbidden', he has to kill everyone who saw him using magic, so he kills and kills. Although who he kills are all bandits... he just doesnt care enough for a normal guy with sanity... (Update c500, the author doesnt show this behavior anymore later on the novel)

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#Btw, who still dont know, TORL was discontinued because the author had some health problems that sent him to the hospital for a long time, also there was a fight between him and the editors because the mature content of the novel, so he decided to discontinue TORL over clearing all the mature content... <<less
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evil lnfant
evil lnfant rated it
February 18, 2021
Status: --
I'm going to make this short, concise and easy to understand.

The author is disconnected from reality and has a suspicious moral compass. And by author, I mean The Author. They write their MC as someone who has the moral high ground in every event regardless of how cruel his actions are in terms of modern worldview. The MC and essentially the author shows no signs of remorse or self awareness. You can tell by the way it's written that the Author assumes that WE, the readers, supports the MC's logic... more>> and doesn't leave any room for interpretation. It's written in a way expecting the readers to perceive the MC as morally righteous despite his contradicting actions.
I can't help but view this way of thinking as dangerous, possibly sociopathic, dishonest moral corruption.

Not to mention that their writing oozes obvious xenophobic nationalism, which further supports the suspicions of the Author's moral corruption. I'm not saying that they're generally a dangerous individual, but their inner thoughts are definitely too poisonous to ingest.

There's also the problem with massive info dumps that no one should be subjected to. Like one of the reviews said, "All tell and no showing." This also adds to the Author's crippling need to impart their malignant personal values in writing, disregarding the reader's intelligence.

The MC is righteous. The Author is righteous. The Chinese are righteous.

I hope this is not the common sentiment in China, if not, God help us all.
This Author needs help. <<less
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Onown150
Onown150 rated it
May 8, 2019
Status: c302
Well lets just say it was a decent read until he joined the army. the story had just finished on an amazing saga ending only to processed to throw us readers into this rubbish of a saga.

... more>>
Spoiler

which let to the MC doing mistake after mistake. When there was so much potential for other ways. if it wasn't for plot armor he would have died 3 times in the training camp for gods sake. Only until about half way into the first part of his army adventure does the MC find his brain, on logical choices about what should be done.

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the romance
Spoiler

there is romance in the novel with currently 2 lovers in the novel

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As for the current chapter of c307

Spoiler

we find back at home the MC has basically lost all his foundation that was build up. which means back to square one yay...... On top of that our MC will have to go back to the army in 6 months. For some more getting f*cked around

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so overall as of current we has had a slow but decent start of a story. however with current events, the drag of the last 100 chapters and the authors previous hidus on his novel I can only say this is a hard pass for now. <<less
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tyes77
tyes77 rated it
November 6, 2018
Status: c8
In a similar vein of reincarnated Lord, the story suffers from massive info dumps. You will learn all about the political situation and world before you learn much about the MC. 90% info dumps and hardly any sort of story as the pacing is eminence of going through a prologue for the first 7 chapters. If you didn't like reincarnated Lord then skip this. Maybe pick it up once they pass all the info dumps but I hardly think this "story" qualifies more than 2 stars.
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alpoo
alpoo rated it
March 16, 2019
Status: c118
This story is written similarly to a normal published western fantasy book. Most of the negative reviews come from people wanting 5 minute chapter stories where they can binge without giving the plot any thought.

This novel also features an intelligent protagonist which is enjoyable to read about, he makes mistakes and learns from them, he fails sometimes and usually grows from that failure.

The story moves slowly compared to the usual webnovel, but that is as I mentioned previously due to it being written similar to a western fantasy book.

Overall this... more>> novel is very good so far and is perhaps the most enjoyable one I have read to date - I believe this is in part due to the author and translators ability to accurately convey the story with zero filler, there is nothing in this novel that pads the word count and the flow of reading greatly benefits. <<less
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Narmi
Narmi rated it
November 26, 2018
Status: c246
(This is a preliminary review since there's only 14 chapters out at the moment)

Updated review below

The story is not your typical cultivation/RPG/cheat abilities that usually appear with transmigration. Despite the cover, instead of a world filled with swords & magic, "spiritual power, " or cultivation levels, the story takes place in a world that is in the middle of a Renaissance era. Technological development and social changes are more important than 1000 year old treasures. It feels very realistic and immersive.

The MC is well-written and acts in a... more>> believable manner. Besides his knowledge of his previous life, he doesn't have a cheat ability and has to live like an ordinary person. His friends feel like real people and treat him as a person instead of just being there to tell the reader how awesome he is.

It is a bit slow since the world is still new and there's a lot of background information that needs to be presented. Hopefully that stage doesn't last too long (though I can't see it continuing for much longer) and the story can really pick up.

**updated review**

This is a good story, though it has its flaws. Surprisingly, magic isn't all that important, given the title and synopsis. It plays a role, sure, but what's more important is the future knowledge the MC brings.

The most common complaint is the slow pacing. Compared to TRL, this is kinda unavoidable: the MC starts off as basically a peasant and has to work his way up. There's always someone above him he has to tiptoe around and avoid pissing off or he'll end up in jail. It's annoying, but makes sense given the setting.

Since BIG is always compared to TRL, here's a couple points that I think sum up the differences between the two:

  • Scale - TRL was much grander in scale, starting with the caravan north and then Lorist's subsequent battles, first to secure his lands, then to end the Krissen civil war, then beat the Union. There is a continental war, but we don't really get to see armies moving around from a top, like with Lorist. Instead, we get Claude's POV, which means that whatever battle he's in we see, and hear about other battles much later.
  • Technology adaptation - Lorist wasn't shy about inventing new technologies/tactics. Granted, he was in an age where the idea of the scientific method and catapults and cannons and gunpowder still hadn't been figured out. Claude is trying to invent new technology, but he doesn't have the background, and can't spend tons of cash on R&D like Lorist, so the going's been slow.
  • Family - Claude is also more concerned with what's happening to his family and town, Lorist didn't really bother with that because he was always moving around, and had half a dozen mistresses. Filial piety is a major theme in BIG.

  • World building - The world is pretty good. There are different political factions, a number of countries, different people that are presented. There's a pretty decent effort to show how different places in Freia (the continent the MC is on).
  • Characters - Characters are pretty interesting, there's a smaller group instead of a kingdom's worth. Though not as colourful as TRL, they still feel unique in their own way.
  • Pacing - The pacing is also much slower, which is the most common complaint from readers. It could be TRL was just more exciting since the projects Lorist was involved in were always huge.

If I had to sum up the different between the two, I'd say it's like comparing someone slowly building a snowman vs someone tossing a snowball down a mountain and starting an avalanche. <<less
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JackSaun
JackSaun rated it
June 17, 2019
Status: c269
What is the basic story about?

It is about a playboy who had a hard life getting reincarnated into a (western-ish) world that is semi-medieval/fantasy where magic is banned by leading governments/organisations ... more>>
Spoiler

even though they use the magic themselves

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.

Quality of writing/translation?

The quality of writing is excellent, I haven't seen any grammar issues, and the updates are daily of roughly 2k chapters (wordcount)

Personal thoughts:

First and foremost, you must understand that this book has very slow pacing. I am currently at chapter 269 and the actual fighting only started around chapter 200. However, that does not make it boring as the MC is slowly adapting and improving in this world, and his power level is rising at a high and very reasonable rate (maybe he will be OP later, but right now he is mainly alive due to his planning). There are quite a few info-dumps about the backgrounds of the world and while they aren't the most exciting they do really help you understand the actions of others later on (oh this nation is small and has no ports so it's economy is weak, that is why they are known for being poor and they tend to be bullied -> and vice versa). If you don't want to read them, you don't really have to as any important information is re-emphasised later on and it gets very interesting as you understand what is happening in the world and what it means for the MC (example: your nation found a new trading route but it has a few issues, now your countries enemies are gathering up to try and take it so you will have to join the army and fight them).

There are a few big things that might turn off some readers so I will try to lay them out:

1 is that MC is pretty go with the flow, and while he is very driven and stubborn for the most part, when something is out of his control he will accept it and try to find another solution.

2 is that at one point some girl randomly decides she is his girlfriend even though he repeatedly tells her that the relationship will not work (his previous self before reincarnation crushed on her but he doesn't) and he goes off to war. While off to war and repeatedly telling her that this relationship won't work out and she should move on, he gets with a different girl (this might seem tr*shy but it makes sense as in his last life he was a playboy and now when he is in a literal war zone where he might die any day his youth will lead him astray).

3 is that author can bring up some nationalism every once in a while for the real world, but this is easy to ignore as it is not important to the story in the slightest and it's very common for there to be bias in a story.

This book is amazing and of very high quality overall. It's writing style is comparable to some of the mega-books such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and I am surprised that this isn't big in the western hemisphere. It can be very overwhelming for readers who don't really like intensive reading (it requires basic intelligence to understand the actions of the characters as well as their effects) so I suggest reading this only if your attention span is able to last through the multiple chapter introduction. The potential of this book is immense, and it is definitely one of my favorites. <<less
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lefinensis
lefinensis rated it
February 22, 2020
Status: c462
There is nearly zero plot. Absolutely worse than Tales of Reincarnated Lord. The character here has no goal. There is no significant development. What you'll be reading is no better than the back of a cereal box where it only serves to package itself and present itself as a "product" and not an actual novel.

All you have is one filler chapter after another. If you think that chapters 1-xxx are relevant, they aren't. Almost all of the people that the protagonist interacts with are disposable characters. They are used for... more>> a single arc, thrown away and they don't even affect the protagonist in the slightest. This is worse than a garbage slice-of-life story where virtually nothing relevant ever happens that signifies character change. It's absolute garbage. A wishy-washy floating poop in the sea, and all it does is make you wonder about where all that sh*t is heading. <<less
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Rath
Rath rated it
August 19, 2019
Status: c276
This novel is better written then the authors last, but he is still into the telling not showing style that almost made me drop this at one point. At least the info-dumbing supports the story this time. So far the telling is really the only fault I can find so far after 274 chapters.

Now for what I like about the novel. First off, the world-building is amazing. It does slow down the plot and maybe drag it out some but I prefer well-built worlds over constant action and forced plot.... more>> If it was supported with better character interactions this would be one of my favorite novels.

The author does some amazing research this time, I'm loving how the army has the feel of the real military (from my experience, it is more functional then the Iraqi army has ever been). You got your bad and good officers but no one is blindly incompetent. Sure, people are stuck with their beliefs, but their beliefs actually work in the style that they were trained in and learned through experience. Like real life, y'know? People might not like this part of the story if you are not looking at it as a perfect opportunity for him to establish himself, make connections and grow as a leader.

The magic so far is very interesting and not over-powered until at way later levels. I like it and I can't wait till the protag has a chance to further explore it.

Overall, this is an amazing novel if you can get through all the telling, which I struggled with at first. Just don't read it if you don't have the patience or just skim the info-dumping when it becomes too tedious. <<less
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Tiranu
Tiranu
February 15, 2019
Status: c450
deleted
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joyfan
joyfan rated it
January 31, 2019
Status: c250
(Update: Dropping the rating to 2 stars.

Around Chapter 230ish the story started to spiral downward with the lack of progression and sluggish character development. I grew disappointed with Klein out of character behaviour.. Also the badly written harem/romance. As usual the author is really bad at writing about female characters. It did not help that 20 over chapters passed with nothing interesting happening.. Not even expanding on the newer characters or a proper world building imho.. Unless you counted the repetitive info dump about magic as one.. I wished... more>> he had at least made those in for as interesting as the ones I have read in mother of learning.. But no, it was a rather superficial information. Sadly I will be dropping out of this journey. Good luck!)

My go to reading to start my day! It is rather slow pace with peppered thrilling kids adventure and mysterious world building here and there but the pace suits me just fine as it's done well. Though I really would not recommend it to people who love nonstop action or quick formulaic isekai (do A get B pay-off) as you would not get any of that here.. He will uses some of his modern time knowledge but really rarely as he knows how dangerous those could affect the world he is in.

The characters are really fleshed out, there is none of evil villains with one sided characterstic.. They all have good and bad in each of them. Oh and the camaraderies between the boys are enjoyable to follow along, often transporting me back to my childhood.

Thus far, It's hundred times more enjoyable than TORL imho.. But females readers be warned as if it goes like TORL there might be uncomfortable reading in how the women are characterised and treated. But so far along in BIG, other than one small arc which was quickly resolved there hasn't been any other of sort. <<less
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monkaS
monkaS rated it
June 30, 2021
Status: c592
One of the most grounded & best isekai out there. I would rate it 4-stars due to some severe faults it has, but the severe number of 1-star reviews out there completely ignore the actual story simply because they don't like the fact the author isn't a stereotypical Gary Stu/Mary Sue and that the characters (for the most part) are genuine IRL articles instead of being a super cliche anime cast they can relate to. Or they hate China.

Pros:

    • Solid English translation, not quite perfect. There are many typos, but the translators actively try to make it as close to native English as possible. You can at least go 2-3 chapters without typos or grammar mistakes, but they do still show up. Feels like one of the translators is weaker than the other (there are two), particularly chapter 400-450 which are pretty bad, but the translation returns to the og quality after that.
    • Realistic time-frames. Unlike Realist Hero, Release That Witch, or even Bookworm, the protagonist can only very gradually introduce new technologies without coming under suspicion. The protag is unlikely to be able to introduce all of Earth's technologies within his lifetime. The time it takes to research, manufacture, and implement any technology may feel slow for BIG as opposed to something like Release That Witch which manages to implement new technologies within weeks. BIG understands full well that would be impossible on both an economic and time level and is all the more believable for it.
    • Reverse-engineering capabilities. Another aspect that most isekai tend to ignore is the ability of the enemies to steal or reverse-engineer your technologies. Being set at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, even with the maximum level of secrecy, it's impossible for the protagonist to avoid enemies from stealing his tech, and he even learns how to take economic advantage of this downfall.
    • Grounded, believable characters. Outside of the main protagonist who can be overly preachy at times, the character cast are not "stuck in a generic anime trope" and are generally very genuine people, and come with a lot of personal issues & baggage that happen IRL instead of being s*upidly melodramatic for no reason.
    • Economically viable. The author genuinely understands economics and isn't googling/baiduing his knowledge. This is one of the biggest standouts in isekai that properly portrays the effects of resource scarcity and opportunity costs. A counter-example of an isekai of an author who attempts to implement economic knowledge but quite literally has no idea what the concept even means is Veight.
    • Magic properly suffers from resource scarcity. The story definitely has a cynical interpretation of the effects of magic on human society, but it is very much grounded in IRL history. Magic is not a be-all, end-all, and is subject to the whims of human nature.
    • Original concepts & generally well-written. While you can predict the story is a power fantasy as much as any other isekai out there, the author has very unique (and quite believable) solutions that you won't find in other isekai.
    • One of the best-written military arcs in an isekai. The author must have either served in the Army for awhile or done extensive research, because his grounded approach to the military is quite accurate. While some concepts are simplified, his take on the military and its infrastructure is better than any other JP isekai out there.
Cons:

    • Redundant. After chapter 300 or so, the author clearly suffers from serious mental health issues, and often repeats & rewrites passages. This can sometimes take 50-75% of a chapter with the author repeating the same 2-3 paragraphs over and over, or doing a recap to remind himself. I wish the translators went out of their way to mark where the author is redundant and where the story picks back up instead of having to personally scan a chapter until it does so.
    • Severe tonal shift after Chapter 100. The paradigm shift of the main character's personality after chapter 100 feels seemingly out of nowhere. Thankfully the good writing/translation makes up for it.
    • Pro-China. If the extent of your take on China is "China is bad", you should accept the fact that you're a racist and you should also avoid reading this novel for its pro-China stance.
    • Does more telling than showing. TBH, a lot of isekai suffer from this, only the greats (Bookworm, Mushoku Tensei) know when to shut up and let the story tell itself. This issue detracts from the story at times, but at least the author is consistent in his use of telling instead of showing and it doesn't feel unnatural after getting accustomed to the writing style.
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Hantosh
Hantosh rated it
March 6, 2020
Status: c592
Plot: a Chinese nationalist reincarnates into a Victorian, musket tech level world and revolutionizes warfare by not being an idiot.

- Currently there's 3 main arcs: childhood, soldier and general.
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Spoiler

The childhood arc is written differently from the rest of the novel and should not set your expectations for the rest of it. There's many little details about the world setting, history, etc which you may or may not find interesting. The MC explores magic here, and there's a xuanhuan/cultivation feel to the magic system.
The soldier arc is when the MC is drafted into the army. Writing becomes less detailed, filler starts being introduced in the form of standard Chinese webnovel antagonists (ie: vicious, arrogant, shameless idiots). MC starts to implement some modern reforms and finds some success whilst being hampered by aforementioned cliche idiots. Mage stuff is thrown into the back-burner as the story goes full army. Basically, MC makes muskets more accurate, which makes the age-old tactic of lining up in rows to whittle down the enemy in battles of attrition meaningless. Tactics actually have meaning, but the comically incompetent noble establishment resists change whilst their enemies adapt instantly.
After being promoted to a general, MC gets sent with his peers to retake the kingdom's colonies. First two arcs I'm not sold on, but I'm addicted to this one. They basically pull off a mini-America. Lots of army battles. MC is unleashed as he now has the power to pull off what he couldn't in the last arc, but is regularly dragged down by incompetent allies. And oh, the family drama. The end boss of the Shicks Kingdom campaign ends up being his mother.
There's a lot more filler now, author often recaps what happened in the last few chapters and the names of nations and army units are constantly spammed (transliterated names in Chinese really ups the word count). Nobles and natives are devolved into monolithic groups of well, a**holes. Mage stuff is essentially completely sidelined, it's basically used as a replacement for science in tech development.

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- Story's not predictable unlike many xianxia novels.
The first arc has progression in the form of earning money and magic prowess. The third has nation building and tech development.
MC isn't infallible. His family life is screwed up. Often in xianxia stories the MC neglects his family due to s*upid plot reasons, but this is the only one where I've thought it makes sense, him being away at war for years at a time. And oh, he pays for it. He also cheats on his wife with two women, so I guess the harem tag applies.

- MC's a Chinese nationalist. It'll annoy you when it comes up, but thankfully it's not often (probably around 10 occasions?). I can't tell if it's an author hang-up or if he really wanted to write a nationalist character. It certainly fits the theme/era of the story, especially the MC's harsh colonialist actions during the third arc. He literally chose "Han" for his noble house name, which would be like giving yourself "Caucasian" for a middle name. There was also the time he modelled his troops' new army uniforms after the Nazis', because why not.

- Story's currently on hiatus (the raws), I assume due to the coronavirus. <<less
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Boredbunch
Boredbunch rated it
June 3, 2019
Status: c198
Brilliant story, I dont normally leave reviews but I love it. The first arc near end got annoying due to him not just finishing of his enemies quickly but second arc helped get rid of annoyance. I do like how he isnt arragont and s*upid like most MC. And how there isnt alot of plot armour (so far)
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demongordon
demongordon rated it
April 29, 2020
Status: c592
Well I have read it all until now and glanced of the others reviews.

If you are here for a synopse that show what you are here for instead of the usual obtrusive synopsis, it will have (some) spoilers so be warned:

Short version:

... more>>
Spoiler

MC and the rest of the cast is boring in special the first 120 chapters, the author try and fail to make anything resembling interesting interactions, however, the author tries to make for it by dropping small bits of interesting magic and some small, in theory you can skip most of it. Sadly magic is just aside thing most of the time.

The Story after he goes to the military get alot better, with the author writing interesting development of his militar career with some very dangerous moments and smart military maneuvers, tactics, and strategy. With the slow change of how to fight war and the MC trying to survive between being a good soldier to not die to the more stubborn military commander, while his magic is mostly sealed in a way.

The Tech advancement is slow and make most sense, as not everyone has all human knowledge in his head like "release that witch" that is somewhat refreshing and of the older view based on his current social status is also a very good source of conflict that keep it fresh.

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Long version:

Spoiler

Is a slow story, that will pick up just 120 chapters in, when you go past his Childhood arc. Sadly is also the worst part of the story where the author show that he can't write Slice of Life for the life of him, all character, be friends, enemy, lover-interest are all very boring, MC included. The Magic part that the MC dips into is alot more interesting and will keep you going until them.

Don't get me wrong the Author known how to write, is all very clean and even when he goes with his worldbuilding tangent is well paced so is relatively rare for you to skip anything is just that he is out of his element writing the non-combat part of the character life. And because it has enough bits of magic, to some daring merchant bet to keep you afloat from the slugfest that is most of the story as his attempt to character development, interactions and try to sympathize with them fall mostly flat, part o it I will blame on the MC lack of agency for most of the story until this point, just going with the flow and going into small side things and ever when things blow up is quick fixed with very little action on the MC part.

The author clearly shiny writing military and political (to a lesser degree) schemes, you will follow him try to implement modern doctrines and ideas into the rigid line formation that you would see in American revolution films, is more interesting than most because he has limited liberty in apply his ideas and has to fight the Top Brass slowly to show that his ideas work at the course of his military career.

The Magic, is the least developed and doesn't go much beyond the some interesting side thing that he can do and a excuse to accelerate his development of tech, after 120 chapter magic play little to no role in the story and this will continue until the very ending. However the play between the dangers of new tech and the old powers is really interesting as it take in consideration his social standing before trying to give everyone a AK-47 and how he goes it slowly until he reach the zenith of power.

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Zeikfried
Zeikfried rated it
July 31, 2019
Status: c267
A transmigrator story with a much more down to Earth and realistic protagonist, who is very self-aware of his lack of "cheat system, " magical mentor inside his brain, or other random super-ability/talent. Nevertheless he trundles through the conflicts just fine without taking too much of a toll.

As a consequence of that lack of emotional investment, the author like most webnovel writers neglects the emotional blowback that should be afflicting the MC as the story progresses. I thought the extreme slow pace in the first arc would have amounted... more>> to something larger, but after the climax of arc 1 it feels like the author just got tired and severed character relationships to move on with the plot. Our reincarnated transmigrator Claude is essentially the same person as his original fifteen (35) year old self regardless of how many years pass in the novel, how many people he mu*ders, or how his relationships change.

3.8/5

__________

I forgot everything... But I am trying to read it again since another 250 chapters came out from the time I first reviewed. <<less
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