Western fantasy BL is rare enough, but one that isn't a transmigrator, or book world, or otome/game world? It is it's own unique world with it's own unique politics and characters? Female characters you don't hate? Struggles and MCs with emotions besides lust, jealousy, and smugness?!

And well translated and written to boot?!

And quick updates?!!!!!!!!!

... more>> Priceless.

Many thanks to the translator and author-sama for bringing us this gem.

Update chapter 200: Still nothing bad to say. This is going into my very very exclusive "Best" list after it's all done.

Update chapter 245: Have I said how much I love this story? Ugh, right in the heart strings. This is so good!!! <<less

It's a nice pseudo-western fantasy with interesting world building and likeable characters, the idea isn't super unique, it does use a lot of concepts that are typical for Asian fantasy, only names are clearly western.

The characters carry the story, they are diverse in nature, imperfect, and sometimes irrational, so more realistic than in your usual novel.

What I like is, that people actually die here, not the main characters but those around them, they can't save everyone and that makes it interesting.

Translation: It's MTL, of course you can't expect it to... more>> be truthful to the original but the translator puts a lot of effort into cleaning up, most of the time you won't notice that it's not a real translation. I don't know how much is lost through MTL but the story is very enjoyable regardless.

(Edit Chapter 122)

I'm changing my rating to 3 stars.
While the romantic development is realistic and the pair is wonderful to each other, I could have done without the forced-pseudo side-pairing and all the time they take up.
The main's individual and couple development is slowed down too much, side-plots and side-characters are often too extensive for the (temporary) role they play.
It's sad that (maybe) another gay pairing has been favoured over individual characters, I would have liked to know the group better instead of more pseudo-romance between characters I still know basically nothing about.

All of the extensive side-stuff has lead to massive pacing-issues of the main story, the plot crawls then speeds up immensely, bulldozing the reader with rapid development that's lacking in detail and impact because it happens too fast for any real emotion to set in. It just doesn't give its characters breathing room to naturally come to terms with the plot, it makes them all seem emotionally flat.

Very often a character goes 'this is so upsetting... nevermind, I don't have time for emotions', and that's all impact we get. Even the writer was aware that there's no room for actual impact, this happens over and over. It's just ????

It's only my impression but it feels like the author either changed their original plan for the story and added stuff like a second couple, unimportant side-plots, and so on, or they planed for this to be much longer than it ended up being.

With barely 150 chapters left I can't see how these problems could be properly rectified, but that all depends on what you want more, romance and drama or a novel focused on its characters and main story.

Still a decent read for fantasy lovers. <<less

This novel is extremely well written with great twists, shiver-inducing horrors of western magical world and fascinating creatures. The world-building is well done showing both ruthlessness and kindness of this alien world and never letting us get bored of it. With only a corner of the mystery unveiled at the beginning and it slowly appearing before us more and more it makes the reader feel just like main characters, young inexperienced people from a small town. They're truly adorable and make you attach to them very quickly.

MC and ML aren't... more>> naive and inexperienced the whole way; the suffer through hardships, see human pain and unjustness of the world but they never give up on their principles. Don't look at how everyone can suppress them at the beginning, they really grow both in maturity and power.

The plot so far is mostly telling us stories of individual creatures living in this world, witches demons and humans all together. All the while dropping hints and foreshadowing this novel is truly fascinating like no other!

The romance is very heartwarming, they're both each other's support and pillar in this world. They're very gentle and no weird misunderstandings occur so it's a very cleaning and sweet love. There is some pain and tears but they always survive through it in the end.

This is a masterpiece of a novel and I can't wait to read it to the end!

EDIT, finished. Really an awesome ending, everyone gets their own destiny and it's very nicely wrapped up!! Main couple became better and better, they're now married aoooo. Look out for the side couples, there's more than one! <<less

This story has everything I hate but I f*cking love this story.

There are some "red flags" that usually would make me dislike this novel.

Let me explain which one and why not.

• • Western knight and church setting

• • Amnesia

• • Forced separation of MC/ML

Also, please pray attention to the part marked by a ## to learn what makes this novel unique to me.

The western knight and church setting....i tend to dislike it cause it always has a feeling of dissonance to me. I as a person born in Europe are not able to write a reasonable story in Eastern settings without getting the details wrong and it usually is the same vice versa. The setting in Stray is fully fictional. No countries or religions that you will find in the real world. The knights do not get their power from their belive. There is magical use everywhere and it only differs between surface magic or abyssal magic.

The whole background and world building is superb.

amnesia... I hate it, especially when it comes to forgetting one's lover (does not happen here). Our MC (Nemo Light) does not remember his childhood before meeting ML and growing up in the orphanage. This kind of amnesia is a huge part of the story and it does not take too long to find out "what" he forgott. Basically he knows the content but not the details. So this is not the typical amnesia plot and didn't hold too much suspense and neither became annoying.

Forced separation... god, how much I hate it and the accompanying angst. To be honest, this novel got me. At around chapter 112 there is a rather obvious hint that a separation was coming up... I instantly checked the tags and there it is "Long separation "... this tag sucked out all of my will to read further. I started to make up a hundred ways what is going to happen and how long it will be...i was already thinking in decades. It took another damn 4 chapters until it finally happened and it did not happen the way I thought. The time they are separated was roughly 7 days which are a while arc here and pretty important. I have to say, this is the most angsty part and made me cry buckets.

There is a second separation shortly before the last arc and this separation will take 2 years but basically without angst and they "keep in contact". It is not possible to explain without spoilering, so just want to let you know that this is nothing to fear.

##

what I really love about this novel is a special personality trait of MC and ML. You know these adventure novels where the people grow up, get more and more powerful, faceslapping here and there, showing off in a subdued way how strong they are, becoming slowly the heroes and so on? Well, not going to happen with Nemo and Oliver. When their adventure started, they were around 21, never made it out of their small town and had some pampered naivety. Lovable youths and this is always shining through and kept till the end. There are really fun moments because of this trait. Like they absolutely fear their companion Ann when she gets angry, although the two of them are all powerful, a mean glance of Ann has more deterrence. Or

while they take part in a expedition and there were two dragons... Nemo and Olli were already in "godmode" there but were super giddy to meet dragons, shining eyes and everything. Don't get me wrong, they were not childish but kept their positive way. It's just something I rarely read this way and I love it.

They also have great communication, even concerning the hard topics. No dark or cut corners.

I also love that there is a strong female character that is not a b*tch. Ann Savage did kind of rescue MC/ML in their weakest times. She is a rather resolute character but never forced them to do it her way, instead she started to follow those younger inexperienced boys and only gave support and reality check. I love Ann. Strong, badass but with a warm heart.

Basically all the side characters are fleshed out good and lovable in their own ways.

About the ending...a true happy (never) ending for our cuties.

This story really entertained me greatly, superb world building, great writing, great translation. I absolutely recommend to read this story at least once. I will most likely read this gem again another time.

*clap* *clap* Definitely A MUST read! (ღ˘⌣˘) ♥ ℒ♡ⓥℯ The world-building here is one of the best, it's written beautifully! Both ML and MC grows in maturity and power together, held each others hand no matter what. In pain, sadness, fear and inner struggle, they are each other's strenght and weakness. I love that they are still in touch with their "human" side eventhough they are already OP.

I can't choose which arc is the best, because all of them were beautifully written. Some even made me cry buckets! All the side characters played their part really well. They made their own arc beautiful, heartwarming and heart wrenching.

Special shout-out to my boy, the MVP (Most Valuable gray Parrot), The Great Lord Bagelmaurus (self proclaimed by the way) ! He's my spirit animal, lol!

Nemo Light and Oliver Ramon will forever be in my heart andddd Jesse and Adrian, Ann and Gallagher, Godwin and Debby, Roderick and Mr. Medes and Tela!

Special mention to the baby pandorater, the fuller goat, the tsundere black horsey and the arthropod lizard! Thay deserve a spot too!!!

Overall, highly recommended!!!!! Please read!

I went into this not expecting anything, and I was blown away. I only started reading because western fantasy BLs are pretty rare, and I was bored. The first couple of chapters were okay, and I wasn’t too impressed with the translation. But then the story started to pick up. And I became completely enamored with Stray.

First of all, the author is insanely talented. The world building is fresh and full of new ideas, not the cliches of “Demon Kings”, “Heros” or other things found in western fantasies.

Second, the author... more>> is extremely detailed; all actions of the characters and events are connected to each other. A casual sentence in chapter 12 is unexpectedly foreshadowing for something not revealed until chapter 180. Or actions from the MCs in a previous arc leads to unseen problems in future arcs.

This novel is full of vibrant characters who don’t act like people, but are people. They aren’t perfect, and no one is simply “good” or “evil”. There are also multiple instances of characters having deep philosophical thoughts toward human nature and what is good or evil. Because this fictional world, just like ours, is not simply black or white, but is made up of shades of gray.

I could keep gushing about this novel, but I’ll stop here. Stray is a 10/10, and it will change how you view other western fantasy BLs. <<less

This novel ticks all my boxes. I loved how plot heavy this was and that the plot didn't fall apart after the main cp got together. I loved the side characters and how easy it was to fall in love with them and cry for them.

this novel was just so amazing and I find it damn near impossible to pick out anything problems I had with it aside from small unnecessary points that don't even need to be voiced.

there's so much I could complement I could go on for longer... more>> but I won't, I honestly just believe anyone that picks this up will enjoy the ride. They'll cry and they'll laugh and once it's over they'll miss it even though the initial thought is about how long it may be.

If I had to add a con to this novel, it would be that the ending felt abrupt. In all honesty, it could have been over and done with around chapter 50/60. On top of that, I was sad that Chi cheng felt less like a side character with depth, and more like a maid that was only there to serve the actual brother and then once the move was ending he kind of disappeared without any real explanation. I would have liked to know more about what he ended up doing instead of "the 2 younger brothers became one younger brother who went on to study psychology after MC threw money and appeals at the school to get him accepted." it just felt like CC wasn't really accepted. 5/5 hands down. <<less

Maybe can be said as the best novel i've ever read in my life. I even spent a whole week reading this, pace that can be considered as too slow for me. Everything happens for some reasons, even from seemingly insignificant trivia in earliest chapters.

The world building is too fcking solid, there is really no pit holes. Too fck*ing sooooliiiiddd. The caracters are consistent, their mental capacity, their thinking process, everything. Even ther chara growth. Like, I know this is indeed something that's gonna be said by a certain chara.... more>> I FEEL HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE, IN FACT TOO DEEP FOR THIS NOVEL T_T

The villains too, nobody is really evil, everyone just makes their own choices for their own benefits, greed, or needs. Neither it's harming others or not. But u've to prepare to reread the same paragraphs over and over again because I can't even lose a word, I reallly really have to understand what's happening, and doubt even a casual remarks said by the charactars.

I wish I can reset my memory so I can read this novel again from zero :'') <<less

Fabulous story with great attention to detail. The author likes to take little things and bring them back to bigger events later on in the story.

The character of the MC and ML are the core of the story. With all that they go through, that they are ... more>>

Spoiler

able to hold on the simple trust and love they had from the beginning and not compromise their principles

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was pretty cool

The various arcs of the story were all quite interesting although two of them needed multiple tissues to make it through, there was still a satisfying happy ending. I also liked that everything had a purpose in the overall plot, not just side adventures to pad out the story.

The other characters of Tumbleweed got some nice character development (super kudos for not only a positive female character but one who kicks some serious butt!) and Jessie and Adri are a riot.

Thoroughly enjoyed and recommend this story. <<less

I really loved reading this novel! The world-building was beautiful, and one of my favorite things was how the author developed the mystery behind the world of Stray. I really enjoyed just stringing together clues to certain character's identities, especially Nemo's and Jesse's. I also like how little details from earlier chapters become more clear and significant in later chapters.

I think my favorite thing about this novel is how the MC and ML have similar personalities at first. It's common for CPs to have very contrasting personalities, so seeing these... more>> two is very refreshing. Over the course of their adventure, their characters will mature and harden, but it also felt like the two ordinary boys from an ordinary town never really left. They both show how their love for each other can support them even through the darkest of times. They truly are each other's pillar in this world ;)

The stories for the side-characters in every arc are also very touching. They all have their own motives for their own actions that aren't black or white. All are very well-developed, and soooo many side CPs haha I love them all (especially the main (?) side CP)

This is one of those novels where I wasn't sad to see it end, I was truly happy with the ending, very sweet! <<less

This is definitely one of my most favorite novels! Gosh! It's just right for me, it got fantasy, knights, dragons, cute cp and spicy side cp.

The author really did well in connecting all of the earlier chapters to the later chaptersss. The hints, foreboding is already there but, you will think that was just an ordinary event. But, I was proven wrong many timesss. (⁠・⁠–⁠・⁠;⁠) ⁠ゞ

I really love the CP here.. they're so cute... And every side character has their own story which made me really want to hug themmm...... more>> ～⁠ (⁠つ⁠ˆ⁠Д⁠ˆ⁠) ⁠つ⁠｡⁠☆

This story made me so curious, laugh like there's no problems in this world, cry like I have experienced what they experienced... Especially when I reached the ending... And now I have reached the ending... (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠)

Anyways... That's that, the only problem I have is that, sometimes the author will write what will happen, like a small spoiler of what will happen in the far future, which somewhat makes me annoyed. ಠ⁠∀⁠ಠ But that still won't let me stop reading this novel. (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠).

If you want an unconditional love, no matter what the status, no matter who they are, or what they are, you will still love them, then read this cute novel that has "little" angst. Heh. (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠) ⁠✧

Thank you very much author! Thank you translator! <<less

The novel is great. Each arc makes you cry but also smile; the author really delves into humanity and characterizes her characters so well. There's lots of drama and angst to keep you going, but the main characters are a perfect example of unconditional love. No matter the hell life throws their way, they always depend on each other and believe in each other even when they are miles apart. Peak relationship goals.

I'm writing this review for one purpose: I CAN'T BELIEVE PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE ADRIAN X JESSE SIDE... more>> PAIRING WHAT??????? How can that not appeal to you guys?? It's literally the perfect guilty pleasure pairing.

Spoiler

Adrian is ascetic and deeply pious to his God while Dylan IS that frivolous, playful God, who's trying to make Adrian waver in his faith (and Adrian doesn't know so each time he talks about how the only one he loves is God, Jesse SMIRKS).

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That sh*t is my jammmm.

Also for those worried about the MTL translation--I can count on two hands the parts where that ended up being an issue. But for an MTL translation, this one was superb. Way better than other half-assed stuff you'll read. I didn't even know it was MTL for the first bit, till I went onto the main site and went ohhhh <<less

Finally completed it after about a week of reading.

Beautiful worldbuilding! I'm an absolute sucker for underdogs winning in life stories and this novel was written in a perfect way 💕 Kudos to the translator as well ^^

This story was amazing! No loose strings were left, each character was deep and had good growth, and the plot and setting were incredible! I haven't read something this captivating in a long time.

This story is really good, but there are still a lot of mistakes in the translation of the story (as the story progresses the quality of the translation itself will indeed get better, but it doesn't change the fact that the level of errors translation at the beginning of the story is still quite a lot).

The thing that makes this story stand out apart from the plot, is the characters.

I really liked how the author described each character trait in great detail, and how the author described that each character... more>> essentially "learns" about the things they didn't understand before "and what that things means to them".

I also like how each character has their own satisfaction and definition of happiness.

Btw among all the characters in this story, I like the story about Telaranea the most.

Spoiler

There is a scene where Telaranea is confused about why humans always ask ridiculous wish towards him in the end of their life (Telaranea always makes agreement with people who are dying, he will grant that person's last wish in exchange for their body being occupied by him) But after Aurora died, he finally understood the feelings of those people, the feeling of wondering what would happen if he helped more... there was also a scene where it was explained that Telaranea was still left her body (like a clone) waiting for Aurora at the abyss door even though he knows that the Aurora will not appear.

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I also love the ending...

Spoiler

I like how the author describes that even though they are a very close, in the end of the day they are still have their own paths and lives.

There is scene where Oliver offers longevity/near immortality to Ann Savage

But Ann says that she is happy with her life, and doesn't want to be near immortal like Nemo and Oliver... The way she says that she can't leave people around her (which the mortal one) and only hopes that her group will still remembering about her is very touching.

The response of Nemo and Oliver who said that they could also help the people around Ann, and how Ann responded by saying that it was impossible because people around her would have children and so on, which in the end would only lead to prolonged things was also very touching.

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Last, this is my fav ending scene in this story...

Spoiler

Under the soft light, even the skeleton helmet hanging on the wall looked like an ornament bought from a high-end store. Just like other bars, large or small, there were many photo frames hanging under the helmet. The photos inside looked old, but they were all well preserved.

The content of the middle photo was odd—four old-fashioned people standing in a pile of weird lizard tails. Except for the one in a monk's uniform with a tight expression, the other three were all smiling.

His gaze stayed on that photo for a long time before Nemo let out a long sigh.

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<<less

A 5 star gem, truely.

As usual the summary does very little and is just the tiny tip of the iceberg. As I kept reading the story grew bigger and bigger. The world building is very well done and the plot is tied up beautifuly. I didn't saw any plot holes, on contrary, small details or plot points in the initial arcs are brought again later and incorporated in the main story.

To me this is a standing ovation kind of novel. There were many moments of amazing story telling that I... more>> literally clapped. My only regret is that I read to fast.

The main characters actually grow through the story and the choices they do conform to who they are. There are many side characters and I do care about them and they are given enough paper time.

This is a story to antecipate the next chapter, to laugh, to cheer, to cry in angst and to feel relief and to laugh again. <<less

This is the kind of story where so many things are confusing at first, so many mysteries pile up, but the revealed at the end are so satisfying. New readers need to be patient. And tbh, it's really fun to be in the unknown.

Our two chaotic lost souls (MC & ML) are definitely endearing and their character development is more human than any other chars I've seen in other novels. They both are sweet, funny, full of weaknesses, full of emotions.

When they are happy, they share with each other. When... more>> they are in pain, they depend on each other. No unnecessary misunderstanding.

Alongside their journey, so many new interesting friends were made. New experience were born. Some made me laughed till I cracked. Some made me mad till I fumed. Some made me cried till I was breathless. Most of all, I was filled with sweetness, eager to know their next adventure, to learn what other chaos they'd bring up behind their tails. <<less

I really, really enjoyed this novel. The story is complicated and long but well constructed and I didn't find any plot holes. I loved the characters, all of them (including the villains), it's like the author crafted her characters carefully and meticulously. And there are some really badass ladies!

This novel is for everybody who likes fantasy with demons, magic, gods and heroes and villains who are not black and white. And of course it's a really sweet love story (several actually).

I have read this three times. The second it ever gets an English publisher I will buy it. Honestly I might buy a copy anyway, I live in China now so even though my Chinese is abysmal and I can't read those it will be beautiful decoration for my shelf, I love the official art. Cannot reccomend the world-building and characters enough. The cast is well-balanced, the story is well-paced, and as a fantasy fan, not just thirsty fujoshi, I give this a seal of approval.