This is absolutely one of the best webnovels/serials I have ever read. I have read Coiling Dragon, Desolate Era, I Shall Seal The Heavens, A Will Eternal, and many others I have dropped because they didn't suit my tastes.

This novel is quite different from all of them.

It's different in an amazing way: the characters feel incredibly relevant and alive. There is fantastic storytelling and the MC, as well as the supporting cast, are fleshed out in an unprecedented fashion. All characters seem relevant and a name you see mentioned briefly... more>> may very well come back again. There is a lot of high-quality (almost soap-opera grade) drama that is also very well-done.

I initially hesitated to read this because I didn't like the novel's premise (author sent into his own unfinished book). When I did start it (because of the glowing reviews), I felt like the first chapter or so was slow; however, as soon as Kim Hajin (the MC) syncs with his laptop (which happens almost at the very beginning, so no spoiler), the action starts and doesn't stop.

I'd recommend this book to people who love books with a central OP protagonist, especially since Kim Hajin has a greater purpose (making sure his novel ends well and escaping it) vs just getting stronger for the sake of strength alone (like many cultivation novels). <<less

Yes, this novel does include a lot of tropes that have been done over and over, but because the story feels quite unique I don't mind it. After spending weeks reading the first few chapters of dozens of novels, this is the only one that I have found in a long time that holds my interest. The author does a very good job of giving you things to look forward to and hypothesize about.

This novel does have the trope of the main character being transported into a world that he... more>> knows just about everything about, but this is merely the back drop for the story to take place. In other novels this can make the story become stale very quickly, but because it never easily solves the conflicts it is still interesting. <<less

The Novel's Extra is, at a first glance, a typical 'real life person gets reincarnated as a side character in a novel but wow whats this its a cheat that puts life on easy mode', and at second it is too. However, upon closer inspection, it develops into a story not far off from works of authors such as Brandon Sanderson or Neil Gaiman (Though, I would claim, nowhere near exceeding). As the story progresses, a flat and stereotypical novel cast (as written by the main character) starts to demonstrate... more>> remarkable development and show realistic personalities while a generic world is charted out to be much more than it seems.

Unlike far too many other novels with game elements (including this author's previous work), The Novel's Extra does not mistake character development for "strengthening". While there may be a good amount of attention put on the "system", the main focal point is the characters. This novel has phenomenal characters who all seem like real people. They laugh, they cry, they have moments of valor and moments of weakness. As the novel goes on, each character is further fleshed out. They change at a pace so fast and realistically that I can liken it to watching infants grow up. Before one realizes, the characters become more than just lines of text but rather real personas (I actually had this experience myself. I was subconsciously lumping this in with other novels of similar plot, until in one particularly tense scene that was heavily built up. I realized my palms were sweating and my heart was beating at an elevated rate, somewhat comically).

The world-building for The Novel's Extra is, while not particularly outstanding, still good. The first 100 chapters or so mainly occur within the academy, so there's not much to say there. During the (mis?) adventures they have while doing school activities, a bits of information are gleaned about the outside world, so when the focus is shifted away from the academy it's not too bad. However, while the information about the world may be relatively abundant, it's still seems very incomplete. The main problem is that Kim Hajin (the MC) is the author of the book, but we are given relatively little information about so many things. This makes things that pop up seem somewhat random. The story is well enough premeditated that all information fits relatively well, but it's still not executed as well as it could have been.

Finally, the plot. Kim Hajin's goal is, not uniquely, "keep the story on track", but various complications (Such as the person who sent him into the book changing the details in minute but relevant ways) shift a large amount of the attention off of the "real" main character and onto him. At some point, rather realistically, he stops trying to keep the story on track but instead expediting the growth of the characters with potential. His unusual amount of attention devoted to the original dramatis personae leads to various comedic misunderstandings, making the early chapters lighthearted. However, this does not continue for long, as the threat of the devils forces Hajin into the underworld. The story quickly takes a turn for the darker (though still incorporating some jocular elements) as he grapples with the psychological implications of killing novel characters who seem all too real for the sake of the greater good. The plot is riveting, immersive, and extremely interesting, making me anticipate each chapter with great eagerness. However, it is not without its flaws. The most obvious perhaps are the inherent fallacies of game elements in general. His "system" offers various options that seem too much like a Deus Ex Machina. The lack of a skills system is a step up from others, but his ability to create "Gifts" practically replaces it. He also has some plot armor. This novel attributes it to his insane luck statistic, which he raised using his points before that was banned (Apparently there's some guy who watches over Kim Hajin to make sure he's not stupidly powerful). This allows him to cheese his way into making ridiculous powers and items for himself. Though these do not cause an imbalance within the story, it's not ideal either.

Overall, The Novel's Extra is a breath of fresh air compared to the all-too-common 'reincarnated into a novel' books. Though it really only starts to pick up in the hundreds, the relatively jovial early chapters are extremely enjoyable. As the novel progresses, superb characters along with a great plot and good world-building spin a well-made tale of epic proportions. <<less

The best thing about this novel is its solid writing style and gripping execution that leaves you always wanting more, and its good cast of characters set up in a way that leads to humorous and satisfying interactions. The female leads don't fall for him instantly, leading to a more satisfying progression, for example, and the MC's obliviousness is more hilarious than facepalm-inducing.

The main thing that sets the protagonist apart from other characters is that his own abilities operate outside the system that the world has setup, which results in... more>> him being consistently misunderstood by characters who can only think in terms of that system. In essence, he gains powers that operate on limited uses/have an intrinsic costs - His base power is low but he can reach high peaks, whereas others have no peaks but a high base power. To compare, it's like he's a wizard with spell slots stuck in a world with only fighters.

And that's the "conceit" that drives the novel - that he is consistently less powerful than the "main characters, " thus skirting the trope of the protagonist with massively unfair abilities, but he always manages to pull just enough power out of his nether regions to save the day.

As for criticisms: It consistently pretends, both narratively and in-story, that the main character is much weaker than he really is, which seems unrealistic given the feats he's accomplished. The MC often feels too flexible in the scope of his abilities, which makes his solutions feel hackneyed rather than ingenious. Finally, it doesn't seem like there's necessarily an end in sight: we know that a 10 year timeskip occurs, but not what heralds it, which sets an extremely broad scope for the novel to possibly cover. We also have no indication of how the MC might escape his predicament, meaning that things will likely continue on as they are for a good while.

Definitely a good, exciting read, especially if you like isekai/transmigration and are looking for something original and well-written. <<less

Relationship comedy drama at it's finest. This is one of the few novels where misunderstandings are hilarious and entertaining rather than infuriating. It's enough for me to overlook the novel's flaws, such as the MC's cheats being a literal Deus ex Machina on demand.

If you liked the other web fiction: Worth the Candle, google it. You would probably like this.

I rated it 5 stars.

Why?

1. Character is OP in knowledge. Since he created this world. BUT... the wrinkle is someone else is also rewriting parts of it to make it 'better' and more 'enjoyable'. haha. Kind of like readers try to tell web writers where to go in their stories. LOL. Good stuff. So sure, our OP MC does have a cheat, but it's not totally world breaking. No more than Superman or Saitama.
2. The supporting and other characters that should be MC but aren't since our MC is there, do have details that make them live. They have complaints, have issues and drama and some are just plain annoying enough that I wouldn't want to hang out with them in real life if I could avoid them. So kudos to nearly Oscar winning supporting roles.
3. World building is very nice. It's like our world, but maybe a few decades later. And the science and magic is blended well enough that I can almost believe it works.
4. Entertaining balance of action, drama and mystery between the MC and the world he mainly created. It's fascinating to watch someone be surprised by how things turn out from a few sentences on a screen.

good read. check it out!

A really promising novel by an author I didn't know before, I'll be sure to read every single one of his works from now on. That's how amazing this novel is. It justs keeps pushing you to read the next chapter because it's really well written and "attractive" if I can say that about a novel (lol). Oh and excuse my poor English, I'm not from a country where you're supposed to know how to speak English.

Hope this will encourage you to start reading this novel if you haven't yet.... more>> As for me... I'll just wait for the next chapter eagerly T_T <<less

Quite different from the author's last work, I hate OP characters so I hope the character doesn't go the route of last character but maybe even so the author may handle it better than the last novel. All in all high hopes.

Damn, didn't realise there were only 8 chapters out so far... I'm a fan of this author by now xD

The story is pretty good so far. I was also worried the MC was going to be a pushover but he's definitely not.

The MC gets sucked into the world of a story he's written. He doesn't take over the body of the MC or the villain, as you'd expect, but some nameless side character. Luckily he gets "Story Points", which he can use to upgrade his character, and hopefully survive long... more>> enough to find a way to return to his real life.

I'm interested in how he'll grow and how he'll interact with the cast that's been introduced :) <<less

I personaly very much like this story, and currenty am totaly hooked up with it.

As for the authors previus work I have not read it, but its comments state it was decent except for the end, which seams to have been a total let down.

As for the distictives of this story I think can differentiete it from other works:

... more>> (you can think of both as good or bad)

-simple writing

-MC takes suboptimal decisions and has sometimes irresponsible actitudes.

-side characters are adorable and, personaly, my most liked part of the story. There are a lot, therfore they are not build very deeply, but each one has his own personality which they do not betray, some do mature or change.

-no ridiculus dangerous moments.

-worlds system, stats etz.. Are not fully described.

-the story is varied, and has no set mold, this leads to unexpected decision of MC, some may be even disapointing to the reader.

-well translated and edited.

I don t think this novel is very deep, nor is it fully action packed or a drama or a romace story. It has a bit of everythink. Therefor don t expect any kind of extreme emotions. Thats my opinion on it at least

I realy liked this novel, and do recommend giving it a try. <<less

This is the best korean novel I've read here, I think. I've read some korean "modern world turned to fantasy" stories that are just as creative, but The Novel's Extra's greatest strength I think is in the characters and their relationships that keeps evolving and never feels static.

Add a fast moving story in easy-t0-read chunks, MC's creative and constantly evolving arsenal and a dash of charm and humor, and I was hooked and couldn't stop reading.

We've had plenty of Transmigrations, Reincarnations and Video Games.

This is one of the first novels in the latest refreshing genre Novel Migration (alongside TOTCF)

Overall cool concept, interesting characters, unique power system. Highly recommend!

I really, really want to love this novel, and I also want to overlook all of the flaws that got introduced into it as it has progressed from the beginning to the end. But, after 4 days of living and breathing inside this novel, I'm somewhat disappointed.

If I had to rank the potential of this story I'd give it something like a 9.5/10. The first ~5 chapters were boring, but they were really setting up the world. I didn't really know where it was going, and I was ready to... more>> be disappointed because most web novel and novels of this genre have very serious problems when it comes to scaling and scope.

However, I was very surprised. The world seemed to be fleshed out from an early stage, the social groups seemed not to consist of mindless side characters that barely affected the plot, but of actual people. The introduction to this story was definitely very promising to me and I saw how I wanted the story to evolve, the characters to be fleshed out and made into relatable human beings.

This was perhaps where I want wrong, and why I was disappointed. A lot of the characters remained one dimensional and un-relatable. A lot of the characters have also barely progressed, and a few of the characters are not only just unrelatable but straight-out unbelievable.

The author seems to understand how he should execute on a character's growth, development, and personality but only on a shallow level, sometimes he is able to make it work out, other times the characters fall far short.

This also seems to apply to other aspects of the novel as well, the world building hasn't been scaled perfectly, and it seems the novel lives in a bubble mostly involving a few countries. Besides Korea, the other countries seem to be underdeveloped and with slim to no background story. For example, England basically has only one significant guild (I think the only one we've heard of) and we basically only know one person who's in it.

This is all despite the fact that it is relevant to a reasonable degree in the story, which would warrant some development. Yet, we don't know it's background, we barely know who's is in it, and the author just hands us descriptions expecting us to not complain and just take it as a given?

There are a few aspects of this novel that are shallow, under-developed, and unbelievable. Some of them are important, and some of them can be left out.

It may seem like I just nitpicked on one detail and unfairly generalized it over the whole novel. I agree that there are a lot of portions of this novel that are nicely developed and really pleasant without leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth. But, overall, this novel's shortcomings and large inconsistencies with regard to the development of the story, setting, characters, and background have brought down a potentially unforgettable novel to something above average.

There's a lot more I could write about on the shortcomings, but I'm I've already spent quite a bit of time writing this, so I won't do a more in-depth and structured look into this novel. I probably should've touched on the things I liked, like the pacing, action, and the progression system. Those are some things I think the author did really well, and I think he was able to balance the MC's op-ness to where I enjoyed it. (I mean I wouldn't have spent the last 4 days reading it if I didn't think it was good)

Anyways I'm just going to end it here and give my ratings.

Ratings

Setting: 7/10

Characters: 7/10

Story: 8/10

Writing: 8.5/10

Overall Rating: 7.6/10 (~4/5) <<less

Mirroring a lot of comments, this novel is spectacular. Some of the important things for me are

It is well written, has an engaging protagonist, there’s just enough humor to make it a light hearted read, and there is plot.

It’s a story with many interconnecting pieces and sub-stories, and the occasional multiple POV and thoughts into side characters is amazing. To top it off the side characters aren’t all useless and just to prove the value of the MC.

Hi,

Oh and exuse me for my bad grammar.

I really don't get the negative reviews. This is basicly the best light/web novel I have read so far. No other novel had me so far imersed in it's world.

... more>> Unlike most other w/l-novels this one has a far more complex plot in itself. Different people have diferting and congruenting plots that cross and don't. Characters aren't just forgotten after one arc. People don't grow overpowered in 2 chapters.

Characters are understandable and one can imerse oneself into them.

The MC dosn't get everything without making hard decisions. So the MC must make decision that are not always good and he really is suffering because of them. <<less

This novel is extremely exceptional and intruiging. This novel does have many cliche points, but it holds a special charm, which I really enjoy. It not only is interesting but it is also very hard-warming with many likable characters. The author does not rush the characters and develops them very well, by not creating a harem for our main character. Also the fact that the main character is an anti-hero really sticks out to me. All in all, I would really advise giving this novel a try.

What I like of this novel is the effort they put into the details is simply beffiting, not damaging the reader brain with low IQ plot logic, the focus of the indidually MC, the dosis of every each is just very suitable: introduction of character (place, skill..), presentation, action, share moments that complete a balance of what we want to see, what they want us to see. And perfectly not envolving and keep revolving the reader around in a torrent tide of a setup that is made artificially, and constantly... more>> hittimg the center of the plot which made allution to a fantasy.

Resolving with discretion making the viewer momentally forget of the story, forgetting the plot which is only can be true if there is a sketch, each words, adjetive, line up in perfect harmony immersing you into the surreal fantasy that can only be adhered to if you slide past the reminder that will tediously ring every time the author decide to appeal with the plot.

Besides, there may be some slips, slips that others say to see, but I didn't. What is visible to me is a well planned foreseeing of events.

To not inccur deus machina and getting stagnate the story, all sucess happens very swiftly, as I said previously very suited but also very pragmatic, the design of the future as the person I am reffering is Chae nayun's brother enter to this category. The theme that is elapsed from a very beggining about this person is planation no improvisation, the advancement of the feeling that makes reference in the story proggresion is planation as well. Deus machina cannot accomplish this sense of continuation, because it will always lastly ressort in the fantasy element which once enter it will trap you into the vicious circle of a no emotional reading, unlike the threshold that distinguish this master piece in the component of being swift as well pragmatic.

For all those elements I mentioned, for maybe a long if not first time I saw such a beutiful embedment that trace the elegance of joy, fun, sad, bitterness into a single piece, I clap for the unique planification, and for no anymore delay this is the very first piece I consider a piece deserve a full 5/5, not just any rounding that ends up being 5.

However I changed my mind, the previous paragraph is all about more in the midterms chapters in the cube arc, and the concept of the story totally changed when the author introduce, the new arc tower of wishes. For exact reason I praise the work is for its consistency for being a solid novel and also its detailment and focus on its characters, as for the new arc, the sides characters are so much that some of them feels like talking the same person in various ocasion, the plot loosen a lot of it, which it is replaced by pure convenience for only hajin development, and a lot tendency and specs with highlighting very surreal skills that keeps popping in a game format which is a game format different from before, that worse is actually it can be turned to real, also it can be seen that the slave pets and summoning items are seemly as sample gold by the author, because first was fenrir, next the goblin tablet (maybe the start of decadence), and now a newborn baby who was given birth was apraised by also a text that says:[****is born and it recognize you as its master] ¿Master? ¿No father, mother but master?

The story is still interestimg but totally loose the grace I praised for, so it is no longer 5/5 for me

<<less

This novel is one of the best I've read. Goodness haha this is one of the reason why I wake up early in the morning. Just to read the latest update.

But in this chapter damn you Hajin haha. I prefer Rachel!!

This is one of the best novels I've read. Great story, great translation and engaging characters. It has several things in it that I normally hate. These things are done so poorly in most novels that when I see them in tags I don't bother to read the work. Only reason I tried this one was from it's well deserved rating (4.8 at time of review). And it does deserve 5 star rating as the work is a real joy to read.

I normally stay away from deus ex machina, author... more>> insertion, lucky protagonists, or anything on wuxiaworld site. But this is the exception that shows a truly talented author with the help of a good translator can make all the difference to any story.

I still can't help but think the novel would be better without the above shortcomings, but even with them it is still worth a read. <<less

Damn! this novel is good one of the best I'm currently reading. Binge read this story in just a day and that clearly show it earned my attention. Also, I'm writing this review to show that too.

What I like the most in the story is/are the character/s development. They are 99% realistic (the other 1% is the fantasy stuff which is not real... or is it?) and this is the main point that got me interested. The way the characters in his novel reacts to his actions and his reactions... more>> seeing his creation in reality is just well done! Even the complexities of relationships is shown in a humorous but "true story" kind of way.

For more details in the story, read the reviews with high likes count to see how good the story is. But in my own opinion, this is a good read. <<less