Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

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I've been following this series after the translations by J-Novel started, and I'm happy I picked it up.


The Unwanted Undead Adventurer is a fantasy novel about - as the title states - a guy who died and returns as an undead. If this had been some other random fantasy novel, I imagine that would be the end of it, and there would be very little information or research about the how or why of his condition.
In this novel, the search for how and why Rentt Faina got turned into an undead and the developments of his condition and the impact it has on his life ... are actually quite central to the story. While he gets a power boost over time, that not all there is to it. I like that.


The story itself progresses quite slowly, but I find that this isn't a problem for me. The pacing is consistent and the author introduces new, interesting characters and tidbits about the world on a regular basis. It's slow, but certainly not boring. A great deal of the story revolves around Rentt dealing with his new condition and interacting with the various people he knew in life. Of course, there are action parts as he gets stronger and stronger as the story progresses, but these action scenes are there to serve the story and not just because the author wanted more meaningless action scenes. The worldbuilding is done well, with new information being provided to the reader frequently. I understand that this might be a bit too "boring" for some readers, but it really works well to keep me entertained.


The characters are quirky but realistic and not as over-the-top as is to be expected in a fantasy light novel. Less like cardboard cutouts than I expected and their various interactions work out well. The dialogue and the banter between Rentt and the people close to him is well done, in my opinion.


Now, the artwork in this novel is.... mediocre. It's not bad, but it certainly isn't going to blow your mind. If the quality of the artwork is important to you, this might be somewhat disappointing.


Overall, I find that I greatly enjoy this series and am looking forward to reading the next volume once it's translated. I admit that it's slow at times but I still find it to be a very enjoyable read and I would recommend you check it out if you're interested.

A good novel if you're not against exposition and slow pace.
It's a pure fantasy novel, with some very slight video game elements (like dungeons and something which vaguely resemble exp).
Despite what the covers may let you think, it's not a harem, there's a main girl Lorraine who is the only one to really interact with the MC, the other girls on covers are clients, enemies, allies, friends, student, or unknown, but their interaction with the MC is fairly limited.

To start with what doesn’t work:
- Too much monologue, if you have ever heard of that series, it's likely you've also heard of how much the ... MC like doing long monologues. And overall that not much of a problem, in fact, it helps flesh out the world and characters and for the most part they're well-timed. But the problem is that they're too frequent and some time they break the rhythm or the atmosphere of a situation.
- The pace, once again not that problematic but it's at times a bit too slow.
- The art, which is a real problem, well it's a novel so not that much but still it's ugly. Not entirely that said, the cover and color pictures are okay, but the insert pictures are terrible especially in volume 1, hopefully, it's getting better and while it's still definitely not fantastic, vol 5 pictures are okay.

Into the good parts:
- First the characters, only a rather small number are really fleshed out but it's also the only one we consistently see, and they're good, nuance, with for most a good development.
- The world-building and power system: with all those monologues and exposition the contrary would have been strange but still it's interesting and original.
- The tension, it's not that great, but it still does a good job at showing us how some characters or monsters are way above the MC, despite the fact that he appears a bit op at times.

Overall it's a good fantasy novel, with good characters and world-building if you don't mind exposition and a rather slow rhythm.

The manga is also good, with really good art but it heavily cut on the exposition.

Spoilers for the timing of events around volumes 10-13

Overall I agree with what others have said about this series. I'm currently caught up with all 13 volumes currently out (as of august 2024) and I would say the author stays pretty consistent in their writing style. That said, some things have really started to grate on me. The slow pace was nice for the first several volumes, but Rent (the MC) is still a bronze class adventurer (the rank he started at) 13 volumes in and sometimes it sometimes seems like an entire volume goes by without anything really happening. An example of this is ... how the silver class exam (which seems like it should be a really important plot point) is given a set date of 1 month away in volume sometime around volume 11 (might be 10, don't remember anymore), but by the end of volume 13 he is still nowhere near taking the exam and another whole arc suddenly started unfolding out of nowhere with only 3 weeks to go until the silver class exam. Not just that, but the entirety of volume 12 covered the events of 5 days. At the current rate, from the point of the silver class exam being announced, it is likely 4-6 volumes will have elapsed. The story is overall fairly engaging and world is really cool, but to say the story moves at a snail's pace would be saying it moves faster than it really does.

The only other main gripe I have with the series is that the author is just a bit sexist. Its nothing overt and any one instance wouldn't really amount to anything, but there are just enough micro-aggressions that it has become a bit frustrating for me to read. This author is MUCH better than many other authors in this regard, especially in the fantasy/isekai genres, but if you notice it or are paying attention to the things the characters say or think about women as a whole, you do start noticing a pattern.

That said, the author does use that slow pace to create a really interesting world and the author really fleshes out a lot of interesting characters. None of it is super revolutionary, but it is still a relatively unique and well thought out take on a fantasy world including everything from how villages manage their resources so as to avoid over harvesting the local fauna to the race dynamics between the various fantasy races, like humans, beast men and even vampires. The author often times also gives pretty in-depth backstories to even fairly minor characters at times. But, of course with all that focus on the world and characters, the plot takes a serious hit (as I mentioned before).

Overall, I have still enjoyed this series quite a bit and have found myself relating to some of the struggles Lorraine faces as someone with that funny pair of a bit of ADHD and Autism, but this series does really have some problems with pacing. If you are ok with just drifting along with the story as it takes it's leisurely time, then you might enjoy this series too, but if not you should either just wait for the anime or read something else.

TL;DR: The plot, character development and world are really cool, but the story movies slower than molasses and a frigid winter day and the author is just sexist enough to notice and be a bit annoying.