Jul 7, 2023
Since I learned of this story, I've reread the whole thing once every three months. I truly adore this series.
This series is fantastic. Literally. It's an action fantasy romance-comedy. Standard isekai affair? Yes. Extremely well done? Yes.
It's just a really well done standard isekai story, with just enough mystery sprinkled in to keep you involved, and more than enough world building to let your mind wander.
The premise of the story is simple. The protagonist, Makoto, and his class are summoned to another world after a rather involved scenario involving a bus and an avalanche. But while his classmates get amazing skills like "Hero of Light",
...
Makoto is a weakling, less than most inhabitants of this new world. He trains long and hard, and gets no where. So once he is booted out of the church that he and his classmates were summoned to, a mysterious goddess who refuses to give her name visits him.
After pledging to support her, the story moves on. Here, the plot starts the process of making an overpowered protagonist over the course of the rest of the story. However, the author is very careful to set strong limitations on what Makoto can do, yet he does get help here and there. These limitations are serious and require work around and careful management from Makoto. But, as the problems associated with being a weakling fade in response to Makoto's growing strength and burgeoning relationships, new plot points are brought up.
I will say though, the Light Novel version makes these plot points feel less thought out, as if they "just occur". This is a shame, but that's simply how it is.
Most goddesses in Makoto's new world force their apostles to do as they say, but two out of three of Makoto's skills render him nigh immune to this. So instead, his goddess decided that Makoto should just do as he pleases. The interplay between Makoto and his goddess grows very interesting as he learns more about her, her goals, and the state of the world. The reader is left wondering what her goal actually is.
Regarding characters, well... if they're a companion of Makoto they're just tropes done well. For instance, you've already seen the only non-spoiler companion, Lucy's archetype elsewhere. She's a butterfingered glass cannon who cannot be honest with her feelings. Makoto's classmate companions, who generally do not group with him, are naturally overpowered, lending to mostly boring characters. The only interesting characters are, oddly enough, those that aren't direct companions of Makoto. [Excluding his goddess, who is very interesting.]
But while the characters might not be the most intricate beings written, their circumstances are. Those classmates who followed the Hero of Light took a different path than those who followed the Priestess of Water. Some characters, like the Grandsage, are enigmatic but powerful. So the characters may not be interesting, but they're all in very interesting circumstances, and they make different moves regarding the world. This results in a very engaging world that the reader simply wants to read more about. There are princesses that demand to be wed, kingdoms to negotiate with, and demons whose blood run in the veins of close friends.
In summary, the plot is very engaging, the world building is strong, a lot of interesting circumstances in the world are explored, and to say what makes the story so good with examples would spoil a lot of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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