Guimi Zhi Zhu
Lord of Mysteries

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This Book is completed with 9 volumes and 1432 chapters (including bonus chapters)

Lord of the Mysteries starts off seeming like a typical story of a man who is suddenly transported to another world but quickly becomes a masterpiece of worldbuilding with a unique power system and tons of interesting lore.

But that's not what kept me reading this story. The best part is in my opinion the characters, Cuttlefish excels at making recognizable characters who all are very entering while having a lot of depth. That's all I can say without spoiling the series and I think it's best to go in as blind as possible.

One ... piece of advice to new readers is to give it a chance despite how confusing the first few chapters seem. I had some trouble with them at first but I kept going and this quickly became one of my favorite novels of all time.

Lord of The Mysteries has consistently been my number 1 light-novel for over my 3 years of constantly reading Light-novels, with it being better than most other light-novels that I have read such as Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint or Mushoku Tensei. This novel is simply incredible when it comes to its World-Building, Character-Writing and Pacing; truly crafting a unique experience that other novels seldom are able to achieve. The novel was even adopted into China's National Library and getting a Donghua adaptation in 2025, and by far the most popular I.P. that QIDIAN or Webnovel has.

Main Character (10/10): The main protagonist of this novel is ... Klein Moretti, with the story itself following the journey of Klein as he searches for a way to return home to Earth when he suddenly found himself transmigrated into Victorian-Era Europe. Klein is unlike your average Isekai power-fantasy protagonist, as the author masterfully presents certain aspects of his character in a realistic and sympathetic manner that adds to his depth and appeal as a main character. To preface, Klein is intended to be written as a tragic-hero throughout the course of the novel, an element of his character the works extremely well with the themes and motifs of the story. He isn't overpowered, he constantly has to struggle against innumerable odds placed against him as he tries to achieve his goal. He isn't impervious, Klein has several emotional moments throughout the novel that enhances his character while also presenting the tragedy of his character. He isn't naive or idiotic, there are several instances within the novel that demonstrates Klein to be rather resourceful and intelligent when it comes to dealing with certain situations. With that said, the best part of Klein's character by far is his development, as you can directly see how the relationships that Klein has built gradually change him as a person, either for the better or worse, as you read further into the novel. By the end of the novel, it would have fealt as you have directly seen and experienced the life of a person rather than a fictional character.

Side Cast (10/10): With how amazing the protagonist is, I'd say that the side-cast is on par or probably even better. None of these characters are forgotten as you progress further into the story, with Side-Characters from Volume 2 making short but significant appearances in Volume 5 and 6 as well. They feel genuinely believable and unique as you learn more about them. The Side-cast are also what, in my opinion, makes up for the emotional peaks of the novel, with some of their character arcs and development just being exceptional. I don't want to spoil anyone who hasn't read the novel yet, but some of the moments the MC share with the Side-Cast genuinely made me ugly cry. The Main Antagonist of LOTM is also by far the best Light-Novel Antagonist I have ever seen that by the end of the book, you'll be absolutely terrified of Monocles.

World-Building (10000000000/10): By far the best aspect of the novel, with most Critics of the novel even agreeing that the setting of LOTM is just brilliant. As previously stated, the setting of this novel is a Victorian-Era Europe, with the setting itself being directly inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The author fleshes out almost every aspect of the setting; from its history, religion, geography, political landscape, currency, and even the food, almost every aspect of the setting is expanded upon in some form or another. The Power System also cannot be understated for how amazing it simply is. To explain LOTM's power system without any spoilers; basically imagine what it would be like to start from a human, and work you up in becoming a Cosmic Entity. Honestly, I haven't done the World-Building or Power System enough justice in this review, just read and you'll see why so many people praise the novel for its World-Building.

Pacing (9/10): The pacing for LOTM has always been a source of criticism for many, as most complain about it being too slow especially in the beginning volumes. Honestly, I thought that the pacing was perfect throughout the majority of the novel, as it lends well to the atmosphere of the story and feeling of wonder as you watch Klein slowly learn about the world around him. The slow pacing also allows for the Author to explore the novel's side characters in more details, as you won't only be reading about Klein for most of the time. The only gripe I have with the pacing is how fast the ending felt, as the final volume was less than a quarter of the other volumes. Other than that, I thought that the pacing was perfect for the story, and if you love slow-paced novels than you should definitely try LOTM out.

Writing Style (8/10): The writing style for the novel is simple and easy to understand if you are reading the English translated version of the books, although that doesn't mean the story doesn't have any profound moments with it's characters or dialogue. The only problem with it is that the Author sometimes goes into too much details in describing the imagery of the novel. Additionally, it can be heard to keep track of things as you read further into the novel, especially when it comes to its fights and lore. Other than that, I thought the writing style to be effective at immersing the reader into the world of the novel without being extremely complicated.

TLDR: LOTM is the best novel in my opinion when it comes to its characters, pacing, world-building and writing-style. Just be sure to have some spare time as there are over 1430 chapters of the novel, although by the end of it you'll be wishing for more.

Lord of the Mysteries (LOTM) is a novel that is most popular amongst web novel fans. An incredibly bloated story, with an interesting power system, unlikeable characters, but in-depth world building, an unsalvageable English translation, and pacing that doesn't improve.



Spoiler level: Minor



Here are some positives and negatives, starting with the negatives.

...
Negatives:

Translation: The biggest negative is undoubtedly the horrendous translation. There is absolutely no flow, eloquence, or shared comprehension between the translator(s) and what the author is trying to convey in his work. The translation will offer you the bare minimum, which is a rough understanding of LOTM. Translation alone makes the content often unreadable and laughably bad at times. This novel might be much better in Chinese. (The translation I used was from the official Web Novel site).

Characters/MC: The characters are bland, generic, predictable, and cliche. Praise for the MC is common amongst web novel fans, however, if you're used reading normal novels or light novels, then LOTM will probably feel like it's missing something, as LOTM has many shortfalls, Klein being one of them. A good test would be reading a normal novel that you find enjoyable, then try LOTM, any perceived complexity in Klein's character will shatter immediately. I'm putting it harshly because of my own experience, naturally not everyone will be as disappointed in the MC as much as me. The worst characters that hold a major role in the story are Klein's siblings, they don't realise that he's a different person when any normal human would notice the change in his character immediately; regardless of whether Klein inherited the memories of the body he isekai'd into (isekai may be the wrong word for this context) or not, they're the stars of the drawn out slice of life sequences that add nothing to the narrative (which SOL scenes DO have the power to do), Klein's relationship with them is empty, and they seem detached and inhuman, even more so than the rest of the cast. The best written character in LOTM volume one is Dunn Smith, an amazing character by no means, but still interesting, somewhat funny even with the poor translation, and adds depth to integral moments in the series.

Pacing: LOTM fans will often say that the pacing improves after chapter 100 and things get incredibly interesting around chapters 160-180; this is untrue. There are twists, turns, and new plot developments frequently, but none of them are written well enough to warrant the praise the novel gets.

Meaning: There is no deep meaning in this story, nothing interesting that the author is attempting to convey to the reader, no depth or profundity that sticks with you after finishing the story. Every novel with a truly complex and interesting story will incorporate real values that the reader can associate with and think about in their own life. LOTM is, at the end of the day, still just another power fantasy. You will not find deep themes and profound questions that will keep you thinking after you've finished reading the story. Of course this complexity is not completely necessary to make a story good, interesting, or excellent, but the complete lack of these concepts and ideas in a story that seems to try and take itself seriously is something new to me, something I only found once I tried reading web novels like LOTM. This could change in future volumes, but the story doesn't come off as serious enough for that, though it may try to be.

Motive: Klein will sometimes randomly state that his goal in his new world is to uncover mysteries and reach the point where he's able to return home... but it's never really explained why he wants to go home, he never seems distressed, and he adapts unrealistically fast to his new circumstances.

Positives:

World Building: The world building survived the translation. The author has taken inspiration from The SCP Foundation and H.P. Lovecraft's work, he also studied the Victorian Era extensively before writing this novel, creating a unique and interesting world that feels relatively fleshed out, and is brimming with potential. This is mainly in regard to what has been talked about in letters, books, and stories, i.e., not volume one's location, which is less unique, a mishmash of overly used Victorian themes, and less of the authors own unique ideas (I'm not contradicting myself when I say that the authors implementation of Victorian culture both detracts and adds to the story; it detracts from volume one by being generic, but from a lore standpoint, it works well and will continue to work well once Klein travels and the story moves away from a traditional Victorian setting, and closer to something wholly unique, while keeping remnants of the stories, culture, and history the author studied, or so I would hope). There is a lot of potential in future cities, countries, and places the main character Klein has yet to visit. Finally, there's the information overload, which ties into both world building and pacing. This is a negative aspect of LOTM, but it makes sense to keep it under world building:

You will constantly get massive dumps of information, lore, and small details that are entirely redundant, this isn't a massive negative because it becomes less and less frequent as the story progresses but is more than worth mentioning. Some may even enjoy these parts of the story.

Power system: The power system is the main reason I stuck with this novel. The different pathways and array of unique abilities are incredibly interesting, you'll want to know what the next sequence for Klein is, what abilities will be revealed, the mysteries that will be uncovered, and the consequences Klein will likely have to face as he constantly bridges on madness (slight overestimation as of volume 1). This is regrettably undermined by pacing and the lack of expertise in the rest of the novel's writing, however, the power system is still good enough to hold its own. My lack of in-depth knowledge in web novels could mean that I'm overestimating the quality of this system, but at the very least it is new to me.

Why write a review after volume one?

213 chapters is a lot; if a novel is not good after 213 chapters, then a sincere recommendation is impossible to give. Fans of the series usually rank volume one above two and sometimes three, so if things will only get worse until volume 3/4, I'd rather write a review now than make an even more negative one after another infuriating 200+ chapters, at the very least. I'm also aware that some of my gripes with the series may be intentionally there to mislead the reader, perhaps 300 chapters in the future we will discover why Klein's siblings are so clueless, but I doubt it, and even if that is the case, is it a worthy tradeoff if it means bland and ignorant characters in the opening volume? I don't think so.

Conclusion: Lord of the Mysteries is a web novel that has potential in multiple areas, but is not worth sticking around for because of the translation that does not seem to improve. LOTM will continue to receive praise as one of the greatest stories of all time, perhaps true amongst web novels, but anyone who cares about readability and interesting characters should look elsewhere.