The first 9 volumes of Tearmoon Empire were incredible and the witty prose reached at times that of the likes of Prattchett and Adams.

Other than that it depends on the definition of “writing style”. If we include stuff like how thought out things are then I absolutely have to mention Miya Kazuki. It’s very, very seldom that I have the feeling in the light novel space that an author has a detailed idea of how the story will progress. In most cases, I get the impression that each chapter is written as they come. I have that mental image of an author beings pulled along by the story like some scrawny individual being pulled along by a large dog. It’s probably a side effect of the web novel origins of most titles. So when a series looks like it was planned out in advance, and plot points are introduced in previous volumes instead of paragraphs, it stands out. The Fanbooks Q&A sessions were especially eye-opening when she described how detailed her plot outline from beginning to end was before she even posted the first web novel chapter online.

Yes, both manwha and light novel.

Okay, that’s kinda ingenious. I want my own set now. But with my luck I’ll pull pig ears in the bloody real-animal-ear headbands gatcha.

Ehrenfest is filled with animal eared people but the illustrator cut them off

What does that sicko illustrator with thousands of cut-off animal ears?

I would argue that those examples aren’t pointless. Just showing fight scene after fight scene without anything in between is pointless. Take your first spoiler as an example: that scene highlights his change in personality. The same goes for the second spoiler with added info about how abnormal his abilities are.

Then there is all the deliberating and thoughts he had in the secret dungeon. In the anime he enters, there is a montage, he fights some boss and he leaves all in the span of just a few minutes.

P.S. Today The Hannalore 5th Year (Ascendance of a Bookworm spin-off) starts pre-publishing. Yay!

Ah, the age-old conundrum. Do I succumb to the siren song of the pre-pubs or do I wait for the finished product…

On a side note I have Frans on the mind now.

You need help, my friend.

I worry a little that this will turn into an unnecessary love triangle / harem

There she is! Wridra is my absolute favorite character in the series. Can’t wait to see more of her animated. In general I really like the adaptation so far. The main selling point of the series is to feel the happiness of the mundane through someone else’s eyes and the animation and voice acting do a banger job delivering on this.

I really wish more shows could make the protag and their posse good without the need to lower the bar by making everyone else around them terrible pieces of shit.

Probably cliffhanger for season 3, just like shadow monarch was cliffhanger for season 2.

FYI: They’re skipping a lot here. I would highly recommend reading the source manhwa or even better the light novel based on the manhwa which added more details on top.

Bookworm Short Stories and The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman for me.

Isekai Walking: Volume 1 Elesia Kingdom Arc - Confusing start. I had to double check if this really was the first volume. One of the pre-chapter illustrations was a “Current Stats” character sheet with maxed out skills, etc. Something you would expect at the end of the volume but not before you even read the first sentence. The prologue also start off in the middle and the first chapter is a flashback to the start of the story when MC got summoned. The story itself is a pretty basic fantasy isekai with videogame elments (skills, levels, status windows), adventurer guild with E-S ranks, receptionists are all beautiful, etc… MC gets summoned to defeat the demon lord, is deemed to have a useless skill and gets kicked out of the castle, learns that his skill is actually OP and starts adventuring as a lowly E-Rank but gets better step by step (get it? hahahaha, because he levels up by walking…). Anyway, he starts doing delivery quests and basically becomes an isekai postman. Or fantasy MC from Death Stranding. He’s just missing the jar baby. At least for a while until it turns back into generic adventuring (herb gathering, wolve slaying, goblin slying, orc slaying, little slave loli saving, growing the party by one saved slave loli, etc. It’s generic as they come but if you are in the mood for a generic isekai its entertaining enough. It’s like a Marvel movie. If you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all but sometimes that just thing you want.

Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé! Volume 1 - Super dense MC bordering on autistic. Especially funny since the title suggests she’s a genius when she doesn’t even get the most basic social cues. For example her step-mother and step-sister are bullying her but she believes that they are just giving her “rewards” to overcome so she gets more competent. Just imagine I would tell you to eat shit and then you’ll happily munch away thinking how nice I am that I’m helping you to strenghten your imune system. It’s an overexeggerated example but that’s exactly MC’s mindset. And that schtick is growing tiresome 2 chapters in.

Loved those guards on the wall just going 🤷

But he explicitly pointed out that the setting is too realistic to be just a otome game when he was at the smithy.

I don’t think so. Their light novel catalogue has some heavy hitters:

• 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
• A Tale of the Secret Saint
• A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO
• Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter
• Adachi and Shimamura
• Alice in the Country of Diamonds
• An Autumn in Amber, a Zero-Second Journey
• Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
• Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest ZERO
• At Night, I Become a Monster
• Ballad of a Shinigami
• Berserk of Gluttony
• Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka
• Boogiepop
• Buck Naked in Another World
• Classroom of the Elite
• Clockwork Planet
• Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!
• Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss!
• Division Maneuver
• Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist
• Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless Village into the Strongest Fortified City
• Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells
• Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess
• Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
• HELLO WORLD: The Novel
• Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!
• How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
• I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince
• I am Blue, in Pain, and Fragile
• I Had That Same Dream Again
• I Have a Secret
• I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!
• I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
• I Will Forget This Feeling Someday
• I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire!
• I’m in Love with the Villainess
• I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner
• I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!
• Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut
• Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear
• Loner Life in Another World
• Loyal Soldier, Lustful Beast
• Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard
• Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills
• Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash
• Monster Girl Doctor
• Monster Musume The Novel – Monster Girls on the Job!
• Muscles are Better Than Magic!
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
• Mushoku Tensei: Redundant Reincarnation
• My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA
• Occultic;Nine
• PENGUINDRUM
• Perfect Blue
• Pita-Ten
• Planet of the Orcs
• Qualia the Purple
• Raven of the Inner Palace
• Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!
• Record of Lodoss War
• Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling
• Reincarnated as a Sword
• Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes
• Restaurant to Another World
• Ride Your Wave
• Riku Can’t Be a Goddess
• Ripping Someone Open Only Makes Them Bleed
• ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!
• Sarazanmai
• SCP Foundation: Iris Through the Looking Glass
• She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man
• Skeleton Knight in Another World
• Strawberry Panic
• Summer Ghost
• Survival in Another World with My Mistress!
• Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō
• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Secret Love Story
• The Case Files of Jeweler Richard
• The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku
• The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe
• The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter
• The Invincible Shovel
• The Mimosa Confessions
• The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior
• The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan
• The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real!
• The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride: She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice
• The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent
• The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen
• The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary
• The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom
• The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
• The Villainess and the Demon Knight
• The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash
• The World’s Fastest Level Up
• There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…
• Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court
• To Every You I’ve Loved Before
• To Me, The One Who Loved You
• Too Many Losing Heroines!

Oh come on now. A world with that level of technology hasn’t developed a abacus?

I was just looking at 2024 books. It’s been half a decade since I’ve read MT. But yeah, you’re right. If I had to pick my all time hate novel it would be MT. Over the years I literally spent more time discussion why I hate it than I spent reading it.

Yeah, I gave that one a 3/10.