Baccharis

5 days ago

Recommended

I have some personal issues with this novel, actually, it’s more like personal issues with Korean novels. So I’m going to use this space to complain about these problems, but before that, I want to make two things clear:

Yes, it’s worth reading, it’s fun, but it’s not anywhere near amazing. It’s simply okay, and there’s nothing wrong with being okay.

I read both the raw version of the novel and quite a bit of the webtoon (I didn’t like the webtoon much).

Now, with that out of the way, I’ll start by categorically stating that neither Japanese nor Korean authors know how to write about ‘magic.’ Even worse when the mage is the protagonist. It feels like they have this irresistible compulsion to put a sword in the hand of every damn person they call a mage in their stories, and it’s always swords! Never a bow, rarely a spear or dagger, but always a close-combat weapon. And guess what? The supposed mage hardly ever uses magic, they fight like a regular warrior. What’s funny is that I actually enjoy reading about and playing close-combat classes, but the problem is when I want to read something different. I contemplate the vast number of works out there and realize that all the protagonists fight the same way, using a sword, hitting fast and hard, with no differentiation or ‘flavor’ at all. That said, I know Japan and Korea have a culture of sword-worship, but I swear to you, I would love to read a good novel about a real mage, or maybe an archer, or even a summoner. But no, it’s always about some idiot swinging a sword. God have mercy on us.

Alfoodo

6 days ago

·

Edited

Recommended

This novel is reminiscent of 'omniscient readers viewpoint', containing a similar don't trust the gods, the gods are sponsors gimmick.

The distinction is the gods in ORV, used lower-species as entertainment and pawns to prove who's strongest, the gods in this novel seem a lot more malevolent, and this entire summoning 1m humans from earth, seems like they are taking part in a trade, where if the humans can't beat the 100th tower, the gods can claim their world. Because of this, from the very beginning players continuously get tricked into weakening themselves by the 'system' and the gods, once you start reading it'll make sense, as the novel does contain some pretty great analogies to help understand the process, especially their 'sports drafting' one. The 'system' does make players aware the tower is trying to trick them, but honestly the level of deceit done by the towers seems completely unfair...though the tower also says it will 100% be trying to give the players unfair contracts.

This novel is written with a first-person perspective, which is different from the majority of novels on this site, personally I don't like it since I find reading the letter 'I' every 5 words irritating, but it is something different I guess.

Another complain I have is that, despite the system clearly stating its goal is to be unfair, without the 'regressor's knowledge' from the mc's friend, he would have been cooked from the start, and I find this irritating as all 1million other people have signed a slave contract from the very beginning without even being aware of what they did. This get's revealed in chapter 2, so I'm not going to bother hiding it, if someone says 'status window', they've essentially enslaved themselves to the tower.

I will update this review after finishing the available chapters.

Dr. Mistral

5 days ago

Recommended

This is well written, with the translation giving smooth and mostly uninterrupted action, dialogue, and thoughts. Some spaces are clunky, but the story is moved along quickly and after 20 chapters I'm still looking forward to getting to know the characters and to learn which decisions they will make.

The first person perspective is a little reductive, but not yet so much that it becomes annoying. Small holes are addressed relatively quickly. For a light novel, this is pretty solid.

It's the first time since reading Nebula's Civilization that I was curious about the interplay between characters and to learn how the system could be changed/manipulated.

I'll update if anything significant changes, but the first 20 give a good reason to start. Try it for yourself.

Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't

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