Having read up to chapter 54, I shall bestow my thoughts to anyone willing to lend an ear.
The story up to this point has been oddly descriptive, yet I cannot belittle it by calling the pacing slow. While the beginning was a bit rough, mostly because of the abrupt change in environment and the little resistance offered by the goblins in regards to accepting the protagonist into their village and later on promoting him, this does pave the way for a quick start, only needing a few chapters to delve into the story.
The characters are a bit too quick to foster relationships, quite contradictory to the image of goblins the world has painted as shown by the depictions of the other races. Alas, one can excuse such oddities with the sheer drive for survival and the ability to cling onto any ropes thrown, be they golden fingers or humans from other worlds.
What I do enjoy is the visible, but subtle racism towards goblins. As they are still a part of the 'intelligent' races, they are not viewed as mere beasts, but seen as lesser still.
The protagonist has been quite reserved in opposition to my initial guesses. I am glad to see his abilities prove useful much more realistically than expected, using knowledge the likes of which everyone that is using this application ought to know. This has a powerful way of giving a hint of hope to the reader, as if signaling "You could do it too."
It is refreshing to hear about a protagonist who is not as handsome as a devil or as well packed as an adult actor, excuse my unsightly comparison.
As for where I would wish to see improvements, it boils down to two quite essential topics in my opinion.
First, I would bring out the lax tensions between races. As previously mentioned, other races see goblins as, although intelligent, lesser beings. The story has already shown many instances of hostility, yet no foreign party has made a move. One could mention the mercenaries at the beginning, or even the catalyst of the whole reason the protagonist was accepted into the tribe, but I see these as mere forced actions to build trust between the tribe and the protagonist. One of the last chapters I read had an encounter, which while orchestrated by a being of clear authority from the shadows bringing light to something possibly supernatural taking place, that could, and in my humble opinion should, have ended with a much more devastating blow to our protagonist and his subordinates. In the future, I wish to witness more bold and brusque relations to bring forth the necessity for the 'sanctuary' while also reminding the reader and protagonist alike of the cruelty of the mortal world.
The other development I am looking forward to, is the deepening of relations between the protagonist and his close retainers. The slow approach fits this novel well, don't get me wrong, however, the suggestive cover and description do raise expectations for many, myself included. I merely wish for the author to think about, as the story progresses, maximizing and normalizing intimacy between the aforementioned parties. I have sadly seen many stories where the initial relationship between love interests and the protagonist is in high spirits, whether intentionally or not, but begins to die down, rather than grow and evolve. While one could bring out the resemblance to most relationships in our world, I implore one to notice the fact that the sole reason we are reading such stories is to escape our reality, letting our minds wander between the dreams of a better future.
All in all, for now, the story is solid. As the story is still quite in its infancy, my review is more like a suggestive analysis, which is meant to relay my feelings about it to the unsuspecting reader, wondering if it is worth their time. While my rating may seem harsh, I believe it to be reasonable due to the simple reason that no story is perfect. I am willing to state, however, that the potential of this story is immense and wish for the author to make it as long as possible.
Even if the saying, better to die as a hero, than live to see yourself become a villain holds true, more so with stories, having bore witness to the skill of the author, I do not see the downfall of this tale appearing anytime soon.
Happy reading!
