This novel is really just something to pass the time when you have nothing else to read, which is a shame because it has so much potential. There are a lot of good ideas here, but they’re not fully realized.
Spoilers ahead
World-Building: There’s not much detail given. It’s mentioned that there are different continents, but there’s almost no information about the relationships, culture, or society within them. The main character (MC) lives in an empire on one of these continents, but there’s never any information about the imperial family or the empire’s hierarchy. There are supposedly great, influential families, but in practice, they don’t really matter. For example, someone from one of the wealthiest families is kidnapped, but neither the authorities nor the family seems to care—only the MC and the “hero” of the story take action, which makes little sense. In another instance, people and children are disappearing in an imperial town, yet no one seems to be doing anything about it. Even when a professor from the continent’s most prestigious academy calls for help, no one acts, causing unnecessary suffering. The problem is so easy to solve that it feels more like a Fallout-style experiment to see how the town would react to disappearances without any government support.
Writing: I won’t delve into this too much because English isn’t my native language, so I might not notice things that native speakers would pick up on. But as far as I can tell, the writing is understandable, and I don’t get lost while reading, which is definitely a plus.
Story Development: The pacing is inconsistent—it starts slow, then speeds up, then slows down again, and so on, making it feel like a rollercoaster. The story itself is interesting—not bad, but not particularly great either. There are storylines that make you want to know more, and others that you just wish would end.
Characters: I have mixed feelings here. At first, the characters feel flat—not really interesting but not terrible either. Then, they start showing signs of development, like when one of the “main” characters acts classist toward the MC because his rank is too low, even though he’s hanging out with high-ranking people. Later, the MC outperforms her in a competition, and you see her regret her previous attitude. This makes you curious about how her character will develop… but instead, she just apologizes and quickly returns to her original behavior.
The biggest issue, though, is with the MC himself. All the elements around him are intriguing: his entry into this world, the mysteries of the previous owner of his body, and why he was chosen to transmigrate. But the MC himself feels uninspired. He doesn’t learn, doesn’t grow, and keeps making the same mistakes. He comes up with plans that fail, blames himself, promises not to rely solely on knowing the novel anymore, then goes right back to doing the same thing.
Even when he realizes that his knowledge doesn’t help much—because the world he’s in may resemble the novel, but it isn’t one—he rarely adapts or uses his knowledge strategically. He doesn’t try to recruit people who could be valuable allies in the future, nor does he look for artifacts that might benefit him. He doesn’t try to improve in any way; instead, he relies on a system that’s practically useless and rarely helps. Later on, when he gains the previous Brandon’s knowledge—which includes the experience of hundreds of attempts, alternative realities, and more—it’s like he learns nothing from it. Even though it’s mentioned that the previous Brandon was a genius at mana control and magical study, the MC doesn’t use any of that knowledge. He just calls the previous Brandon a failure for not being able to save the world in all those tries, even though he himself hasn’t achieved anything but failures, only surviving due to protective armor.
