This will be my review after going through first 60 chapters. It is written specifically for those who have come here after seeing the villainous MC tag. There might be a few spoilers, so please proceed with caution. Pros: 1) Author has done a good job weaving the world and MC's system. It states that since MC has adopted the system that'll grant him quick growth with it's OP features, he'll have to give up the organic growth in exchange for it. Basically, he'll have to raise his stats and skills through system and not by practicing his skills or working out. That leaves little room for plot holes and makes it easy for readers to keep track of MC's growth. 2) So far, the pace with which story progresses is solid and steady. And till now there are no young master troupes. The side characters bare not shown to be overly dense and synthetic. Their reactions are well within how a sane and able person would react to if placed in that situation. 3) The storyline is compressed and has a huge potential to have an amazing growth spurt. Meaning, there are no plots within plots as of now. Nor are there over abundance of characters that makes it difficult for readers to keep track of. But since there's plenty of foreshadowing introduced at the right time, it doesn't feel like the storyline is one dimensional. 4) The language part is good and there are no glaring grammatical errors. Cons: 1) Author shouldn't have compared this MC with Leylin. It puts this MC on a pedestal he can't easily walk out of. He has a character flaw that makes him a hypocrite. (Spoiler example: anything related to miner girls is totally off the table for MC because he had two daughters in the past. But he orders the bandits to perform raid on homestead he is staying in at the time that has such miner girls along with other innocent villagers to achieve his goals.) Although he admits his flaw and is aware of it's existence, it doesn't help him since he had been compared to Leylin from WMW, who didn't have such issue. Leylin wasn't a pedo either, but he was down with anything that'd gain him the most profits. But the good thing is, this flaw can be ignored for most times. 2) Although author won't admit it, the system grants him the most OP and broken abilities which he doesn't make use of for the most time in the beginning. And when he does, he does it in a non efficient way. 3) The base plot makes the readers question MC's smartness, as he was dubbed as the most successful businessman in the past life with 70 years of experience dealing with all sorts of people and situations. Since he was portrayed to be someone with cunning and coldness to not shy away from partaking in the most heinous tasks, and someone who caused wars to gain profits from them on earth; readers expect a certain mindset from the MC. He should be thinking first before performing any tasks with absolute certainty. And the story also tells the readers in the beginning that the goddess has summoned him because of his black heart and cunningness, to entertain her through his various actions while trying to achieve the Supreme level. But right afterward his entry into the new world, instead of displaying the cunning he possesses to swiftly tackle all the problems lying in front of him, we find that he is hurrying himself to find a human settlement coz he thinks the goddess that summoned him wants him to be doing just that lest she gets bored. We can ignore this after considering it to be the device to make the storyline progress forward, but there should have been a better way to retain MC' cunning. Till now he hasn't done anything too profiting for himself even with all those cheat abilities. 4) There's a subtle miscommunication that takes place in the storyline which makes the readers think that the story has a plot hole when there isn't. Author explains a few things in an ambiguous way that leaves room for valid questions to arise. Even when we give the author some liberty and consider that he did that to construct certain suspence and foreshadowing while leaving room to future developments, this too could have been avoided if only author chose to do it in a way that would leave less room for unneeded questions. 5) For a character that managed to retain his image of the most philanthropic man who did everything to help the needy and poor despite him causing wars to profit from them in the shadows; MC surprisingly becomes somewhat careless as soon as he finds human settlement. Although it doesn't look too apparant as of now, I can see some of his decisions coming to bite him back in the a**, coz he already has left some loose ends. This too could have been ignored. The problem is that author made a comparison between the MC and Leylin from the get go, who didn't let anyone see his true nature untill it was too late for anyone to do anything. So the readers expect same kind of perfection from this MC if not something better. But foreshadowing made by author breaks this very expectation even before it takes shape. 6) MC's evilness seems to be just for the sake of being evil with minimum amount of gains and maximum repercussions coming his way. Again, I have to say this at the cost of coming across as a broken record; but this too could have been chucked under the carpet had author not compared the MC with Leylin. Since Leylin did what he did to make the most out of every situations and only when he was certain there's no alternative way to do things in a subtle way, he doesn't come across as purely evil. But the MC here orders bandits to wipe out the homestead coz he wanted to gain two seemingly disposable pawns which was something that can be deemed unnecessary. 7) When he should have prioritised laying low before gaining an identity like what Leylin would have done, he has chosen to attract unwanted attention by sanctioning a mass wipeout. 8) There are no chapter titles. Although it seems trivial, most readers would prefer to have chapter titles to get the prelude of what's going to happen in them.
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First of all, thank you for writing such a long and detailed review. Now please allow me as the editor to rebuke some of your points. Feel free to reply if you disagree with any of the points I will bring up though ;) . Let's start by addressing your 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th point which all seem to revolve around Darius not being a Leylin 2.0 . I can only forward you to the text under the synopsis which states; "Warning: This novel features a villainous protagonist. If you have enjoyed Warlock of the Magus World, then you should be able to tolerate Darius Stone’s actions and choices throughout the novel in terms of MORALITY." I have capitalised the keyword for you. ;) The reason WMW was chosen was simply because Leylin's way of caring about himself first and foremost and shying away from atrocities is well-known. Now please point me where we say its going to be a carbon copy ? Going further in depth to #1, I simply can't get my head around why so many take issue with Darius not wanting to romance the girl who was 13. I myself am in the later half of my 20s, and if I imagine myself dating a 13 YO... yeah, thanks but no thanks. Much less Darius who is over half a century older than me XD . Also I'm not sure if you have read it or not, but part of his plan was that he was there during the attack. Pretty sure he even warned her to stay in his room when it happened. #2 I can agree to a degree that the whole Transmutation could have been explained better, but it gets rectified later on. (Also via the author's note, even though they are not in the novel per see) #3, Again, I don't see what people expect. He might have been a successful businessman, but that doesn't mean he was Mr. Perfect. He was dropped into the wilderness with limited amount of information. Finding some civilization was his best bet to increase his knowledge allowing him to start scheming. Once again I would like to point under the Synopsis, this time at "Note: This story is slow-paced in order to allow for better world-building and development. If you’re looking for a fast-paced action story, this might not be for you." #4, not quite sure what exactly you're referring to here. #5, you're right, and in a few dozen chapters, his trail gets picked up which then gets dealt with. Also, and this might be since its been a while since I read WMW, but as I recall Leylin only briefly got some protection when he rejoined the Snake Family in the Central Country. For the first party with the academy and so he was on his own, no ? #6, Again slow pace, his actions pay off later. #7, the mass wipeout of an outer village in the middle of nowhere... Yes, of course, the only rightful action would be for the Divine Emperor God himself to come down, investigate and smite him XD. Excuse me making fun of this, but a) if you would have read further you would have seen nothing happens, and b) in the grand scheme of things, even if it would have disappeared it would have had the same ramifactions as a normal citizen getting abducted. Sure his family might be looking for him, but even the police would soon forget him. #8, Again I agree with you, but at the same time, with each chapter only being 1k long , it feels, like not that much is lost by going in blind.
You live up to your account's handle don't you? 😂 I didn't want MC to start romancing with bunch of early teens. I'm just saying his reactions are too loud at the thought of it. Thing about Leylin. we don't want him to be copy of the warlock. but compared to the decisions taken by Leylin which seem well rounded after thinking about their potential benefits and repercussions, the decision process of this mc is pretty one dimensional. think about the benefits. deal with the consequences later on. Leylin planned things in such a way that he enjoys the benefits while others suffer the consequences. and it's the main theme of the WMW. it keeps on happening repetitively. now that's what called being really smart and evil. i like slow paced stories. the more they explain about the world settings at the start of the novel, the better it is for me to get the gist of where the storyline is headed. although I'd like to read about some good depictions of fight scenes i won't skip the premises that lead to them. but in here, mc and the readers are both in the dark and still the early storyline has nothing worthy to show for it. number 4 is the recurring theme of this novel. just like "benefits for mc losses for others" theme in WMW. they are woven into the fabric of the storyline. I'll just stop comparing this mc to Leylin entirely any further. the disclaimer says we can deal eith MC's decision here if we were okay with leylins decisions. let me just end it with this tho: Leylin took no such decisions a reader who likes their mcs to be rational would find to be non okay. its not that we weren't looking. we just couldn't find any loopholes in his decisions, from the very get-go of the storyline. but we found some in this MC's after looking ... let's say... under the rug!
Thank you for your explanation, this is really helpful for potential readers like me.
Only if everyone was considerate enoguh to leave a review half as good as yours, then I wouldn't have to go around reading every single novels with the "evil" tags and then get disappointed.
Agreed. very few reviews are actually helpful like this one is. have you found any good stories on here with an evil tag?
nihiility:Only if everyone was considerate enoguh to leave a review half as good as yours, then I wouldn't have to go around reading every single novels with the "evil" tags and then get disappointed.
I actually have quite a big list of Absolutely-evil mcs but it's a little inconvenient to say them here can you add me on discord so i could tell you? failtodiffer#9913
Blinddesire:Agreed. very few reviews are actually helpful like this one is. have you found any good stories on here with an evil tag?
Nice revirew! I hate romance, but decided against better judgement to try this novel out, but to read reviews first instead. I got happy when author mentioned Leylin, but alot of reviews are saying its not really a «villain» type of story and the mention of WMW doesnt matter.
yeah. Leylin was a clickbait lol.
Ticina:Nice revirew! I hate romance, but decided against better judgement to try this novel out, but to read reviews first instead. I got happy when author mentioned Leylin, but alot of reviews are saying its not really a «villain» type of story and the mention of WMW doesnt matter.
Birth of the Demonic Sword Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil The Way Of A Demon Lord There are my active reads as of now.
