Review Detail of NitrogenousBeing in Adventure Academy

Review from around chapter mid-60s (brace for wall of text): Interesting fantasy tropes fill the story. There are many nice details, but the beginning dumps us headfirst into it without setting enough expectations about where it's going. The result is a rough and painful beginning. Additionally, there are too many quotes of wisdom cluttering up all of the MC's actions and speech. Dialog is often packed with cringy one-liners and unnecessary references. I understand it is supposed to be MC's personality, but how can he be simultaneously like a 20-30-year-old shut-in pop culture nerd and a guy whose entire life experience is 5 years with a strict master learning all about fighting and magic? And, I know that his teacher also supposedly drove all these silly references into him, but only so much can happen in those few years. Regardless, the author is inserting his interests into the MC, where they don't feel like they belong, and it is jarring and annoying. And don't get me started on how "groovy" is one of the most obnoxious catchphrases... It's also baffling that he simultaneously has a crippling hatred of a certain, let's call it an "ethnic group," but immediately decides one of them will be his BFF because she's pretty, shares a couple of similar life views, and happens to be assigned as his guide. The beginning of that relationship should have taken longer to develop. Speaking of things that are too fast, the pacing. Let's start with a battle to enter the school, followed by rapid-fire shortcut level-up adventures before a single class or a general picture of the school. Out of breath yet? Surprise! It's time for dungeons and an invasion! Finally, tens of chapters in, we are addressing what an adventurer is... Still, some aspects of the writing felt slow, but let's leave it alone. No, wait, let me say one more thing: Too many useless dialog tags! Overall: There's some good stuff in there. With a reworked beginning, I might recommend it. As is all too common in interesting but poorly started novels, the middle part was much more engaging because there was finally a sense of direction and enough pieces of the longer-term plot to engage immersion. It only needs a little cleaning of the cringe and a few rounds of restructuring.