First of all, let me disclose that after chapter 110 I have become the editor for this novel, so feel free to take my review with a grain of salt.
Before you choose to read this I want to prepare you for what is to come, so that you will not get turned off because of the first 30 chapters which many seem to be.
I will try to limit any possible spoilers to be as light as possible, but if you find my explanations for the things many seem to have issues with to be faulty or unsatisfying, then it might be better if you choose to go and read another novel.
Still, I hope that this review will encourage anyone to stick with the author and allow him to show what he can do despite the rough beginning which many first time authors suffer from.
Synopsis;
This novel is about Draco, one of the top 5 players in a Full Immersive Virtual Reality (=FIVR) game called Boundless who after years of fighting achieves his revenge on his former girlfriend, another top 5 player. Unfortunately, he gets assassinated shortly after in the real world.
Because of the interference of a certain entity he wakes up a couple of years earlier and (naturally) just in time before Boundless officially releases. Draco, now armed with his memories about future events, plans to use them so that he can conquer Boundless in this timeline.
A list of Pros & Cons, if you choose to read this novel;
1. Long chapters, each one 3,000+ words
2. Daily releases. For reference, most chapters of other authors are around the 1,500-word mark, so here you get a single chapter but at double the usual length ;)
3. OP MC. Given his vast knowledge of the game he easily dominates these early parts of the game. In the real world Draco starts out in a weakened body, but him being a so-called Control master (a unique aspect of this novel) means he is more powerful than he seems, yet he is not necessarily invincible.
4. Side characters who are not 2-D. Admittedly they may start out bland at first, but they get developed to have their own characteristic, especially in their own Origin Chapters (116-120) :)
5. Real World importance. The overall story up until now had about an 85% focus on the world of Boundless and a 15% focus on the world outside of the game. This can easily change in the future since many things have already been set up.
6. Semi-Harem. In the real world he is faithful to the FMC, however, in Boundless he gets himself a Harem. Still, he has the FMC's blessings for doing so and she even actively got him some playthings to add to his collection...
7. Many explanations. Kotario fills his world and gives vast explanations for many things.
8. Rough start. As stated above the first 30 chapters are basically the point where readers either love it and praise it as one of the best novels they read in a long while, or hate it for everything it stands.
Here are the Issues most people seem to have;
1. Chapter 4
This chapter kickstarts the MC's future path to success.
In the previous chapter, he abuses his knowledge to prevent a future catastrophe by killing the perpetrator while he is at his weakest and gets rewarded more than handsomely.
The problems most people seem to have is not realizing, because the novel has literally just started, that if you are a Level 1 character who kills a level 100 enemy, even if he was practically on his last breath, you will get the appropriate reward for such an action. Naturally, the reward for a level 90 player killing the same level 100 enemy would be far less.
Such a heaven-defying action, therefore, deserves an appropriate reward.
This is not a new concept. Most, if not all, Second Chance novels with a virtual reality world allow the MC to get an advantage over the rest of the player base, the big difference is that Kotario chooses to instantly give him an 'absurd' (but justified) advantage which other MCs usually only get a couple of hundred chapters in.
2. The Gold conversion
As part of the earlier reward, MC gets way more money than any player on his level should reasonably ever have. The game features a Trade Center, which only gets unlocked a couple chapters later, which enables players to auction their game currency for real-life cash.
The conversion for it is roughly 3$ for 1 Bronze.
HOWEVER, just as any good in an economy the price fluctuates with demand and supply. In other words, if the MC were to flood the market with his cash, the price would decrease with every transaction.
Also, people don't seem to care for the fact that MC has better ways to spend his in game money for even more benefits.
In essence, this is a difference in viewpoint about the intrinsic value of the in game cash. To the MC it’s something he can eventually earn back, so he doesn't hesitate to aesthetically change an item for what would be a huge amount of money if translated into the real world equivalent.
3. Chapter 7;
The FMC following the MC during that part. MC should be able to be much faster than she could follow him. We have since tried to rectify it as good as possible.
4. Chapter 9;
The MC 'acting stupid' and getting rescued because of 'plot armor'.
When MC opens up one of the rewards he got back in Chapter 4, he did so while hiding in a cave. However, people seem to forget/ignore, that he literally got a reward no one else in the previous timeline has ever gotten, so the measures he took turned out to be inadequate.
True the MC has an advantage thanks to his knowledge about the future, but if he interacts with something he has not encountered before he can also make mistakes. That doesn't make him a failure as an MC, only shows that he is simply a human who can err.
5. Now let's address the elephant in the room and the major reason for this whole review;
Chapter 28-30 (aka what makes most people drop the novel)
There is no way to explain this without spoiling this.
The MC and FMC are going to reconcile.
We are currently on the 3rd iteration of this. In the first version the FMC 'betrayed' the MC, but canonically that no longer happens, at least not by her choice.
I'd like to point out to you, that the FMC in question no longer exists. The one in this timeline has done nothing even vaguely close to what the "future" FMC was about to do.
Expecting Draco to outright kill the younger version of her on their first meeting, just because of a grudge that technically ended after the first chapter and didn’t even happen in this one seems a bit unreasonable. Especially when there are alternative actions he could take, like preventing the circumstances which lead to the incident or straight-up breaking it off with her and never interacting with her again.
However, just to give a bit of perspective about the happenings which lead to this whole feud between the two we have added an additional Chapter to Chapter 30 so that people can gain a bit more insight about what lead to FMC decision and why it changed. There are always two sides to each story after all.
I would also like to point to Chapter 47-49 which are titled Wisdom Of The Lady Boss since they give you the perfect image of how the FMC functions as her own character, separate from the MC.
If you have made it this far, and none of the points which I have mentioned are total dealbreakers for you, especially the last one, then let me welcome you to this awesome novel. =)
Feel free to leave a comment on this review, on the chapters or even in the chapters if you use the app. Kotario and I enjoy interacting with anyone who finds the time to leave a comment, including those people criticizing the novel, as long as they stay objective and don't insult anyone or anything.
