I'll be blunt, Crow-boy is best boy. Meming aside, this might be the most I've struggled with writing a review, mainly because of how mixed I feel about the story. On one hand, I think the concept of having someone isekaid into a game and forced to be controlled by someone back in the real world is a unique twist on the genre. That being said, it also strips the character in control of well, control.

Reading this story, I felt that there were some times I just wasn't enjoying things as much, mainly because I just wasn't fully connecting with the world, which I feel is entirely on me as the writing is high-quality like the author's previous works. Then came Crow-boy. For context, Crow-boy has some inspiration from a character from one of my novels, so seeing one of my works referenced naturally brightened my mood and heightened my engagement for things.

However, I must set aside bias for the review. Overall, I think the concept was solid, but feel some action and major plotlines could have happened a bit earlier. While this novel is unique, it's not quite at the level to make it to my top 10 favorites. Of course, that's just my opinion. Definitely give this a read.