Sep 19, 2025
General thoughts since I'm not one to give an actual review.
I had fun reading this. It's certainly a different kind of take from what some people call standard isekai, but at the same time, there's been a growing trend of these 'face the consequences' type of isekai. I think you do a good job setting up some initial conflict, having some campy moments as they get ready, and then deliver on a conclusive finish to a volume. Despite my quips of Sek, the characters do come around, but as Walker noted, Eshu just felt bare. If she were introduced later, that would be understandable, but I was hoping for more in her POV. I will note that it did seem like you started with Sek's POV but at some point just went 'nah, he sucks' and went more with Ko as the MC.
One other thing that I feel like was just there was the drone enemies. Yeah, they were limited by their own programming but maybe that ended up as an excuse for them to act so singular when they could have been shown to be more ruthless than the few chapters of shock value massacres that elaborated their 'evilness'. Otherwise, they felt like the run of the mill boss to be trampled on that is pretty common in isekai. It wouldn't have been as noticable if they weren't touted to be such an impressive force to be overcome. A minor detail, but just somewhat of a vibe.
It does also feel like you could do a lot more than this, as if these latter arcs are just too compact. I really enjoyed the crew getting to know each other and having fun as they grew stronger. The latter half or so was mostly push, push, push toward the final confrontation. Understandable that you want to show your best plot for the contest. Wonder if you could expand it to 2 books to give some parts time to breathe.
Overall, strong showing from you. Would truck again. Cheers!
