The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley” Chapter 106 Discussion

One of the most 'constantly mildly irritating' things I've read in a while...

Three stars is generous.

Now, don't get me wrong- it's not exactly bad... but the author's style leaves a lot to be desired (just to start). Definitely a novel that banks on readers 'not thinking about the details', and liking his particular style of humor- as this is apparently supposed to be a comedy primarily.

The Good:

• The story does have a plot, and it's not terrible- but nothing really new.
• A lot of 'little bits of interesting' here and there show some potential for the author.
• The little hints towards a romance are less ham-handed than other new authors, (though it's kinda pointless with all the harem-baiting...)

The BAD:

• Let's start with the comedy- which is mostly nonsense and low-effort slapstick. It's got a vibe not far removed from 'Tom & Jerry', except (and I kid you not) Tom & Jerry both come off as more intelligent and focused on their respective goals than the MC & his familiar (or anyone else who chimes in, usually). Also- not really that funny... (but he tries so hard (too hard) and constantly).
• Expositions & Infodumps galore, as the author has to get things off his chest, make the MC get things of his chest, or (more often) ramble on with near-irrelevant speculation or commentary. most of the 'slow pacing comes from all this excess, unfocused fluff.
• Plot armored slapstick: MC & his sidekick are doing a comedy routine 24/7- even when lives are at stake. The author ignores that 'maybe getting serious could save more lives', and plot armors over their ineffective actions/waste of time. It's tiring because it's constant. Also, too many characters use violence to express their frustration with others- all girls of course.
• Intentionally s*upid. Includes an MC who (despite having experienced literally hundreds of lifetimes worth of events- somehow starts the story at level 20, and more clueless than any teen about... everything. I know this is supposed to be 'the hook' but to then have him level up rapidly (in a few months) with 'almost by accident' effort? Ok- whatever. That really doesn't explain how everyone else is conveniently clueless about the diabolical plot the author thinks is 'clever' (it's not). So everyone is s*upid.
• Everything is forced. Nothing about this story feels natural- all plot progress, interactions, revelations- forced-- especially the plot. Even the things properly foreshadowed & developed end up being jammed in what feels like 'too soon' or 'now, you finally want to talk about that?'.
• Everyone is a 'plot puppet', Nothing happens in this story unless the author looks at his watch, blows a whistle, points at a mark, makes the 'actors' read their lines. The story pacing is horrendous in general- but so many things just get 'dragged in' or 'revealed' at weird moments that you realize it's all just 'I feel like writing about this today', more than any level of natural story progress.
• Story is 'All for show'. Things happen- why? people makes choices, then carry them out! Except here, where many get quietly abandoned because the author found the next thing to move on to. Spoiler

  MC helps little girls avoid being 'brothel-s*aved', because this shitty civilization think s*avery is ok. Huzzah! He rescued a few- then there's a backlash. You know what? Gonna do other things! And no one ever speaks of it again (except in praise). Even the rescued girls totally never think about other girls not so lucky as them (well- maybe years later? More years than 2-3 that have passed so far. Not so far anyway is what I'm saying...

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• Faux harem? Why?
• Levels are s*upid nonsense that are irrelevant except to confusingly show 'something' (likely to not reflect actual performance).
• Horrible 'pantser' world progress. The world canon and mechanics develop along with the main character. He gets more stuff- now it can exist in the rest of the world. Spoiler

  The way 'teleport' was 'discovered'- then turned into a 'rediscovery' shortly later (despite that 'history' should record one way or the other). Crap like that. Author put little advance thought into his 'made up as he went along' story.

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• You know what? That's enough. Way more- but you get the idea...

The different:

• Transparently doing nothing but showing off and being an a$$ for humor? I guess?

Anyway- if you like low-brow slapstick, humor involving people being constantly shitty to one another, or people actively using undeserved violence as a 'punchline'- then 'forge ahead'-- otherwise this might not be for you, as it's mostly recycled content, but slower-paced and padded with nonsense.