I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game Chapter 75 Discussion

TL;DR: A creative, unpredictable, and deeply entertaining step into the Cthulhu Mythos.

I have never delved into Cthulhu mythology before, and cannot know how it is approached in other works. As that is the case, this review will be biased from my first-time perspective.

The aspect of this novel that I enjoyed most was the creativity and unpredictability of the plot. Nothing in this novel was generic or overused. The main character isn't fighting goblins to get an unusual rusty sword. He is fighting entities beyond comprehension to gain unfathomable power with maddening drawbacks.

Whether in regards to enemies, world-building, equipment, or powers themselves, all of it is never-before-seen for me, despite my years of reading. I could never predict what would come next as the entire world seems to contain new concepts.

This leads to a fantastic reading experience where the novel never feels tedious.

This seemingly hand-crafted world is not all this novel has to offer.

The main character is a "mage who gazed into the abyss." He is naturally endowed with mental illnesses and, if he manages to cure them by some means, he simply gains another to replace it. He is, by all definitions, crazy. In addition to leading him to madness, this background also protects his sanity when facing the innumerable cosmic horrors residing in this world.

This has another effect as well. The main character is unusually steady, to the point of near apathy. For example, he sees a scene of mutilated corpses decorating the walls of a hallway and he merely glances at it before moving on.

Personally, I think this character type is rather likable as the novel never stalls to deal with emotional shifts. However, I know this can be hit-or-miss, so it is noteworthy.

Another feature that this novel excels at is imagery and atmosphere. Both the translator and the author have done an incredible job at this part, as the author writes lengthy descriptions of these scenes and the translator gives an exquisite representation of it in English.

This is genuinely some of the best imagery I have seen in any novel I have ever read.

In regards to the power system, it is very diverse. While the main character follows the path of a classic Western mage, there are numerous paths to power in this world. The main character faces many opponents all with varied skill sets due to these different paths.

This keeps the action fresh as no encounter is ever the same.

My sole critique of this novel would, surprisingly, be the world-building.

While the world is very large and filled with diverse creatures and scenes, we are not shown much of that. For the most part, this novel merely follows the main character's journey to power. We aren't shown the situation in any other country, or even in different districts in the country that he is in. We are not told how life is like in the slums or the noble residences, for example.

This is not a large demerit to me, as simply following the main character leads to a very interesting novel nonetheless. However, it is still a notable lower class of writing and must be mentioned.

Aside from that, this novel is phenomenal in too many ways to count.

I would recommend this novel to anyone, especially any who have not yet read about the Cthulhu Mythos!