- #1
TLDR: Great characters, great worldbuilding, great story, but the novel starts slow and takes a while to build. There is action and combat but it won't be for a while. One of the best I have read in a long while.This novel is incredible. It has good characters, a compelling story, and develops nicely. The story relies heavily on the development of Yuri's relationships with others and it is handled really well. There are lots of great moments of tension, and violence, but also heart warming moments.The story begins slow. If you are expecting Yuri to be some overpowered monster from chapter 1 you will be disappointed, however the slow worldbuilding is necessary. In fact the worldbuilding is excellent, you gain a real feeling of how the world runs and can appreciate the subtle changes happening as the story progresses. Even small things like the animals in certain places etc... are interesting.The novel and the plot points make sense, nothing seems to come completely out of left field, and appears internally consistent, and there are some real surprises in store for readers.The translation isn't perfect, there are some small mistakes here and there but it didn't impair my experience. In fact, the translator goes to great length to translate maps and add pictures of more unusual historical terms (for example a rope lighter, or a caravel, or a naginata) which helps with the clarity.Overall this novel does everything right, and I'm excited to see where it goes (though I'm not really sure its a traditional harem novel given what happens in volume 12)