Anexis Matos

After a 12 year run, a very popular game will finally shut down. Momonga logs in for the last time, expecting to be automatically logged out when the servers shut down. However, he, along with anyone who may have stayed in the game, are transported into another world.

I didn’t know what to expect when I picked this book up. I was definitely interested, but I didn’t know what I was getting into. Before reading, I was aware of the anime, but this light novel was my first experience with the story. I enjoyed my reading experience. I love isekai, a Japanese genre in fantasy and science fiction. In these stories, the main character is usually transported to a different world. This is very similar to portal fantasy.

My first experience that I can recall with an Isekai is Conception. It’s an anime adaptation of a video game. It was horrible. I definitely don’t recommend it. You deserve better. As anime fans, we deserve better than whatever the fuck that was.

My second is The Rising of the Shield Hero. Definitely a better anime. I’m waiting for the second season to finish so I can watch it. I haven’t checked if there are english episodes out yet.

Overlord reminds me of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Although the characters are very different, they’re in similar circumstances. They were both transported to a new world and know nothing about it. They both have to learn to survive in this new world and how to navigate it.

There’s a lot of exposition. I don’t mind exposition in stories, but these were info dumps. As much as the exposition was useful to build the world, info dumps are not the best way to deliver information. There’s no need to hold a reader’s hand. Let the story speak for itself. If you do the work, the world will build itself and your intended information will come across. This is something I’ve learned as an aspiring author. When my work is critiqued, one of the things I’m told is that the world feels “Lived in.” This world doesn’t feel that way because of the amount of exposition. Sometimes, I felt like I was reading about the world rather than being pulled into it as stories are meant to do.

The descriptions in this book are very detailed. It was a lot for me, but readers might be able to visualize the setting better. The strangest description the author made was of a woman’s breasts. He describes them as “Ample twin swells.” Never in my life have I read a description of breasts like this. I’m still not sure how to feel about it.

Another really interesting thing about the writing is the way the story is delivered. It’s written like anime episodes. I seriously felt like I was watching anime when I was reading this book. This is the first reading experience I ever had that felt this way. I loved it.

This writing style takes some time to get used to. The book is 246 pages and it’s separated into six chapters, an intermission, and an epilogue. The chapters are very long, thus the anime episode comparison. This may bother some readers as, at times, it feels like the story drags on. The pacing is very slow because of this style and the amount of exposition. It took me two months to read this story because I took a lot of breaks from it. However, I got used to this style and grew to love it.

The characters are not very well developed here, but I’ll give it a pass this time. This light novel works as a set up to the bigger story. The characters are only introduced here, leaving it open for more characterization.

The most interesting part of the book was Momonga’s psychological state. I enjoyed the mental battle he had between who he was and who is in present time. That’s very well written and I can’t wait to read the next volume. He doesn’t seem to be a hero or villain. He seems to be morally gray. I can’t wait to see how he develops in subsequent volumes.

Overall, this book is great. It took me two months to finish it, but I enjoyed every moment of the experience. I gave this a four star rating. Although I highly enjoyed this book, I think less exposition would have made it better.