@aneliese said in Sorcerer's Receptionist Vol. 2 Discussion:
Well, I think the author has put a lot of thought into this series. Especially the mythological parallels are often well buried Easter eggs, and sometimes seemingly random little plot details turn out to be important much later. But it's also a series with many slow reveals, which can be frustrating to readers. So while I really enjoy this series, I can definitely understand if some readers don't feel the same or have the patience to wait for the payoff. The journey itself also has to be enjoyable.
What I'm saying is that the author is putting a lot of thought into the wrong things. Slow reveals aren't the problem; the entirety of shonen manga and anime are built on that characteristic.
What's happening is that super basic concepts like "how do I structure a plot," "how do I explain the world to readers," "how do I write characters," and "why does this scene actually matter" are being completely fumbled at various points, with the ending of Volume 2 being a particular lowlight.
Volume 3 hasn't gotten any better; if anything, it meanders all over the place to its own detriment, and doesn't fix any of those basic issues. If anything, Nanalie's complete lack of agency (despite being both powerful and the supposed actual protagonist of this story) gets way worse in the first half, and it's becoming clear that the author probably wants it that way.
Like, Easter Eggs are fine, but those are a thing you do after you actually have a proper foundation. Putting in references to Greek mythology does not fix the extremely basic problems with the text. Web novels generally tend to suffer from a severe lack of proper editorial guidance in the LN versions, and it really, really shows here.