General Reading Recommendation Thread (Not Series License Requests)
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I'm finishing up the If Its for my daughter... series pretty soon and am looking for my next series to start. Ideally, it would be something like Rising of the Shield Hero, but more like the earlier part of the series (before it became a shameless harem isekai). I'm thinking of starting Lazy Dungeonmaster, but it looks pretty heavy on the fan service, so I'm not that sure. I don't mind fan service if it is done well, but once it becomes constant in the writing/derails the pace of the book I usually don't like it.
Quick overview of my tastes based on what I've read already:
Rising of the Shield Hero - Mostly loved the series, but didn't like the harem/fan service aspects near the end
Ascendance of a Bookworm - Love the series, probably don't want to read something quite that slow this time (since I'm still reading the simulpubs)
Goblin Slayer - Absolute trash. Not only is the writing itself terrible, it didn't even make 3 books before it became nothing but fan-service and side-stories (stopped after book 4)
If it's for my daughter... - I like it as long as I can keep my mind from thinking about the creepier aspects.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Lazy Dungeon Master can be very heavy on the fan service at times, but it has never really slowed the story down or held it back in my opinion.
Every volume has a bit of fan service, and that bit can reach extreme levels, but it usually quickly dissipates.
Overall it is a funny story, and the characters that get introduced do not fade, everyone gets some decent character development, plenty of world building & even now 10+ volumes later it doesn't seem to be an aimless story.
Other then that I always recommend Cooking With Wild Game, which is still on catch up for a few more days, I have talked about this series and what it means to me:
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I'm putting this in a spoiler in case you haven't read Rising of the Shield Hero/Goblin Slayer, and don't want to know what happens.
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@Rahul-Balaggan I'll probably give it a shot, then because it sounds like it side-steps most of the fan service I really can't stand.
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Although it does side step that type of fan service, when the story does fan service it is usually a 10/10 level of fan service.
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@Rahul-Balaggan I'm not sure if you are trying to say graphic sex scenes by '10/10 level of fan service' or just like the MC has a bad tendency to walk in on people in the bath, but if it is not that fequent and too cheesy, I'd probably just skim over it.
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Neither really..for the most part, but you will find out...
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@db0ssman I only read the first book, and the fan service is "hard to describe..."
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@piisfun I may be new to light novels, but I have been watching anime (30+ years) and reading manga (15+ years) long enough to say that is a bit concerning...
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@db0ssman LDM fan service is no where near the level of something like To Love-ru. No rampant nudity, accidental groping, etc. Not that many of the people in the main character's primary group would object to it, but it doesn't happen.
That said, there are the occasional illustrations that get the books in trouble. Volume 2 has an illustration that got it removed from Amazon in Germany.
In reality, the fan service level of LDM is about the same as Konosuba, in my opinion.
If you haven't read it, I recommend Realist Hero. Not any issues with fan service, so long as you stay away from the manga.
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@db0ssman some suggestions:
How to love your elf bride - two painfully shy and socially inept people fall in love. There is roughly zero fan service but high levels of dawwww.
Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf - sweet fantasy adventure - romance
Unwanted Undead Adventurer - if you can get past the Mojo Jojo levels of redundant repetition in spots it's an interesting story of character growth
Record of Wortenia War - survival in a brutal world
Campfire Cooking in another world - relaxing fantasy slice of life, harem-free.
@SomeOldGuy said in General Recommendation Thread:
I recommend Realist Hero
It's one of my favorite JNC titles, but if @db0ssman can't stand harems at all that could disqualify it.
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@HarmlessDave said in General Recommendation Thread:
Unwanted Undead Adventurer - if you can get past the Mojo Jojo levels of redundant repetition in spots it's an interesting story of character growth
Mojo JoJo - Wow, there is something I haven't heard in a long time.
It's not that having a Harem means I will dislike it for sure per se, but a lot of stories include harems as a crutch to have 2d characters or drum up cheap drama.
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@db0ssman I meant that in a sense of "I don't know how to describe this" and not "I don't want to or refuse to describe this."
Put simply, the main character has a really bad fetish...
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@db0ssman LDM is really worth a try, the fan service can be bad at time (especially in the first volumes, it get better later) but the part about managing the dungeon are really cool, and the comedy manage to stay fresh.
Other than that:
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Grimgar is great, since there's no op character it can be a bit like the start of Shield hero since the MC is left unprepared in another world force to adapt. There's also little fan service and a great world building. That said the rythme is slow and some people are turn off by Ranta (he get way better in later vol tho).
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"The faraway Paladin" is also a one of the best isekai, really well written and with next to no fan service. Unfortunately it's been a while since the last volume, the series isn't dead (the manga is still being published) but the author is apparently lacking inspiration but the current last volume is the end of an arc so it's not that bad.
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"Cooking with wild game" If you like Bookworm it's a bit similar since it's about a regular person using past skills to improve life in another world starting from the bottom of the social ladder. There a bit of fan service in vol 1 and it's a bit haremy at time but it never derail the plot.
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Hmm, I liked Goblin Slayer, it was very Dungeon & Dragons-esque.
Recommendations
- Shield Hero is pretty good too, volume 15 really hammered those feels home.
- Youjo Senki is nice if you are find alternative take on history fascinating.
- Kumo Desu ga is great until you hit something like volume 4 and the story goes in full re-cap mode.
- Overlord is pretty decent, a bit overrated, read it if you like repeating the same joke every volume.
- Reincarnated as a Slime is one of my favourites, very well balanced story, no harem shaninigans.
- Der Werwolf its very good, its very good. Do I have to say it again?
- Far Away Paladin a well balanced story, easy to read and doesn't get dull.
- Busy Wizard adult novel with plenty of physical intimacy and interesting world building.
- The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time is a web novel and the best damn isekai I have ever read. Translation is a step above what you'd expect from fan translated web novels.
Link removed by Mod RB, please do not post links to illegal fan translations.
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@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:
Shield Hero is pretty good too, volume 15 really hammered those feels home.
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@db0ssman What really hit me hard in Shield Hero volume 15 was
Link removed by Mod RB, please do not post links to illegal fan translations.
I just wish to have some clarification of under what law or rule it's illegal to post links to such web sites as novel updates or LNDB? When I make a novel recommendation I've been adding links to novel and manga updates because they contain a lot of useful information. Does it mean I've been breaking some kind of rule all this time? Why has it not been addressed sooner?
To my knowledge fan translating web novels is not illegal, so I am unsure why posting direct links to it should cause a mod to freak out like that.
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Fan translating WNs is illegal, the websites that host those WN make it known that the authors have full control over their stories and any decisions for how they will be handled (ie translations), unless they have obtained permission from the author directly to translate the story it is, technically, an illegal translation.
LNDB is fine, it is just informational, NU has direct links to fan TLs, it is a slight grey zone but we rather not have it.
There were a few reasons why NU removal it wasn't enforced earlier, one of them being because it was a grey zone, other then that we now do have a set of forum rules fort users to adhere to.
So going forward if you are making any licensing suggestion requests please do not use NU links.
Edit: To my knowledge MU is also just informational, so that is fine.
Sorry but J-Novel Club does not publicly comment on any potential licensing decision or acquisitions.
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