I think I heard about this story on Tvtropes. Then I saw it while browsing Barnes and Nobles. I picked it up, and these are my thoughts.
First of, I should make clear that this book is a comedy. Though it has the premise of a hero being summoned to save a world from a demon king via fighting the demon king with swords and magic, it is not an action/adventure book. It is not driven by tension or suspense. A reader has to approach this book with that in mind to get their expectations in order.
The plot is a magic knight and a goddess of healing go out to the save a world from evil. However, the true nature of the story is more like a two-person comedy routine, Straight Man and Wise Guy style. Seiya does silly/strange/outrageous things in the name of being Overcautious, and Ristarte reacts to them with confusion, anger or frustration.
We, the reader, get Ristrate's perspective on this story. So we are encouraged to see her point of view on Seiya's overly cautious preparations. This helps the comedy angle, because her thoughts are very expressive. No doubt, if we had Seiya's perspective, then the story would be much longer simply because we would have to read through all his extensive plans for all possible scenarios.
The story itself is split into two parts,
one is Seiya's preparations and the other is him unloading these preparations onto
an enemy. Both parts are comical, but the former is even more so because there
is no threat or danger to distract from the comedy, and Seiya's preparations
appear all the more ridiculous. I like this set up because it shifts the
story's rationale for the outcomes of the set piece battles.
Typically, battles in this story's
apparent genre and premise would go the route of guts, sudden power-ups and/or
in-the-moment ingenuity. They are typically won through Heroic
Willpower, Indy Ploys or My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours. Those are suitable
for visual spectacle and can be exciting. These battles are based in foresight,
preparation, and the execution of plans. In other words, the winner is the one
who is more Crazy Prepared; like Sun Tzu once said, "
There is one thing that I don't like about this book, and that is the personality of its hero, Seiya (hero as distinct from "Protagonist", which is Ristarte). It is not his overly cautious personality, because that is funny and also effective. It is not how brutally honest he is to people when he says something to the effect of "you're weaker than me so you're useless", because his party members really are out of their depths in the S-Class world the adventure takes place in. It isn't even how suspicious and rude he is to everyone, including his party members, because if you are overly cautious to point of paranoia, you assume that everyone is already plotting your demise, so why bother being polite? No, it is how far he goes to prove that everyone is useless.
Ristarte has unlimited healing power and the ability to open portals to a safe haven? Call her a "walking healing potion", mention that you have dozens of those, and don't mention the portal unless you want to use it. Mash and Elulu have special dragon powers that enable them to use a supermode, find hidden items, and unlock special doors? Call the first redundant, don't acknowledge the special senses, and then break the doors yourself before they get a chance to open them.
At one point, he gets particularly bad. He gets this auto-attack spell to defeat enemies before they get into melee range and is faster than normal attack spells. He uses this to defeat mook-level enemies that his party members are trying to fight, just for something to do so they can gain EXP. He doesn't explain that his method is safer, and that he doesn't want them getting hurt. No, he tells them that it is impossible for them to fight anything, ever. That's not overly cautious; that's just bragging. It's the opposite of overly cautious because he tells them the spell's limitations.
It's like he's a badly behaved RPG player.
Fortunately, it's only that area which is really bad. Otherwise, his paranoia is used for comedy. He also gets a Pet-the-Dog moment shortly after this, which helps to mitigate it.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Hero is Overpowered But Overly Cautious volume 1"
*because Seiya is not overly cautious enough to think other people might hold grudges against him.
Click here for my next book review: Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elania 1
Click here for my previous book review (for fun): Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 2
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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