General Reading Recommendation Thread (Not Series License Requests)

[Rahul Balaggan]

@db0ssman

Neither really..for the most part, but you will find out...

[piisfun]

@db0ssman I only read the first book, and the fan service is "hard to describe..."

[db0ssman]

@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...

[SomeOldGuy]

@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.

[HarmlessDave]

@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.

[db0ssman]

@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.

[piisfun]

@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...

[Raitoiro]

@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:

• 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).

• "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.

• "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.

[Zing]

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.

[db0ssman]

@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:

Shield Hero is pretty good too, volume 15 really hammered those feels home.

spoiler

[Raitoiro]

@db0ssman

spoiler

[Zing]

@db0ssman What really hit me hard in Shield Hero volume 15 was

spoiler

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.

[Rahul Balaggan]

@Zing

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.

[Zing]

@Rahul-Balaggan said in General Recommendation Thread:

@Zing

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.

Thank you for your clarifications, I will try to keep that in mind moving forward.

[db0ssman]

@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:

@db0ssman What really hit me hard in Shield Hero volume 15 was

I kind of hope you aren't referring to the prologue of book 16. That was the most cringe-inducing thing I've ever read in any medium. If that was the author's goal, she did a great job, but even that ended up feeling like a waste of potential.

[Zing]

@db0ssman said in General Recommendation Thread:

@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:

@db0ssman What really hit me hard in Shield Hero volume 15 was

I kind of hope you aren't referring to the prologue of book 16. That was the most cringe-inducing thing I've ever read in any medium. If that was the author's goal, she did a great job, but even that ended up feeling like a waste of potential.

Oh no, not that cringe inducing midlife-crisis Naofumi went through. Thought I did find it to be quite amusing. On the inside I was cheering for Raphtalia.

I was actually

spoiler

[db0ssman]

@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:

@db0ssman said in General Recommendation Thread:

@Zing said in General Recommendation Thread:

@db0ssman What really hit me hard in Shield Hero volume 15 was

I kind of hope you aren't referring to the prologue of book 16. That was the most cringe-inducing thing I've ever read in any medium. If that was the author's goal, she did a great job, but even that ended up feeling like a waste of potential.

Oh no, not that cringe inducing midlife-crisis Naofumi went through. Thought I did find it to be quite amusing. On the inside I was cheering for Raphtalia.

I was actually

spoiler

Yeah, I'm not saying I didn't feel anything at all, just not nearly as much as the potential that type of scene had. One thing I've learned in life, though is that for everyone that says...

spoiler

[renofury]

I want to recommend a novel (Series) to people that enjoyed "The Banner of the stars" or "Legends of the Galactic Hereos" this is another space opera set in a Universe were the human race is at war, with several other alien species that only think of humans as food.

The Series is Old Man's War by John Scali. So far I read the first two volumes in the series: Old's Man War and The Ghost Brigade. My thoughts on the first book were that I liked the character Old Man pov; it dealt with things like being old and losing your wife, family, romance, losing friends and war.

Even if this is a sci-fi most of the action takes place on the ground space battles served only as intro to the actual fighting on land. The technology was interesting and the races presented are different physically with have unique culture. Aliens are fun to name a few we have crab people, roaches people, bird people, spider with giraffe heads people.

The second book is in the point of view of another character; a "clone", and becoming a real person being able to do choices etc.

Worth checking out if you into this genre. After finishing all the six volumes I am planning to start the Honor Harrington series another space opera

[HarmlessDave]

@renofury - I've read and enjoyed the first 4-5 in Scalzi's Old Man's War series and I enjoyed it too.

I also liked the first 6? or so in the Honor Herrington series but I lost interest after that.

If you haven't read David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stories they're also good. Something I like about them is the stories are most often from the viewpoint of enlisted mercs and low-level officers, instead of from the main leaders. Some of his one-offs like Forlorn Hope are also worth reading.

[renofury]

@HarmlessDave said in General Recommendation Thread:

Hammer's Slammers

Thanks for the suggestion checked it on Wikipedia it does look intresting