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Oct. 5th, 2021 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetDecided to effectively pull a recs list for light novels from the TVTropes Iyashikei works list, since the anime and manga list seems to include them, and it is exactly the kind of thing I'm into right now. (Considering the state of the world, as well as my tendency to mirror the mood of whatever media I'm consuming, it shouldn't be much of a surprise.) Started reading "By the Grace of the Gods" by Roy, and I was really enjoying it! Up until about book six.
By the Grace of the Gods follows the typical Isekai Reincarnation trope of a character basically working themselves to literal death, and some omni-powerful being(s) taking pity on them and offering them a chance to start life anew in a new world. In this one, main character Ryoma starts out with at least a few of the typical over-powered characteristics, but himself focuses mostly on taming slime monsters. The books cover his discovery of several new species of slimes, their evolution methods and other mechanics, as well as his daily life as an adventurer and, as of the second book, slime-powered laundromat owner. They're pretty much the exact kind of laid-back-with-a-touch-of-adventure I want, except...
In book six, Ryoma takes a job tracking down a missing person, who it turns out has been captured by bandits. Through the course of the mission, Ryoma learns of the circumstances that lead the bandits to their current, er, careers. And while he does still turn the bandits over to the police equivalent, his sympathy for their circumstances leads him to suggest to his chief of staff someday hiring reformed criminals at his laundromats. His chief of staff is hesitant, and suggests that, rather than starting with criminals (and especially since Ryoma has already made a point of hiring poor people from the slums), he should consider a slightly different angle:
He should consider "hiring" slaves.
...yeah. Book six didn't linger terribly long on how slavery is treated in the world Ryoma ended up in, but book seven spent about half its pages on Ryoma going to a slave market, picking out a slave, buying that slave's contract, and learning the history of slavery in that world, in that order. Slavery in that world is, uh. Less dire than it could be? Slaves are allowed some rights as humans, such as to clothing, shelter, and medicine; the main thing the book hammers down is that they can't choose their own jobs. So maybe more like indentured servants? But uh. Yeah. This was disappointing after how much a point Ryoma made of treating all of his employees well.
I powered through book seven, but stalled out in the beginning of book eight. I'd quit a light novel previously for being entirely too pro-slavery for my tastes (The Alchemist who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life), but I hadn't even made it all the way through the first volume before it got to be too much for me. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try and stick with By the Grace of the Gods, but I do at least have some more satisfying light novels to fall back on in the meantime.
By the Grace of the Gods follows the typical Isekai Reincarnation trope of a character basically working themselves to literal death, and some omni-powerful being(s) taking pity on them and offering them a chance to start life anew in a new world. In this one, main character Ryoma starts out with at least a few of the typical over-powered characteristics, but himself focuses mostly on taming slime monsters. The books cover his discovery of several new species of slimes, their evolution methods and other mechanics, as well as his daily life as an adventurer and, as of the second book, slime-powered laundromat owner. They're pretty much the exact kind of laid-back-with-a-touch-of-adventure I want, except...
In book six, Ryoma takes a job tracking down a missing person, who it turns out has been captured by bandits. Through the course of the mission, Ryoma learns of the circumstances that lead the bandits to their current, er, careers. And while he does still turn the bandits over to the police equivalent, his sympathy for their circumstances leads him to suggest to his chief of staff someday hiring reformed criminals at his laundromats. His chief of staff is hesitant, and suggests that, rather than starting with criminals (and especially since Ryoma has already made a point of hiring poor people from the slums), he should consider a slightly different angle:
He should consider "hiring" slaves.
...yeah. Book six didn't linger terribly long on how slavery is treated in the world Ryoma ended up in, but book seven spent about half its pages on Ryoma going to a slave market, picking out a slave, buying that slave's contract, and learning the history of slavery in that world, in that order. Slavery in that world is, uh. Less dire than it could be? Slaves are allowed some rights as humans, such as to clothing, shelter, and medicine; the main thing the book hammers down is that they can't choose their own jobs. So maybe more like indentured servants? But uh. Yeah. This was disappointing after how much a point Ryoma made of treating all of his employees well.
I powered through book seven, but stalled out in the beginning of book eight. I'd quit a light novel previously for being entirely too pro-slavery for my tastes (The Alchemist who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life), but I hadn't even made it all the way through the first volume before it got to be too much for me. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try and stick with By the Grace of the Gods, but I do at least have some more satisfying light novels to fall back on in the meantime.
