khyie's Reviews (267)

This one... is difficult for me.  Overall, I didn't think it was too bad for a Gary Stu, everyone who matters is fine infinite flow novel but on the other hand... there are some things that just really annoyed me.
For one, the driving point of the story in both the blurb and the title, which is to say the looting equipment bit?  Not really prevalent in the story and will become a completely moot point once one of their team member's finally figures out his spirit weapon.  Then it's simply a buy buy buy story.  The initial worlds were somewhat interesting and I can't even begin to tell you how much of a breath of fresh air it was that not every female character you meet is either a) a useless weak character or b) trying to get with one of the main characters.  Not that at least one example of these didn't appear, but they didn't comprise the entire female population of the story.   That being said they were all sidelined.  Every single last one.  The only one they actually invited to join their team, refused and completely disappeared out of the story. 
Anyway the entire main team of the story, which ends up being 6 people by the end, are all male and they will be all paired off by the end of the novel.
The ending itself was super rushed.  You were literally in some random world up until chapter 99 of the story's 102 chapters.  That's 3 chapters to wrap up the infinite flow world bits, get out, and find each other again. 

Also there were some super hand wavy bits there at the end when the final attack team, comprising of literally every intermediate traveler and higher, didn't succeed against the final boss and when the MC gets back to the real world, he's just like "oh they're all fine and they left, they just don't remember everything like me" for literally NO REASON that I could tell.  Nothing in the plot up to that point suggested that this was even a semi-accurate conclusion to draw.  I thought they were dead until he whipped out this line and I was pissed about it.  Also, there never seemed to be any real purpose to the infinite flow world.  It wasn't doing anything.  Not for itself and not really for them, other than giving them a bunch of useless skills they weren't going to need in the real world and some bizarre attempt at a "well they're mentally stronger" explanation that still leaves you wondering why the fuck they needed to be?  They weren't having any issues to begin with.  It was annoying to say the least that there wasn't even a real explanation for why they were all put through what they had to deal with.

tl;dr - it had some potential to at least be a run of the mill OP infinite-flow novel but ultimately squandered it on a super rushed and pointless ending.  I didn't hate it but it was a bitter final taste that soured the whole experience.

Ultimately, a typical power fantasy quick transmigration.  Each world, the plot is almost pointless because it's just a way for the two main characters to get together in a new and different way.  There's even a sequel to this book if you're not bored after it's over!

 ???? ? ??? ??????????????????????? ??? !!! ?????????? ??? ?! ??????????????????? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?? 
 ^Accurate representation of me throughout the entirety of this book. Was it worth reading? Oh, absolutely. Was I lost af for most of the book? Also, absolutely. Difficult to compare to Gideon the Ninth because they're two entirely different books that just so happen to be deeply linked to each other. 

I wrote a lengthy review on volume 1 about both volumes because I read them back to back.

I picked the first volume of this series up on a whim and I'm so happy I did.  I was surprised over just how much I actually really enjoyed this book.  Kondou was an unwitting bystander who just wanted to help a girl that looked like was in trouble and found himself suddenly in a fantasy world that didn't know what to do with him.  Since they felt guilty about accidentally dragging him to their world when they only wanted the girl he was trying to help, they offered to provide for him for the rest of his life and instead, he asked for a job.  This is how he finds himself working as an accountant (his choice) again but this time in a kingdom on verge of financial collapse.
At first, Kondou's super excited to be here because not only does he get to flex his brain muscles doing the job he's really, really good at, but this world has potions!  And they work better than energy drinks!  Not only is he able to do more work on less sleep and food, but most of his aches and pains are magically healed by the potion.  Unfortunately, this quickly becomes a problem because it turns out, unlike the girl who was the deliberate target of their summoning spell, Kondou's body is not adapted to handling the magic molecules of this world and he nearly OD's on magic.
And apparently, the best way to solve nearly ODing on magic (and then almost being further killed by a healing spell) is to have sex, hence the start of his relationship with the Knight Aresh.  

Overall there were a lot of elements to this that I really liked and if it weren't for the ending of second volume (FUCKING CLIFFHANGER), I would call this a simple comfort read, where Kondou tries his best to work himself into the grave and Aresh does his best to take care of him whether he wants to be looked after or not.  There is the slowly building up conflict though of Kondou having questions about the way the kingdom has been utilizing it's money and everyone else being super pissed that they are no longer getting the okay stamp to spend the kingdom's money on whatever the hell they want.  I'm definitely going to continue following this because I want to see where it's going.

Lastly... if you're coming here for the smut... in the two volumes I've read, these two have been together exactly once, for essentially forced circumstances, and otherwise have not even kissed.  It's already a slower burn to their relationship than most BL and I'm here for it.

I've been reading His Favorite since the series first started coming out and I was on the fence about the last volume but now I'm definitely going to say it.  I'm done with this series.  It's vert episodic and nothing new is happening, the jokes are tired by this point, and honestly, I just don't care any more.  I think these two have been in high school for what feels like 8 years now because the same holiday stories keep coming up.  They have the same issues that they've been having for the past 11 volumes.  The side relationships all having you wondering why the hell they're even together and honestly, the only thing that's changed really is that Sato has mellowed out quite a lot and his initial asshole actions now genuinely feel more gentle teasing instead of him unilaterally inflicting his own likes and wants on Yoshida.
I don't have a problem with Suzuki Tanaka's stories but I'm done with this one.  Just let it die.

If you've read a Priest novel before, you know a good chunk of what you're getting into already.  If you haven't, Priest loves multi-layered plots, deep explorations of psychology, dark backstories, and strong characters that either a) don't fall into the standard bl tropes or b) are determined to break them.
I'm going to be honest, its been about two months since I finished this novel so I don't remember a lot of the details of what Priest was diving into for deeper thematic explorations.  It does come off a bit as a sort of "case of the week" type story, especially as the story's arcs are very clearly broken up by the cases they end up solving but they were all very interesting cases.  Unfortunately, I found the whole revelation of who/what the Silent Reader actually was and the grand mystery tying all of the cases together to be a bit overly convoluted and unnecessary, which is ultimately the main reason that I didn't rate this book a full five stars.
Things I absolutely loved though:
There are layers upon layers to the onion in this story.  This ultimately did harm it in the end but it still made for a pretty good mystery that kept me intrigued until the end
The slow burn relationship between Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du was a lovely balance that helped keep it from getting too dark, especially considering Fei Du's backstory.  It did seem to suddenly rush a bit too fast on Luo Wenzhou's side but I liked how that added an unstable element instead of bringing them together more easily.
Priest has always done a really good job with her supporting characters and this book is no different.  Luo Wenzhou's team of detectives are the main supporting cast and I loved all of them, their inside jokes, and the way they played off from each other.
Fei Du is for sure, the best and most nuanced character in this book and he's incredibly memorable.  Even now, just pondering back on him evokes a whole gamut of emotions in me.

I love this book as a light-hearted comfort read.  There is just a touch of angst in the reason why both of them are faking being slackers but the focus is on their school life, their friends, and the slow build up of their relationship.  I really enjoyed how it all came together, and laughed quite a bit all throughout.  I go back to this one whenever I want something gentle and fun to read.  The character development isn't super huge and is mostly reflected in them coming to terms with the reasons why they were faking it and revealing that they are both geniuses.