The Protagonists of Romance Fantasy Novels Have Escaped

rob z says:

I have read all the reviews below, and it seems like the basic setup of the novel got lost. MC, as noted, is a possessor in a romance fantasy world (as also noted in a prior review, there are 2 souls in the one body, MC and the original). MC is the brother of the hero in the story. However, the hero party is a variation of an otome novel setup, where the Saint character (technically, she is the second saint) is really the MC of that novel, and the hero and the rest of the party apparently fall for her. They defeat the demon king, and all seems well. Notably, this coincides with the end of the first part of the novel that the MC read – he had not yet read the second part, since it had not come out yet in the original world – so he has no detailed knowledge of what is coming up in part 2, just some hints. Fortunately, this means the MC is not a slave to some story he thinks he has to preserve (i.e. the stupid trope “I can’t deviate from the original story because then I won’t know what is supposed to happen”), and in fact he fights against the bad elements of part 2 of the story that he does know.

Problem is, the hero is engaged to the second princess of the kingdom. So the hero disappears with the Saint character and the rest of the hero party, presumably an elopement (but the reader never sees the original hero party’s perspectives, so it’s not 100% clear). However, this leaves the MC holding the bag – e.g., his brother just jilted the second princess, and the king and her older sister are likely to be pissed; a bunch of the villains who were defeated by the hero party want to attack the MC and his family for revenge; etc.

The novel starts with the second princess, i.e., the older sister of the jilted princess (I think she is the girl in the caption on this page with the legs for days) visiting MC’s domain. Contrary to her reputation (a fierce and vengeful warrior; also a spinster that is unmarried at 27), she is pretty understanding that it is not the MC’s or his father’s fault the brother took off, but she is pissed and wants to track the hero and Saint down. And that is where the story picks up from.

In terms of quality, I have mixed feelings about it. It had some potential, and I liked the setup of the MC being the brother of the hero picking up the pieces. And the MC seemed a pretty solid character to start. However, a number of bad tropes are creeping in. First, there are elements of “hide my powers” because “reasons” – however, these are mostly in flashbacks / memories, so it’s not too offensive, but it is there. Second, this seems like it may go down the path of a generic unresolved harem with a d!ckless eunuch for an MC. All the female characters are in love with the MC but he’s too much of a coward to do anything, and generally cowers before them or runs away. If it continues on this path, the novel could turn into poison.

The female characters are pretty decent – no toxic tsunderes or ridiculous misunderstandings. They each have some of their own development scenes and reasons why they feel the what they do about the MC.

In terms of plot, it’s hard to say where this is going – the posted chapters are like a really big introduction. The clear inference, like a review posted below, is that the MC will form his own harem hero party that counterparts the original hero party, but it’s unclear who will be the big baddie or what the ultimate goal of the story is (at least so far.) It is clear there are a lot of different bad guy forces moving, but there is probably some overarching plot and villain we don’t know yet.

So I would give it a qualified “OK”, maybe 6/10, with the potential to go downhill rapidly.