Because of my fondness for anime and manga, I occasionally drift into the other point of the otaku triangle, hoping that I'll find a light novel that isn't awful. Or that if it is awful, at least it won't take me very long to finish it.
It's the latter case with this one.
Masato is a typical young man, who has a rather distant relationship with his mother. She is clingy, desperate to get on well with him, and looks disconcertingly young for her age, meaning that whenever she cries at his harsh tone, his feelings are "conflicted".
Evidently this particular mother and child dynamic is common in this fictional Japan, as the government is working on a solution. Through the power of a suspicious survey, and some sort of technical wizardry, they are trapping mother and child pairs in an MMMMORPG. (Don't ask what all the "M"s stand for.)
This is a proper "trapped in a game" story, with Masato becoming a Hero in a standard medieval fantasy land, and Mamako becoming a Hero's Mother. The aim is that they will fight monsters, complete quests, and level up together in order to improve their relationship.
Odd, then, that the game has made Mamako so much more powerful than Masato. She dual wields swords that come with additional offensive powers, murdering anything that threatens her son with earthy spikes and deadly icicles. Makes poor Masato feel a bit unnecessary, and rather resentful.
I'm not entirely sure what this book was trying to do. It's not a great "game" book, with minimal consideration given to stats/levels etc. It's not a great harem book, even if they do acquire two additional party members, called Wise and Porta. And it's honestly not a great emotional growth book, with the "oh mum you're the worst but I actually like you really" taking about two paragraphs to crunch through and being bookended by a ludicrous amount of melodramatic crying.
Even worse than that, you get two versions of the same plot, with Wise's own problems with her mother driving the main conflict. (Porta is there, apparently only to provide health potions. I have no idea what she wants, feels or aims for. Literally just an item machine.)
It tries to be funny, with the occasional poke at game conventions, and an omniscient yet mean plot controller/narrator but it's likely all things you've seen before, with a very off-putting veneer of an overly attached mother on top. It's a thin layer at best because you won't find yourself being impressed by the depth of character. There isn't one.
The best thing I can say about it is it didn't take very long to read. Not a series I will be continuing with.
Tagged: Book GameLit Fantasy world Light novel Print