A Love Letter to the Greatest Novel and why now is the time to start it.

I am in love. Deeply and truly in love with the most beautiful novel I have ever read. It is called Rakuin no Monshou and I can not possible say in words how great this story is.

I am making this post now because yesterday one of the translators updated all of volume four (seven chapters, plus prologue and epilogue). Now the chapters is this novel are like those in printed novels and each one is the length of 10+ chapters from a typical light novel. So I spent the day reading these (finished at 3:30 AM). The emotional roller coaster was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever experienced.

Why should you start it now?
Because the chapters are so long, the story is drawn out over a long period of time and its difficult on the reader. Having such a massive update is a rare joy and normally there is only one chapter every three to four months. However, now is a great time to start this novel if it appeals to you. Without saying any spoilers I will tell you the the end of volume four is a good place to end. Though the overreaching story is not resolved, it feels like the end of the first act of a play or the first movie of a trilogy. It would not be over reaching, to say it would be like reading the Fellowship of the Ring, though there is more to come, the first arc is done and you can walk away satisfied.

Why its so Good

• The Characters - The best way I can describe the characters is that they feel human and relatable. I know that sounds silly but its something that is often lacking from fantasy novels. The magic and conflict in the story often seems to get in the way of fully immersing myself. I know what it is, fantasy stories often come across as similar to mythology. The characters feel more like legends, then real people. This story feels much more personal to me. The "fantasy" does not replace good old character development. I also want to mention that the characters change organically, as they face challenges they learn and adapt.

• The World - I can not understate the wonderful and unique world that this is set in. Though it is a fantasy setting, it feels more accurate to compare it to a science fiction. Though this could change in the future, as of now "magic" is mostly used as a method of powering tools. The story is also missing the obvious troupes of sub-humans like elves, dwarves, and beast people. Even the "dragons" in the story more closely resemble dinosaurs rather then the mythology picture that comes when you here the word.

• The Conflict - Rather then some over reaching goal, the main focus is simply on survival in a world were strength is not just determined by how well you wield a sword (though that helps). Though the battles are epic, part of the joy is seeing the clever ways that the protagonist is able to face them. If nothing else, he is a survivor. I normally can not handle novels focused on military maneuvering, but I found even the descriptions of troop movements to be exciting and easy to follow. The author does a great job of "showing" rather then "telling." Instead of a long explanation of what the plan is, we watch it unfold. Even if you do not completely understand immediately, you learn and follow as the characters do.

The not so Good

• The Investment - Though this is also what makes it so engrossing, I will warn you, this is not a light read. I would equate this to picking up The Lord of the Rings. It is a heavy read that will take an investment of time to enjoy. As with most stories like this, it is hard to put down again and then pick back up. That is why when volume four proved to be the ending of the first arc I wanted to let everyone know that it was great time to put in that effort. For those thinking of waiting until all twelve volumes are translated, I assure you that though possible, it would very daunting to read the entire thing straight through.

• The Romance - As of now, this is by no means a "romance" novel. Part of that stems from the fact that the main characters are still very young and immature. Perhaps that later volumes will develop their relationship more as they grow. I would say that that its more like learning to respect and trust one another then romance. But as I stated before the characters are very realistic and relatable, so this makes sense in the world that they live in where trusting others can be seen as a weakness. Though I personally would enjoy more romance in the future, the story's strength lies in its political drama, so I do not know if it will develop more romance later or not.

Last but not least.... I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to those translators and editors over at Baka-Tsuki that have undertaken such a difficult task. You are my heroes. Without your dedication and effort to the project I would never have had the great joy of reading this novel. Thank You so much.

Edit: I have now learned that the translator has also started uploading volume five. I will update more after I read it. On a second note, if I could pick any novel to be made into a live action series, it would be this one. A movie would be to constraining, I would want an ongoing series.

 

weks its updated?
ok time to read it again
btw you can use it as review you know

 

It's updated volume 4 complete+volume5 semi-completes, the funny thing I want to post a thread about this but someone already have done that.

It get downvoted by redditors though.

 

Volume 5 seems to have been uploaded fully as well, and half of volume 6 has links, which tends to be a precursor for updates as well.

Its been quite a long time since ive actually used baka-tsuki. It was my first site when it comes to translated novels, so it seems ill have to take a new look.

 

Wait, volume 5 is updated? This day keeps getting better and better!

 

I didn't realize that chapter five has also been updated. It must have updated since I went to sleep. I'm excited to see more chapters.

 

Baka-tsuki?The forgotten legends?NovelUpdate already took that site ahead and now is ranked #1

 

Now this is the kind of post I hope to see here.
Thank you @sithkazar for your review and giving me my next read.

 

Already read Rakuin latest chapters. It was.... SO GOOD!!!

 

Yesterday i saw baka-tsuki updated seven chapters in one go. I looked at description and reviews and greatly surprised because plot looks interesting and reviews are too good for a japanese novel. I favorited it because i wanted read it when bakatsuki finished translating. But now you are saying its in a good place to start so i am going to sleep less today i guess.

 

well Baka-Tsuki speed is on slow side like nanodesu but contain lot interesting one sometime I forget to add LN I read there to my reading list

for some people legend are never forgotten it still live on and will continue in their heart~

 

I have never really minded their update speed, as I started out reading rather late for many of the novels I had enjoyed. They just get hit with licensing quite often, so I had to find other ways in which to find novels, which eventually led me here, and then to wuxiaworld for coiling dragon. Since then ive mostly bounced around and rarely have truly ever gone back to baka-tsuki. Though I truly do like their translation work.

 

Thank you for reveal this teasure to the world

 

on my case I'm saving up some titles chapters, since I know usually I need at least a month before update I just drop my frequent visit BT
and always forget to add some LN

 

mm...interesting, I'll try to read it

 

Damn I've been waiting for updates since forever
time to start again....

 

it's not just an indexing site like nu, they translate many novels there. Their translating quality is good but just a little slow when compared to the now trending cn novels, but i can relate to that as jp novel chapters are longer but they get hit by dmca a LOT.
sorry for the rant, maybe you are just being sarcastic but internet and sarcasm never mix well

 

One of novel that's I enjoyed in past, glad it finally updated again after last time stopped in middle of vol 3
Although roughly remember what happened in event of vol 1-2 hardly remember event from vol 3

 

Bakatsuki was popular 3 years ago, now I only visit for white album 2 and rakuin no monshou translation.