Cover of “Magic User: Reborn In Another World As A Max Level Wizard, Volume 1” by Mikawa Souhei.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “Magic User: Reborn In Another World As A Max Level Wizard, Volume 1” by Mikawa Souhei! This is another light novel, and I thought it would be fun to read and review! Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“A hardworking salaryman by day immerses himself on weekends in the pen-and-paper roleplaying game Dungeons & Braves, where he plays his favorite character: a max level wizard. When his real life abruptly ends, he is given a second chance as Geo Margilus, his magic user from the game. The powers, wealth, and enchanted loot that he gathered across endless hours of imaginary adventures are now made real. The catch? He’s transported to the world of Sedia, a fantasy realm where evil abounds, and ravenous daemons threaten mankind.”
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The worldbuilding was well-written, and I loved how I as a reader discovered more of the world as Geo continued exploring and travelling to new places throughout all of Sedia. I felt like I saw the world through his eyes; something so unknown, strangely familiar in a few ways because he related his Dungeons & Braves experiences to some parts of the world to understand it better, and also exciting. However, some of the worldbuilding, particularly with its political structure, felt a little too info-dumped at times.
Character Development: 3 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed reading Geo Margilus (we don’t know his real name from his past life) as he tried his best to get adjusted to the new world he was in, using his Dungeons & Braves experiences and soaking up all the knowledge of the new world he is in as fast as he can. He tries to do the right thing, and he clearly struggles with whether he can eventually fulfill the somewhat expected role of him being a savior from daemons in the world.
I also enjoyed reading Mora and the other allies he met, but I felt that they were flat, static characters compared to him. I hope this changes in the next books of this series, but as is they could use a bit more background and depth to their personalities.
Plot Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars
For those familiar with the plots of isekai light novels, manga, and anime, the main plotline will be familiar to you: The main character wakes up in a new world, possibly after dying in their previous one, and now is a new adventurer/magician/etc. that could be overpowered. However, this book has a few twists on the story. Firstly, the protagonist is not a young person in their twenties or teens, but instead is a middle-aged man in his forties. Second, he’s working off his knowledge of the series’ equivalent of Dungeons & Dragons he played in his past life, called Dungeons & Braves, to try to work with the new powers he has ontop of struggling to adjust to the new world he is in.
My main issue with the plot is that the book carried on for so long that it could have been split into two smaller novels. This “light novel” was 402 pages long, and light novels are typically shorter. The overall story itself also felt like I read two novels in a row. The first half of the book felt like one whole book about Geo Margilus learning to adjust to his new world. The second half felt like a second whole story revolving around him getting used to his new position as a highly-praised magician-turned-savior of the people in a fight against daemons. I know that I’ve read other light novels like Restaurant To Another World” where the pages are almost reaching the 400-page-long range. However, “Restaurant To Another World” was broken up into shorter stories. Meanwhile, “Magic User: Reborn In Another World” is a long, continuous journey, and I struggled to find proper places in the book to take a break when needed. The individual chapters of this book are fairly long, too, which doesn’t help.
Overall, I’m rating this book 3.5 out of 5 stars!
I recommend this book for fans of isekai-esque plots, Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop RPG fans, and anyone who doesn’t mind a light novel on the longer side.
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