/lit/ - Literature

Title: Battle Mage Farmer: Domestication
Author: Seth Ring

[Plot]
John Sutton retires. He'd had enough of war and battles and killing. Summoned to this magical world full of strife, he'd been fighting ever since, trying to delay the magical apocalypse. As one of the last surviving Mages John follows the Quests granted to him by a weird, taciturn System. Now he's retiring, hoping to find some peace...and maybe find a way to save the world.

[Review]
Not often do I find a story this conflicting to judge. The plot is obviously partially ripped-off from Beware of Chicken, although much better planned and with the author's original take on pseudo-Slice of Farming Life fantasy. The story is well-written, characters are actual characters even if not very deep aside from the protagonist. It's not a haphazard webnovel but an actual book, with proper execution.

Its most positive quality - aside of interesting plot and captivating magical farming life - is the portrayal of the OP protagonist. I must applaud the author for writing a typical OP protagonist while at the same time creating believable reasons for him hiding and trying the best he can to stop using his magic. You scarcely see this amount of tension in LitRPGs. At the same time the progression elements are here, with he protagonist growing stronger, albeit in breath of his abilities, not power. Mostly, he just progresses mentally from the years of combat. I wouldn't call it an authentic portrayal of PTSD but it gets the job done.

The weirdest thing about the series (I'm reading the third book now) is that it's partially a romance. Yes, a LitRPG romance, in 25% of its focus I'd say, and not done horribly at that. It's generic, slow, a bit cute, but the way it's written almost made me think the story's written by a woman. Stoic male with extreme powers that's calmed down by a down-to-earth cute typical woman? Who of course has some uncommon abilities of her own? That's a typical female fantasy story right there. The rest of the story points against the author being a woman, not to mention the writing track record. Still weird, though.

What I dislike the most is the writing style. It's competent, even good most of the times, but the author is incapable of showing-not-telling. If you see a character having an emotional reaction or realization, you will get an entire paragraph detailing what's happening in their head, point by point. Ugh. That's the opposite of dramatic writing, even if all the other elements are good.

All in all, I judge it a good LitRPG & Progression Fantasy series so far. Not ground-breaking or particularly interesting, but it's very much a typical fantasy book you can buy in a shop and enjoy to relax, just its LitRPG equivalent.

Rating: 6.75/10