Enlightened Empire

It's well written, and I didn't have any issues with grammar. I do like the premise of the story, and the MC who uses their brains to overcome their obstacles. I am very curious what other modern knowledge the author is going to use obtain an advantage. Maybe mass production method of steel, or crucible steel? Using lead in glass production to make crystal glass? Or perhaps make guncotton? dynomite? There's a lot of cool things he can do.

Ice cream!

Ill first state that this story is one of the best kingdom building stories on royalroad, for quite good reasons. The author has put a lot of effort into creating this story. However its not perfect and i rather really wanted to like this story more, but alas.

Corcopaca Titu Primu Pluritac, rather known as Corco, is a prince of the faraway lands of Medala, who has been exiled out of the empire to Arcavia, the land where his ancestors once came from, before they fled,  Corco finds himself lost, with no purpose, with barely any followers who went with him in his exile. Then one day, when he has lost all hope, Corco suddenly finds himself awakening with strange memories, of a foreign world called Earth, of fundamental knowledge about many major concepts, that could change civilization forever. Armed with that knowledge, Corco finds a new goal, to change his nation for the better, and eventually the world at large, but such knowledge does not suddenly make everything easy, for there are many obstacles in his path.

I rather like him as a character, even if he is by no means perfect. He is a person who honestly wants to change the livihood of his people, and even the world at large with the knowledge he got from another world. While he may have such knowledge, that does not make him overpowered, it just puts him ahead of everyone in that aspect, he still has to actively use that knowledge to his advantage, and is not afraid of sharing specific technologies as long as it does benefit him and will not backfire, Corco is also rather a traditionalist, who respects the old traditions, but is not afraid of breaking them, if they are in the way of his plans for the betterment of society. There are his many followers, some of which do follow him out of loyalty, others because of what he could achieve. Even if i like quite some of them as a character, still i feel like they could have done better, some of them fall rather flat, i just dont know why.

While Corco is set up to win, in the plot so far, it hasnt been made easy for him, with him having many enemies that he must defeat or outsmart, and at times, things take a rather unexpected turn, forcing him to change some plans. As said, im liking the fact that even through Corco has all that knowledge, it does not make him infallible at all. A decision that i like, is to make the MC not reincarnated at all, but rather a native of the world, that got the memories of a dead person of earth, this rather improves the story by leaving much of the problems that generally come with Isekai stories out of the story.

The world is simply the best part about this story, its so detailed and thought out, there are a lot of cultures and nations that are very well developed and done realistically as much as possible. Though at times i wish that some nations and cultures got explored already, but there is no doubt, that the author has plans to eventually get to those.  This story also does have cultivation elements, but they are a rather minor thing, not overwhelming like in many cultivation stories one can find, cultivators are for sure strong, but are not invicible at all, and quite costly to maintain.

The author has put a lot of research in the required topics for this story, for the MC's 'discoveries' to make actual sense. Though at times, it can be seen that the knowledge the author has gathered about those topics, is not perfect, and that does seriously show itself at times, but i consider this a rather minor issue, though it still could be improved.

Grammar is overall good enough, with there being just few errors, which are puncuation errors, wrong capitalization, missing spaces at times, all those dont feel like actual problems, but there is also the fact that at times, i felt like a sentence could have been worded better. Normally a reader should not have any problems while reading this story, since those mistakes barely do bother the reading experience.

Overall the author has a readable writing style, that does its job quite well, with a good balance of story elements. I also have barely any complaints about the pace of this story so far, its a kingdom building one, the slow pace fits well with that.

However there are sadly some major problems with it, the writing barely did hook me at all in the start, maybe this is due to me not being that interested in kingdom building, even if its one of the genre's i read. This is a big problem with book 0 and a major part of book 1, with to a lesser degree the later ones. This does not help the story at all with attracting new readers considering many want to get hooked instantly.

To add on this, book 0 is rather a additional book that the author wrote later in when he was writing book 2-3, its not fully required to read it, but it could still give a introduction to the story, even if it does not have much ongoing in it.

Overall, this is for sure a very good kingdom building story, i recommend people to atleast give it a try even if it can be boring at times. For fans of kingdom building however, they should just start reading this story, its exactly the kind of story that they want, with a normal MC.

Reminds me more of a BAEN Books novel than something on Royal Road.

Strengths: Well crafted and sympathetic characters that aren't cliches or overdone. Good worldbuilding with distinct cultures and realistic human behaviour. An engaging plot that doesn't pander to the main character. 

Flaws: A lack of foreshadowing and exposition makes some events seem to come from nowhere. Very important characters, laws or rituals just appear without any real context. For a hyper realistic novel such as ths one, the main character's immunity and complete indifference to assination is a little offputting. Assasins seem to have been made completly inept to make up for the lack of MC powers. Especially considering the existence of low powered superhumans that could kill the MC with a single punch or arrow. The existence of said cultivators is also a little odd and underdeveloped.

An interesting read. Excited to see where it goes. 

Update: At chapter 170, still awesome, though less revengey and more kingdomy.

    This is a revenge story that bears some similarity to the Count of Monte Cristo, if the count was a bachelor exiled to a foreign country, was the crown prince of an empire, gained knowledge of the modern world through suicide, and just happened to read a list of technology that would be helpful to know for anyone reincarnating in the middle ages. TL;DR: Scroll down to  "should you read this novel?"

    I know it sounds pretty awful but the execution is amazing. Book 1's style can be tough to adapt to. Not because it is bad but because it is so well done in a not-webnovel style. This is a kingdom builder but not a kingdom-builder that features an OP protag, anime tropes, or excessive exposition. Better to imagine a revenge tale because the hardcore kingdom-building starts quite late (book 3). If you find yourself hating book 1, skip to the end of it and just read the last chapter or two; it was written as a prequel. The following books are in a more 'traditional' web novel style.

    That said, book 1 is fast paced and beautifully written. Five years pass in ~35 chapters and it is one of the best done time-skips I've ever read. While I didn't love every chapter, every chapter had a purpose and kept the story moving. It is also the least amusing of the books so people who came here expecting funnies based on the summary will be let down until Book 2. Though, by the end of it, I wanted that wonderful style to continue. It was like stepping into the Count of Monte Cristo's empire-building phase before he set out to get his revenge. Loved it.

    Book 2 transitions to a court intrigue and mystery setting. It starts off with a bang then more Stuff happens: mysterious events, tragedy, conspiracies, unexpected allies/enemies, shocking family secrets- everything you could want in a court intrigue setting. MC opens up a face-slapping booth and everyone gives him patronage. However, face-slapping is not a 1-hit KO as in other novels, those people stick around. The people are nasty, but the nastiness clearly serves a purpose on top of being nasty. Both for the novel and the character in question. 
    So far the main villains aren't unbearably stupid or mean to the point of self-destruction. They do what they do for politically motivated or monetary reasons and don't let themselves get caught in obvious traps. There are also multiple levels of smarts among both enemies and allies. The MC's ride is not perfectly smooth and he is wrong...not often but often enough to make the world seem realistic and like the MC isn't the favored child of the heavens. At ch170, he's been wrong pretty often in very character-consistent ways and some of the villains are learning. Some are comic-relief level stupid, though.

    The novel has a surprising level of cultural value in discussion of philosophy and metaphors. The metaphors are pretty awesome. They're subtle (some of them), touch on many aspects of life, and reference multiple cultural idioms that anyone who has spent time reading Chinese web novels, Western Classics, or loves world history and mythology will appreciate. Well, maybe not anyone. Someone will, I'm sure.

    Not really a negative but more just friendly warning for new readers: I do occasionally find the cultural melange to be confusing. The author borrowed aspects of many culturals and historical events to make EACH of the (several) cultures in this novel unique, and different from RL. This makes the novel both easier and harder to read. I've been confused a few times expecting rituals and cultures to match the names given, or confused by the correct usage of Occident and Orient that don't refer to RL cultures/regions.
    So don't assume cultural practices by anything other than tech level and the author's words. The author does a good job of giving any relevant cultural information you need so you can relax and go with the flow. The world the author made fits together nicely and feels both fictional and realistic in the right amounts. Author seems to have a very good grasp of what is important for immersion/plot and what is going to waste the reader's time.

    Grammar and spelling is perfect to the point I was confused by the sudden, voluminous, exposure to my native tongue. After reading a lot of web novels this was very jarring but it is so goooood. Readers familiar with web novels may be confused by things like 'shone' and 'driest' but rest assured everything in this novel is actually English! Except for the bits in Latin or French. I think there was some French. Might have been a flashback to The Three Musketeers. 
    There are some typos that affect spelling but not comprehension. Author has been good about fixing them when they are pointed out. 

    If I had to pick a weakness, it would be the characters. They're relatively underdeveloped compared to the rest of the novel's many outstanding aspects. However, for this style of writing, excessive detail in the characters would ruin it. The only way I can see improving the characters and their presentation without destroying the style would be to move to a <shakespeare/hemingway/great-short-story-author-here> level of writing. It isn't bad, they're introduced quite well, they fit the style, they're better than 90% of what is out there, but they appear to be the only place the author needs to improve. Maybe release speed...and robot hands wouldn't hurt. Bears hands might be cool but slow typing speed so I don't recommend them to authors I like.
    At chapter 170, I can say this is still the area that is the author's weakness, but it is mainly in succinctly capturing a character's persona. The author is very good at subtle changes and building up character growth over time. He doesn't spoonfeed you these things, there are a lot of little things you need to notice and interpret to understand, which makes reading it quite fun for me and others but absolutely maddening to some.

Should you read this novel? Yes. It isn't quite a masterpiece when compared to some of the world's greatest works of all time but it is one of the best things I've read, from both a literary and style standpoint, in a long while. Just be prepared for a culture shock if trashy isekai OP-protag kingdom builders is all you've been reading.

This book is a kingdom builder. Now while there are a lot of kingdom builders this takes the cake. The plot and background built into the story is amazing. Furthermore the MC is actually smart and relatable, not a uber handsome tough guy. 

Good grammar

Good idea

Adds up to good potential

Look forward to seeing more.

This started off well but it quickly becomes another reincarnation with a Wikipedia in his head kind of story.  I didn't mind the simple tricks like the Lyme at first but it quickly becomes clear that there is little to no plot to be had.  Instead the story focuses upon a series of inventions that are reproduced by the protagonist in order to enrich himself.

Sure, he’s being hunted by the Duke but this is never taken very seriously, in fact he could have just sailed away to avoid the problem quite easily.  But again, a mad nobleman who’s hell bent upon murdering him is treated like a mere inconvenience; to be dealt with or not at leisure.  This effectively undermines the beginning of the story and quickly led to me becoming bored.

On top of that the protagonist is able to do as he likes, more or less, as if he were operating in a vacuum.  There’s no opposition from the merchant guilds, the church or any of the usual sorts who would be jealous of his wealth and influence.  Even the local despots seem to have no interest in conscripting him into their service to profit off of him, which would be the natural course of events in this sort of society.

Perhaps things improve or perhaps the protagonist continues to pull invention after invention out of his wiki; at any rate I’ve lost interest in following along.

Don't believe me because I am sucker for Kingdom building but this is truly awesome. The MC has flaws! He has a family too! And guess what they real too!

Okay, enough jokes. The story is good with good grammar but the world building is little lacking. The whereabouts of the prince before coming back from exile is missing and honestly works like deus ex machina. Not a problem for me though but I would have appreciated some side story about it. Anyway, other characters are good and believable. 

That's all and be sure to give it a try because you will be hooked to it! 

Edit: Well the Author continues to surprise me yet again. We have the backstory now. I really never thought that the backstory would be this amazing and not only that but the Author writes this so good that I am hooked on it. I can't give you extra now though. Alright, now it's time for me to read chapter 47. 

Really like this genre, a bit slow at the start of book 1 and the start of book 2 but it gets better. There a some issues, do not really like some of the characters and motivation/logic at times but the overarching story and theme is good. Consider reading all of book 1 before you make a decision. I have hopes that the story will get better and that Hermit will maybe go back (in a couple years) and rewrite(re-rewrite some parts) to make it even better. Might leave a more in-depth review in the future. 

For now it's an 8/10 but for me personally(my own bias+authors release speed and the storys potential) I'm giving it a 9/10.

I want to start off by saying that I think it isn't a bad fiction or anything, just not a good one either. I'll be giving my opinion linked to my scoring on the various aspects of the story and trying to explain what I disliked, liked and think should change.

Disclaimer: I have only read till chapter 29

Grammar:

By far the easiest criterium to judge. The grammar is great. It's not perfect, as there are small mistakes every once in a while, but it is more than good enough and doesn't bother me. The grammar is miles ahead of most fictions on this site and it's honestly the best part of this fiction.

Style:

I'm never quite sure how to interpret the 'style' criterium. To me the 'style' is the writing style, which would be pretty much a mix of both the substance and manner of writing. The style in general isn't all that bad. It's nothing to write home about, but you can easily follow what is being said by who without confusion, something not every story is capable of. What irks me however is something that can be found in the title of the review 'It reads like a journal rather than a book'. It doesn't read like a (decent) work of fiction. It just doesn't have the substance. There's barely any world building, the characters are flat, surroundings are barely described, etc. It just feels like you're being given a brief, undetailed tour of someone's life. This may have been done on purpose, but it honestly isn't my cup of tea. The timeskips are also a 'style' point that I really dislike. A bit of timeskip isn't a problem, but almost every chapter has one. You could have literally told an entire story in the timespan of all the timeskips that happened. We barely see any expansion on the world, the day-to-day, the characters, interactions, etc., but any moment that could be used for such a thing gets thrown into a timeskip. It's what makes this read like a journal. Anything that isn't 'important' gets skipped, making this an extremely fast (read: badly) paced story and makes it so that any 'details' are just glossed over.

Story:

I guess the story is okay. Exiled prince trying to make the best of his lot in life and regaining what he has lost. It's probably been done before, but it hasn't been repeated millions of times either. The biggest problem I have with the story is arguably the most important, defining part: the otherwordly memories. There doesn't seem to be any reason for the whole 'isekai'/reincarnation/memory sharing part of the story besides making the main character able to actually do the things he does. It's a huge deus ex machina that is horribly glossed over and doesn't get the attention it deserves. The main character somehow gets otherwordly knowledge out of nowhere. Why? How? What affect will it have on him? ... The answer (up to where I have read) to those questions is: No particular reason. This utterly mind-blowing otherwordly miraculous experience just happened. The how is never even mentioned and none of the characters really seem to care. Besides the chapter where the main character tells his companions about what he has been through there doesn't seem to be any attention paid to this MIRACULOUS UTTERLY SPECIAL AND ATTENTION WORTHY occurence. Effect? What effect? A guy gets a life worth of otherwordly memories and of course he doesn't change. He just assimilates the knowledge but largely stays the same. He sometimes says he changed, like being less arrogant/proud and having different values, but just takes that as normal. Your very core values changing at the drop of a hat? No cause for worries, totally normal, it's not like this could be expanded upon or anything. Honestly, the whole otherwordly knowledge gets glossed over so badly that we barely know anything about it. It just serves as a way for the main character to pull knowledge out of his ass with the explanation 'The guy with the otherwordly knowledge had just scoured wikipedia pages on applicable 'isekai' knowledge which was totally lucky for our main character'. It's just a horrible plot point and if it was possible to get rid of it, it would make this story miles better.

Characters:

The worst part of this fiction. Honestly, the characters are so flat, flat-earthers would take this fiction as their holy book should they ever read it. I've read 29 chapters and honestly can't even name the main character anymore after writing this review. That's how little I care about him. Same with his helpers. Some kind of warrior dude and an attendant? Who's also a warrior or something? Oh and also someone that's like a little brother or something... I think... There is just not enough information about the characters for me to care about them. They are all literally stereotypes. Honorable warrior, genius prince, loyal attendant and cute kid. That's literally the main characters' personalities in a nutshell and after reading 29 chapters I can't really expand upon those. You know nothing about their background. Who are these characters? How did they grow up? Do they have loved ones? Do they have ambitions besides those linked to the overarching 'help main character' story? And I don't just mean single sentence answers. the characters need to feel alive. It shouldn't be easy to just boil them down to a couple of words, but it's easy in this fiction. Does the main character even have a mother? We hear about the king, but I don't remember reading anything about a queen... Then again, I did gloss over some stuff so maybe I missed it, in that case: my bad. I'll say it again: the characters are horribly done. The whole cast, including the main character, could die and I wouldn't mind if a new character got introduced. Maybe this time we'll actually learn something about said character... I mean really, 29 chapters in and I don't even know anything about the main character's youth. He says he's small for a noble and there are hints that some kind of assassination attempt had an impact on that: please elaborate. Did the main character get targeted? Why? How? What was he doing before the attempt and how did he react aftertwards? Were any characters linked to this event? Did he get fussed over by his parents or were the royal couple more aloof? Did that impact his mentality? Did his shorter stature give him problems? Did he get bullied or was he respected? Respected only because of his blood or also for his character? These are just things I thought of literally just now while writing this review and as an author you really should've asked yourself those questions and written about them. As a writer you're supposed to make your audience care about your characters, their world and their interactions. This fiction doesn't do that at all. It's also the reason I'm dropping it: after 29 chapters I just don't care about the world, the characters or anything else related to this story.