
Monsters and Maidens
by Ravnicrasol
- Profanity
- Sexual Content
- Traumatising content
A school-bus gets sucked into a dark forest.
Deadly monsters lurk around every corner. They look almost human, but they are anything but.
Humanity struggles for survival.
What dangers and secrets await our stranded protagonists?
Chapters are posted Mon-Wed-Thu-Fri-Sun 22:00 CET.
Warnings:
This is a slow-burn story, answers and explanations aren't given right away.
The setting is grim-dark. And our protagonists are as human as they can get.
No superpowers. No easy trips. Heroes must earn their glory. Villains must earn their strength.
There are 4 main characters around which the story orbits, each having their own narrative and perspective to the setting/events.
AN:
- Overall Score
- Style Score
- Story Score
- Grammar Score
- Character Score
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A darker more realistic take on the genre
Reviewed at: Chapter 019 [Alice]
This is a really unique take on the isekai/harem/monster girl novel. As of chapter 19 there is no harem yet, but you can see where it will come from and why the harem dynamic exists in the new world.
This story does not follow the classic wish fulfillment featuring either 1) a teenage nerd boy with no social skills who inexplicably has Mary Sues fall all over him and may or may not underservedly acquire some absurdly OP power or 2) a Gary Stu with about as much depth as a puddle and the same cast of Mary Sues and probably some backstory that establishes a unique advantage or allows for such a power to manifest upon a specific event. Instead the author chooses a teacher with clear strengths and flaws reflective of real teachers (you will likely have met a teacher like this at some point in your life) as our MC, and through Chapter 19 he has no powers at all. Likewise the potential harem members are not Mary Sues but monster girls that are actually monstrous.
Furthermore, the harem formation here is inherently manipulative and arises out of survivalistic need in a grimdark fantasy world where the transplantees are prey.
The surrounding cast also has some depth, and it looks like the author plans to keep fleshing out 2-3 primary characters and maybe another 5-6 side characters with continuous dedicated development. So far this has been done very well, ...
though the subplot surrounding the troublesome kid stands out as being much weaker than the others (with an overly one dimensional villain in the stepmother and fairly one dimensional characterization of the brothers) so far. It is admittedly far far too early to truly condemn this plotline.
... and the author has been particularly successful in creating side characters with different perspectives on the same events, with each of their perceived understandings being reasonable in the context of their observational perspective and their personalities.
Overall, I strongly recommend this story if you are a fan of isekai and harem stories. If you are not a fan of harem stories, I would still recommend giving this a shot. I cannot promise that it will not devolve into the tropes that I know most harem-haters (very reasonably) loathe, but I can say that as of Chapter 19 this story is NOT on a trajectory to run afoul of them. Minus maybe the smut section trope. That will probably happen here.

Grimdark-esque take on the monster girl fantasy
Reviewed at: Chapter 019 [Alice]
I really like the attempt on monster girls being actual "Monsters", Its too early to say as of yet, but the story is well on road with a survivalistic view point with multiple characters on lead. None of the characters seem to follow common anarchical tropes or are antagonising to a fault in conflicting situations, which in my book is a plus. The story does attempt to paint elements of danger in situations and does so pretty nicely.
That said, i would really hope to see the domineering nature of "monster girls" stay in effect and that they are at no point "tame" in any way or suddenly gain complex emotional empathy.

Close to Perfection
Reviewed at: Chapter 004 [Rick]
This was originally Of monstergirls and men but the rewrite has raised the bar dramatically. What was originally an okay read but really monstergirl fetish fuel has now been rasied to the level of a quality novel.
I'm excited to see how ravnicrasol will improve the already decent story with a new writing style.

Enjoyed!
Reviewed at: Chapter 234 [Mark] (Volume 3 End)
Enjoyed this story quite a bit, I appreciated the grim dark approach to the poke girl esq theme, my only negative would be the multiple POV's, which is more of a personal taste. Look forward to seeing where the author takes it from here, as I feel that they are improving as the story progresses.

worth a read
Reviewed at: Chapter 234 [Mark] (Volume 3 End)
if digimon was an adult anime it would probably be similar to this story, I normally despise mutiple pov stories, usually marking them as not interested, but this is actually done really well with the main characters having intereacted with each other before ever switching to them, giving us a reason to even care about them. 5/5

Horroresk Action Romance
Reviewed at: Chapter 001 [Rick]
So before you put this amazing work away for one reason or another. It starts off with horror... but thats just to get the mood going. Life and death is part of the theme in this one, then comes romance before mystery. The Author loves to sprinkle in hints and bits of lore here and there. I wont spoil anything with this but READ IT. Monica is best girl and you know it

Great novel
Reviewed at: Chapter 144 [Mark]
Without going too much into details, it is a really good story, easily in the top 4% on this site.
Now going into details, I would like to mention a few points:
1. The story has multiple protagonists (although Rick is most definitely the focus) and most readers probably will find themselves having the favourite and the hated one (looking at you Mark) either because of their personality or the plot surrounding their perspective - not really a criticism, just thought it worth mentioning.
2. Some elements of the novel are rather fetishistic (while some others are rather graphic and drastic) and although those themes are tactfully approached and wonderfully written, some people might find those elements offputting (I personally enjoy them greatly).
3. The story has a very grounded approach to its fantasy setting, characters are generally wary of everything and some downright at odds with the new reality, you won't find characters embracing the allure of the fantasy world that is prevalent in other novels of this genre (at least on this site).
4. My biggest praise for this story is that as a whole this novel could have easily turned garbage - lots of its elements, if taken too far in one direction could have ruined the story; either too much sex, too much despair, too much meandring, too light of a focus on the world... the list can go on and on. The author pulled off quite a bit of a balancing act and that is why I am rating the story 5/5.

[Updated Review] Stay healthy Author
Reviewed at: Chapter 196 [Little Mouse]
To the Author :
Big No to daily updates.
The Author shouldn't force himself in this suicidal endeavour to burn himself out. Please at max upload only 3 per week, Any more and it will be very unhealthy. (I can see your hairline receding from here)
Now the Plot line :
Typical MC gets Isekaii'd but in a weird world. A world where if Pokemons were catgirls and (VERY) dangerous. So the story is a mix of Lewd and Dark and More Lewd.

Would recommend
Reviewed at: Volume 4, Alchimia Rex
I thoroughly enjoyed this web novel. I can't think of much off hand that characters say or do that seem unreasonable. Some grammar and spelling mistakes. Not a fan of multiple mc but it mostly worked. Just a couple it times did it feel like too much. When that happens, feels like it's all over the place. I think at one point, you had 6 chapters with a different mc between each. Hard to stay invested in one characters story if you have to read 5 others before you can continue off on that character. Heading to volume 4 book 2 now.