On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Super original story, reminds me a little of "The World Keeper", it gives the same vibes although none of the story is even remotely similar.

Best part of the story for me is the unique power system and lore. The "kingdom" building up to this point is well done and Mc is also a fighter so I like that.

Worst part is the fact that Mc is a merciful in a world which I assume is going to be ruthless. I was expecting the Mc to pull a Jake (The Primal Hunter) and adapt real quick to the astral world and I still hope he becomes more ruthless but I enjoy the character development annd all that it entails.

One thing that could ruin this novel is the addition of an unnecessary harem of girls for no reason. Its the same  thing that ruined 'The World Keeper' and another novel on RRL whose name i cannot remember.

All-in-all this seems to be a novel with quite a lot of potential and as long as it doesn't fall in the pitfalls that "beta japanese protaganists" fall into then we'll be good.

(Chapter 21)

Edit: Decreased half a star after reading till 23

This has got to be one of the most original stories I've read in a while. It has combinations of rpg and rts story modes along with a bit of reality to bring us back down to earth. The mc is one of many humans who have been selected to help protect the "material Earth" from outside influences. He has to protect and grow his "astral" territory from enemies so that he can become strong enough for when the big bad dudes show up. 

I find this a fascinating story. It is one that really scratches that itch that screams for action as well as kingdom building.

The story is now up to chapter 43 and is growing increasingly interesting. The author is cranking out five chapters a week and says he has plenty more where that came from. I encourage anyone who loves a good book to try this one out. It is definitely worth your time.

Authors starts off a little slow and weak with the introductory chapters. After chapter 15 or so it really picks up and becomes a a great story. Slight tendency to not show repeats of the character table early but that is fixed in later chapters.

If you are concerned about the harem it is well done and not total anime bullshit you may expect with love triangles/ drama all the time etc...

The overarching story has multiple facets and is not a one dimensional base builder, with multiple moving parts and many mysteries left to explore.

Great story and one I am actively following.

It's got a lot of great characters, a nice mix of action and world building, and a super interesting plot so far.

I'm going to say that I only have one area to critique on, and even then it isn't necessarily a bad one, but it is something worth noting.

Basically while there are male side characters who aren't terrible, there is a real dearth of ones that I could see becoming a main part of the story this far along. I know that seems like an odd gripe, but it's a kind of truth that a lot of novels get sucked into. There's plenty of female characters for the male lead to get to know, but few male characters can make the jump to the main supporting cast.

Now I actually don't mind this because I believe the author has done an excellent job of giving all the characters a fairly realistic and fleshed out feel with plenty of room to grow, but it's worth mentioning in a review.

And truth be told, when you start going in the harem direction, most people aren't going to want a bunch of guys that draw attention away from making the female cast more interesting. Honestly, I'd rather have a great main character and great female characters in the harem and supporting cast than forcing in some guys just because it's a bit lacking in that area and I'm pretty sure most people if pollled would say the same.

Now maybe at some point that will change, and I'm not saying there's absolutely no one who could join up in the future, just wanted the author to be aware of it. Especially if you want to keep the harem numbers down, having a ton of significant female supporting charactes will draw people to want them to join up with the main character if you're making them interesting. And so far, the author has been great at doing it. The spoiler kind of sums up my thoughts about that in one aspect, though I know not everyone will agree with me on it.

I digress, no seriously I didn't intend to go so far into that part, but ugh, the characters really do feel that well fleshed out to me. I'm starting to repeat myself to much, so let me just sum things up: give this a read, you'll enjoy it, and if you don't, you'll realize pretty quickly it's not for you.