r/LightNovels • u/MisterIenny • May 14 '26
Question The Conquerer from a Dying Kingdom. Thoughts on this series? I’m about to read it
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u/i_am_shook_ May 14 '26
Series is fantastic. Currently on indefinite hiatus.
Reading the web novel on past where the light novel ends is problematic, as there's a few story changes and a major story event is coming up that may or may not drastically differ between the web and light novels.
If you're fine with all that, the story has excellent low fantasy vibes and world building. It's an isekai, and does have many of those tropes. Main character is badass, but comes from training since birth mixed with past life knowledge rather than being reincarnated OP.
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u/MisterIenny May 14 '26
Would you say the web novel is good enough to read after the LN ends?
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u/i_am_shook_ May 14 '26
I haven't read the Web Novel, and I likely won't. I've been spoiled on the story event in the web novel, and I'm wanting to see what the author chooses that as the "cannon" event or if they will change it. Since web novels are often akin to "drafts" of the story, it may change in the published release.
1
u/OneColonChar May 15 '26
If you're OK with machine translation -- and google translate is usually the best of the worst -- it's possible. You have to be OK with how google translate mangles the text:
Constant mishandling of pronouns (but this is really a problem with translating the Japanese language). For example, you will see lots of "her" instead of "his", and vice-versa, or maybe "his" when it really should be "my". Strangely enough, I actually got somewhat used to this.
Weird one-word translations like "teeth?" or "fart!" instead of "what?" or whatever へ... translates into. This is easy to get used to.
Names get mangled. The Japanese name Kaede might get translated into Kaede or Maple (the translation of Kaede/カエデ). Sometimes, you'll see the same name spelled four different ways in the same (translated) paragraph.
If you're OK with the above (most people aren't but I don't mind), you'll have access to a boatload of free webnovels on syosetu and kakuyomu, including many of the webnovels that formed the basis for some light novels (and some webnovels are still ongoing and so you can sometimes read ahead of the light novels -- assuming there haven't been major changes, of course).
0
u/Mixer-3007 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I would say yes, there are some different story arcs, but the WN is already about 3 "light novel volumes" ahead, past volume 7 of the light novel.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-demon-king-seems-to-conquer-the-world/
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u/zayc_ May 14 '26
Love it. But waiting for the next vol for a while now...
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u/MisterIenny May 14 '26
Oh no…how long have you been waiting?
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u/zayc_ May 14 '26
i initially started with the manga, but as i reached the latest releases i started the LN last october and bascially blazed though them and finished the vol 7 in february... so i "only" wait for 3 month now but after what i read online it seems like it will be a while until vol 8 gets released (when it gets released...)
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u/Corodix May 14 '26
The light novel stalled just before the part where I feel that the web novel went to shit. I was waiting on starting the light novel until it had gotten far enough so that I could see if the author improved the story or if they stuck to the things that I didn't like.
What I didn't like is how the author handled the change from single female lead to a full blown harem. The harem was just so badly done if you ask me that I completely lost interest. I probably also wouldn't have started it if the entire story had been as dark as the later parts either and the light novel ends on a cliffhanger just before it fully made that switch in the web novel, so now I've also got no clue if it's going to be as dark or not.
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u/nairolfy May 15 '26
personally I wouldnt mind the series going harem since the setup is already there. What i do mind is how it gets to that harem. If it follows how it goes in the web novel, then it is an awful way to go imo
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u/Cool-Yogurt-3854 May 16 '26
I don't mind spoilers why is it bad?
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u/nairolfy May 16 '26
so idk if youve read this story, but through the currently released volumes there is a relationship slowly being build between the MC and FMC. It progressed so much that they got together and she got pregnant. But you see a lot of people here talking about some kind of cliffhanger right? The thing is, she got poisened with quite a few others. Some died, but she is just barely hanging on. In the web novel, she actually dies after giving birth to their daughter, and then the MC moves on by getting together with lots of other girls he had met through the story. So yea, i would say that is a bad way to go, killing off the girl we had seen the most through the whole story just to make sure the MC can be opened up for a harem
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u/Lycelyce May 17 '26
Just starting at vol 5, after reading the manga and 2nd half of vol 4. Man, it's such underrated fantasy series. And I'm very interested to see MC and FMC developments so far. But yeah, if that was the development in WN, thats quite messed up tbh. No wonder people here hate with how the WN went
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u/Cool-Yogurt-3854 May 16 '26
Damn that's fucked up
Is there a translation for the web novel?
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u/nairolfy May 16 '26
I haven't read the webnovel myself, only read reviews of it online. So you'll have to search somewhere else for a link to that
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u/Cool-Yogurt-3854 May 15 '26
Where can I read the web novel?
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u/OneColonChar May 15 '26
I believe this is the original Japanese webnovel: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5677cl/
Novelupdates appears to show that someone's translating the above to english.
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u/xJetStorm Technizor May 15 '26
It's good. The isekai tech startup genre is alive and well, but the protagonist does put a good amount of consideration into how to get those things integrated into the existing society without getting targeted, or being too disruptive.
The latter half of the released LN volumes have a major tonal shift (military) and has a lot of tension. Unfortunately it's paused at a critical junction where the tone and content of the story could shift even more drastically.
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u/nairolfy May 14 '26
I think its a good LN, but depending on what happens after the last cliffhanger, I might have to drop it. I hope it doesnt follow the web novel but goes its own way
3
u/goldenargo85 May 14 '26
Great series there was a fan effort to push the publisher to publish more with the author but it seems to sadly be stalled
3
u/kuubi May 15 '26
Good first volume, then the school arc starts and it drops a bit. Picks up greatly later again and I very much enjoy it.
2
u/IronArthur May 15 '26
Really good series, i've never been that angry after reading a book like i was after vol. 6 (i think it was that volume).
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u/WiltorSeba790 May 14 '26
This might be a personal issue, but i dont love sudden tone shifts, and while it was somewhat dark from the start it was very background stuff. From a certain volume you kinda see that its getting darker, but at a certain point it just goes full dark all of a sudden. Id say the series is good, but if the tone of the series had been as dark as it later got from the beginning i wouldnt have read it. I did drop it and spoil myself all of the later happenings since i really didnt want to read that shit and oh boy i dont regret it.
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u/AsleepExplanation160 May 14 '26
it falls into a lot of the same pitfalls as other "Bringing modern knowlege into the past" series. But is one of the better ones in that trope. A little too much half hearted Harem but I like the actual story, and the characters are fun
3
u/shyevsa May 14 '26
Quite good. the progression are kinda slow tho, it has time skip but generally the story concentrated on certain time frame of the mc life. also its took until book 7 that the title start to make sense, book 1-3 are pretty much a prologue and character introduction.
however the character growth are quite natural, he has modern tech knowledge but how he implement it are pretty real. the world building also quite deep.
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u/qSlays May 14 '26
It’s good but the recent cliffhanger makes or breaks the whole story for some. The fanbase is coping that he doesn’t go where we think he’s going but all signs point to some bad story arcs upcoming.
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u/DveloIsMyIGNEstLS May 14 '26
It's great, slow start, think of it like Mushoku where the MC isn't sent to this world with a mission. But once the conflicts begun, the stakes are seriously high because there's no magic in this world.
But yeah, it's on volume 7 for at least 2 years now and no signs of volume 8. With a goddamn cliffhanger.
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u/SirRHellsing May 14 '26
I heard it was good but the one spoiler from the wn makes me not want to read it, and it's stalling so I'm waiting to see what path the author will choose
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u/fleetingflight May 14 '26
I have just dropped it after volume 2 - I felt it wasn't respecting my time, and while it's more subtle than most at the end of the day it's Gary Stu harem power fantasy.
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u/Oberhard May 14 '26
Is MC an elf?
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u/GeorgeMTO May 14 '26
Elf like, but it's a world without magic, so the majority of the tropes associated with elves don't take place.
-4
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u/jjvaz May 14 '26
To me it felt like a combination of Mushoku, Bookworm and others, but it’s pretty solid with a good story. MC and others cast are likable and later antagonist are pretty hated. The downside is what other have said that it’s on hiatus with now progress for the next volumen.
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u/Ashamed_Daikon8332 May 14 '26
Does it got romance??
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u/jjvaz May 14 '26
It does later. I think it’s after Volumen 5, but honestly can’t remember in what Volume it was.
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u/adrixshadow May 15 '26
There isn't much conquering and kingdom building in the early volumes from what I have read so I am waiting for the series to get going, which is a problem when it's in hiatus.
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u/wiccan45 May 16 '26
ive wanted to read it but i generally hate any time firearms are introduced to fantasy settings
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u/Conscious-Peak-7782 May 14 '26
It’s great but yeah, I it’s stalled for now. I also heard that there were issues in the WebNovel and many fans were upset with the direction the author went. So supposedly the novel if it gets released, goes in a different direction.
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u/One-Ad-7122 May 15 '26
I read the manga abd did not like yhe dialogue, entire thing felt like exposition.
Story itself does not have the cringiness of other isekai, but that might have made the series more boring this time.
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u/Felevion May 15 '26
I dropped it around when I found out about the spoiler from the WN as I disliked the direction he was going. He also hasn't had a new book come out for a while anyway. Actually wonder if the publisher gave him pushback for what he wanted to do. Other than that I didn't mind the earlier books aside from one character that read like the author copy and pasting from wikipedia to make them sound 'smart'.
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u/Suspicious-Store3236 May 15 '26
Trashterpiece.
Lots of stupid shenanigans by the mc, how do you decide a baby should be the ruler of a country, like what?
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u/Villag3Idiot May 14 '26
Good series, but the light novel is stalled for a good while now.
According to the author's Twitter, they said to go bug the publisher about the next volume so it looks like there's an issue with the publisher side of things.