Bog Standard Isekai

Blurb

Mark’s new life begins in the worst possible place—a burned-out village haunted by undead. Each morning these ravenous creatures disappear, only to return at night, driven by a relentless hunger. He’ll need to stay low and think quick, because trapped and alone in the body of a child, he can’t level up in this new world. At least not yet.

Soon Mark will learn that even among the living, safety isn’t guaranteed. When the small town that he ends up in turns out to be at the center of a conspiracy that threatens the world, he’ll need to uncover the truth before it’s too late. Mark will need to find allies, gain levels, and face countless horrors in order to survive his second shot at life and prove that he’s more than just a bog-standard hero…

Thoughts

As of writing this review, I’ve read all three novels on Kindle.

I picked up this story after seeing a few rec threads for it on reddit, and it coincidently happens to be just after reading The Calamitous Bob, and while I’m writing book six of my own series. All three stories feature a dragon companion, and I am now convinced that this is the new fad and I didn’t even realise. Marksi is the star of the show in Bog Standard Isekai, everyone agrees, but I suppose we should talk a bit about our technical MC, Mark, aka Brin, aka Scar, aka Aberthol. He soul hops his way into the body of a twelve year old as the sole survivor of an undead raid on the swampy village he was staying at. Suffice it to say, he doesn’t have a good time.

Super minor tiny spoilers, but eventually Mark finds allies summoned by a system quest, and thus begins the delving into the overarching plot point of “Why are there thousands of undead wandering around in this nation,” and this plot point evolves and deepens over the three books I’ve read. Once Mark, now called Brin, extricates himself, its onto life in a (different) bog town. Hogg, the “rogue” hero, takes on the father figure role, and does a terrible job at it. The first few books seem to be mostly about Brin’s growth and development as stakes slowly ramp up, and a lot of the tension in the first book comes from people refusing to communicate, which is a trope I admit I’m not a fan of.

This happens a lot, so much so that the author lampshades it in a later book:

“So we’re doing the reticent old mentor who selectively hides important information for no reason again?” said Brin.

Just stop doing it!!! But my preferences ultimately mean little, so to give a concrete example rather than just assert my opinion, the first rise of tension in the new bog town comes from Brin drawing close to the age of adulthood (14) when he’ll get a class. He’s been doing lots of chores, but then eventually figures out that there are certain achievements (which often give things like extra attributes per level or percentage gains to stats or stat growth rates) that can dramatically increase one’s power as they level up. Why was this not something explained immediately by Hogg or anyone else? Who knows. So damn, Brin thinks, I have to start grinding, but thankfully I’ve got months and months until my 14th birthday. So he grinds away, and has mapped out his stat gain to hit the achievement milestones before his age of majority. But oh no! No one told him that actually in his town everyone gains the age of majority not on their actual birthday, but on a specific day of the year, which for him means its coming six months early! So damn, all his plans are now ruined because he has to cram six months of growth into two weeks.

Like, sure, technically possible, but if someone, anyone had just explained this to Brin (and Hogg knows Brin is an otherworlder with no prior knowledge) then Brin could have planned and attained more milestones and become significantly stronger. I like my tension to come from real stakes, not people deliberately not communicating simple facts. Anyway, this is something I obviously feel very strongly about, and I want to take a second to reiterate this is just my preference. Many other plot points (such as the actual physical army of undead) are handled very well, and Brin and Marksi’s growth as they learn the ins and outs of their classes, their titles, achivements, skills, and Language, are all very fun to read.

To those wondering how much “bog” is in the series, fear not, Brin and friends spread the wings and travel, going to bigger places with more danger and higher stakes. Book two teased an academy arc at some later point if Brin goes to study with his adoptive mother, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I think that would be great fun, but who knows if the tension from the undead army is going to spill over before that and turn all expected plot points on their heads.

As a final point, I’m jumping across to Royal Road to read book four’s chapters there, and a lot of this is motivated because Brin has finally been able to use his Earth knowledge (excluding the boon from Memories of Glass) into a very nice CPU-based skill and its the first time I’ve seen a thought-based skill implemented in this way and its actually super intruiging. But I won’t say more because I’m worried it’ll accidentally be a spoiler for something in book four! Its current use in battles (which are fun, inventive, and not drawn out) has so many possibilities, I need to see what plays out.