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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
This was certainly a book...that I read...
2.5 ⭐️
I understand that people who watched the anime might enjoy this but this was not my vibe. I do plan on watching it but I don't think it will change my mind on this first book...
The writing was pretty terrible... Not sure if it was the translation or what. Who writes an 'intelligent' character responding to someone as "Uh-Oh, that's a problem" and that's it?! The narration was overkill in some chapters (prologue, I'm looking at you) and the dialogue between characters was super simplistic. It made it hard to feel anything towards the characters... and don't get me started on the two female characters.... ok I'll start: ONE DIMENSIONAL TEA MAKERS. I want to see some ladies in the action and with a spine, who have a brain! C'mon... I can understand that this is likely due to being written in 1980's Japan but it doesn't mean it holds up now.
Now... There were some good features of the book like the how it relates to todays politics even being written 40+ years ago. That may also just be because the prologue was essentially World War II and look where we are today.... Yeah...
To end this rant review, I will also say I did not like the audiobook narrator.... so sorry... but it was so hard to keep track of which German 'voice' was whose. I'm sure he's a great narrator for other works but it did not help me here.
2.5 ⭐️
I understand that people who watched the anime might enjoy this but this was not my vibe. I do plan on watching it but I don't think it will change my mind on this first book...
The writing was pretty terrible... Not sure if it was the translation or what. Who writes an 'intelligent' character responding to someone as "Uh-Oh, that's a problem" and that's it?! The narration was overkill in some chapters (prologue, I'm looking at you) and the dialogue between characters was super simplistic. It made it hard to feel anything towards the characters... and don't get me started on the two female characters.... ok I'll start: ONE DIMENSIONAL TEA MAKERS. I want to see some ladies in the action and with a spine, who have a brain! C'mon... I can understand that this is likely due to being written in 1980's Japan but it doesn't mean it holds up now.
Now... There were some good features of the book like the how it relates to todays politics even being written 40+ years ago. That may also just be because the prologue was essentially World War II and look where we are today.... Yeah...
To end this rant review, I will also say I did not like the audiobook narrator.... so sorry... but it was so hard to keep track of which German 'voice' was whose. I'm sure he's a great narrator for other works but it did not help me here.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I started this book based on a friend’s recommendation—she really, really liked it.
But honestly, its sub-4 rating on StoryGraph and the fact that it’s a 10-volume series were major obstacles to starting it!
Still, after a while I thought, “The first volume is under 300 pages. I’ll read it, and if I don’t like it, I’ll just stop there.” So I gave it a shot.
But honestly, its sub-4 rating on StoryGraph and the fact that it’s a 10-volume series were major obstacles to starting it!
Still, after a while I thought, “The first volume is under 300 pages. I’ll read it, and if I don’t like it, I’ll just stop there.” So I gave it a shot.
And my opinion turned out to be quite different from my friend’s and others who’ve read it 🫠. I was genuinely surprised by how much our views diverged after reading their reviews (I always try to remind myself: “Hey, people have different tastes!” But even so, I’m still surprised 😄).
Honestly, I read most of the book with a sense of reluctance. Unlike my friends, I felt that many aspects of the battles weren’t logical or weren’t explained properly. In many parts, I couldn’t visualize the war scenes at all. I often felt the author should’ve shown us a map or something. Many of the technologies weren’t explained clearly either...
Moreover, some characters were portrayed as extremely stupid. Like, there were cases where someone after attending two basic military classes —or with just a bit of common sense—would immediately recognize as absurd. But these characters didn’t get it 🙄.
Let me put it this way: their stupidity was laughable, and I don’t think it fit in the story in a believable or logical way. Sure, dumb people exist everywhere, but even stupidity in a story needs to make sense. If it goes too far and affects too many characters, it becomes unbelievable.
This made finishing the book feel like torture—I just wanted it to end, and I had zero interest in continuing!
Let me put it this way: their stupidity was laughable, and I don’t think it fit in the story in a believable or logical way. Sure, dumb people exist everywhere, but even stupidity in a story needs to make sense. If it goes too far and affects too many characters, it becomes unbelievable.
This made finishing the book feel like torture—I just wanted it to end, and I had zero interest in continuing!
The book’s social and political discussions also felt pretty shallow to me (again, contrary to my friends’ opinions 🫠).
If it were just those issues, I’d have rated it a 1. But there were a few interesting scenes.
These were mostly limited to the ones involving Yang Wen-li :) Honestly, he was the most intriguing character in the book for me.
The scenes with Julian, and the very few with Frederica, were probably the only parts I genuinely enjoyed (My rating for these scenes is 4 out of 5).
But they were so few and far between that they couldn’t make up for the dullness and lack of logic in the rest of the book. So around the halfway point, I knew I was going to drop the series.
These were mostly limited to the ones involving Yang Wen-li :) Honestly, he was the most intriguing character in the book for me.
The scenes with Julian, and the very few with Frederica, were probably the only parts I genuinely enjoyed (My rating for these scenes is 4 out of 5).
But they were so few and far between that they couldn’t make up for the dullness and lack of logic in the rest of the book. So around the halfway point, I knew I was going to drop the series.
So after finishing this volume, I went and read summaries of the later ones on StoryGraph, and my reaction was: 😐
Of course, you can’t judge based on just a few lines, but I really didn’t like the direction the author took with the events and characters...
Still, I wouldn’t mind reading a summary of the later volumes just to see where the characters end up—especially the final volume. But from what I’ve searched online, I haven’t found anything like that 🤔
Of course, you can’t judge based on just a few lines, but I really didn’t like the direction the author took with the events and characters...
Still, I wouldn’t mind reading a summary of the later volumes just to see where the characters end up—especially the final volume. But from what I’ve searched online, I haven’t found anything like that 🤔
adventurous
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The first volume of the political space opera novel series that has a critically acclaimed anime. The story starts with introducing the main 2 characters and building up the conflict between their 2 empires. I like Yang a lot so far and I'm curious to see where his story goes. It's an interesting world so far, it'll probably just take a while to get used to all the side characters and their names.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Shameless fan of the anime. I don’t mind the writing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The only time it was ever really jarring to me was some of Yang’s dialogue, but I can get how it could be difficult to translate his passive aggression. I love the needless insight into the characters’ minds. And the fact that ladies call Kircheis a redheaded beanpole. Incredible! And we can never forget for one moment how beautiful Reinhard is lmao. It’s only mentioned every time he is. I do agree with the takes that the anime is superior, but the book is still a lot of fun. My beloved beautiful boys space opera.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Legend of galactic heroes vol 1
I had this lying around for years so it was a good opportunity to finally get to it.
It’s a story of continuing war and battles between the two major players in a future sci-fi era: the Empire (ie Germany) vs the Alliance (democracy federation style).
While it’s clear to see the story is very well thought out, my enjoyment while reading decayed over time. I found I didn’t care much for the characters and the world building was a bit too heavy handed (like the empire being a mix of Prussia and WWII Germany, no nuance at all there). The characters are more there to fill a role or plot narrative and are less human feeling or flexible. Yang was my favorite character in the book but it’s pretty visible he’s the author’s pet and spokesperson. Even so, it was nice seeing a protagonist that isn’t war or battle obsessed. And how his dream was to become a historian but life didn’t go that way. Still, his history knowledge is what makes him good at military strategy.
One aspect I liked was the world building in the Alliance was the orphan adopting system where every single person take an orphan under their wing and unless the child joins the military, all expenses must be paid by the caretaker. That’s a level of detail and social world building I quite liked. Can’t comment on the military side as I don’t know about that subject.
Unfortunately the first volume didn’t grab my attention nor did the characters. It’s visible a lot will happen but I don’t feel invested enough to check the rest. Maybe one day I’ll go back to the original anime which I put on hold.
I had this lying around for years so it was a good opportunity to finally get to it.
It’s a story of continuing war and battles between the two major players in a future sci-fi era: the Empire (ie Germany) vs the Alliance (democracy federation style).
While it’s clear to see the story is very well thought out, my enjoyment while reading decayed over time. I found I didn’t care much for the characters and the world building was a bit too heavy handed (like the empire being a mix of Prussia and WWII Germany, no nuance at all there). The characters are more there to fill a role or plot narrative and are less human feeling or flexible. Yang was my favorite character in the book but it’s pretty visible he’s the author’s pet and spokesperson. Even so, it was nice seeing a protagonist that isn’t war or battle obsessed. And how his dream was to become a historian but life didn’t go that way. Still, his history knowledge is what makes him good at military strategy.
One aspect I liked was the world building in the Alliance was the orphan adopting system where every single person take an orphan under their wing and unless the child joins the military, all expenses must be paid by the caretaker. That’s a level of detail and social world building I quite liked. Can’t comment on the military side as I don’t know about that subject.
Unfortunately the first volume didn’t grab my attention nor did the characters. It’s visible a lot will happen but I don’t feel invested enough to check the rest. Maybe one day I’ll go back to the original anime which I put on hold.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes