I don't know how people slept on one of the best novels I've read. Up there with Jobless Reincarnation and Re:Zero, Faraway Paladin succeeds in creating one of the most interesting, and beautifully tied-together story. With a one-of-a-kind high fantasy setting, rarely found in light novels.
Chances are you'll love this: 9/10.
Plot: Layered onion that builds on top of itself
The premise of the story is the main character died and was reincarnated as a baby-- he wasted his life away and wants to make the most of his second chance. He's reborn in a seemingly empty city, with a Skeleton as a father-figure, a Mummy as his mother-figure, and a Ghost as the closest thing to a grandparent.
In the beginning volume of the series it focuses on the growth of William in his ability to fight, take care of himself(menial tasks such as laundry and whatnot), his sense of purpose, and what lies beyond the city that he was born in.
Rarely do I find stories that do as immaculate of a job at building intrigue and tension around little plot points that will receive pay off in later pages-- while also staying logically consistent with everything. Every little detail that's emphasized ends up being addressed and connects beautifully into the conclusion of William's stay at this city.
How the world came to be, the origin of magic, how William ended up in this city, why Gus/Mary/Blood are undeads, their reasoning behind withholding information-- all of these questions are answered within the first 170 pages of a 220-240 long volume-- not a single page was a wasted time.
Friends or older folk related to the main characters conspiring against them is a common trope; often with poor execution. Fortunately, the character's arguments weren't contrived for the sake of keeping the readers flipping through pages on the edge of their; it was genuine and satisfying.
Second to Third Volumes
With all of the intrigue built up in the first volume, the second and third volumes test William's learning, and show us the world that we'd only heard about in hearsay. While the first volume is the strongest in terms of pay off, and precision; the second volumes serve to stretch William to his emotional limits, and grants the readers one of the strongest climaxes in Vol 3.2-- despite coming off as generic hero does cool thing, I genuinely believe the execution more than made up for the limited premise of the third volume.
Conclusion
The characters are all phenomenal, the plot's presentation does an incredible job at selling a plot that's already really good-- that culminates into one of the greatest fantasy stories that I've ever read. The only reason why this isn't a 10/10 is because it doesn't have enough content for me to definitively say that it's a masterpiece. 5 volumes in(1, 2, 3.1, 3.2, and 4), I don't think I will ever forget this story.
I didn't include the character writing, or the emotional impact in my review. I guarantee you that it has strong emotional pay off with well-written characters-- if you're interested, give it a shot.
Thankfully there's news on its continuation-- it was on hiatus due to health problems that the author seems to have overcome.
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