The Spring 2024 Light Novel Guide

I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin

What's It About? 

What's a guy to do when his life suddenly changes while innocently enjoying a nice, cold drink after work? And I mean really changes. This middle-aged commoner now finds himself in the body of Liam Hamilton, the young son of a noble house teetering on the brink of collapse. Between his fervidly desperate father and his utterly apathetic brothers, the only bright side to his new situation is that Liam can finally try learning magic like he's always wanted. Little does he know his hobby of choice may be about to turn his life upside-down yet again! Will Liam be able to master the craft of magic? And will it be enough to save him from the shadow looming over his family...?

I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic has a story by Nazuna Miki. English translation by Joey Antonio. Published by J-Novel Club (April 4, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Lauren Orsini

Rating:

I don't think I've read another book that has made me feel so much embarrassment by proxy. I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic is such a transparent adolescent power fantasy. It seems like the kind of story I would find if I happened upon a middle schooler's spiral notepad, not a published book. From beginning to end, there is not a trace of conflict, simply a documentation of a person who, I am quoting verbatim, has “such a ridiculously rare talent that only one person in the whole world can manifest it.”

Not even Truck-kun gives our protagonist a moment of suffering. One moment he's having a drink after work in modern-day Japan, the next he's reborn as Liam Hamilton, the 12-year-old fifth son of a noble. Liam learns that magic exists in this world, but only an impossibly minute number of people can use it. As it turns out, Liam can not only use magic, but he is way better at it than anyone who ever existed. By the end of the book, everyone who has ever slighted him has paid dearly, and he is being worshipped as a god. In Liam's words, people “were all flocking toward me, trying to join my party or become my bride.”

As befitting of such a puerile power fantasy, Liam can make people and summons alike evolve like Pokémon. When he makes a magical contract of absolute subservience with two adult women (they do this willingly because they are in love with him, of course, even though he's TWELVE), they physically “level up,” with their breasts becoming larger and their waists growing slimmer. The in-novel explanation: this “improved form” makes them better fighters. Oh, sure, of course!

There's no overt slavery, incest, or sexual assault, my least-favorite light novel tropes, but these are hardly points in this book's favor. Good things simply keep happening to Liam, making him ever more powerful, without much effort on his part. At one point, a dragon he needs to defeat decides it would rather offer its powers to Liam so it can see the world through Liam's eyes. The dragon thinks this would be “interesting.” I can't think of anything less so! After 200 pages of seeing the world through Liam's eyes, I'm ready to call it quits.