I’m not the Final Boss Lover is an entertaining, short yet intriguing story in-between fantasy novel about Jun Karentia. Highly recommended.
The FL, Jun Karentia in I’m not the Final Boss Lover novel is a support-type mage with many dungeon diving skills up her sleeve, but not absolutely over powerful, her cheat comes from her information and her wits are her weapon. At the first few chapters, she can come off a little annoying but she get better, fast. She is definitely the strong type MC despite having no physical strength or offensive magic of her own.
The story is unique. The FL transmigrates into a video game that she played back in her world. In the game, the story follows a hero as he fights the demon lord. During the play, the game resets after the first play and the hero has to start over again training to defeat him a second time on a harder mode. It’s during this reset that the FL is abandoned by the hero.
When our protagonist becomes the game character Jun Karentia, she thinks she has it made. She may be just a lowly support mage, but with her knowledge of the game, she knows she can finagle her way to the good ending following around the main character, Fabian. The problem? This game doesn’t end after one playthrough.
Jun is prepared to guide Fabian through the second playthrough to the true ending when…Fabian abandons her. Now the Grand Duke Mayer Knox—captain of the Dark Knights and the secret final boss—is determined to have her join his party. Can Jun turn the final boss into the main character? Why is Mayer Knox so intent on having her in his party? And when will these rumors about being his lover stop?!
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5.0 out of 5 stars an unusually good slow-burn romance with a heroine valued for being capable
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 27, 2022
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This ticked all the boxes for a surprisingly good read. A solid 5/5 rating here. Best I’ve read in 2022 so far.
The main reasons someone might not like this is if they 1) are not very familiar with Korean literature or culture and are easily put off by foreign literature 2) Were expecting a different genre, such as erotica or heavy romance or heavy action.
These books can be made or broken by the heroine. The heroine here is not a ditsy, hormonal, angsty, or a too stupid to live character. She is not particularly clumsy, nor does she have particularly low self esteem. Nor is she an unrelatable, perfect robot either. She has a logical, practical mind that has been honed from years of dungeon raiding, focused on surviving. She is not a Mary Sue either. Her personality is quite distinct, warped by her long journey prior to even the book’s start, and the betrayal of another. She has been humbled by knowing how wrong she was in the past, and often takes a second glance to consider if she is making the right choice, but she does not let past mistakes cow and paralyze her from making necessary judgements in the future. I was impressed at her ability to analyze her teammates, enemies, and colleagues. I laughed at her drinking our main man almost under the table, and then next day goes drinking with the boisterous warrior without baiting an eyelash. And the next scene she is winning over a stony priest. So instantly she is more pleasant and interesting than 90% of heroines on Kindle.
There is no obvious insta-love or insta-attraction. The story is a slow burn. So slow in fact, that you too, like the heroine, might doubt if the main couple has any romantic interest at all. It is pretty much platonic for this first book, each seems to acknowledge the other as easy on the eyes, but moves past that. No heavy panting teens obsessively thinking of nothing else but each other. And some deep conversations to get to know each other, and some maybe it is flirting or maybe it is not? But that is where some of the fun is! Is it just him being a single-minded weirdo, obsessed over defeating the demon lord and valuing our heroine for her mind and skills (which is kind of refreshing to begin with, to have a guy value a girl first for those things rather than something superficial like her looks), and he just doesn’t care if others might misconstrue his actions as being smitten with our heroine, or…?
Speaking of which, our main man is quite appealing, maybe a little extra though. If there is a minor negative I noticed, it probably was the repetitiveness of descriptors of him. Just so strong! So big! So intense! In my mind’s eye, he became so extra it verged on anime-like, but in a fun way. In my mind, he was 7 feet tall with bear mitts for hands, even though from one description his mouth was about at the heroine’s forehead height so he can’t be too ridiculously big. But luckily, it is not all tell, there is sufficient show as well. We are shown through his clever and bold actions and how other characters interact with him that, yeah, he is the big boss. He is still pretty mysterious though, which will be intriguing to explore in later books.
One of the biggest strengths of this book is that it is not solely focused on romance. There is a healthy dollop of fantasy and litRPG as our heroine can view the stat screens of her companions and help them level up and grow. That plus her other powers are cool and the potential applications are exciting in the hands of a clever mind, but by no means overpowered. As a strict support role, she cannot defend, heal, or attack. She is helpless by herself. Then, the isekai is an important part to the heroine and story, not just a superficial framing device for the story that is then forgotten about. Also, there is some social-political angle with our heroine having to legitimize herself as a leader figure in an organization. Brief drama with dealing with her horrid village life. A little humor here and there to lighten tone occasionally. There is even a little sprig of action at the climax which was satisfying. Novels that focus just on romance easily become cloying and quickly run themselves in the ground, or have to keep setting up ridiculous barriers and misunderstandings to the romance to stretch the book out.
Let me address the translation. In short, even if you are not familiar with Korean literature, this should not scare you away from this book. The translation is excellent.
In long, the translation has no noticeable grammar issues and good flow, but you can tell it was translated. Some cultural things, like how superiors treat underlings, Korean tropes, expectations of parent and child relationships, some turns of phrases. If you start familiarizing yourself with a lot of Korean media, the subtle patterns are easier to pick up on and are interesting. If you are strictly a Western literature reader, you might find it a little awkward in one or two places. I find that the transition from Western to Korean is a lot less jarring than that from Western to Japanese though.
I eagerly await the next book! Definitely a purchase for me.
5.0 out of 5 stars The denial is hilarious
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 3, 2022
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This book is so good! The denial in the title is an immediate clue to how you know the book is going. The clues are all there and yet the main character refuses to see it, which is really entertaining to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars Minor errors, but enjoyable
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 22, 2022
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This book does contain some spelling and grammar errors, which I assume is due to translation mistakes, but overall I really enjoyed the read. The protagonist is somewhat unreliable, which is a fun angle since in a way I feel like I understand those around her better than she does. There’s not much active romance, but there’s a lot of passive moments she spends a significant amount of time rationalizing away. The first story sets a lot of ground work, so I’m interested in the next book to see if it pays out, and if she becomes more open to Mayer.
| Listening Length | 5 hours and 42 minutes |
|---|---|
| Author | KEN |
| Narrator | Mara Walker |
| Audible.com Release Date | August 31, 2022 |
| Publisher | WordExcerpt |
| Program Type | Audiobook |
| Version | Unabridged |
| Language | English |
| ASIN | B0BCH3ZB9X |
| Best Sellers Rank | #21,577 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #667 in Horror Fiction #1,237 in Epic Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) #1,248 in Dark Fantasy |
You can use the link below to get a copy of I’m not the Final Boss Lover pdf, Paperback, Hardcover by Ken.
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