An earlier series by the author of Returner’s Defiance, Dragon’s Justice has a rough beginning with all the ‘inner beast’ stuff. Fortunately it gets better by the end of the first novel and even manages to keep the harem elements under control for a decent period of time. It’s not until the fourth that the number of love interests begins to overflow, and even then the series remains entertaining until the sixth.
That’s where I had to drop it with all the nonsense surrounding the lost dragon village. Either you have an overpowered protagonist or you do not, no good will ever come from trying to play the underdog or damsel in distress card for such a character. Another issue is that there really isn’t any proper transition, mentality-wise, from ‘average college student’ to ‘I am the law’.
Dungeon Diving is also a series by the same author, one which handles the harem elements far better. While it’s true said harem forms almost instantly, it remains small for quite some time and even ten books in remains modestly sized. Which is a staggering accomplishment considering the setting. What’s a bit more interesting is how many of the MMO elements were giving me flashbacks to playing FFXIV; unlike some authors this one seems to actually know the games’ mechanics.
Honestly I was not expecting to like this series at all considering the whole dungeon focus, yet the various genre elements are blended together fantastically and there aren’t any unlikeable characters to bring it down. These first ten books are enjoyable almost entirely throughout and my only complaints are fairly minor: A male student rising up as the leader of an otherwise all-girls school is a bad look, Crimson being a switch feels especially gratuitous, and the media interview segments in the tenth novel are physically painful.
