The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 1

I sought this out, having encountered the manga at a scanlation site. One of the other reviews here knocks it for being too wordy, arguing that it could be cut by 50% or so to no disadvantage. I strongly disagree. I grew up reading Stevenson, Dickens, Kipling, Verne, Defoe, etc., so my tastes may differ from the younger generations. This work has exposition, thought, the development of ideas. It does not nimbly leap from "A" to "J" or "K", presuming that you will fill in the gaps, but rather lays out the whole progression. The author has a fine grasp of language and logic, and we are fortunate in the skill of the translator in regard to the variety of words utilized to convey the nuances. It's not as dense as E. R. Eddison or Lord Dunsany, but it is far closer to their works than most contemporary literature. The setting is your standard D&D derivative RPG Fantasy World. That said, it is NOT LitRPG; while the magic system is discussed from a theoretical perspective, there is no use of Hit Points, Spell Points, etc.; no status screens, no +2 swords, none of that. This is not a "Game World", it is a world where people evaluate and interact as we do in this world, except that it is a fantasy setting of the type commonly found in RPGs. Our protagonist is a low level member of the Adventurer's Guild, who suffers a transformative event at the beginning of the book; the remainder of this work, and the focus of the series, chronicles his experiences, and that of those related to him, as he endeavours to adjust to the results of that event, and find a path back to acceptance within human society. He is slain, and through some unknown process transformed into a skeleton while still retaining all of his knowledge, skills, intelligence, and humanity. Being somewhat familiar with the Monster ecosystem, he is aware that successful monsters can evolve into more capable forms, and deliberately sets out to evolve into a more physically capable form, such that he has a better chance of "passing" as human long enough to establish his bonafides upon encountering other Adventurers, that he may then seek aid in finding acceptance within human society despite his now being an Undead. Ironically, the very things which prevented his progression within the Adventurer's Guild are ameliorated by his transformation. On the other hand, it was that very stalled progression which had inspired him to research everything he could, resulting in his having a greater understanding of things than most Adventurers of any level. The combination of that hard earned knowledge with now being able to advance in physical and magical ability does result in a somewhat rapid advancement towards his goal, but the background is properly provided to support this; it's not a Mary Sue type thing.

The overall story is good, but the book is written in a way that is very redundant with the same thing being repeated 2-3 times in a single paragraph. Making the pacing of the book very poor.

Feels like a log book written in Skyrim. Each time the story could progress, it will reminisce / flash black... sometimes twice because it was told in two perspectives. I get that the first volume is usually the world building book, but it wasn't told well. The story progressed very little. Some details could wait until the next volume. Or better yet, they could have just packaged vol. 1-2 as a single book. That said, I'll read volume 2 with the hope that it doesn't do another Skyrim, move the story better, and let the readers know what the true objective of the book or hero is.