If you wanna read a proper review, read mine, not the below ones who can only make a short review, also I'm ahead of the translation, so you can guarantee that this is not a BIASED REVIEW but a SPOILER REVIEW. I wanna stay quiet but there's too much overpraising and too much trash talk to other novels which triggered me to write a review about this novel. If you're wondering WHY I scored it AVERAGE (2.5) it will be explained in a LONG REVIEW, but don't worry, it's not that I hate it, I just hate the FANS who creates negative reviews about JAPANESE NOVELS who talks trash about them even in this separate novel. This novel review was made for those incompetent pretentious fucktards who didn't read enough novels.
A linear plot with a simple objective, no backstory and mostly episodic, no long arcs and every story are easily resolved but there's a great number of chapters which is repeating this process. Long story short it's repetitive, but I still wanna see its ending since it's a wish fulfillment kingdom management and industrialization.
The story was very simple and was never complex, only the industrialization was complex since it was explained properly. It's boring for it's lack of complex setting since it's very predictable, every objective, vision, and many things about kingdom building. Overall it's just a dragged bragging story.
If you're gonna ask if this is original or unique, I doubt it falls in both category, more likely it has gone too far on bragging about the technologies of the modern world. Also it's very predictable there's nothing in the novel which made me thrilled or made me shock, if there was, it was the same objectives of different people but their methods differs, and it's very stupid since there's no decent diplomatic exchange between these people.
For the Individual Elements, I'll use the Genres and Tags as my reference;
Genres:
Action: Not so much, it's detailed how you'll enjoy the easy slaughter of Advance Soldiers against Technologically Gap Soldiers (Civilization Game) and some monsters, not that it's bad but the fights is just about that, nothing more, Some actions were good if it's the battle of witches, but still boring since it's easy to guess who will win, the methods of how the witches fight is the only good part of the action and nothing more.
Adventure: Only few places mentioned, it's a small unexplored world, and it's not a traveling story to be called adventure, but there are some scenes where some characters go to some unknown and dangerous places.
Fantasy: It's a low fantasy, it focuses on human power than supernatural beings.
Mystery: the only decent written plot genre in the novel, it's full of mystery and the world is full of mysteries, which is a plus for the novel, but that is only applied on the world not on the characters.
Romance: Not bad I guess, the MC reacts in natural way same goes to his love one, not an ideal place to look for cheesy moments or for ideal moments, it's just pretty normal.
Supernatural: The only original in the novel was how they use supernatural powers, it was used in industrialization, but it's clear that these supernatural powers were made of convenience since they only appear if needed, so if the author wants a new supernatural power, he'll just introduced some new witch, and he also got a tons of sophisticated powers for each of them.
Tags:
Army Building: The beginning of 18th century guns and canons, then later it become 20th century weapons along with 150 mm Howitzer and a Destroyer.... HOW THE FUCK DID HE KNOWS THESE THINGS this is utterly bullshit, I know that the MC was a Mechanical Engineer before, but the AUTHOR DIDN'T MENTIONED WHAT HE WORKS FOR, for fuck sake he just created some random armaments which is was highly classified and the worst part is that HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE HYDROGEN BOMB, which is Bullshit.
Conspiracies: The author used these element poorly, no he did it in stupid way, all the antagonist conpiring people are all stupid, their spies were also stupid, and it's easily predictable, and there's a lot of chapters when it comes to conspiracies which is frutrating.
Cult: Extremist Witches, was used miserably again
Demons: Uncivilized overpowerd antagonist which is closer to obstable, they are closer to conquering aliens who can't talk to humans, they are also the biggest threat in the novel
Discrimination: Against people with supernatural abilities because of moral panic and mass hysteria which was true in the fantasy world, since they cause casualties when they go out of control and they turn into bomb. So this is an effective way to save lives for uninformed people, It's a logical atrocious act but it's better than dying while writhing in pain.
Domestic Affairs: Overly used repetitive sequence of domestic affairs, and the author cheats this easily, the most quiestionable one was the Immigrants, where his low populated density was able to provide basic needs in order to live, he also cheated things like imports and trades, he cheats the realistic way of dealing with domestic affairs, another flaw which questioned its undeserving praise.
Fantasy World: while some supernatural existince lives in that world, the focus of the story was the human development.
Firearms: The Reason why to read the novel, the american lifestyle where guns is a must, seriously it was decent until the MC was talking about making an Automatic Rifle, so much cheating author, anyway they got 18th century Flintlock, then the 19 century Colt's Rifle and Pistol, and they have Scoped Sniper
Industrialization: It's really good when the author talks about industrialization, it's detailed full of advantages, it matches the work of the MC for being a Mechanical Engineer, but again the author cheats this stuffs and creates many of them which exceeds what the MC was supposed to know, it's an inconsistency since he itted that he was not a Human Computer and he mentioned that he was not like Scroll who has the abilty to memorize all she reads, even in the modern world, there was Kim Peek who can litterally read a book by just looking at it for split seconds then he can easisly memorize all of the contents of the book, which was not the case with Roland who arbitrary makes, creates and give information about it through books. This is one of the biggest inconsistent part of the novel.
Kingdom Building: With the power of knowledge, new work are produced through industrialization, but if it's genuine Kingdom Building, then this novel falls short when it comes to Government, Law and People.(read the Noble part for explanation)
Knights: Fodders of the New Soldiers
Magic: Mostly used in Industrialization, less in fights.
Management: It's cheated, even with long informative chapters about it, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha did better on this one.
Monsters: Appears only in Winter, fodder for the New Soldiers, used for training them, was blocked by Trump Idea of Wall.
Nobles: It was cheap since he changed the Government System without getting intervened from many nobles who oppose such idea, and more over the author cheated this again and made the nobles stupid to make it smooth, if they are smart, they can wield their power par on the MC and his Siblings. It was proved when the third princess made a trap city, which is utterly bullshit, who in the right mind would let his city into flames, even the stupid people would complain, but what was written was people running over and over, there was no trace of opposition of common people who tried to resist, they just died there and for those who survived live a frugal life, if that was not enough, the MC made an enemy to every noble because of his new policies which will destroy their lives, yet none of them opposed nor even tried to complain, they just are silent. It was clear that the author cheated it since most of the new policies and laws was executed smoothly and the MC was thinking of making a Democratic Approach by making an Election. This is a clear indication that this novel is not realistic, it's closer for being idealistic.
Politics: There was no such things as politics, most people are stupid without any knowledge of diplomacy, and I'm talking about the Siblings and dukes which was the enemy MC with the exception of the Fifth Sister and certain ambassador. There's also too much propaganda and cheated new law and policies.
Reincarnation: you know what it means
Religion: The Author is clearly an atheist, and it's Ironic for him to write a reincarnation and transmigation type series witouth god's existence, this one of the questionable part of the novel. The Church was also stupid, they are a full of foolish leaders even the lowest are. They are full of disturbing activities and they have sets of many schemes and conspiracies, but none of them helped to attain the very core of their objective, which would help the human populace. It's like how you bomb Syria by telling them to Stop bombing each other, and what I hate was there was no clear god in the story, how the hell did they worship witout a clear image who they worship, seriously. And there's the MC who just managed to make a propaganda against the church, moreover they are living in mid 14th century which is full of religious people, even in this modern world which full of exposed crimes of catholic church can't stop the church it self, I don't know how they hell did the author think that it was easy to remove a religion, it's far from realistic, if there was a total ban of church, it would be North Korea, where almost a century of brainwashing was required.
Royalty: A fight of 5 siblings into throne, but they also have the same objective, it was to destroy the church, but it was funny how stupid the 3 siblings are.
Scheming: Stupid part of the Novel, none of them works if it against the MC but it works against the enemies, more over it was a straight defeat, none of them are entertaining. Sevens did a better job on this one.
Strategic Battles: a boring strategy where witches aims for assassination and which will not work in real life, it's a straight forward scene of marching and shooting everything in its path, and there's a handful of chapter of them, a long one to brag how strong the advance army was.
Technology Gap: One of the reasons why many readers have read this, a wish fulfillment fantasy reaction about the modern world technology, products and ideas. What I like here was the details of each of them in each chapter since it was informative, what I hate was bragging these ideas especially the Burial of the Soldiers when the MC have a smug attitude in his mind while thinking of his ability to make a better burial service. The only original one here was the importance of Theater and its possibilities to change people's view and to create a propaganda.
Transmigration: you know this right?
Transported to Another World: look up again
Wars: there are 3 major powers in the novel in the latest chapters, but these are irrelvant since you'll see more development, industrialization and entertainment ideas than wars. Sevens did a better Job on this one.
Witches: The only ones who can use supernatural powers, used by Church for fighting and resources, then there's the Witch Queen who was able to take hundreds of Witches and build a community of them, and the last one was the MC who worked the witched for industrialization and development of the populace which is good, but very cheated since they appear arbitrarily, sometimes they go for war for some strategy.
For the overall characteristics of the characters, they are all predictable, it's either they react how majestic the MC was, or how they wonder why they were defeated in a fight. The MC is pretty predictable in the late chapters, he started creating what he knows until it grew so much that even the things which was out of his field were made in the fantasy world. As for the Witches, they got personalities, but it depends on their circumstance, and most of them are traumatized, but the main point is they are developing, but most of the time they were used to be looked upon on their reaction of each new product they can contribute, well it's better than a story of some random flame thrower. As for the antagonist, most of them are foolish, none of them attempted to talk the MC and to make some negotiations, most of them dies, a fodder, the only one who didn't taste that death was the Church Leaders, and if it's a threat, the Demons can't even talk and they are quite powerful. Not that I hate them but they don't appeal so much to me. Sevens and Maoyuu Maou Yuusha did a better job on Character Writing.
For the Enjoyment, Honestly I like it from the start, but I begun doubting its undeserving high praise after reading Sevens. Before reading this novel, I've read Maoyuu Maou Yuusha in its Manga Version, unfortunately the translators are unmotivated so there's no update, and it's one of the reason why I read Release that Witch, I got surprised how detailed it was when it comes to Industrialization Process especially the Steam Engine which hook me up. There's also my Enjoyment how I grinned so much when it comes to enemies reacting to their dumbfounded defeat, if there's anything that I got addicted in this novel was the reaction of many characters how they view the Ideas of the MC. Then these things that I've enjoyed got shot down by the Novel Sevens, which was the Opposite the Novel and made me realized what a real masterpiece was. In Sevens the above mentioned tags was masterfully done in excellent way, it tackled how many things which was in this novel especially Schemes, Conspiracies and Politics, most of its content was Consistent on its Espionage Esque style plot. Sevens is also clear superior when it comes kingdom wars and its pre-war and post war which was done poorly on Release that Watch. Also there's Maoyuu Maou Yuusha which is very Similar to this novel, the strongest Enemy was the Church, and most of its plot is about how to develop the human populace, but the best part of the novel was the "realistic approach" unlike the other which was cheated way too much, in Maoyuu Maou Yuusha the idea of Guns was rejected by one of the main characters, because it's hard to adapt on it, this is also the same principle to the Moder world who can't adapt easily when it comes to new Technologies, like Robots that has existed for almost for a half century, which was being developed as a sex object as its main priority (Seriously why!??) Hollywood Esque ideas were treated fictions, and only few thinks can exist, without taking a first step to attempt it. So if the modern world can't even adapt on the existing advance technologies and ideas, how much more for a fantasy world?
Ok for the ending review, I don't hate Release that Witch, I'm neutral on this novel, even with my criticism this novel got so much information to learn. And IF YOU'RE READING THIS, STOP TRASH TALKING JAPANESE NOVELS, they also have shitty novels, but they got some EXCELLENT NOVELS LIKE "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" "Spice and Wolf" "Juuni Kokuki" "Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon" "Rain" "Shiro no Koukoku Monogatari" These mentioned novels have the same premise of Release that Witch and Maoyuu Maou Yuusha.
