[Story] ThanaTopiary

Title: ThanaTopiary
Author: gej302
Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Psychological
Tags: GameLit, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Magic, Male Lead, Portal Fantasy, Isekai, Progression, Reincarnation, Slice of Life, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy
Audience: – (contains Gore)
Main Lead: Male
Status: Ongoing, Hiatus
AVB Assessment Score (?): PDE 1 CDD 2 SWB 2 || TQ 3 SV 2 || Overall: 10
Number of Chapters: 43
Chapter Length: Medium
Reading Level: Medium
Date of First Release: February 15, 2021
Date of Last Update: June 1, 2021
AVB Reviewed? No
Available on Platform(s): Royal Road
Number of Views: 15,053
Number of Reviews: 5
Synopsis:
A first-person slow-burn reincarnation slice-of-lives, with system elements.  An exploration of personal growth and the costs, benefits, and consequences of rebirth.  Drama and psychology play the lead roles for the first arc.  Reincarnation is not rapidfire, each life is important.
Living hadn’t ended well, but dying came with its own set of complications.  Now, I get to do both again (and again …. (and again) …. ).

Review(s)

Zelda_Anne_Link: Ill be completely honest, the prologe and ch. 1 are a bit of a slog to get through. Chapter 2 leaves a few questions open that could have been answered then and there such as what the technology level was at, what the MC looked like, the name of his family members, ect. but by the time i finished chapter 3 i was hooked, the worlds lore really opened up in that chapter, and i will be keeping up with the story 🙂
This story offers an unspactacular MC in a world with a unique low-power magic system, set in an era not often explored in modern fantast, especcially Isekai. A great set up for a slow burn series.
my biggest critisism is that it took a while to understand the tone of the story. the prologue tried to be funny and sad at the same time, and chapter 1 was just mc exploring his new life and felt like a prologue part 2, so it wasnt until chapter 2 that the feel was properly flushed out.
Aside from that my only real complaint is the lack of characters. the entier story as of chapter 3 has been inber monologue so we dont know any other characters, or their opinions of MC outside what he himself has infered.

Dan Lane: Style:  Slice-of-life, reincarnation, cozy.  The story starts slow and the beginning is slightly rough (the life review goes on a bit before the plot even starts).  PoV is first person with simplified LitRPG elements- minimal tables.  Suitable for teenagers to adults, children would probably get bored too quickly.  
The cozy and reincarnation aspects are greater than the LitRPG here, so readers that enjoy such tales will not be appreciably discomfited.  LitRPG primary readers and those looking for action and adventure are not the target audience here.
Story:  The plot only starts moving after the MC dies in the first chapter.  The lead up to this reads as infodump rather than background.  Later chapters have aspects that depend on this information, though, so it is not completely wasted, it just might need a different look.
As a reincarnation story, you get the messy bit from the get-go.  It isn’t dwelled upon, though, and the plot progresses with decent pace after the slow start.  Chapters 2-5 have better pacing and flow than the prologue.
Grammar: No major issues at all, very few minor ones that do not detract from the story.  Clean, and well edited.
Character:  Characterization evolves slowly even for a slice-of-life story, but it isn’t off putting.  This is not a story where the character grabs you by the throat and drags you into his world, this is the story of a quiet, somewhat nerdy man who has his passions and principles, but isn’t directly confrontational.  
Overall: The kind of story you read on a quiet evening, not the kind you read to get your blood pumping.  Not a bad tale at all.

LilBreh: I have a bit of trouble understanding what style encompasses, so do take that into account.
The style.
There’s only one or two time skips. It’s not mentioned in the literal “10 years later” form, but it is there and can be felt somewhat. It happens when he’s a baby and skips to maybe when he’s learnin in school a bit and again until he’s leaving. I don’t like timeskips, though at least they weren’t explicitly mentioned.
The story. 
It’s quite slow, but at the same time seems to go real quick past some stuff I’d like to actually see. It’s not mind-numbingly slow, but still slow. It doesn’t feel very exciting and the emotional stuff is annoying a lot of the time.
Grammar.
Doesn’t really have any problems, everything seems at least good enough.
The characters:
The MC – the whole “problems with the past” and “opening up to his parents” parts felt a bit out of place. We hadn’t seen much of his character, except that his teenage hormones made him a bit horny, but at the same time guilty, because he had a wife in his past life, which is why the breakdown was unexpected and felt a bit out of place. We saw he had some problems, but because we didn’t see how he interracted with his parents, the breakdown, once again, made no sense.
Mc’s parents – caring parents, quite normal, aren’t (or weren’t, more accurately) into magic.
ShopGuyWhat’sHisName and his wife – the last two somewhat memorable characters.
The girl – bait for when mc’s hormones act up, honestly not very needed in my opinion.

Story Post Last Updated: October 21, 2021