The Villainess Is an SS+ Rank Adventurer

The Villainess Is an SS+ Rank Adventurer, Book 1

De: Kaye Ng

Narrado por: Brenna Larsen

Duración: 8 h y 9 m

Resumen del Editor

Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess.

Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read, and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.

Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At the threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle. Taking matters into her own hands, she escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.

©2023 Kaye Ng (P)2023 Podium Audio

No villainesses nor Rank SS+ Adventurers here

Normally I start off a review with the best stuff because I'm a positive person. But my conclusion actually contradicts my rating. I absolutely would recommend reading this book, as long as you take into account that it is NOT a story about an overpowered adventurer. It's a story about a spoiled little girl who may or may not be overpowered, but we don't really know because she never really does anything. So, despite the high rating, I'm not planning on reading anymore of the series, because I really liked this book but it was essentially the same 3 or 4 gags over and over and over and over again, and they were just good enough to be fun until shortly before the end of the book (Except the soap thing. That one stopped being funny after the 2nd time).

That said, I did rate this book really highly, given that first paragraph! And the reason for that is the delightful Brenna Larsen's narration. I've never heard of her before, but I'll be keeping an eye out for more books narrated by her. She's a very high energy narrator, and she pulls off the outrageousness of the main character perfectly, and the insanity that is the 2nd major character even better, honestly. I think the repeat gags might have lost their savor a lot sooner if they'd been delivered by a less capable narrator.

As for more detail on why I didn't love it? Like I said, certain expectations are implied by the title. Since the other series by this author is a high school slice of life series, I went in expecting the title to be misleading. But then the opening sequence made certain implications about Juliet's power level, which made it seem like the title maybe wasn't misleading. It was. The main character might be overpowered (Maybe? It's not really clear). But Juliet, is...extremely dumb. Most of the time. If I had to name a character she reminds me of the most, it would be Bill Murray's character in The Man Who Knew Too Little. Completely unaware of what's actually going on most of the time, an absolute bumbling fool 95% of the time, but things just kind of work out perfectly anyway. That's a great character for a movie. It even worked out for a book that was 3-4x as long as the movie. But by the end, I was ready for her to show some more dimensions. And it seemed like maybe she was going to for a minute! And then she was just Juliet again, and that was the moment I decided I was going to leave this confusing review.

Great book. I enjoy this authors style

Found this book after Lily Clariet. Can't wait for the next one. I work delivery and listen to Audible in the truck. so hopefully it comes soon

Brilliant Voice Work

The narration brought out the best in the characters and accentuated their dynamics with each other.

Amazing!

It was really good. It really enhances the expirience to hear Juliette's lovely voice as she describes her evil schemes and outsmarts criminals. The narrator did an amazing of portraying her absurd and hilarious character.

Better than you’d think based on reviews.

I got this title during a 2 for 1 special—I tend not to buy books that have too low of a review. After listening, I think a rating of 4.1 is excessively harsh. I would give it more of a 4.5 or 4.6. It’s very light hearted and has a similar vibe to anime and other light novels. My only complaint is I found the main characters boon companion to have an annoying voice—not in love with the narrators choice there—it’s super high pitched and kinda harsh on the ears, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.

An awesome start

I love how aloof she is but also the crazy things she sees has easy being something no sane person could or would do I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Deeply Funny

I live for the humor and wordplay in this series. It is just so much fun hearing Juliette smash her way through all barriers set in her path like a flail. Excellent performance as well.

Not my cup of tea

The MC is too much of the same thing for a whole book. I won’t get any more in this series since by the end of the book she just grated on my nerves. But I did finish it. Luckily I got it on a 2 for 1 sale so it was worth trying.

Fun

As dark as the state of the kingdom is the view point and delusions of the main character makes for a fun and concerning story.

Blessing her kingdom, one ohohoho at a time

Kaye Ng is back!!! And this time, it’s in a fantasy world. As someone who read Ng’s previous works, the “Lily Clairet” series, I was excited to see what kind of world Ng would create and it delivers.

This story involves a sheltered princess, Juilette, who is 5th in the royal line of succession, and her ambition is to forever lounge around in her villa. However, she finds out that her kingdom is in danger due to bankruptcy, which threatens Juilette’s carefree lifestyle, and to maintain that lifestyle, she decides to brave the outdoors of her villa and go an adventure in her kingdom to solve the issues that’s plaguing her kingdom with nothing on her back except her trusty sword.

The story is a light-hearted comedy adventure that involves a cast of quirky and interesting characters that supports (and obstructs) Juilette’s personal ambitions. She might be a pompous and sassy princess that lacks common sense but 1) she’s talented with her sword in an unorthodox way, 2) dangerously talented with her confidence, and 3) her tongue is sharper than her sword.

The writing itself is entertaining, delightful, and ludicrous; there’s always a fun line or quip that’ll make you laugh, smile, or raise an eyebrow (in a good way) but one of my favorite writing wizardry Ng is so good at is “analogy engineering” — being able to make analogies over anything and incorporating them into a character’s dialogue/monologue is what really makes the story enjoyable. It might be much for some to read Juilette’s mannerisms and one might see her as a narcissist but she is a princess and this is more about her being an adventurer.

Overall, the story, so far, itself isn’t deep or serious and it’s not on par as Lily Clairet series *but* it’s only the first volume. Even so, I find that the story is fun, charming, lighthearted, and entertaining; I marvel on how Juilette solves the issues and the things she has to do/blend in and the POV of the unfortunate soul who has to deal with Juliette are fun to read.

As for the narration, Brenna Larsen does a fantastic job. She nails the princess vibe and it’s wonderful to hear Juilette’s mannerisms come to life (those “ohohoho” laughs Juilette does? *chef’s kiss*) In addition, she does a great job narrating other characters in the book and each of those characters have their own distinct voice that matches their personality.

I’ve already pre-ordered the kindle version of volume 2 and I’m also looking forward to hearing more of Larsen’s narration and knowing how talented Ng is, I’m totally looking forward to Juilette’s adventure and hearing more ohohoho laughs.