Courier Quest

Courier Quest

Read Time: 3 Minutes

So wholesome it’ll make your teeth ache. Well maybe not that dramatic but this slice-of-life isekai book is filled with great fiends and low stakes and is just a generally overall wholesome family-friendly story.

Summoned into a new world after meeting his near demise by the standard truck-kun method, our somewhat hapless hero, Trevor Anderson bumbles his way through character selection and chooses “inventory” as his special skill. Most people go for something more adventure related, but this suits his character well.

Trevor needed a break from his boring life which made him the ideal candidate for the summoning to a new world. Summoned not to fight demons or monsters but simply to fulfill a summoning quota from someone else. It’s made clear right off that in he can choose to go home at virtually any time, so it really sets the bar low for stakes.

The town he is summoned to is filled with people who are more like an extended happy family. Everyone has time for everyone, nothing is ever a bother, and everyone is best friends. I really can’t over state how overly wholesome the whole story is.

Trevor is a bit of a simp if we’re putting labels on it. He apologises profusely throughout, never really growing any kind of backbone. Not that he really needs one since everyone gets along. There’s no real “adventure” as such beyond a safe trip to the capital where even violence is controlled through magic so you’re not really at any risk.

He gets a love interest in the character Adabelle (guessing at the spelling, but that seems right), or Lady Adabelle since she’s a noble. He takes to calling her by the nickname “Lady”, and I can’t help but think in real life he’d be saying “m’lady” like a meme guy.

It wasn’t dreadful but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to give it another listen. It’s written and ended like a one-shot and not part of a series, which I think works. If another does get released, I’d not be interested in getting it.

One redeeming thing was a shark-girl called (another guess at spelling here) Rashey. Before being summoned to the world she was a kraken-like monster living in the depths of an ocean world. When brought across, she too failed to express her wishes coherently and became a kind of shark/person hybrid.

She’s the most adorably dangerous apex predator you’re likely to meet, and I’d probably read a whole story just about her character!

The narrator of the female parts of the book, Hannah Schooner, did a fantastic job with Rashey’s character, giving her the over-the-top and mad energy she deserved. Schooner’s narration I preferred over Giancarlo Herrera’s. I found his felt a little too… dramatic. Like a bit too formal over too much gravitas for such a light novel.

The narration by both was rather slow, too. So much so that I had to bump the playback speed much higher than normal just so it didn’t feel like it was dragged out. The whole thing is probably 1/3 longer than it needs to be because of the pacing.

Overall, a bit too wholesome… like crossing the line into an area where it’s hard to suspend disbelief. Maybe I’m jaded, but the characters just didn’t feel like they could be real most of the time.

I’m not sorry that I listened as if I had to put it into an either a “liked” or “disliked” bucket, I’d choose “liked” because it had enough to keep me interested throughout. Safe enough for younger audiences… and maybe that might be its market. I’ll not be in any rush to relisten nor seek out what else FlossinDune has written at this stage.


Tagged

Male Narrator, Female Narrator, Slice of Life, Adventure, Fantasy, Wholesome, LitRPG
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