How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 2: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Book 2

This book is full of references to Machiavelo's prince, Sun Tsu's Art of war, and Wang Jingze's 36 stratagems. A medieval war fought with troops and wits, instead of a great hero that takes the spotlight.

Most of the loose ends and open-ended statements made without an explanation in the first volume get resolved here. This one takes a step away from the economical side of things and focuses more on military stratagem. A lot happens and a lot is revealed. Not everything is as it seems, and Souma has started taking his role as king much more seriously. I like that the main character is not some overpowered hero. He is quite human and quite frail. He depends on others and uses others to the best of their abilities instead of trying to do everything himself which in turn makes him a good ruler. Great series, will continue.TLDR; From a military-strategic mindset, I think this author depends too much on books and proposed strategy rather than practical application and the role of tactics. As in I can point out how some of these battles do not make logical sense (or practical sense for that matter). I still give him a cautionary pass on the basis of this being a fantasy world with magic and magical beasts, and the fact that I don't live in this fantasy world, thus am incapable of fully understanding how things would play out. It was the only thing that bugged me from a military history nut's perspective... Still I liked his portrayal of a suicide squad

In this and the first volume certain things are repeated over and over, I'm not sure if it's a bad thing. Things like the three dukes having their names and title's and domains constantly being brought up not in conversation but in narration over and over. Same thing with the number of soldiers. Again, I don't know if it's a bad thing but it's definitely something I noticed.SpoilersAlso, where is the magic? If you take magic out of the battles in this you lose nothing. I'm not saying the "magical" creatures or other fatasy aspect of the setting, I'm talking about magic being the equivalent to firearms in its use for the most part. It reads like "this wall is magically reinforced" but doesn't make a difference to non-magic weapons? Same with magically reinforced weapons, they're just explosives equivalent to grenades or other types of bombs.Spoilers endSo why did I give it 5 stars? Because I enjoyed reading it. Despite its flaws and insistent need to repeat itself, the story is really good. Seeing this guy who was just a university student put on this role as king and how it's changing him is something I look forward to in the next volume.

In this sequel the focus shifts away from the economic and administrative reforms King Souma is instituting to deal with the 3 rebellious duchies and hostile neighboring nation that were described in the first book. It then sets up for a diplomatic showdown against the most powerful nation for the next book.Some of the story's strength in this book is how it makes use of the Chekhov's Gun principle. Basically if you take the time to describe anything it should have some relevance to the story. In this book the author utilizes many of the things described in the first that were otherwise left alone. Another strength are the novel solutions that are used to deal with the problems. I found them surprising and fresh.If there is a weakness I would say that we lose focus on many of the characters that had the limelight in the first book. Granted that may be expected with a cast that is as large as it is and may continue to grow.

For a second volume it was well done and really expanded upon most of the characters development. I was brought here by the anime and I'm now hooked to the novels.

All the elements of the first book are honed in this sequel, and we get a lot more complexity.-Dealing with the rebellious dukes & invasion from a foreign country-Less emphasis on economics, more on battle strategy and tactics (shame we couldn't get both)-Teasers for a few new adds to the harem, but no real development-A few solid surprises to this one in how things play out tactic / strategic wise-With the broader-scale action, some people fade into the background and just perform their role (dark elves, his advisor, Tomoe, etc.)-I like how sometimes the narrative speaks of the way the far future sees the same events historically-Good solid ending with nice setup for next bookI would like to have seen more economics involved, but this stood very well on it's own. Was not just a rinse & repeat of the first book.

In the first volume, I viewed Souma as what is known as a “flat character”, a character who hardly changes throughout the story. Yet, I think that is what made him a better character in the end. And by the end of this volume, I realized that it wasn’t that he was a flat character, but that he was just hiding his changes under all of his impressive accomplishments. I find it hard to put into words what I truly love about Souma, the other characters, or the story in general, but obviously something drew me in. I DID read the whole story all in one setting after all! I highly recommend this series, because it has so much to offer! I really hope that this gets an anime, or at least a manga, because I truly believe that this story deserves it.

This series continues to impress me as the story further gets fleshed out. The first volume introduced the more administrative nature of running a kingdom by following concepts such as agriculture, emergency response, and debt. This volume shows a more militaristic and diplomatic approach to saving the country that the MC was forcibly summoned to. However, by no means does this detract from the story but rather adds to it, making this surprising series even better. The author also throws in a few twists and turns that honestly surprised me as well as developing a few of the major characters and adding a few new enjoyable characters. Much like the first novel, this volume left me wanting more and eagerly waiting for the next in this wonderful series.

Hasta ahorita vamos bien. Estuvo interesante ver la trama de guerra y el desarrollo de los personajes. Saludos esperemos mas vosas intetedantes

The first book was cute, but mostly about world building. This is where the real story begins, and was a fun read. Definitely recommended if you enjoy some military fantasy but don't want something too gritty.

While the first book was good, this one gets even better. The stakes and risks are much higher as we face multiple heavy conflicts in the same book with no useless padding. Referencing other authors and historic events to support the strategic military moves that are used adds a level of reality and gravity.

Book is fine but came a bit damaged.

good book