It's a wonderful story. Personally, it's not the type I would normally choose. It seems to be set in a dystopian era, somewhere in the far future. Our main character, Gyeoul, is a young boy whose family has, essentially, sold his body. After being carefully taken care of by dieticians and doctors, they took his mind out of his body and replaced it with the man who brought it, so that he would have a younger body. However, Gyeoul's mind lives on virtually, spending his days playing incredibly realistic... more>> games.

The book illustrates the striking flaws of human nature, and how far people will go for greed. The boy's favourite game is survival in a zombie apocalypse. Unlike other novels, the story addresses the real enemies in any disaster—other humans, rather than the zombies. We see racism, irrationality, greed, lust, and what actually happens when people from different countries behave under duress In a small area.

This book is realistic in emotions and especially in reactions.

Throughout the story, the mood often turns subtly dark and melancholic, which is incredible writing, translating, and editing rarely seen. (It's terrifyingly realistic, and almost seems like a thought experiment behind the narrative.)

This is definitely a series that's worth reading—with a badass main character, realistic situations, and vague questionings of society, this novel is something to follow.

Update: chapter 40

Damn, the action is some of the best I've ever read. I recommend reading the whole novel all at once to really get the impact. <<less

Edit (Chapter 24) :

The story has lived up to the expectations benefiting Korean reader's comments and the awards it's won.

And the author fully encapsulates exactly how pathetic, loathsome and disgusting people are in 24.

... more>> Edit (Chapter 8) :

It's only getting better. It's certainly on the mature/darker side, and I fully expect it to stay that way for the rest of the story. The author does a good job of showing, not telling you what the characters are like.

Original review (Chapter 2 lol) :

The Little Prince in the Ossuary is as the description pointed out, a VR novel, however I hear the game is for all intents and purposes reality for the main character unlike many other VR novels. At only chapter two, not much has been revealed which might make one question why the hell I'm giving it five stars. To that criticism, I cite three reasons.

Firstly, there are already two one star reviews, so why the hell can't I give it a five star since it looks promising.

Second, and I quote:

"It won the same "novel of the year" award as SCoG and Novel's extra"

and

"It should be good" - Our adorable editor Nis

Thirdly, it's been translated by TeeKay and edited by Nisaea, the people who brought us Second Life Ranker. So the translation and editting is on point and anyone with a bone to pick is either blind or has too much time to be ranting on the internet.

So anyways, I'd recommend giving it a try as it looks promising story and tl-wise so far.

Edit (addendum) : I should probably add that although I harass Nis all the time, this is "[not sponsored]" to quote him. He probably wouldn't even let me read chapter 3 early the stingy bu...

<<less

Hopefully this will get more people to starting reading this, since as of chapter 7 it's really good.

The Little Prince in the Ossuary is mostly a VR story with some flashbacks to what's happening outside of the game. The main character is in a simulation of a world-wide zombie-ish apocolypse (Think 28 Days Later) as a refugee in a camp. He has to deal with the obligatory racism towards refugees, the fighting between people of different ethnicities, and the general hopeless situation he's put in to survive and improve his... more>> standing.

When we're not watching the boy be a total badass we're seeing the outside society and how exactly the boy got there.

tl;dr: It's a survival story with a protagonist who can both make rational decisions and kick your ass, mixed with a mystery story of why exactly he's in this "game".

Plus it's done by TeeKay and Nisaea, who brought us Second Life Ranker, and I trust their tastes. <<less

The first 40 chapters are so great and immersive. However, after Active Translation took over, they ruined it by translating it half-assed. Translation quality became MTL-tier. Such a great insult to this masterpiece. I'd like it to be dropped until other translator take over. Active Translation, you translated it like that and expected people spending money on this? Did you think us readers a joke?

3/5 star. 5 star for the novel and 1 star for translation by Active Translation.

Too realistic.

Author-san grasps dark human emotions perfectly. It is like watching the "Joker" movie in novel format.

5 Stars

I rarely write reviews because I'm kind of a lazy bum, but I think this story deserves more exposure since its really great!

The story goes like this, it's about a young boy who sold his body for the sake his own family (well, it's more like his parents sold him in exchange of money for the greater good of the family), and as a result his brain was separated from his body. His body will be used as a replacement by the buyer to have younger body, while his mind... more>> was stuck on playing virtual games. So this is where most of the story revolves- on the virtual game that the boy plays, which is about apocalypse and survival.

The execution of the story was great, at first I was bored because there were more monologues and description, less dialogues. BUT I highly regret why I gave up reading this before because of that, silly me. The story is really great, it's not overly dark to the point you'll hesitate reading this. This is thrilling, fighting scenes were awesome, the plot is nice, and most importantly the translation were smooth and good. I hope more people will read this and give it a try, it's really worth it.

Hats off to the translators! As expected of the people who previously translated Second Life ranker. I'm a girl who's not that fond of adventure stories and such, but I really admire their taste when it comes to novels.

That's all happy reading! ❤ <<less

This Novel is one of the best I have ever read, normally when I see 'tragic' keyword tag... I sub-consciously tend to ignore that novel and search for a new one but the author here presented his past in such a way that you won't feel much pressure or should I say the heart break will be limited.... The MC's fight sequence, his characterization and the communication between him and various NPCs are just great.... Give it a go and you won't be dissapointed....

P.S. - I do hope the translation... more>> release speeds up <<less

I’m the type who is reluctant to start a new story, and I ended up waiting like a month to start reading after I put it on my reading list, but damn is it good so far. It’s “dark” simply because it’s really down to earth, even if it’s premise is out there.

At first I was not sure about the premise, but any gripes I had with it were swept under the rug the more I read. Honestly I think it’s worth a try for just about anyone.

Weirdly the most realistic depiction of the US I think I've seen in an eastern book, how American's think atleast, from an outside perspective. I really get the feeling that the guy who wrote the book must know many American's, or has lived in the US for a time. Really intriguing book. It has a very bleak atmosphere, which I love. The VR elements work great, and the author manages to make you invested. Of course there's the theme of humanity, and how the AI in the game can be... more>> more human than humans in real life. I enjoy the fact that characters in the book, while still being characters, seem real. Not as in their personalities, but in their actions. Looking forward to more, I hope it keeps being translated. <<less

I was searching for crappy stuff to read but discovered gold instead. I don't need to explain much of the plot to say how amazing this is. There's the dark and serious plot of the VR game and the MC's problems in real life, the hilarious ad breaks with devs not giving a shit, and the stream chat of diverse and unique characters like the russian struggling to download the VR extension to experience what the NPCs experience, the h**ny dude donating lots of money and trying to force the... more>> MC to have s*x with NPCs and failing, etc. Good shit. <<less

This novel makes me write a review for the first time.

So just a simple and quick review for you guys.

JUST READ THIS DAMN EPIC NOVEL !!!

You'll get the action, the thrill, the sadness, the desperation from the story and still having some fun from reading this, and the translation is so smooth, thanks for the translation team btw !!!

great novel, very entertaining. I thought the novel would go on the road of typical naive shounen kind of thing but no, this novel MC even though he kind at heart his action is very pragmatic and sometime ruthless but not over the top. Story is serious but the occasional joke is goddamn perfect, not cringy or anything. Just like your typical internet meme.

but goddamn the new translator is super incompetent compared to the previous one. The hell you read 40 perfect translated chapter to mtl-like translation onward. I know... more>> they're busy because they translated so many project but you Active Translation better drop it, it's ruining everything. Enough motivation for me to learn korean thanks to you. 5 star for novel minus 2 thanks to the fked up translation <<less

What can I say ? I haven't read a korean novel, if any novel, as good as this. Okay, maybe that's a bit exaggerated since I do have my favorites, but this one definitely stands out among everything I've read so far, and... It is an absolute disgrace what the translators who took up the mantle after chapter 40, did to this wonderful work.

I wonder why this wasn't picked up by someone as competent ? Or were the translations held hostage by those piece of sh*t until it was too... more>> late ? It seems that I truly will have to learn Korean if I want to enjoy the rest of it, but I doubt I'd enjoy the streamer comment sections as much if it's not english.

It's the same thing as knowing multiple languages, be preferring one over the others for a particular feel of it. In my case, I know three and like reading stories in english.

... that was irrelevant. Anyway, please read up until chapter 40, and spare yourself the rest until the manhwa adaptation (which will be censored the fk out of, by the way) comes out and asura translates the novel, though I doubt they'd do better job than the lovely folks of Patchwork Novels. <<less

Amazing. I knew it was going to be good, but honestly I'm pretty stunned. Highlights include an incredibly immersive world, excellent character development, a truly godly translation team up until c40 (massive drop in quality after that, and then it's better again around c80+), a depiction of America that's surprisingly accurate, sprinklings of humour, and zombies.

Also, presenting a cool MC with ethical principles, a stand against racism/sexism, and a tragic, realistic, traumatic past that isn't "I saved the world but my friends all backstabbed me then I went back in... more>> time so now I'll show them all"! 10/10. I'm devastated that the translator for chapters 1-40 has apparently been shipped off to mandatory military service, according to some of the comments.

Downsides: I could only find one weakness in the series and it is that Japan and China are a teensy bit stereotypical. The author's depiction of Americans feels like they've spent significant time in the country (or anyway have a lot of exposure to the cultural nuances and values), and obviously the same for Koreans, but not so for the other two.

EDIT: In chapter 100, the author mentioned that they have never been further than Jeju Island. All I have to say is... author, I salute your dedication to research. o7 lmao <<less

The Little prince in the Ossuary's main protagonist is intelligent. Its author also makes it crystal clear that they resent discrimination of any kind. I like the author's own philosophies as well as the main character's personality. The setting, and the way the story unfurls is also very realistic. However, that's just the problem. It is so realistic that it feels like I am back at work, discussing with the others how we should proceed from here on out. This novel is closer to a philosophical work rather than something... more>> made for entertainment, so it is not for everyone. <<less

Review (Chapter 8)

Quite interesting. I think the setting is in a futuristic earth, since there are concepts such as cloning and consciousness replacement. The beginning can be quite confusing so here's an explanation from what I understand: the MC is playing a VR game while in reality... Find out yourself :)

I am usually rather critical when it comes to reviews and I tend to write a novel like review. This time I wont.

All I can say is - read it. 5 Chapters and you already know its good but might decide to drop it. The story might be hard to stomach for some people, especially for the imaginary type of person. It can be pretty dark and might sour your mood depending on your mental disposition.