Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 1

インフィニット・デンドログラム [Infinite Dendrogram] Light Novel #1

by Sakon Kaidou, Taiki (Illustrator), Andrew Hodgson (Translator)

In the year 2043, Infinite Dendrogram, the world's first successful full-dive VRMMO was released. In addition to its ability to perfectly simulate the five senses, along with its many other amazing features, the game promised to offer players a world full of infinite possibilities. Nearly two years later, soon-to-be college freshman, Reiji Mukudori, is finally able to buy a copy of the game and start playing. With some help from his experienced older brother, Shu, and his partner Embryo, Reiji embarks on an adventure into the world of Infinite Dendrogram. Just what will he discover and encounter in this game world known for its incredible realism and infinite possibilities?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Science Fiction, Fiction, Action, Shonen

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2016

About the author

See also 海道左近.

Reviews

[Just · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Heh heh heh! Tonight I starve for blood.”
“It’s still noon, you know?”

Infinite Dendrogram is a recent-interest read for me, as I just recently finished the first 13 (all currently released) episodes of the anime. This book takes place is a VRMMO game of Infinite Dendrogram, following Ray Starling among other cool and unique characters throughout.
I found the system of ‘Embryos’ really unique in this world. Nemesis, Ray’s Embryo takes in the form of a greatsword and a young girl. Her appetite and attitude make for her to be one of my favourite characters of the series.
Also love the scattered pop culture references throughout that you don’t get to see in the anime.
Looking forward to going into book 2, and stars the series off with a fun 5 star start to the book series.

[Tarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something to be said about an isekai book where the other world is a video game that people are playing like normal people. No death traps, no 'it's a real world based off a game', no nothing. It's just a full dive video game and the protagonist is just a player who is playing it.

It actually harkens back to stories I would write as a kid, and with it, comes all the world building and rule explaining that is handled easily cause it IS a game and the protagonist IS a new player. (and thus has to have everything explained to them) The reader learns with the protagonist, and everything flows well.

There is also a mix of technology and magic in this book, which actually works fairly well. Sure, you have swords and magic, but you also have special weapons which are guns, tanks, and even battleships. (I know, that sounds stupid, but it actually works in the contact of the story)

The protagonist is a bit over powered, but his wins don't feel easy, which is a nice touch. He struggles, and even when handled things that should make things easy, they aren't. He still struggles and has to learn what his abilities do.

That said, I don't like how one of the Tamer classes is 'Pimp'. That seems a bit too much of a stretch, and really pulls me out of the story every time that character shows up. The class abilities and such are really interesting, but in the end, he's just a monster tamer that has a higher than average ability to charm the opposite sex. But calling the class 'Pimp'... yeah, no. How backwards do you have to be as a writer to put that into the story. (and who knows, maybe that's the translator's fault and not the writer...)

In the end though, this was a good light novel and I have already got the second, and have just learned there is an anime coming out next year which I am excited to see. If you are looking for an RPGLit, or a Sword Art Online without the deathtrap, this would be the perfect book for you.

[Leeann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumble upon this anime one time and I liked the few episodes I watch and when I learned that there was a manga I read this. This has volume one and two. I love how nicely paced the story is and the art is so cool as well. I love the added deatles with the game "pop-up" screen. Shu is such a cute and funny big bear brother. Ray is so cool and he also is lucky because of his embryo type. Very excited to read more of this series.

[LaPommequirougit · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://lapommequirougit.com/2020/12/...

Je remercie les Éditions Lanovel pour l’envoi de cette lecture. Bon, j’ai fait plusieurs storys quand j’ai terminé de lire ce livre, car j’étais dans un état fou à la fin de ma lecture. Cela faisait un moment qu’une lecture ne m’avait pas emballé autant après 49 jours e C.S. Quill.

Infinite Dendrogram est un VRMMO immersif. Il est basé sur le principe de l’Embryo, un système unique qui se développe en une infinité de possibilités en fonction de la manière de penser, de jouer et d’être de chaque joueur.

Nous allons, dès le départ, y retrouver notre personnage principal : Reiji. Le jeu est sorti il y a un an, mais pendant ce temps, il révisait pour ses examens. Autant vous dire que cela était une torture pour lui, surtout que son frère y a joué depuis le début et lui en vantait régulièrement les mérites.

C’est pour cela qu’il est heureux d’enfin pouvoir jouer à ce jeu et y retrouver son frère dedans. En une fraction de seconde il se retrouve à plonger dans un monde des plus merveilleux. S’il n’avait pas conscience qu’il était dans un jeu, il pourrait facilement s’y tromper et penser être dans la réalité. Bienvenue dans le monde d’infinite dendrogram !

J’ai tellement tout aimé dans cette histoire. Déjà, le style d’écriture est prenant et addictif. On se plonge rapidement dans l’univers et on aurait limite l’impression d’être présent auprès du personnage principal. C’est que j’ai le plus aimé ici. L’auteur arrive à nous dépeindre le monde d’une manière si explicite, qu’on a également l’impression d’y être.

Lire Infinite Dendrogram, c’est vivre une expérience unique. Les personnages sont fantastiques et tous plus uniques les uns que les autres. Que cela soit les personnages principaux ou secondaires, ils ont des personnalités et caractère variées, ce qui rend l’histoire d’autant plus vivante et prenante.

Puis cette fin, parlons-en ! Elle intrigue, elle nous fait poser une multitude de question et nous rend fou ! Heureusement que le tome 2 et 3 sont déjà dans ma PAL !

En bref, vous l’aurez compris, c’est un magnifique coup de cœur pour ce light novel et même bien au-delà. L’histoire vaut clairement le détour et je vous garantis une expérience unique en sa présence !

[Ridho Febriansa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2020, it's pretty general genres on current market with typical 'other worlds', 'vrmmo', and the rest.
For me, who enjoyed this kind of genres, it is an unique product.

Most VRMMO-other worlds genres heavily selling the action by having a long journey with other character, growing relationship and leveling up with them, and then meet another character again to party or something. Any other VRMMO-other worlds genres gives out the audience on what kind of danger they are going to face, who is the enemy behind of conflicts, who are they gonna party up.

Infinite Dendrogram doesn't really cares about that, characters are swipe in and out quickly, not many of them, so you could remember their appearances by their names. I think the main characters has a solid party that consist of some characters and unique monsters there.

The main sales of this title relies on its title, "Infinite" and "Dendrogram". Instead wanting to know who are they going to face, I kept wanting to know how their "Dendrogram" would evolve. All characters has pretty solid points, it felt like there is no characters that made only for supporting certain scene.

I've been watching the animation adaptation, but I glad to read the ranobu. It gives you lot of different way on enjoying the content. It's totally different, I will promise. The conversation felt so intense and fun, meeting new people is amazing, and enjoying when I feed myself with the curiosity of knowing how big the world is.

Giving out the 3/5 because VRMMO with slow paced is kinda makes things different, the MC really loves to talk to himself a lot even sometimes the jokes is kind of absurd (probably because of the translation couldn't deliver the original pun). and lack of a will for audience to read the next volume quickly (at least for me). Since there are no actual danger awaiting, it kind of plain even the "Infinite" is really fun.

I'm hoping to get something that would interest me up on the next chances reading the next volumes!

[Noplsno · Rating 3 out of 5]

7.5/10
This was a fun read. Before starting this novel I was very unsure if I really should spend the next weeks reading the series, since the Anime of it that is airing right now isn't that spectacular either. I was more then relieved that it was a slightly different experience then I had with the show as of now and there is some potential with where the story could lead, but let me start with the basics first. Why did I find the novel better then the corresponding episodes of the Anime?
First and foremost the novel is about a VRMMO and a chunk of the book is spent talking about the mechanics and what makes this game so unique and interesting. I really loved that the author tried to create a world and a game that you would want to play yourself while reading about it. You get so invested with the rules of said world and how it works that you don't really realize that it's over again. There are so many functions and ideas that Sakon Kaidou threw in his game, that you can't help but be impressed by his creativity that even enlarges to religious cults coexisting in said game or the humanity of tians and Embryos alike. It feels like the author really tried his best to build a world that could work, with even Player Killing happening and explaining how difficulties like that are dealt with in the world. I have to be honest: I'm more of a story guy and would love it if the story and characters would evolve and for there to be a fight between the Kingdom of Altar and the Dryfe Imperium. Things like that were talked and hinted at too, but I get the feeling that the game itself and how it works will probably stay the focus for the following volumes, which I won't complain about if it stays with the quality that I experienced in this first volume. The Anime on the other hand is unable to do the same things. I have no idea who is directing the show as of now, but I get the feeling that he/she really has no idea what makes this novel so interesting to read. I'm sorry, it isn't the characters, you can argue about that all you want, but they just aren't that deep or fleshed out, as of now that is. The show unfortunately skips through some explanations of the world and game mechanics that actually would be way more beneficial to talk about then showing a close-up of Babi's breasts. A thing that was supposed to be played off as a joke in the Light Novel since 18+ content were under age restriction and Rook wasn't that old yet, meaning Babi, who funnily enough was a succubus, could not use or act in sexual ways. The show really doesn't seem to care about that though and really focuses on some things that are redundant, with decent animation at best. The illustrations in the novel on the other hand were much more pretty for the eye, while I have to admit, that there are some drawings where I actually have no idea where a specific character is. Storywise the novel is still pretty slow, which is fine. It's clear where the focus lied in this book and that is not a bad thing at all. Ray is a newbie after all and the first two quests, the Player Killing and the fact that his Embryo, Nemesis reached her second form are good enough for now. Hopefully there is a bit more charactarization with Ray and the other characters, since some of them still feel pretty flat unfortunately. There were lines thrown here and there that hinted that Shu may not be as innocent as he may seem. Two other small cons dragged my experience down too though. The first one being the fact that Cheshire gave Ray the most obvious hint on how to beat Gardranda only for him to completely forget it until - obviously - the last moment. It would have been fine if he would have given that hint a few volumes ago, but this was around 20 pages ago. It just was cheap. Plus while I'm invested there really isn't that big of a threat right now. Sure, tians can die forever, but except Liliana and her sister there really isn't any other tian who I would feel sad about if he/she would die. Ray can apparently show empathy for a tian that he only talked with one sentence, but I really need to know a person long enough for my emotional strings to get hurt. Heck, even Liliana and her littler sister wouldn't do much as of now.
I still don't know where this whole thing is heading except that Marie, Rook and Ray are heading for Gideon and that the protagonist may meet the Superior Killer, but who knows? It all feels so open, this could basically go anywhere with the endless limitations that Infinite Dendrogram puts on the player. The epilogue hinted that some form of revelation with Ray is soon to hit, or at least that's what I read through the lines. Long story short: Read the novel, don't watch the Anime!

[Enairolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les light novel ce n’est pas quelque chose que j’ai l’habitude de lire. Pour tout avouer, je crois même que celui ci est le premier que je lis. Ce n’est pas parce que je n’aime pas ça, bien au contraire j’ai beaucoup aimé cette lecture, mais au final j’ai déjà tellement de romans à lire etc que je ne me penche pas dessus plus que ça. Ce premier tome m’a vraiment beaucoup, j’ai apprécié cette lecture que j’ai trouvé très sympathique. Je ne suis pas la plus calée en jeux vidéos mais j’ai vraiment apprécié le lexique disponible à la fin. Ce lexique nous aide vraiment beaucoup pour savoir ce que les termes précis veulent dire. C’est bien d’y avoir penser et c’est bien de le souligner également!

On se trouve au mois de juillet 2043, le VRMMO immersif du nom de Infinite Dendrogram sortait et a complètement révolutionner le monde du jeu vidéo. En effet ce jeu intègre ce que l’on appelle l’Embryo, un système unique qui permet une infinité de variété selon les joueurs. On va donc suivre le personnage de Reiji, un jeune qui vit à Tokyo. Ayant réussi ses examens il s’est fait plaisir et pour célébrer la fin de sa longue période de révisions il lance le jeu pour pouvoir y retrouver son frère.

Ce n’est pas un coup de coeur mais ça reste une agréable lecture. J’ai beaucoup aimé l’histoire. L’expérience du VRMMO est vraiment hyper bien retranscrite dans ce premier tome. On a envie de découvrir ce qui attend Reiji, on a envie de découvrir les aventures qu’il va vire etc. Ce que j’ai bien aimé également c’est le fait que l’on découvre tout le monde en même temps que le protagoniste. Et ça, je trouve ça vraiment génial, c’est comme si on y était à ses côtés. C’est complètement immersif et ça c’est un des gros points positifs de ce roman.

J’ai beaucoup aimé les personnages. J’ai trouvé Reiji hyper intéressant à suivre. J’ai également beaucoup aimé celui de Liliana ou encore celui de Rook. Des personnages que Reiji va rencontrer au cours de son aventure. Ils vont très vite se lier d’amitié et ensemble former un groupe et partir en mission. J’ai un peu moins adhérer au personnage de Shû, le frère de Reiji… C’est surtout sa façon de parler qui m’a vraiment énervé. Enfin surtout le fait qu’il répété inlassablement le même mot à tout bout de champ, tout le temps, parfois même plusieurs fois par phrases. La répétition du mot « GAOU » est vraiment trop présente pour moi et ça m’a fortement agacé… Qu’il le dise de temps en temps ce n’est pas dérangeant, mais sincèrement l’avoir trois fois par phrase toutes les deux phrases ce n’est pas possible c’est franchement chiant… J’en suis même venu à être soulagé quand le personnage s’en va c’est pour vous dire…

La plume est hyper agréable à lire. C’est super fluide, ça se lit vraiment vite malgré le fait que ce soit écrit assez petit. Je n’ai pas vu les pages défiler tant j’ai été prise dedans. J’ai beaucoup apprécié les illustrations parsemé ici et là. J’aurais aimé en avoir un peu plus d’ailleurs mais ça c’est vraiment un détail. La fin nous donne envie de découvrir la suite. Une suite que je lirais avec grand plaisir!

Ce premier tome était vraiment surprenant. C’est bien écrit, l’histoire est vraiment intéressante, les personnages sont plutôt bien fait. La fin nous donne envie de découvrir la suite. A part le petit point négatif que j’ai eu, je n’ai rien autre à redire sur ce ligh novel. J’ai le second tome dans ma PAL je vais essayer de lire assez vite tant que j’ai encore l’histoire en tête!

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Dendro succeeds is its systems and enemy variation + setting. It's a true RPG novel with the damage numbers for our hero being calculated to show how exactly he defeated monsters. The setting is set up ok, with light VR elements, and movement between vastly different areas. The final battle is really visceral.

The only thing I'd be cautious about is that there are some "Deus Ex Machina" type stuff that goes down, and I don't really love when these types of stories come down to lots of outside influence or the character getting a lucky level up at just the right moment, though I'm sure they'll explain these things in further volumes.

This isn't really my bag since it is a mostly Shouen take on VRMMO games. The protagonist is too young to drink, the other heroes joining him skew young too. There's not much in the way of romance either. But still, I think people who like Shounen will enjoy this, and those who don't may find some of the background politics and AI administration stuff intriguing (mostly seems like teasers for now). The fact that NPCs can die also may ratchet up the intensity in future volumes, but this one didn't establish too many NPC stars to get upset about losing.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting addition to the LitRPG genre.
The first book mostly finds us world building, and how things operate in Infinite Dendrogram. But we also get introduced to a number of interesting characters.
In terms of genre this series isn't anything we haven't seen before. I'd most closely relate it to the Alicization Arc of Sword Art Online, and I feel that in the future the series will see some of the same philosophical questions raised.
The novel addition that is a big draw for me is the Embryos, and I really like how it makes this series unique and distinct in the genre.
Overall I like this series and will certainly be reading in the future!

[Livres_et_mangas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tout d’abord il m’a semblé important de vous parler de l’objet livre en lui même. Déjà parce que l’on sent qu’il y a eu un véritable travail éditorial derrière les pages que l’on tourne mais aussi parce que j’ai trouvé l’objet livre particulièrement agréable. On retrouve un confort de lecture non négligeable notamment parce que le roman est très souple, ce qui nous permet une manipulation facilitée. A cela, s'ajoutent des pages claires, dans lesquelles le texte est espacé. Bref en terme d’objet livre le roman à tout bon.

Je voulais aussi revenir sur les illustrations présentent au fil des pages. Elles sont dispatchés au cœur du roman de façon suffisamment juste pour ne pas venir encombrer inutilement le roman. Au contraire on en retrouve a des moments opportuns. Elles nous permettent de venir mettre de vrais images sur un texte que l’on arrive déjà assez facilement à imaginer, le combo des deux est juste parfait. De plus, on retrouve une belle qualité, avec des dessins détaillés et des traits précis. Alors cette partie là aussi est complètement validée.


La plume de l’auteur est particulièrement fluide, les pages défilent toute seule sans même que le lecteur ne se rende compte qu’il est en train de littéralement dévorer l’histoire. Du moins passé les premiers chapitres qui servent à introduire l’univers et ses spécificités, mais ça c’est tout à fait normal de le retrouver dans un premier tome, et plus encore : c’est nécessaire pour la bonne compréhension de l'œuvre. Ce qui me surprend durant ma lecture c’est à quel point l’histoire est immersive, on rentre facilement dans le monde de Infinite Dendrogram. Si cette immersion peut paraître un détail, dans ce genre de novel ( ou même de manga d’ailleurs ) c’est exactement ce que je recherche. Je veux être dépaysée, emportée dans le monde du jeux vidéo et me sentir à la place du héros. Et c’est exactement ce qui c’est passé durant ma lecture. Une fois emporté par les pages, le lecteur devient alors avide d’information : on veut savoir comment les choses vont se mettre en place et avancer.

En termes d’univers je dirais qu’il est plutôt bien amené par l’auteur : c’est assez facile à comprendre, l’immersion est progressive, ce qui rend l’histoire accessible à tous. ( y compris au non initié du genre ) On retrouve beaucoup d'explications tout au long du roman, ce qui permet de ne jamais perdre le lecteur. Et puis en cas de doute il est toujours possible de se référer au lexique à la fin du roman pour lever une hésitation sur un terme ou une abréviation.

On retrouve quelques similarités avec les lights novels du même genre, mais celui-ci à tout de même réussi à apporter suffisamment d'originalité pour se détacher des autres. Pour faire simple et clair, il est suffisamment différent et original pour ne pas être classé comme une énième histoire à la SAO ( sword art online ) Le roman réussit à se forger sa propre place, son propre monde et c’est plutôt une réussite.

D’ailleurs pour rester sur l’originalité, on retrouve par ailleurs une spécificité sur les personnages non joueurs assez inédite pour le genre : c'est d’ailleurs ce qui rend l'intrigue prenante et donne de la puissance aux actions. Les quêtes du héros prennent une dimension tout de suite plus profonde et plus dramatique en cas d'échec. Chaque action aura des conséquences sur l'intrigue, l'univers ou même le pouvoir politique en place. Personne n'est à l'abri dans ce jeu.

Concernant les personnages, le héros n’est pas surpuissant comme on à l’habitude le voir dans ce genre d’isekai, juste pour être super badass. Il y a une vraie justification logique à ses pouvoirs, et surtout cela nécessite une contrepartie qui permet de rendre le tout plus juste. En fait, cela appuie la crédibilité de l'œuvre. Le personnage va donc devoir utiliser ses capacités avec intelligence, il doit prendre du recul et évaluer chaque situation avant de se lancer. L’utilisation de ses talents est donc plus situationnelle : il ne ferait pas juste étalage de puissance à toutes les pages.

En bref j’ai passé un excellent moment en lisant ce premier tome, je me suis prise au jeu de l’intrigue et j’ai dévoré l’histoire. Maintenant demeure une question .. A quand un jeu du genre IRL ?

[Sasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series was recommended to me when I asked for more light novels to read on one of the anime discussions sites and I hurried to read it now because of the newly announced anime coming out in 2019 if I’m not mistaken. That being said, it took longer than expected given that I was hospitalized for a while, so reading had to be put on hold until everything was sorted. Long story short, this is potentially going to be a fantastic series to watch/read.

───────────────────

While this series may seem like an Isekai/transported into another world series at first glance, it’s actually only a game that the players can log out of at any given time. I was wondering on what exactly should I expect from this series, but once I started reading it, I got the same feeling I got when I started with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn; a noob exploring this new and very fascinating world. The main structure of the story is not very different to how Sword Art Online started out for example, but the difference here is that the story is very slow paced without an impending doom to rush through the process. This gave the chance for something else to shine, the insanely infinite system Sakon-sensei created in his series.

I love it when authors take the time to explain their world in details to me, info dumping might be a turn off for most but to me personally, assuming it’s really interesting and well put together, it hooks me to that piece of entertainment very quickly. This time it was no different, an added bonus to it was that it also felt like a journey which is once again another aspect of a story that I absolutely love. Because of how infinite the game’s options, classes, and quests are to name a few, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can and should expect everything and anything from this series when it comes to classes without much of a shock. Really, honestly didn’t expect that class to exist in this one.

That being said, the plot of the novel is merely a set up for later on. This is really just an exploratory volume of Infinite Dendrogram and some well placed hints here and there to a hidden darkness/bigger story to come later on. I was totally fine with that because this set up works for me, I like to know the mechanics of a world in stories like these where it takes a somewhat high fantasy approach. It could of course be just me, but I definitely don’t want to be thrown into a situation where different terminologies are thrown everywhere and I’m scratching my head trying to figure them out.

This of course doesn’t mean that Ray and company are doing nothing but hear lectures all day, nope, just like any RPG with players starting out, they’ll be exploring their classes, their weapons, their options and surrounding areas to both level up and get more familiar with the world. This is where the “journey” feel came along for me, add to that the issue that came up in the half way point and how they had to deal with it, or more accurately around it which gave it the change up needed to keep it interesting and not slip into mundanity.

The characters are colourful as well, we meet quite a few, but not to the extent that it makes my head spin trying to remember who is who. Considering what happened and how we ended the novel, I’m definitely interested to meet more of them. I think two of the main reasons why I enjoyed this as much as I did other than the previously stated reasons is because of 1. An appreciated lack of romance and 2. A lack of sexualization of every female character in the book. It’s refreshing when a book got a good thing going on and it relies on that instead of pointless added extras, I do know that it will most likely add some romantic elements later on for a change of pace if anything, but I do hope it’s kept in moderation.

I definitely look forward to the anime and hopefully a studio that will do it justice will get chosen for it.

Final rating: 4/5

[Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Infinite Dendrogram for ENG 356, Young Adult Literature, to fulfill the ‘speculative fiction’ category.

I originally watched part of Infinite Dendrogram as an animated production with my brother last summer. While the world-building and characters seemed interesting, the animation itself and the general adaptation felt poor. From commenters we learned of the original material, a collection of light novels the anime was based off of, and heard their praise for it. Thus last Christmas I purchased for my brother the first six volumes since he had expressed interest in reading them (they had come in three pack deals at a very reasonable price). I too was interested in the series, to see if it lived up to the potential of it’s poor adaptation. When the opportunity came up to read it for class, I decided to make Infinite Dendrogram one of my choices.

I could see a case being made for Infinite Dendrogram being taught in schools, but mostly it’s just a fun read. The setting of a virtual reality game with extremely lifelike game characters (aka ‘tians’) interacting with real-life players provides an interesting perspective into how people value life. A group of player-killers have no qualms ruthlessly antagonizing and murdering other players, since they feel effectively no pain and the only consequence dead players receive is a 24-hour ban, but they then feel queasy and averse about killing the tians who when killed remain dead. Many players seem to feel much the same, and detest those who do kill the tians. It reminded me of another story that toyed with the idea that if you can perfectly fix the vase, then why not break it as many times as you want. While the value of life and what is considered to be alive would make for an interesting discussion, as of volume one, I don’t think Infinite Dendrogram dives deep enough to warrant it being an assigned reading at schools.

Warnings for the faint of heart:
Very brief mentions of alcohol and tobacco (in reference to the main character being underage and unable to partake). Main character becomes hungover, not from alcohol but a poison administered as a prank to simulate it.
A sixteen year old character becomes a ‘pimp’ class, but since he’s underage, he’s just treated as a monster tamer until he grows older. His succubus companion is likewise defanged of anything considered R18. A few leading sentences of the sexual nature, but nothing overt.
A dozen or so uses of the ‘d-word’ and ‘h-word’, three uses of the ‘s-word’.
Typical fantasy violence, slicing, stabbing, bashing, and gunning down of monsters such as undead, goblins, and insects. The setting causes all monster corpses to disappear and leave behind loot, downplaying the potential gore of the violence and is generally not greatly detailed. This is even remarked upon in-universe. There are however still a couple of more graphic scenes briefly detailed.

[Pablo García · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this first book of a VRMMORPG Fantasy novel series. It is very well thought out and written. I have nothing to point (criticize) out, well, maybe that the character Rook is a better main character than Ray. Everything comes harder for Ray while for Rook everything is easy-peasy.
The illustrations are rather baroque and feel sub-par, the writing is at a better level. Needs character stats and abilities summaries, needs a map and like I said, the illustrations all could use some "cleaning up and polishing up as well"...
This is an above average isekai (teleported, taken into another world) - in this case an inmersive Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The author does not go into game cabins at all, no social media posts (although briefly comments about forums), no game simulcasts on social media, no advertisers, etc. etc. etc. No talk about money, or money management if any, they ate a big meal at the welcome party, but then author doesn't mention food in the game except when they meet other players at a café...do they "eat"... Not much information about increasing levels, improving abilities or loot gotten from the "monsters" or players defeated...When Ray got PK-ed (Player Killed) the author did not mention what items he dropped...and yet talked pages about how players would drop their weapons or equipment when killed...later...
So, it's not perfect but better than most...and if it's a VRMMORPG Isekai that is not dystopian, blood and gore or totally sexual, then this is pretty darn good...

[Sukma Wardana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sure know how to entertain the readers.

Using Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online (VRMMO) game as the world setting sure live the expectations of action fantasy genre from this book. The introduction towards the worlds, or to be precise the game worlds Infinite Dendogram was doing pretty good, and the most important thing who love action scenes you won't disappointed because you will see action scenes from the beginning until the end of this book.

Having intense and full action scenes it doesn't mean you will read this book in high tense all the time, you will laugh unexpectedly while read this book. This book included a comedy scenes and kudos to the translators that could keep manage the hilarious pun comedy on this book. The last not forget to mention that this book was well written and easy to understand.

The only critics that I have from this book was how quickly the main characters could handle a big event, yes you will see how hard the main characters need to struggle to face high level enemy or even boss enemy with his lowest level, but he could manage it somehow. The only bitter experience by the main characters was he dead by Player Killer (PK) and received death penalty, the rest with some luck, friend help and his guts he could solve his problem.

[Jewels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4/5 star read.
I'd heard good things about this book beforehand, and who could say 'no' to the gorgeous art and cover of the series? It's got a very unique aesthetic about it that I couldn't pass up, and the story itself lived up to a good impression.
This has a great amount of SAO vibes about it, though only in terms of the dark themes coming to light as you read on. I was intrigued by such a concept of a VR game being so free to the point where anyone could be free with their morals (or lack thereof). Yeah, the MC does come off as a bit "overpowered", and there was a change of POV that didn't read any differently from the MC, but overall, great fantasy settings, great start, somewhat ending on a cliffhanger that was well enough to engage you for the second book.
I'd recommend for those in the older teens to adults as there is mention of gore, some "risque" topics/mentions (slightly, but I'm sure that it will turn up again in the future), and cursing. So read at your own risk, at the same time, have fun reading!
(Oh, and the current edition as of this time stamp has 283 pages, and not 250)

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Yet another isekai, and yet another video game, and even another full dive VRMMO. And yet it is also different. Nobody is stuck in the game, the players can log out. If you die the penalty is being being able to login for 24-real-hours (72 in-game-hours). It has a different set of mechanics that make for whatever the author wants (or needs). That being one minor drawback, that in this volume there was a "lucky break" moment where a level up happened that saved the day. But there was the talk of it happening because of the ***. And that's how it's described in the novel with asterisks. So I suspect we'll eventually get to it. I liked the various characters and their skill sets. It was just a lot of fun.

I will definitely be picking it up. I just hope the author doesn't totally overpower our main character in two or three books. I would like to see some steady growth, but don't want them to take over without putting in the effort.

Verdict: If you like isekai, you can do a LOT worse than this. Give it a shot, it is fun, fast and interesting!

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the immersive game world of Infinite Dendrogram, non-player characters, aka tians, the AI is so sophisticated that our protagonist Reiji Mukudori can not distinguish them from other players. That influences the risks he is willing to take in the game despite whatever consequences he may bear. I was pleasantly surprised by how well written this light novel is. It gets right into the action and we get to understand the rules and limitations along with Reiji. There are real stakes, particularly for the tians, and significant obstacles for Reiji’s game avatar (Ray Starling) to overcome. My son, a manga and anime fan like me, is also interested in light novels, so we buddy read some of them. Unfortunately, the completely unnecessary development of one of the main characters as a pimp limits my willingness to share this with my ten-year old. Charmer, monster tamer, influencer... any number of jobs could have been substituted. Still, I enjoyed the adventure and will probably try more volumes. Fans of western LitRPG fiction and MMOs will find this one enjoyable too.

[Rafaela (dragonsandpaperbacks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - 3 stars*

Infinite Dendrogram vol. 01 by Sakon Kaidou is not your typical isekai/game story. The players are able to leave the extremely realistic, basically flawless game, they just don't want to.

The story quickly pulls you in and since it is a game and the main character is a beginner you get to experience it alongside him, learning everything about the world of Infinite Dendrogram, which includes info-dumping, skill names, and various other concepts that could be more properly explained.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story for the most part. However, it is odd and confusing to not know anything about the main character outside of his game character even though it is mentioned in the synopsis.

Overall, I think it's a story I will enjoy more watching rather than reading, so I am going to start the anime adaptation at on point and I don't think I'll be continuing this light novel series.

[Blank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story :
Despite there are sooo many light novel with the VRMMORPG genre, to me, this light novel is able to come out on top. First, the way it is written make the story have a comfortable flow with decent pacing, there are many things happening but it is not overwhelming. Second, there are seem to be many clues indicating future development and if you are the type to scrutinize every word carefully you may be able to find it.

Characters :
The MC isnt the OP type ( though it looks like he will be. in the future ), however, he still following the MC path, meaning gotten a special weapon, special attention by the "Game Master" and so on and so forth. The other characters is quite interesting too, all of them seem to be alive and have their own ideals, goals and secrets.

World :
The world is grand, it consist of 5 or so kingdom but at this volume, only kingdom of altar and kingdom of Dryfe got quite an in-depth description as it is where our MC starting location.

[limo · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Y terminé!
Esto de que J Novel Club suba las cosas por partes no me gusta por más que sea muy regular, pero es mejor esperar una semana o dos que ir esperando 5 meses para que salga un tomo nuevo (un palazo con amor para vos, Yen Press).

Volviéndonos serios. Me gustó. No digo que sea una maravilla ni la novela que revolucionará el mundo de las historias ambientadas en MMORPGS, pero lo he disfrutado bastante.
Los personajes son carismáticos, pero simples y reales. Les falta profundidad, eso les juega en contra, pero llevamos un tomo de venga a saberse cuántos serán.

Recomiendo leerlo, sin ir con expectativas altas, pero tampoco encontraran una bazofia. Creo que cualquiera puede darle al menos 3 estrellas.

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

VRMMOs as a topic are hardly interesting anymore, especially in a post-SAO world. It's like writing an isekai with incessant escapism, but without the full commitment to the genre. Then again, these stories prostrate themselves in a similar direction and usually forget about double life/willing escape narrative they could easily present.

The main draw here, or least what makes this more interesting than I'd like to admit, is how the author has crafted a surprisingly interesting book. A good mix of mystery, some blatant commentary on the nature of video games, and a decent understanding of stat spreads in MMOs.

With a little bit of subversion and continued interesting world building, I'm sure this is a good series.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second of the "Best LN Series" books where I'm hoping the ranking comes from later novels in the series - it isn't bad (although it suffers from too much exposition), but it doesn't hold a candle to The Faraway Paladin: Volume 1: The Boy in the City of the Dead or even The Rising of the Shield Hero, Volume 1.


Full review eventually appearing on ANN.

[Cat T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good reading.

An interesting first volume. There are a few issues in world building - like a "super popular game" only having 100,000 subscribers, but they're mostly ignorable. It does take a personal demerit for being written in the first person, which I'm not incredibly fond of, as a note to others who might found that a bit off-putting.

[Heli Miranda ahumada · Rating 5 out of 5]

No esta mal, me seguire leyendo la saga. El protagonista es medio generico, el sistema podria estar mejor descrito, pero dentro del genero sigue siendo bastante complejo lo que intenta hacer y tiene muchas ideas interesantes que sabe ejecutar. Puede ser que tenga cosas medio raras racistas? muy amor a lo rubio.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the release of the new anime series I was too impatient to see what would happen so I immediately went looking for the light novel. While it shares many of the same traits as other Isekai stories, to me the setting stands out. I would play this MMO if it existed. Worth reading if you found the anime appealing or like Isekai stories in general.

[Robert Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book

Book was good got into the story right away to did not know about the book until I seen the anime on Hulu loved the anime so decided to see if it was a light novel glad to find it was the first book was great can't wait for more would love for the book to be longer only because I read way to fast i hope Ray get some aoe attacks

[strayreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal rating: 3.5

Surprisingly liked it more than I thought I would. First time reading any sort of isekai, and a game one in fact. Was also not bothered by occasional info dump moments, but i can see why people wouldn't like that. Since it is a game setting, it made sence for that to happen. Looking forward to reading the next one!

[saber · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started this series, I wasn't sure what to expect. It seemed like a generic VRMMO story that I had seen multiple times before, but I couldn't be more happy to admit that I was wrong! ID's world building is masterful.This along with a fun cast of characters and an interesting and mysterious story, I couldn't help but fall in love. Please don't sleep on this one, it's too good to miss!

[Jacob Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique VRMMO story

A well written story with a good balance between plot, action and comedy. No difficult technical jargon, the characters are unique and interesting due to having powers based on their personalities and the MC isn't ridiculously OP yet...

[David Anthony Beard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't wait to read more.

I was on the prowl fur something new when I stumbled on this book. As someone who dabbles in writing and game making, the game this book is based on sounds like would be alot fun. The concepts of the embryos is genius. If only the game was real.