Survival in Another World with My Mistress! (Light Novel) Vol. 1

ご主人様とゆく異世界サバイバル！ #1

by Ryuto, リュート, Yappen (Illustrator)

TIME TO GET CRAFTY! Kousuke suddenly wakes up alone in a vast forest that clearly isn't anywhere on Earth. Now he has to find some way to eat, drink, and survive! Luckily, Kousuke also has the power to craft using a special video game menu that allows him to harvest resources and build whatever he can imagine. However, every time he goes to sleep, he's attacked by one of the many non-human races of this world, all of whom despise humankind. Enter Silphy, the beautiful dark elf who lays claim to Kousuke and vows to protect him--after all, she's taken him as her property!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Audiobook, Harem, Manga

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 2019

Reviews

[WA. Prakosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ceritanya bagus meski alur ceritanya terkesan cukup lambat.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 35%.

This Isekai Light Novel had a fun premise but the execution was a total bust. The writing and dialogue were atrocious. I’m not sure whether to blame the author or the translator but either way this was pretty poor quality.

The premise was solidly fun. Kousuke wakes up in a weird new world and quickly realises he is in trouble. Lucky for him a Dark Elf stumbles across him and decides to keep him as a slave!

Premise could have been really fun as this was definitely going for a humorous tone but most of what we got just failed to land. The story, the characters, and the humour were just really lacking.

Rating: 2 stars.

Audio Note: This was narrated by John Patneaude. I did not love his performance of this one.

[Matthew Herring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kosuke is a twenty-something survival building gaming addict who suddenly finds himself transported to a fantasy world with no resources but a system that looks a lot like a certain pixelated crafting and survival game's crafting system. Just as he's getting a grasp on things, the MC gets a rather rude introduction to the fact that humans are despised (rightfully so) by the world's fantasy races. Suddenly enslaved to an elf and surrounded by hostile elves and beastfolk, Kosuke must use every trick his system provides to protect himself and show his value to the refugees and elves of the village
I thoroughly enjoyed the world building, characters, humor, and subtle but well thought out weak to strong elements of the game. Pretty sure Kosuke will end up way overpowered, and fairly soon. His sense of humor and genre savvy, as well as his broad but generalized scope of knowledge surprised me and the supporting cast far more than once during the story.
I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who likes system driven fantasy novels that balance action, crafting, and slice of life elements near flawlessly. My only complaint is the quickness of the romance element, but that is well explained, even intuited by the MC so he isn't overly hurt by the revelation when it happens. Such a scene can be tricky to navigate for an author, but it's handled well. Nothing in this story happens without a reason, or because "bwaa haa haa bad guy suddenly. Definitely give it a read. Oh yeah, for those of you worried about it being a Japanese light novel, the translation is superb and I found no quirks of language sometimes found in such novels. You will love this if you love the genre.

[Helene Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 20%

I’m definitely not the target audience for this book. 🥲 But apart from that, the writing was also subpar. There is sooooo much telling, and the first chapter only explores survival skills. 0 plot.

[Zac · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise seemed interesting and I enjoyed the powers and the potential but I stopped listening to the audiobook fairly early on.

To be fair I probably didn't give the book a fair chance but I was cringing at every interaction between the MC and his 'mistress'. For me it just ruined the MC for me and I couldn't immerse myself or care about him which is a shame since he has one of the more interesting powers and ability sets.

[Zevitjoss · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst light novel I've read so far. It's so incredibly boring. Survival stories where a character slowly gathers resources and craft things to better their chances of survival can be interesting and give a general feeling of satisfaction that one might similarly obtain from playing and progressing in a survival game(like the one this book is based of).

The issue with this book however is that the main character of this book like many other isekai light novel protagonists possess a form of a cheat skill. When the main character doesn't need to do much hard work physically or even mentally because everything they could possibly need can be crafted in a short amount of time using their skill without requiring the main character to even know how these things are made takes any form of satisfaction that one might obtain from reading the main character's progression in their life of survival.

The prose is just equally uninteresting as the story if not worse. It's written well enough that I was able to understand everything properly but that's all it's good at. There's nothing interesting about it, there's no sense style to it, and there's no attempt at anything poetic except the last line of the book. I've read books with worse prose that are poorly written and unintentionally hard to understand but they all had a charm to them. The prose for this book almost feels truly hollow.

I appreciate a main character that isn't a clueless teenage virgin and that the 2 leads meet and enter a relationship rather quickly. That being said for a book with a title like *Survival in Another World with My Mistress!* it's surprisingly very tame and vanilla. This book isn't even interesting in a trash kind of way. I was at least expecting more on that regard.

[Bernard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay.

The main character was kind of flat. Not really much happening with his thinking. He comes across as a bit weak. The princess isn't all that impressive either.

The best way to describe the book? An RPG game with a DM that isn't great at telling stories. The world description was done right. The characters showed almost nothing in the way of emotion. The interactions between the characters reminded me of a year end tax review...

The author made a real effort, but I think more work on writing skills in in order.

[Akshay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Survival in Another World with My Mistress! Vol. 1

Ryuto’s first volume in this unusual light novel series attempts to merge two seemingly incompatible genres: the isekai survival tale and the BDSM-flavored romantic comedy. On one hand, the book delivers engaging descriptions of practical survivalism — from building tools, setting up camp, and learning to live in a harsh, alien wilderness. On the other hand, it leans into fetish-driven humor, where the protagonist’s masochistic tendencies are tested (and often indulged) by his elven mistress.

The prose is straightforward but occasionally bogged down by excessive detail in mundane tasks. Where the book shines is in its comedic timing: the contrast between a desperate fight for survival and the protagonist’s eagerness to be scolded, dominated, or humiliated creates moments that are both absurd and entertaining. However, readers looking for a “serious” isekai adventure may find these kinks distracting, while readers seeking purely erotic material may feel the survival focus overshadows their expectations.

In short: this is not a book for everyone. It is unapologetically niche, but for those who enjoy both resourceful survival mechanics and a tongue-in-cheek approach to domination, it delivers a surprisingly refreshing twist on an overstuffed genre.

Strengths

Unique blend of survival and fetish-driven comedy.
Engaging protagonist who feels different from the usual isekai heroes.
Amusing power dynamics between him and his mistress.


Weaknesses

Pacing drags during prolonged survival explanations.
Highly niche appeal — many readers will be alienated.
World-building is functional but not deeply fleshed out.

Final Verdict: A quirky, sometimes uneven fusion of genres
that works best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Rating

⭐✩✩✩✩ (1 out of 5 stars)

Character Brief: The Protagonist

The hero of this story is Kosuke, a modern Japanese man who suddenly finds himself stranded in a dangerous, foreign world. Unlike typical isekai leads, Kosuke is neither ambitious to conquer nor particularly courageous in the traditional sense. Instead, his defining trait is his unabashed masochism.

Disposition & Character

Kosuke is surprisingly practical and adaptable. He approaches survival challenges with ingenuity, constructing tools and shelters with limited resources.
He lacks arrogance or overconfidence, which makes him more relatable than standard overpowered protagonists.
His easygoing and submissive personality often allows him to avoid conflict, though it also leaves him open to being controlled by stronger figures.


Passion for Domination & Humiliation

Kosuke’s masochism is not treated as a hidden quirk but as a core part of his identity. He finds satisfaction, even joy, in being dominated — whether through scolding, physical control, or outright humiliation. Rather than weakening him, this inclination strangely empowers him: his willingness to endure suffering or take orders enables him to survive harsh conditions and form bonds with others, especially his elven mistress.

Kosuke’s submissiveness is not simply fetishistic; it doubles as a character lens that flips the usual “hero dominates the world” isekai formula into “hero finds fulfillment in being dominated while still managing to shape his environment.”

[Adrik Stepanov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly, embarrassing and poorly written, not worth reading past Book 1. Book 1 is, despite the obvious fetish, the best part of the entire story.

It doesn’t start badly. It’s a portal fantasy (or isekai, if you like). The beginning is simple, as it is customary for this genre, with the guy awakening in an alien world’s wilderness quickly realizing he has magical power. In this case, his power is, quite literally the Minecraft game’s crafting system. If you think that’s the silly part, well, no, the crafting system is paradoxically the most logical part of the story.

The silly part is the protagonist. He starts reasonably intelligent and pragmatic, but soon devolves into a obnoxious, neurotic mess, one terrified of women, often running away at the first sign of affection despite the fact he supposedly had sex with the busty elf already. Worse yet, all males are like him, terrified by women, and mostly overreacting constantly in the most absurd way possible.

For example, the girl asks him to use his power to craft her a weapon, which is something his power could do in 5 second at worst, but instead to do it and be done with it, he immediately suffers from panic attack because the girl is merely looking at him and starts fleeing to the point he must be restrained, and that’s all because the girl spoke to him. In fact, he has more nervous breakdowns from simply seeing a woman than from the blood and gore on the battlefield, while the opposite would be more realistic.

His antics become tiresome fast, but are far from the only problem with this novel.

Writing is poor, an elementary grade at best, with obvious struggle to describe the scene or the characters. The interjections are overused, and every "boom" or "whoosh" makes either the protagonist or the author sound retarted (or possibly both).

Story is riddled with illogical parts with world-building that simply doesn’t make any sense long before the protagonist's power ever becomes a factor.

I reached the second book, and it becomes worse as it goes.

By book four, the world-building collapses under the literal mountain of contradiction and contrivances, and it becomes obvious that the author didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with the plot. Any advancement is stalled to a halt, or even reversed, and while the protagonist continues to pull ‌“amazing” stuff out of his arse, he never does anything with it: he impresses the girl, and then everything is promptly forgotten to make sure the plot doesn’t go anywhere. By the book 4 it is extremely pretentious, and the initially smart feeling protagonist becomes stupid out of the sudden, which irks me to great degree.

Yes, I am aware this is a “harem” story, but since it is NOT “erotica,” there aren’t any scenes to entertain the reader. We just hear the protagonist panicking again and again because girls are looking at him. You couldn't even blame the protagonist for slacking on his duties, and thus halting the plot, because, well, he is afraid of women and thus every sexual encounter off screen feels more like a rape.

I am tired of the contrivances and silly antics and wouldn’t suggest this book to anyone.

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kousuke is a young Japanese office worker with a passion for strategy survival and building games like Minecraft. He finds himself rather unexpectedly (and with no explanation) on another world in the middle of nowhere, only to realize he has powers very similar to a character in those survival games. He has a few calls with the local wild life before he is found by the young female elf Sylphyel, only to learn humans are hated in the region due to the actions of a human supremacy nation. The elf makes him her slave mostly out of protection, and the two quickly form a bond, working together to help Sylphyel and her people against the local wildlife.

The story itself is intriguing, and the powers rather funny at times. The reactions to said powers are similarly funny. The system stats get cursory attention, but do not really go beyond a few lines and tend to follow the typical survival/crafting games. It is a nice change of pace. The world is ok, typical for the genre, but not entirely cookie cutter. There is some combat, but it mostly focusses on the daily life and the ridiculousness of Minecraft powers in an otherwise normal world.

The interaction between Kousuke and Sylphyel is odd. The conversations are rather blunt, not just between the MC and others, but in general. At times its feels odd - a bit like we might imagine jokingly how a blunt conversation would go between very good friends, but never between two people who just met in real life. The two do the deed rather quickly, not just for the genre, but just in general. They go from enemies to loves in a single night which is somewhat indicative in general for the interactions. For those worried about him being a slave, don't be, at first it is his for his protection and later it is because he enjoys the role. Still, there is definitely going to be a harem. Not a big issue for me, but it is a trope not for everybody. The MC is also not really challenged except maybe in the beginning.

All in all, an enjoyable read for me despite its flaws. Looking forward to the next volume.

[Beth Stephany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because it was an automated suggestion after the series “The World’s Fastest Level Up”. I love a good light novel especially as an audio book while at the gym. The action is exciting. The main character has some really awesome skills when he gets thrown into this world. There is so much set up potential, but it just falls so flat. My biggest issue being that rather than make it about survival, his skills, the people, the fighting, and all of those things you’d assume would be most important, it becomes all about sex. I expected some, but the entire thing is riddled with non descriptive sexual themes and man, it just drags it down so badly. The whole book feels like an immature writing and not something that an experienced manga writer would output. I can’t bring myself to reading the follow ups. Maybe they get better. But it feels weak and ineffectual in every way I can imagine. I’m so sorry to the author for saying this because I don’t want to be harsh, maybe I just had the wrong expectations and it wasn’t for me. But if you’re expecting action not in the bedroom, don’t count on it.

[Tim Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fun light novel

the story that the author has written is well done it has fantastic World building as well as the Mechanics for the fort building type of story that this is. it's also a slice of life. the main character starts out a little bit weak but as time goes along he becomes stronger. what I like about the story as well is that it has humor which gets me chuckling here and there. the story also has Fade to Black Romance for the main character and the main elf princess and they both fall in love with each other. the humans in the world that he finds himself in think of themself as the top of the food chain so to speak and ostracize the other races that live on this world. our main character of course is a human but since he is from a different world he does not have this mindset that the humans in this world to and so it sets out to improve to the other refugees that are living in this Forest that he is trustworthy and yet he has to pose as a slave to the princess to be safe in the beginning but as time goes along things get interesting.

[Milanijin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leitura divertida.
Protag é transportado para outro mundo (sem truck-kun até AGR) e ele descobre que tem habilidades de controlar seu corpo como se fosse um vídeo game, e além disso, pode construir quase tudo que seu coração desejar. Porém a humanidade não tem uma boa reputação nesse mundo, então para protegê-lo da irá de seu vilarejo, uma elfa o faz de seu "escravo".
O interessante desse livro é que o protag não é uma besta, ele reconhece sua situação rapidamente e se adapta, até bem demais, a ela.
Os combates são ok, nada muito demais , mas os diálogos são bem divertidos.

[slugbiscuit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minecraft isekai sounds questionable but I was pleasantly surprised at the writing quality of this one. Kousuke's sense of humor and his actual adult (and cute) relationship with Sylphy made me a fan. While only a small part of narrative, some descriptions of melee battle during climax were lacking. Happy to continue series.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's got a goofy premise but it was a fun read. I love how explicitly none of the main character's powers work in a logical way but are all still consistent with each other and how much that annoys the other characters.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretends it's a hentai/ecchi but is just an isekai with a protag who's minecraft Steve. I've seen raunchier isekai's in the wild. If you want something sexy look elsewhere. The slave dynamic doesn't even exist beyond the book cover

[Andrew Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good beginning

It is a good start to a new series. Was not sure about pre-ordering as these books are expensive and can be bad just as often as good. Glad I took the chance.

[Dantegideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent. Answers the question, “What if Minecraft, but also monster girls?”

[GustaBot · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read, confort food-like but fun nonetheless

[Srivathsan Sudarsanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is not the greatest of stories but if you want to give a casual read. It's alright. We got regular overpowered mc in isekai.

[Jesus A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow start, but it gets fast over time. And it gives a Minecraft comedy romance OT vibes.

[Rei · Rating 5 out of 5]

great manga, amazing storytelling

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guy get’s transported to a fantasy world with what can best be described as Minecraft powers. There is a lot of focus on crafting, resource gathering and building.

[Jerzy Baranowski]

To juvenile to handle, especially as an audiobook (free on audible plus). I like isekai LN but my capabilities to suspend disbelief have their limits.

[Mikayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sucked

[maribel frias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read. Story and characters are cliché with an overpowered protagonist that defies the laws of nature of the world he's been transported to.

[Muhamad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isekai popcorn, with the power of minecraft, but with harem and sex

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The isekai elements are pretty run of the mill, nothing to note there. However, what really made this book work was the dynamic between the two leads. While the sarcastic banter sadly decreases over the length of the novel, they are pretty fun to see together.