Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, Volume 1: 03/13/23

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, Volume 1 by Ren Eguchi and Kevin Chen (Translator) (2016) is the start of an isakai light novel that in the Winter 2023 season was adapted into an anime. I had already decided to read the series before hearing about the adaptation, but the anime did serve as a reminder that it was on my to be read pile.

Mukouda Tsuyoshi was an average salaryman living a simple life in Japan when he happened to be to near a group of teenagers being summoned to another world. The powers that be not knowing what to do with an extra person, granted him the power of "online shopping" giving him the ability to import groceries and other sundries to his new world.

Of all the things he decides to do with his newfound abilities, he opts for food. Imported modern day food, even the cheap, convenience food varieties, ends up being better than anything he or nearly anyone else can get in this world. It earns him a bit of a reputation and the attention of some supernatural entities: a fenrir wolf and a goddess.

For the most part, this is a fun, upbeat novel. Sometimes, though, there's too much of a tonal shift from the lighthearted, almost off the cuff style of writing, to more serious talks of war, monsters, or other danger. This disconnect is most noticeable in the earliest chapters. As the book settled down into its story.

Four stars

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