The first of Braided Sky‘s Primer for the Apocalypse books is a bit of a bait and switch as there’s not actually much time spent in the game world at all. Most of the focus is in the physical world, split between family interactions and exploring real dungeons, and in the classrooms of a virtual academy. It’s okay so far, but the pacing is fairly slow and it’s a bit strange no one thinks to connect the protagonist’s exceptional Time affinity with her unusually fast growth rate.
I went into Hikaru Genji‘s first Son of the Hero King novel braced for a certain amount of perversion based on the cover alone. Yet, I still ended up completely blindsided that three of the first four chapters focused on detailing the protagonist’s sexual escapades with his maid and combat instructor. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve encountered something so antithetical to what I’m looking for in a story since Siren’s Song.