I am the Monarch is a Korean Web Novel series written by Cheol Jonggeum (철종금) and translated by KobatoChanDaisuki.
I am the Monarch is a travel back in time novel.
The Mc is a 20 years experienced solider in his past life and died without fulfilling his wish to become a general. He reincarnated back in the past when he had just entered the army
Roan, the mc uses his brains & the information he got from the future a lot in the story. He is looking forward to build his own troops and is earning merits in the chapters I have reached, raising his rank. This is one of the few interesting war novels, best comparison I can give is the manga Kingdom, although Roan is a very different character compared to Shin of Kingdom. Roan is a stable, cool-headed person. His experience made him calm and unflustered in any situations. Even if the future may change as he intervents in the past.
I am the Monarch Synopsis
Roan who ran away 20 years ago from the rural village in the aim of becoming a Great General who will rule the world.However, all he got 20 years later was just a handful of money and a low position that is a 1st legion’s spearman.
At the end, he becomes a cold corpse in the battlefield.
But somehow, he came back in the past.
“Alright. This time, I won’t become a Great General but a Monarch.”
His previous life’s aim was becoming a Great General.
But, he only became a spearman.
This time, his life’s aim is becoming the Monarch.
“Then I guess I’d become at least a general, right?”
Roan who remembers what happened the 20 years.
Now starts his unstoppable march in becoming a Monarch.
Series Information
- Author: Cheol Jonggeum (철종금)
- Title: 나는 군주다
- Type: Korean Web Novel
- Genre: Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Martial Arts Psychological Romance Shounen Supernatural
- Rating: 4.5 / 5.0, 578 votes
- Year: 2016
- Status: 309 Chapters (Ongoing)
- Publisher: Murpia
- Translator: KobatoChanDaisuki
- NU Pages
- EPUB: Wuxialand
Series Reviews
Review by GogoInTheA55This novel is everything I would like from a return to the past kind of novel. We know a little about the world outside of the kingdoms surrounding the lake. It is very amusing to see the world expand and new foes arrive one after the other, right now the MC may seem smart, but as the story progresses it will change.
Smart people are everywhere, each more heinous than the other. The MC will lose in mind games and even lose his men, but he will learn from his mistakes, like he did during his rebirth.
His return to past has caused a butterfly effect, so except the initial stage, he knows nothing(Except the personality of some famous individuals). And from what I had read, there is a reason for Roan to come back to the past if you want to know the reason.
Pierce(MC's friend and spear genius) obtains a treasure that reverts the time to a particular day for a individual. And this will happen soon in the story(When he again finds this treasure).
The characters are smart, they don't just blindly follow the MC, some come to him because seeing his potential and knowing the profits they may be achieve.
I won't say much about the romance, but it is there in all the military building sim, wars and politics. We have already seen some glimpse of it here and there, but those tit bit of information will come together and create a strong romance.
SO I only want to say this is a good novel, I generally write reviews to talk shit about novels that I don't like... but I thought once in a while I should write something good too
Review by woo00154
Personally, I think Release That Witch is much superior (in both writing and translation), but this is nice, too.
Since the translator for RTW is out due to his personal circumstances, I ended up reading this in English, even though I already read this in Korean.
I'll try to be as fair as possible on this review...
Overall:
Fun to read, and mc is OP. I would recommend others to read. The author knows how to skip technical stuff if he is not familiar with it, rather than trying to make up shit to sound smart. However, this does cause MC's cool "accomplishments" to look a bit shallow. Heavily focused on the feelings/thoughts of the characters at each event, which is quite refreshing.
Pros:
Cons:
- The pacing of the story is very well done, and it never drags too much in an arc.
- Though mc is OP, it's all rather reasonable how he became to be one, with plenty of growth shown through out the novel.
- Still uses the good old fantasy genre, yet the settings are not quite boring.
- Short and concise sentences also makes it very easy to read.
- The translator, Subak, has turned military comradery into yaoi, making this whole series feel extremely weird as it keeps shifting tones between intense/emotional battle and gay romance. I was particularly disturbed by this.
- I will also say that the translations are not proof-read (even though it claims that they are). I am actually quite mad at the quality of translation as I've read this in both Korean and English. And yes, Korean one is much better.
- This is not translator's fault, but sound effects cannot be translated well, and there are crap load of them.
- The so-called emotional scenes sometimes may seem a bit forced and excessive.
- The author has limited use of vocab, and just to display how anxious the MC is, the MC ends up biting his lips over 100 times throughout the novel. I thought it was a joke when I read this in other reviews, but this really does show up too frequently.
Review by Just Sam Random Guy
FINALLY!
A time-related/reincarnation story that has actual butterfly effect. Although some novels depict this phenomenon as well, most of them are just bad, negligible, or "doesn't matter because I reincarnated and I know everything". While this novel is not perfect, it is better than most cultivation/power-up stories.
This novel starts with the typical "I know what happened at X time, and what would happen next at X time, and so on...", but later on, the butterfly effects are slowly shown, and they are clearly TOLD and SHOWN.
The deviation on the events are clearly differentiated, and some of them even affects major characters' decisions and actions. These deviations,so far, are not just some pebbles on the road but acts as tests for the MC's capabilities.
There are also casualties which indicates that he is no god, that not everything is going to go according to plan, and that just because he reincarnated, he can now magically save everyone.
Oh yeah, did I mention told and shown?
Yes, the author tells and shows the story. Although not perfect, but still way better than most similar themed novels.
The problem with most novels I read is that they TELL TOO MUCH without showing just much.
Ex:
Narration: This MC is super strong. He is 1000+ years old. Peak existence. Uber cool dude. Number 1 public figure. Definitely not a petty person.
MC: I f*** ur mom last night! *brain fart*
Me: Well f*** me.
The story so far is simple and easy to follow, granted that there are just tens of chapters released, but it is getting more interesting and that the potential is good in this one.
It is still in the relatively early parts of the story, but dry and wet shit are already starting to get thrown at the MC. I just wish that the author can maintain or even improve the quality throughout the remainder of the novel.
Another good thing is that some things are IMPLICITLY narrated, to allow us readers to use our brain work even if just a little. Unlike some novels, where the authors assume that the readers have potatoes as brains, and that we need to be constantly reminded which way is left and which way is right.
Review by Jacobpaige
Its an okay series if you can look past its two major flaws:
- The author seems to be convinced that its impossible for anyone to do anything intelligent if they aren't the MC or following the orders of the MC. This strict adherence to the MC's monopoly on working brains is only broken on very rare occasions that can be counted on one hand with fingers to spare.
- The author doesn't really think about the things that he writes. This leads to massive logical flaws, particularly in battles. If you actually try to imagine the things he describes, you'll soon realize that they're impossible as they would require armies to be able to teleport and individuals to be able to grow hands and materialize weapons that they have no right having without anyone noticing anything strange.
Review by CodeZero
A story about a soldier who had aimed to become a general, only to die partway, having been unable to achieve his dreams. Yet when he is given another chance by being sent back in time to when he just started his journey as a soldier, he must use his experience to fulfill the goal he had previous set, as well as a newer, grander achievement - becoming the Monarch. What's interesting about this novel is that while the MC does have knowledge about 'future events,' because of him changing the timeline by doing things differently, the butterfly effect comes into play, making his knowledge less valuable. Then, as he goes deeper and deeper into the alternate timeline, he has to rely less on his knowledge of his original timeline and instead use his experience to deal with new challenges. Furthermore, because he has set up the goal of becoming a monarch, more than just dealing with fighting, wars and the development of his own personal strength, he also has to focus on gaining loyal followers, developing them, as well as improve what will become his new kingdom. Very well written in my opinion, and so far, a great read.
Review by theunionjunktion
This novel is near perfect in my opinion. Excellent military strategy, good use of plot devices and most important it is interesting. The MC is not a prodigy but he is smart making it easier to relate to him yet still be impressed, he is driven and knows when to get serious and when to relaxsmartbuilds his squad well and is quite good at adjusting. If you want a combination of excellent battle tactics, a good plot and an MC who makes sense them this is your book. Especially if u enjoyed any of the following books- Moonlight Sculptor, Ark, Terror Infinity, Immortal God Emperor, Heavenly jewel change and Shen Yin Wang Zuo
Review by IcyImmortal
It's been only 50+ chapters, but so far it is becoming one of my favorite novels. To start off, the MC was someone who aspired to be a great general, to only come short and die on the the battlefield. In his next chance he aims even higher, a monarch, in hopes to meeting a middle ground with fate. Like your typical second chance novels, the story is akin to a gamer that found some hints and tricks to help with their play through. The MC is the similar way, using his past knowledge to acquire power and protect those he cares about. There's no abundance of antagonists with fragile egos(so far) so rest assured if you are not into that kind of stuff. Those that do try to get in his way just become irrelevant in the next few chapters. The MC is all about the bigger picture so he doesn't hesitate to put himself in the spotlight in hopes for a faster promotion. No romance at the moment, the MC is focused on his career as a soldier. And some of the things that happened in the past are changed because of the MC's involvement. All in all, if you are looking for a nice novel with a spear user. This is it.
