Isekai Rebuilding Project: Volume 1

Read in Prepub on J-Novel Club's WebsiteEiji Kazama chosen to save the world Azur from ruin after a previous isekai hero a hundred years prior set it on a path of ruin. His first task solve a beriberi (Vitamin B1 deficiency) outbreak caused by the introduction of white rice to this fantasy world. Eiji and his dragon companion Tiamat - also sent to save this world from the dragon realm - do so by introducing new foods into the diet of the city of Lishua.While this light novel deals with food, I would not call it a food novel in the same way that manga like [b:Drifting Dragons 36893919 Drifting Dragons, Vol. 1 Taku Kuwabara https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1512424067l/36893919.SX50.jpg 58171591], [b:Sweetness and Lightning 28459313 Sweetness and Lightning 1 Gido Amagakure https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452041436l/28459313.SY75.jpg 48595001], [b:Wakako Zake 42142065 Wakako Zake Vol. 1 Chie Shinkyu https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538608827l/42142065.SX50.jpg 65740265], and [b:What Did You Eat Yesterday? 18339951 What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 1 Fumi Yoshinaga https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395779183l/18339951.SX50.jpg 3674605] are food manga. Instead, the introduction of a variety of food is a means to complete Eiji's task of setting this world back on course after the previous hero set it off course. And thus it doesn't go into too much depth into the preparation. This novel is more akin to [b:Ascendance of a Bookworm 44643642 Ascendance of a Bookworm Volume 1 Miya Kazuki https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553716310l/44643642.SX50.jpg 44960460] and [b:Dr.STONE 35251116 Dr.STONE 1 (Dr. Stone, #1) Riichiro Inagaki https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498756288l/35251116.SY75.jpg 56602047], as the protagonist has a task he must achieve and must go through many steps of manufacturing to achieve it.However, unlike Dr. Stone and Bookworm, Eiji himself lacks any practical skills other than basic historical knowledge. For in-depth knowledge, he relies on Tiamat who acts as his encyclopedia and those he meets in Lishua for the manufacturing and laboring skills to complete his task. The secondary cast of Isekai Rebuilding Project outside Tiamat isn't as compelling as either of these two properties either. With new members, haphazardly added with each new step of the task without much of a compelling reason for the addition, other than their talents are of immediate use.Eiji is also over critical of the previous hero, thinking him over pompous and self-important, despite never meeting him. The last hero having been dead for a hundred years before Eiji and Tiamat's arrival. Eiji's criticisms come not from meeting the hero but being the one tasked with cleaning up his mess. And thus this novel is not very kind to the isekai power fantasy archetype.What I did like about this book was there was an undercurrent of commentary on good intention colonialism. The previous hero introduced white rice to both help the people and as a reminder of Japan. But, this ultimately harmed the people as he didn't have the nutritional or historical knowledge of beriberi, causing millions of deaths from his good intentions. It was a message considering the history of my own country, Australia - though the history of the founding of colonial Australia was just plain old greedy colonialism. I can psychologically relate the introduction of rabbits and other introduced species; which were supposed to help the colonists but ended up destroying the land, crops, and native flora and fauna; back to the introduction of white rice in this book. So that aspect somewhat struck a chord with me; even though the execution was far from perfect.As for the ending, I have somewhat mixed feelings. I both loathe and love it. When it first started I was like “Oh that's some bullshit!” and then when it gets to the second part of the ending I was more on board with what the author was trying to do. And it got me interested in reading the second volume.