Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson

Heretical Fishing follows a man who - in isekai tradition - is hit by a truck and wakes up in a fantasy world. He decides he wants to become a fisherman, so he so he names himself Fischer, sets out for the nearest village, finds a spot of land on the shore and begins fishing. Fishing is considered to be considered to be basically a sin in this world, hence the title of the book Heretical Fishing.

This book is part of the LitRPG or “Literary RPG” genre which I had never heard of before. Basically it’s when the character in the book levels up his skills and stats like he would in a video game. Similar to the many isekai animes out there, there is an omnipresent “system” that is keeping track of Fischer’s skill level, and as he eats certain foods he gains strength and become this super-overpowered player in the game. I assume this genre has seen a boom with the recent popularity of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which is now 8 books deep and continues to top the trending charts on Hardcover.

If I were to sum up this book, it feels like the male equivalent of ACOTAR or Fourth Wing. You know those slightly trashy (or super trashy) romance books that even though you know are terrible you just can’t put down? It’s sort of like that. Don’t come into it expecting some work of art, and you’ll be able to enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately I don’t think I am quite the target audience for this one. There is a touch of romance, but it feels very immature (the protagonist sees her and he’s like, oh, she’s so beautiful, like he’s a 12 year old). He also has two pet animals (a crab and an otter), who are both female. And they are cute and at times funny, but there’s just this weird dynamic that I can’t quite put my finger on. He really loves hugging them for some reason. Not to mention a lot of the characters do a lot of laughing at things that aren’t really that funny (sort of like those fake Reddit stories “and then everybody laughed”).

The author is originally from Queensland in Australia (which is sort of like the South of America) and so the main character uses a lot of Australian slang which feels like it’s the first time I’ve seen it in a book, which is kind of nice (as a fellow Australian). But it’s used in this weird way where since the inhabitants of the fantasy world don’t know it, Fischer uses it as a bit of an in-joke with himself. Which is funny at first, but then it gets a bit annoying.

The book was originally published a chapter at a time on Royal Road, which seems to be like an indie publishing avenue (which reminds me of how isekai stories first tend to get their start on a similar Japanese self-publishing site called Shousetsuka ni narou). From that context, if you’re just picking up chapters like popcorn it’s probably a fun read and you’d love following along with the twists and turns the story takes each week. And as critical as I have been, it is a pleasant and funny read if you just switch off your brain for it. But I think this one just wasn’t for me!