Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 1 (light novel) (Volume 1) (Banished from the Hero's Party, I ... Life in the Countryside (light novel), 1) Paperback – September 22, 2020

It's a pretty solid start. I like the main characters and the chill pace of the story.

Wow, what a story!Loved the characters and the story’s plot! Gideon (Red) was an interesting main character to follow through the story! Loved his characteristics and his willingness to help others! Zappon, you wrote an awesome light novel! Can’t wait for volume #2! Overall, give this light novel a chance! The artwork was great and the story is worth reading!Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Red used to be part of the Hero's Party, but his feeling inadequate due to the limitations of his blessings, he silently leaves the party to retire in some backwater. Hiding one's skills is not easy, even less so when Rit, a former party member forces herself into his life. Not that he minds her doing so as romance between the two starts.Banished from the Hero's Part is written as a light hearted slice-of-life story set in a backwater area where little happens with a few flash backs detailing how Rit and Red met each other before Red's retirement. The story shines in its world building, not as much the cliché demon lord and his invading demonic soldiers and the party member's jealousy, but the blessing system and how it is integrated in the world and its people. The story even goes as far as to deal with the potential negative consequences such a system might have for people. The main characters are likeable, and I found the romance rather endearing (certainly compared to the standard in the genre). I liked the character art.The only down side is that if Red lacked pride, as every situation in the book suggest, then why did he leave the party? Everybody realizes what Ares' has been doing, but nobody said anything? Similarly, why would people who know Red, feel ashamed that Red could not keep up with the Hero's Party? Everybody knows how blessings work after all. Both might be explained in later volumes, and it is a relatively minor complaint, but it felt a bit odd to me. There were a few of the standard tropes, but the fan service is limited to one (or two) art pieces.Still, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I am looking forward to stating the next one.

The Hero, chosen by the gods to save the world. But this story isn't primarily about her. It's about her brother. When the knight Gideon's combat abilities just can't keep up with the burgeoning strength of his Hero sister and her other companions, one of them seizes the opportunity to prey upon his feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, berates him for holding the party back, and manipulates him into leaving the party.Assuming new name, Red, he starts life over in a distant frontier town as an apothecary. And then a warrior-princess living incognito shows up. Going by Rit, she begs to move in with him and become a partner in his store. The story has three main plot threads. The primary one is of course Red and Rit's heartwarming present-day life. The second major thread is flashbacks to when Gideon and Ritzel first met; the Hero and her party showed up in Rit's country to help fight the demon lord's army. These flashbacks shed light on Red and Rit's present relationship, and on some of the Hero's other party members. The third thread is interludes dealing with the Hero and her party in the present.Besides the sweet romance developing between Red and Rit, the story has a couple of other interesting themes. Everyone in this world receives a "Blessing" from the gods, which basically corresponds to a class in an RPG. These "blessings" provides various strengths and abilities, and differences between the various blessings are the reason by Red's combat potential was so completely outclassed by others. This raises interesting questions about the true nature of strength. Through Rit's perspective, as well as through the flashbacks and glimpses of how things are going for Hero's party since Red left, the narrative forces us to ask if Red was actually weak, or if he possess great strength that simply doesn't manifest as power to destroy things. The other major issue raised through "Blessings" is about free will and determinism. See, blessings don't just give a person special apitude or abilities -- they strongly incline a person toward the focus of their blessing. So, the Hero can't punish the jerk who drove off her brother, nor can she leave her question to save the world and go look for Gideon, because her Hero "Blessing" (curse?) prevents her from attacking people who aren't hostile to her personally, and it compels her to focus on doing the greatest good for the greatest number instead of taking time off to worry about her beloved brother. Then there's the fire mage who become a vandal because the incredible high his "Blessing" grants when he sets things on fire. But there are also suggestions that free will has more sway than these examples imply. For example, when a young boy is frightened about how awakening his "Blessing" might change into something he doesn't want to be, Red assures him that a "Blessing" may incline you in one or direction or another, but it can't make you do anything, and with effort, it can be controlled (although it maybe leave you a bit quirky, LOL).So yeah, great LN, I recommend it.

The hero's sibling is pretty much always forgotten, killed or used as the antagonist in the story. But not here. This isn't the story of the Hero or the Hero's sibling.This is the story of "Red" who instead of loosing all hope decided to focus on building his dream from the ground up... With the help of the town's most reliable adventurer, former hero companion and.. friend? Stay tuned!

This series is excellent! I read it first and liked it. Good characters good plot, but I had to re-read before I understood WHY I liked it so much. Red and Rit are allegories of many of my friends st the VFW. We did our part, did great things, were a part of huge accomplishments...and we aged out, got injured, came home...and we have to be civilians again. The War itself There? Still going on.. For Red and his fellow soldiers,, There is no Victory Day, no parade. Just struggling day by day, scorned by the up-and-coming youngsters just see an older guy doing middle-aged things. Red has "been there and done that", he wants to build his home, build his business with his lady, and live his life on his terms. The prideful youngster is goading Red because he doesn't understand that it's not that Red is scared of him, but merely that Red doesn't feel like killing him today. Red doesn't want credit for killing the big bad monster, because he's killed much bigger and harder monsters by the dozen.Red is a low-level, but only compared to his former comrades. For them, he was the support troop - the scout, the medic, the intelligence analyst...and thus , not needed until he wasn't there anymore.I'm recommending this book and the anime to my veteran friends.