Book 1
Homophobia is touched upon with one character in particular, but the rest of the setting does not have any. This is intentional. I also strive to create worlds with as little ingrained sexism as I can consciously manage, and this is one as well (again, with one character as an exception. He’s not “from here”…).
There’s a “fluffy” level f/f romance subplot – no on-page sexual activity, but there’s flirting and some kissing. The narrator’s sexuality would generally be shelved under bisexual (attraction across the spectrum, but with a preference toward one area of it), though she tends not to label it specifically.
Because I felt like playing with the “isekai hero with multiple love interests” trope, the narrator has a developing romantic interest with one woman and a flirtation with another. There’s also a side character with a half-dozen romantic interests (and/or polycule, it’s unclear), half male and half female.
I choose not to use sexual assault or the threat thereof as a plot point or backstory in my work. There are no children or pets in peril in this novella either. There are some mentions of livestock being eaten by a dragon, and a horse gets very scared by a dragon fly-over, but ends up safe.
There’s some light to moderate swearing.
There’s some moderate violence and scary scenes, particularly some monster posturing in the second half. One bit mentions blood in the aftermath of a violent event. And, well, this is the kind of isekai-inspired story where the narrator is fatally struck by a motor vehicle on the first page. There isn’t much detail, but it happens on-page.
There’s a plotline in the second half where a character is being followed by a supernatural presence, so if you have that “someone watching behind me” phobia, that’s something to know.
Because this is a series about a magical therapist, several characters address mental illness or emotional upset. I regret that each of them is touched upon rather quickly, since this book isn’t very long, but I have tried to depict them as compassionately as I could in the short time they’re depicted. In particular, there are set pieces depicting social anxiety, anger management issues, codependency, depression including passive suicidal ideation, and PTSD related to death / grief.
I repeatedly say “light-novel-inspired” and “isekai-inspired” because I intentionally picked up some tropes from those genres, left some aside, and twisted others to my own ends. It’s not a parody of light novels or isekai, I have nothing against them; it’s not a complete example of them either; it just draws on them for inspiration. So if you are looking for a straightforward/”normal” isekai story, this isn’t it.
Thanks, and if you choose to read, enjoy!
Book 2
- No homophobia this time! woo hoo!
- No animals or kids in peril. Actually no kids at all, coincidentally. The horses are all chill this time.
- No threats of sexual assault.
- This is loosely based on a genre where the narrator gets reincarnated in a fantasy world, which means that the narrator died at the beginning of book 1. It’s referenced less often in book 2, but it does come up a few times.
- There’s less heavy psychological content in this book than in book 1, but references are still made to anxiety, depression, nonspecific phobias, guilt / possibly PTSD, and (briefly) substance abuse, all in the context of the narrator’s work as a therapist.
- The narrator is overworking herself and heading for burnout in this book, though she hasn’t quite gone that far yet. There is stress around it.
- Fewer demons too, but we still get one.
- Light to moderate swearing on occasion.
- Domestic dispute / arguing, no physical violence around that.
- Alcohol consumption; the narrator works in a tavern/restaurant.
- Implied rewriting of reality / magical pseudo-gaslighting / retconning in-story.
- Violence: Mention of a character being shot with an arrow (they recover). Swordfighting and slinging around of combat magic. No one is injured by either of the latter.
- Sexual content: F/F romance subplot, with kissing and implied other stuff (fade to black / not on page).
Book 3
- There’s less dark psychological stuff this time around, just one demon that isn’t especially scary.
- More violence, though (whoops?): two battles against supernatural snake-creatures. The main characters are also held up by a group of people with swords, though that’s more of a “block your path while brandishing a weapon” situation and not a directly-held-at-swordpoint situation. It’s still not a good time.
- Still an isekai story – there are references to a couple of characters’ deaths, including the protagonist.
- Swearing: This time around we have a side character who swears a lot, generally PG-13 level cursing (hell/damn level, no f-bombs or gendered/sexual curses). One character makes a rude gesture.
- Sexual content: Similar to book 2, there is on-page kissing (f/f) and vague allusions to other off-page activity.
- Ongoing side plot about magical retconning / rewriting people’s memories.
Book 4
- Swearing: Light to moderate.
- Sexual content: On-page kissing (f/f); implied m/m attraction, both on-page and mentioned
- Violence: Some indirect threats
- Threatening/scary stuff: A (super)natural disaster-type threat (a hurricane at sea)
- Heavy topics: Discussion of emotional/mental stress caused by social isolation, as well as a mention of depression. Moments of self-doubt/sadness/angst.
- Several mentions of seasickness and a couple of mentions of vomiting (not a lot of detail)
- Mentions of religion, both Earth-based and fictional. The story does not endorse any particular one.