Before we get back to the adventures of our mismatched duo, I think this is a good time to take a quick break and have a chat between us. 

Just sharing some random thoughts between you and I. 

I was reading through forum posts the other day and a post from a particularly popular author on this site caught my attention, where he/she/xe was talking about the issue of reader retention. That post got me thinking with regards to how reader retention seems to have been working out with regards to Relevance. 

There seem to be two "walls" which cause readership to drop off on this novel. And not surprisingly, they both have a connection with this novel's co-star, The Voice. 

The first wall is early in the prologue itself, where The Voice introduces itself to the protag. Readers that drop the novel at this point usually drop it based on their dislike of The Voice as a character, finding it smug and overbearing. The second wall is right after the prologue, where The Voice throws the protag's hypocrisy about wanting power straight back in his face. Readers that drop the story at this point seem to take personal offence at what The Voice is saying. After these two "walls" have been passed readership becomes fairly stable.

The reason why I am bringing this issue up is that it ties into how gods and protags are dealt with in light novels. After reading a fair number of such novels, I came to a conclusion that gods in light novels are not actually gods. They are, for a lack of a better term, wimps. They beg and plead complete strangers to come to their aid. Despite possessing awesome power, many of these gods (though to be fair its more like goddesses) act like complete airheads. 

If you met such an entity in real life, I am willing to put down money and bet that you would not consider that entity a god. 

The Voice is my take on what a god would really be like. Powerful yet constrained in its actions. A being so far removed from mortals that it has no real feeling or connection for them. It needs mortals but does not really care for them other than for what they can provide. These issues tie into the transactional nature of the relationship between The Voice and the protag. Favors in return for favors. Power in return for service. A patron who is not completely honest with his pawn and sometimes omits the truth to get the pawn to do what is required. 

I feel that too many light novels use the god as basically a free ride for the protag. Someone to basically underwrite the power fantasy. And that's fine. Such stories float plenty of boats. I just think of Relevance as a kind of answer to all of that, a more realistic take on the isekai scenario. 

For all the dislike The Voice gets, this story really would not be the same without it. Someone once wrote that The Voice is the real star of the story, and that's true. It provides a context for the conflict and heavily shapes the protag's perspective of the world. It is not a particularly fair in its criticisms, which is what seems to cause plenty of hackles to be raised, but then again a god can be a self-interested party to the events surrounding it. 

I understand that such a character can be hard to swallow, so for those of you who have persevered to this point with me, I thank you. 

I lost the point I originally had with all this so I will conclude with my hope to see you all soon.