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/ Series / The Simulacrum
The Simulacrum
The Simulacrum
1.07M Views 29789 Favorites 451 Chapters 2 Chapters/Week 2274 Readers
4.7 (420 ratings)
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Synopsis

"He who fights with harem tropes should see to it that he himself does not become a harem protagonist. And if you gaze for long into a narrative, the narrative gazes also into you." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche (...probably?)

How would you react if one day you found yourself in an environment running on tropes and clichés?

For allegedly average high-schooler Leonard Dunning, this rhetorical question became uncomfortably real on the day he woke up on a strangely pristine island country in the middle of the Atlantic. Without memories, surrounded by characterless placeholders, and with a classic harem protagonist and his various love interests for friends, he tries his best to fit in and figure out what's going on.

That would be difficult enough already, yet his investigation into the rules governing the world, sabotaging the harem tropes, and his odd blend of outside-context knowledge, unique abilities, and a penchant for causing trouble wherever he goes, ends up drawing the attention of the world's nebulous narrative...

Disclaimer: This is a tongue-in-cheek, slice of life romantic comedy, with occasional sprinkles of combat and mystery to spice things up. Please do not expect a straight up deconstruction beyond some in-universe meta-commentary by the characters.

Genre
ComedyFantasyRomanceSchool LifeSlice of LifeSupernatural
Tags
Amnesia Fantasy Creatures Friendship Love Triangles Magic Modern Fantasy Proactive Protagonist Psychic Powers Romantic Subplot
Table of Contents 451
Reviews 29
Table of Contents
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    Geco
    Status: ~chapter 14~ part 2

    I love this story everything in it is good I love all the characters especially Judy I like slice of life style I hope it continues like this.

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    6 Likes · Like
    rafimiah1999
    Status: c11 part 4

    This is a great story.

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    6 Likes · Like
    BigBadBoi
    Status: ~chapter 88~ part 4

    I have binged until the last chapter and it is amazing. The character interactions are hilarious and entertaining and the story is pretty great. I have to admit that the lower ratingreviews turned me off the novel for a while and kinda regret not reading it sooner.

    I kinda agree with them with a few flaws this novel has. The MC goes full giga autist and trying to smash the fourth wall like it killed his parents right in front of him. The story's pacing is also pretty slow when it focuses on the slice of life parts which can be a turnoff for some people.

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    5 Likes · Like
    Suzaku128
    Status: ~chapter 13~ part 3

    10/10 IGN RAtings. MOAR!!!

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    4 Likes · Like
    KaidenFury
    Status: ~chapter 23~

    Very well written and engaging. My only gripe is how poor Josh is constantly neglected. Josh is just a little too understanding, I can't help but to feel bad for him always being ignored.

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    3 Likes · Like
    Agecaf
    Status: ~chapter 17~ part 5

    I like it so far!It's a good meta-novel with comedy, an over-arching mystery in the setting, a facade of romcom, with promises of other genres joining in as the story progresses. It is both a great read in the paragraph to paragraph (fun dialogue, descriptions and internal monologues), and chapter to chapter (anticipation, revelations and twists).I don't think it's for everyone, but it's definitely worth a try.

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    3 Likes · Like
    MinosML
    Status: volume 4 - epilogue

    This story is amazing. Meta narratives are totally my cup of tea, and the story is a huge flustercuck of just that, with awesome characters, action, comedy and...I'd like to say plot, but that one is pretty cliche, but also that's exactly the point, so I can't take stars for that. Anyways, where was I?

    The story starts slow, and there is at least one big genre shift in it, so if you're looking for a purely harem-school life novel, this isn't it, even if those parts are indeed somehow technically present throughout. The main attraction here would be the characters, even if at first glance everyone but the MC are character archetypes and obviously cliché, their starting point is way better than a normal harem anime, and even then they develop and gain lots of depht thanks to their interactions with an outside force that is the MC. Their interactions are vivid, hilarious and even if not realistic per se (again, not a moot point because the narrative being what it is), they're a constant treat to read and after a few volumes you end up warming up to this group of friends and/or misfits that the MC catches on his way out of the narrative clutches.

    The MC, Leo, is one of my favories of any story I've ever read so far, he's cunning, charismatic, mysterious, hilarious, and a badass when he needs to be, and while he does get a little bit too OP for my taste by the end of the 4th volume, the journeyto get there has been way above his payroll and it's great to see him fight agains all narrative shenanigans thrown at him, and sometimes rise above them, when he goes all out (Bel chapters are the best, lmao).

    The "heroines" that were supposed to have your normal stereotypical harem "personalities", grow quite a bit outside their predetermined roles and some of them surprisingly so, specially those closer to the protagonist. Talking about that, whether you're here for the harem or are against reading it for the same reason, let me tell you you'd be both right and wrong for that. What do I mean?

    Spoiler

    The original narrative is supposed to be a harem story, but the MC isn't the protagonist of that narrative (his best friend Josh is), so the harem shennanigans are supposed to happen to his friend. Alas, the MC does get into a closed polyamorous relationship 2/3rds into the story, but with only 2 of the girls at the same time, and it doesn't seem to be growing and the author said that it won't, so it's technically a Love Triangle/One True Threesome (lol), not a harem story. Still polyamorous, while not harem.

    [collapse]
     

    On the character front, one little complain I have is that of the author seeming too keen on pairing every secondary character just for the sake of it, even when it makes little sense like

    Spoiler

    one of the MC's adopted sisters falling in love with the other adopted sister, out of nowhere. Or class rep falling in love with a secondary character even when we had 0 scenes that show any actual chemisty between the 2. And so on, and so forth.

    [collapse]

    Anyways, even if has been losing some steam lately and it seems nowhere near the climax of the story, it still goes incredibly hard and it's one of the best stories I've read on the site, I'm definitely thankful we can all read this amazing story for free and am planning to buy it all when it is finally complete on Amazon. Very few grammar mistakes, lots and lots of philosophy, science, movies and narrative tropes references, that almost make you want to read this with a TVTropes tab open on the background, just to enhance the experience a bit more. This may not be a 5 stars novel for everyone, but it definitely is for me, it hits all the right spots, the meta commentary is hilarious and insightful, the comedy always hits, the characters are endearing and not one-off stereotypes, and all of them carry what would be otherwise a bit cliche trope infested story. Which it is. But it revels on that.

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    2 Likes · Like
    seeker1629
    Status: ~chapter 50~ part 2

    Love the story. 

    Reasons? 

    1. Well written major characters whom I'm compelled to root for. 
    2. Supporting characters that feel alive instead of archetypes or cardboard cut outs. 
    3. Powerful immersive worldbuilding. 
    4. A coherent plot that doesn't stretch out too much. 

    And most importantly no bullsh*t filler or romance that makes me cringe. 

    This is a story I've found myself rereading and sharing with my friends. 

    I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have. 

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    2 Likes · Like
    rac
    Status: ~chapter 49~ part 3

    Amazingly well written story and character dialog, very refreshing to read. 10/10

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    2 Likes · Like
    drakensji
    Status: ~chapter 61~ part 2

    This story is amazing! The writing is wonderful, the comedy brilliant, the characters are super interesting and develop over time. The plot is amazing, at first you are super curious about what's going on, and then you are excited to see how they deal with the problems coming their way, through a mix of ingenuity, talent, and comedy. The main character is smart, and even so his plans often go wrong but then he improvises to mend the situation in amazing ways. 

    I think anyone would love to read this story

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    2 Likes · Like
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