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Trouble With Horns
Trouble With Horns
1.76M Views 37056 Favorites 88 Chapters 0 Chapters/Week 6663 Readers
4.8 (872 ratings)
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Synopsis

More than a hundred years into the future and the world has been through hell and back, not that ancient history matters to Terry as his girlfriend of three years dumps him in the middle of a park. As a way to distract him, his twin sister convinces him to dive into the newest fantasy VRMMO with her. Reluctantly agreeing, neither of them could have known the adventure of self discovery Terry would find himself plunged into.

A mishap in character creation leaves him stranded far from his sister, with a randomly generated character and plethora of problems. The first problem, of course, is the fact that he appears to be a demon girl, and the second? A gorgeous redhead with her sword at his throat.

Genre
ActionAdventureDramaGender BenderGirls LoveMatureRomanceSci-fi
Tags
Alchemy Appearance Changes Beautiful Female Lead Character Growth Clingy Lover Conspiracies Doting Parents Empires Futuristic Setting Game Elements Gamers Hiding True Identity Jobless Class Love Triangles Male to Female MMORPG Nobles Online Romance R-18 Secret Organizations Secrets Tomboyish Female Lead Transgender Twins
Related Series
Digital Galaxies (Shared Universe)
Lieforged Gale (Side Story)
Witch of Chains (Shared Universe)
Table of Contents 88
Reviews 42
Table of Contents
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  • 2 stars 11% (4)
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    termii
    Status: 86: way too fast

    I am very rational, I love to read, I love science, and I know what is happening to our world in a vague sense. I read this story in one day, about 2 weeks ago, and I was thinking whether I should write a review or not. I think I should.

    What drew me to read this story was the premise of action, adventure, and LitRPG. The writing style is good and although I found many pointless parts in the story, it didn't bother me too much while reading.

    I would rate the writing style 5/5 as it is good enough for a web novel. No bonus points are given, but that's fine. 

    Action/adventure/LitRPG I would rate at about 3/5. 

    Minor flaw 1:

    Spoiler

    The main character seems to "go with the flow", he has no real ambitions and strives for nothing but playing a game and enjoying the world.

    [collapse]

    Minor flaw 2: This MC progresses by going with the flow and getting overly lucky repeatedly. Which is kind of at odds with LitRPG. I'd like to see a MC who has earned their standing in some way. 

    Bigger flaw 1: No consistency in the length of days in the game, there were chapters where the main character woke up early, went to the market and then went to bed because it was too late. A similar thing happened when the main character traveled to a town with a good grinding area nearby. The group left early in the day, arrived late in the day, and had to go to bed within an hour. Are the cities in the game 40+ km apart?

    Bigger flaw 2: the realism of the battle scenes. 

    Spoiler

    For example, the newbie MC and his newbie girlfriend leave an inn where 2 rogues are sitting. After they leave the inn, and I assume they didn't walk backwards, the MC sees a dagger coming out of the corner of his eye. From one of the rogues who should have been inside the inn, but apparently left and not only followed them, but overtook them to assassinate them from the front? To pick a fight with a melee fighters? Pretty stupid in a lot of ways if you ask me.

    [collapse]

    Bigger flaw 3: 

    Spoiler

    when the MC was kidnapped, again, a whole day passed. Is there no way to respawn when you are kidnapped? Are you supposed to rot in a cave if someone kidnaps you? I think the MC said something along the lines of waiting and seeing what will happen. Kind of pointless to waste a day in the game, blind, bound and without anything to do.

    [collapse]

    As for the other tags, I'd rate them about 4/5. I think Gender Bender is very interesting in such a world, I think the 18+ chapters are extremely well written. But I have to deduct 1 point because I found some stupid parts:

    Spoiler

    The main character immediately believing an AI has a consciousness, the kind of drama the main character's ex-girlfriend causes, and the general way the main character acts. Granted, not too unrealistic, but still stupid, and I don't like stupid.

    [collapse]

    I would put the final rating at ~3.5/5. But the real deal breaker is the pseudoscientific way the story tries to justify a bad transgender transformation, which drops the rating to 2 stars.

    To make this feedback fair, I'll try to explain exactly.

    Spoiler

    1st: I think that the transgender part in the story has been treated similar to how mainstream media treats it. This is currently a real social contagion (in the USA). For those who don't know: It is scientifically very possible to be born with body dysmorphia, about 1/30, 000, meaning you can never be comfortable in your own body. That number rises to 1/50 (currently in the U.S.) if you make sure the population lives an unhealthy lifestyle (~42% obese) and make them question their own gender identity. Are you really a girl? Are you really happy? Wouldn't it be better to be born in a different body? Etc. This story, unfortunately, does just that. No facts are stated, only feelings.

    2nd: an example would be when the main character talks about having a female body in the game. He is happy that the female body in the game is so much more flexible than his real body. And instead of thinking that he should work out in real life, he wants to become a woman. He says the same thing about his weight and height. We never found out his weight and height, but he is apparently sad that he is big and weighs more than his female body in the game. In my opinion, he should change his male body in real life by training instead of thinking that he should change s*x. (Yes, you can lose weight, become fit and flexible as a man).

    3rd: When he tells his family that he wants to be a girl, they react like idiots. They tell him they will support him, but they really don't. I would expect my family to question my beliefs first and only then accept them. His family pushed him to have his gender changed as soon as possible. His family bought black market s*x-altering-technology literally on the evening their son talked the first time about wanting to change his s*x.

    Didn't anyone think that maybe he wanted to have his sperm frozen so he could still be a parent after the transformation, no?

    Did no one think that he might want to test a male character in the same game first, no?

    Did no one think about the fact that he has other psychological problems, no?

    Did no one think to contact a doctor, psychologist and other experts, no?

    I don't understand the rush in making a life altering decision. 

    I don't understand why the main character is living an unhealthy life, in a messy apartment, alone, with money problems, apparently without friends, and his family finds the solution themselves without experts. Yay, let's just ignore scientific research. The MC seems to have more of a midlife crisis, with no meaningful goal in his life to sustain him, no ambitions, no responsibilities, and probably depression.

    4th: "Would you rather have a living daughter or a dead son" - MC. 

    This is probably the most inhumane and stupid quote that trans activists use today, because it implies that you either change your gender or die. And this quote affects people with depression way too much. Depression has many causes, can lead to death, and can only be treated with the help of others. When you have depression, the only realistic way is to let others help you. But that only works if the people helping you are not trying to convince you to bombard your body with hormones and drugs used for sterilization, disfigure your genitals, and take on debt to pay for the drugs that will most likely kill you in the future from cancer. (S*x reassignment surgeries in the U.S. Generate about $1.5 million per person for the pharmaceutical industry)

    Don't get me wrong, not feeling comfortable in your body is a real problem. There is a step-by-step progression you can take to feel right in your body. And the first step, whether you are trans or not, is not to take life-altering drugs. The first step is to get your mind and body healthy. It's as simple as that. And only after that should you consider life-altering drugs. I don't care how people live their lives, but I hate it when people influence others in toxic ways. If people want to be transs*xual, I don't care, but it annoys me to no end when people with problems have their lives ruined by alternative facts and stupid ideologies. And I sadly think this story is promoting stupid ideologies. Being tolerant is good, being overly tolerant and helping people to hurt themselves is not. 

    [collapse]

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    Siska
    Status: 40: chat

    Do you ever just see a synopsis and think, "I don't think I'll like this, but I'll give it a shot." That seems to happen quite frequently with me, and oddly enough, it's these novels that I enjoy the most, the ones that push me just far enough out of my current comfort zone that it's new, without being completely alien. 

    I've read plenty of Gender Bender in my time, but 9/10 times, it's for comedy, and only 1 of 10 is it a serious disection of gender and the protagonist. This was my first time reading a Transgender novel, and I must say, I was enlightened about many things. 

    Is the story perfect, no, and some of the IRL conflicts will require, well, a lot of suspension of disbelief, but other than that, it's a cute romance, fun comedy, over the top action novel, plus some lewd parts, kinda the perfect combo. 

    I'm personally not particularly progressive, so I'd understand if you are held up about reading this because it's about a trans main character. Truthfully, I was too at first, but I think it's good enough in every category that's tagged, that even if you have some particular feelings about transgender people, I think it's still worth a read. 

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    Lexi
    Status: 41: the healer

    What can I say, except... WOW!

    I love Valerie's writing that has a tendency of pulling me right in. And her stories - especially Trouble with Horns - feel so much more real to me in regards of the transgender experience than any book I have read when I was adolescent and still doubting the validity of myself.

    Not going to lie: the first big part of TwT is not easy to read. It pushed me right back into the dysphoric episodes I had eight years ago, when I decided that I had suffered enough and finally began my journey. But the story made more than up for it when it starts showing how euphoric a normal life can feel, once one transitions to their true self. Be ready to cramp up in suffering and cry tears of joy, along with rollercoasting through all the emotions in between.

    There aren't many stories out there that allow me - aside from participating in the adventures - let me identify with the lead character in an intensity how TwT does it. If any at all.

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    Romythered
    Status: up to current

    as usual, vale out here hitting us with adorable tales of a young egg cracking and learning how to live their life, the issues they might face, and above all how happy they are to finally be themselves.

    Horns seems to be separate from the now-prolific Kammiverse/valeverse stories, but is its own kind of fun trans story, with plenty of raunchy to go with the cute.

    thanks as always, and cant wait for more! :3

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    Veszcer
    Status: c73

    A wonderful story with extremely lovable and entertaining characters! Trouble With Horns was essential to helping me figuring out my own identity, and even after that I'm enthralled by the world that QuietValerie has created.

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    Aeris_999
    Status: c5

    I came for the transgender, VRMMORPG, Game system, Gamers.

    Spoiler

    But chapter 1, we don't know if her stats allowed the MC to kill those spiders, same for the bandits. No explanations about skill and the MC seem to be like " I'm playing a game for fun so why should I care about the gameplay."

    [collapse]

    So much people put 5 stars and I can understand their feelings but other gaming system novel full R-18 and zero plot at least got a gaming system to show for readers even though most of those gaming systems were just bad, almost trash sometimes. But at least, there is some logic, here I didn't feel any logic due to the lack of informations.

    I saw your comment at chapter 1 about the gaming element not being much present but there is almost none, sorry author.

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    Snowycragrat
    Status: current

    I came across this story a couple of months ago and since then I have devoured it twice and read both Pellen Rise and Ryn of Avonside. All of Vallerie's characters are cute, but these two are probably the cutest couple she has written. The characters are interesting and engaging, along with a nice amount of worldbuilding for the Solarpunk (?) setting she has created along with the game world. Again I love the characters and do like the idea that most SAIs have become student protestors with their appearance and actions. 

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    Kofi611
    Status: 21: hot bath

    There are two types of books that I like: books that make me want to find out what happens next, and books that I truly enjoy reading. This is the latter. I can't stop laughing.

    Someone help this author get his work out there because everyone needs to read this.

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    Virsa
    Status: 73: runed pillar

    As everything Trouble is here in this one entry in Scribble, I’m going to split the review into a part for each section. Major spoilers ahead, so be aware of that if you haven’t yet read this.

    Book 1 (Complete. Chapters 1-33)

    Spoiler

    Book 1 is pretty great. If I had found this at a bookstore and bought a copy, I’d be largely satisfied. It’s fun to ride along as Tami finds herself inside of Cora. You feel her highs as she interacts with people and crushes spiders with her thighs. You feel crushed when she returns to the real world and has to deal with what this all means for her life.

    Because the story only partly takes place in VR, the story feels much more grounded. We make some discoveries that have actual repercussions for the actual people involved, and then have some flashy VR fighting scenes to spice it up. 

    It’s interesting how the world, or at least UNC, is basically a utopia but there’s still future bigots and no accessible healthcare for trans people. Makes me wonder what else is wrong with the place.

    I only have a few minor criticisms of book 1, most of which are the Aurora PoV scenes.

    First is in chapter 26, which spoils Aurora’s identity. After all this time in Tami’s head, we’re ripped away to give us that one piece of information and for Tami to Do A Thing. Feels bad.

    Next is in chapter 27 with the cannon scene where again Tami Does A Thing and then we’re back. It’s very jarring to me to be in one viewpoint for so long and then blip out of it for just a few seconds.

    Kristina isn’t exactly a strong antagonist for Tami. She shows up every once in a while to shout or be shown up and that’s about it. It’s not a huge deal because the main conflict in the story is Tami’s identity. There’s a line in chapter 1 about how Kristina would hang out with Tami in VR while they were dating. I do wonder what Kristina even does in VR. Maybe the line is there to make it possible that Aurora would turn out to be her?

    It would’ve been interesting if she played Cora with Tami and actually got to interact with her without the knowledge of who she was. Let her see that Tami is just a normal person before being confronted with that in the real world.

    [collapse]

    Book 1.5 (The Taylor Interlude. Chapters 34-38)

    Cute fluff. Not much to say, really. It’s fine.

    Book 2 (Chapters 39-73 at time of writing)

    Spoiler

    Book 2 is still in progress, so I can’t exactly give a full review of it. That said, book 2 really doesn’t hit me the same way that book 1 does. We start off with Tami being attacked after someone ordered a hit on her character in Cora. I could maybe understand this if the game featured permadeath, but all that happens is item loss (But even that is frequently ignored.)

    This is followed by a quest in Cora that takes around 18 chapters where not much happens. Turns out she somehow kept the egg from chapter 12 and it’s a mighty morphin’ SAI deletin’ cutie pie dragon that the Future Bigots really want to get their hands on for some reason. The whole party gets some titles and land for their efforts.

    There’s some stuff about how the Future Bigots are sponsoring gamers for propaganda reasons? And we’re going to fight that with the power of brand association and lawsuits? And how are we going to do that? By beating up Future Bigots in Cora.

    Cora was never the thing that made Trouble actually good. It was finding out how Tami would deal with these things that she was discovering about herself. It was trying to figure out who Aurora is in reality. Tami no longer needs to change. Everything is already solved. She’s in her ideal body. She’s in a relationship with the love of her life. She stumbled into a job that demands nothing of her. She doesn’t need to stop being reckless because she’ll just respawn. Or May will give her a resurrection ability. There’s no stakes. There’s no longer any consequences to deal with.

    Like Tami says in chapter 43, “It isn’t real [], none of this is real, there’s no need to be afraid.”

    [collapse]

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    DvaDI
    Status: 57: the idiot

    The romance is fantastic and the characters are amazing but the action is good however distinctly lacking because Tami is consistently out leveled and outgunned so even though she does really cool attacks that read like somebody splitting the sky in half they end up doing nothing because you can't have a level 30 kill a level 60 in one hit. Also, another problem with the story is that they never ever explain how sh*t works and the f**k is even going on with the game itself (except for that one time we were told 20 power is an average human but that's it) it would be great if Val could explain the ability system and the stats of characters and how they stand in the game. The final grip with the story is that it feels like they are in the 90s despite being hundreds of years in the future, I just find it weird how people in the novel look at LGBTQ people like they are from the f**king Necronomicon, and maybe it's like that in whatever place the author lives but in my corner of the world people like that are f**king criptids.

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