Review – Isekai Park, A Whimsical Slice-of-Life LitRPG

Do you like dungeon core stories? Do you like theme park games? Have you ever found yourself asking out loud “I sure wish there was a dungeon core story about a main character who was a manager of a theme park in a realm between Earth and the spirit realms that had a sense of adventure and solid progression but also wasn’t afraid to laugh at itself now and again?” Do you want a story that is a solid mixture of cute and adventure?

If you answered any of those questions, why are you talking to yourself? Also, why aren’t you reading Wolfe Locke’s newest story, Isekai Park?

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Grey is a practical young man fresh out of his military service. He has a practical mind but a kind heart. He spends his days working at a bakery, where he is just punctual enough to not get fired. He also has a history of giving out product to those in need, which has earned him some ire with his employer.

Billie Madds is a mostly human entity, the manifestation of a dungeon core deeply in trouble. It barely escaped danger to find itself near Earth, and is looking for ways to generate mana to get back some of its power. After a brief visit on foot to Earth proper, she decided the best way to do this is to create a realm that generates happiness. She needs someone to help manage the creation of her new world, and as such more than less kidnaps Grey and offers him the job.

What follows is the creation of life sized Rock’em Sock’em Robots games, roller coasters made of candy, space fighter theme rides that feel like flying actual space fighters, real life Chess battles, and plenty of exotic places for food in between point A and point B. This amount of creativity will be needed to appease the otherworld aliens, dreaming mortals, and the occasional damned spirit that finds it way to the Parnival Wonderland.

The dream world isn’t perfect, however. It would be easy for this kind of story to have a hook like “behind the dream is a darker reality,” but thankfully the story keeps it kind of light and focuses on the difficulties of entertaining multiple guests and their expectations, finding new ways to keep individuals coming back, and keeping Grey’s own attention focused and invested.

The story is a bit saccharine at times, which might be a turn off for some, but to be honest seeing a story approach its material this way is rather refreshing. The stakes are less “end of the world” and more “how do we keep outdoing ourselves” but the pacing helps keep it along and many of the ride ideas and interactions are genuinely entertaining.

Of course, it isn’t all just dreamlands and games. Outside of Billie Madd’s domain are other entities who also want a slice of the visitor pie, and aren’t afraid to sink to crafty lows in order to make that happen. Powerful forces are willing to scheme against Billie Madds in hopes of entrapping her for their own gains, under the guise of games or contests. There are also forces that aren’t kind to domains as a whole. Grey will have to contend with all of them, while keeping Parnival Wonderland running. This helps give the story a sense of real stakes, while also never being so threatening as to take away from the slice-of-life feeling the story strives for.

Overall, this is a very solid YA title. It continues to find interesting angles in which to charm, and its almost episodic nature within its overarching story really works well in its favor. This is a relaxing, stress-free read about a young man, his dungeon core friend, those they hope to make happy, and those that will step in their way to keep that from happening. It may be whimsical, but more importantly it works.

Isekai Park was written by Wolfe Locke with an e-book that comes in at 600 pages. It is available on Amazon Online for $4.99, or free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. An audio book produced by Royal Guard Publishing is confirmed in the works.