Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Vol. 1
Author: singNsong
Publishers: Ize Press
Illustrator: Sleepy-C
Age Group: Teen
Adapted: Umi (Reddice Studio)
Genre: Apocalyptic Psychological Fantasy
Type: Manhwa
Content Warnings: Blood, Violence, Morality Checking
Spoilers ahead
Plot
Dokja Kim is an avid web novel reader of only one web novel containing over 3,000 chapters. The same day he finally finishes reading is the same day the normal modern world changes to the beginning of the same web novel. Can he survive as the only one that knows what happens next until the end of the world?
If you loved Solo Leveling, this should be your next read.
If you love characters that are normal but are morally gray, read this.
Character Development
We are introduced to several characters from the beginning. Dokja Kim, our omniscient protagonist. He’s nothing special besides the fact he’s the only one in the world who’s read this web novel that’s collided with his reality. He’s your average under-achieving, keeps his head down type of person. He’s just trying to live day-to-day and find joy in what he can from the monotony of everyday life. He really shines in recognizing the novel and thinking things through before he acts. At the same time, he’s cautious about how much he strays from the original novel. Dokja Kim’s character is very relatable, complex, easy to follow in his thought process, and root for.
Hyeonseong Lee, a soldier who tries to keep everyone calm as the world turns into a first class emergency. He’s calm, collected, not afraid to fight, but also doesn’t get in the way when there is injustice. He also soaks up any advice making Dokja think he’s a bit of a simpleton. Hyeonseong is complex in that he’s supposed to stand for justice but doesn’t mind not getting in the way of injustice. I look forward to getting to know his character more as Dokja tries to recruit him.
Sangah Yu is Dokja’s co-worker that works in HR. She’s intelligent, studious, has a strong sense of justice and tries to fight injustice when she sees it (only for Dokja to stop her for her own safety), but doesn’t handle violent situations well. I look forward to the expansion on her character as we follow Dokja and her.
While there are other characters, we see them mostly through Dokja’s perspective. One of the main’s from the web novel is Namwoon Kim who is a teen that falls to his darker side. Dokja changes his fate from the web novel. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any long lasting repercussions.
Overall, the character development is excellent. Each character feels like a real person, even if we don’t know much about them, yet. The artwork definitely helps with that as their expressions and body language are done very well. We get enough background for each character and their reactions in these extreme scenarios that we get to know them quickly. This is excellent as the story attaches us to the characters as it builds the new world order around us.
World-building
The world-building relies on our knowledge of the modern world creating safety. Then throws us (albeit brilliantly) from the world we know to one like the purge but with monsters and ‘constellations’ that watch from above for entertainment, even becoming sponsors for those that survive the first scenario (aka trial by fire).
While Dokja knows the web novel, even us (the audience) don’t know what’s going to happen. We have to fully rely on the character. This creates a tight knit world-building experience because we have to see it as Dokja is seeing and processing it. The world is built as we go along in the scenarios and learn from the ‘goblins’ which are the hosts for developing and carrying out each scenario.
The audience stays grounded to Dokja throughout the entire story as we learn about the Constellations, end of the world, and the web novel unfolds around Dokja. It’s done very well. My only complaint is that the first scenario runs most of the novel. This is to be expected as we see how people react when ordered to kill a living creature within a certain time frame. We get all the perspectives you’d expect to see from people. It all feels very realistic, if a little slow to get to the real action. This is on purpose as it sets this series up to be an apocalyptic psychological thriller fantasy.
Themes
Survival of the fittest. One of the oldest themes found in literature. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint brings this about excellently from every day life to life threatening scenarios. With Dokja, we realize that the world has always been this way. We just have more clarity now that it’s life threatening.
Observations & Predictions
Some of my favorite lines:
“The day I read the final chapter of the novel only I had been reading for over ten years…the world in the novel became reality (prologue)”.
“At that moment, my life took on a different genre (prologue)”.
I can see Dokja changing bits and pieces of the web novel reality to make a better outcome than the end of the world. At the same time, he’ll be hesitant because he won’t know what happens if he changes too much of the story. There also feels like there will be a romance between Dokja and Sangah. I get the sense that if the romance happens or he begins to care about her too much, she will be the trigger that causes him to become the hero that changes the world.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. I can’t wait for the next installment to come out March 2024. This is a must read.
