The Fall 2023 Light Novel Guide

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time

What's It About? 

Alina Clover signed up to be a receptionist for the Adventurers Guild thinking it would be her ticket to the good life. Unfortunately, her dream gig turns into an overtime nightmare whenever the adventurers get stuck clearing a dungeon. To save herself from a mountain of paperwork, Alina takes to beating down monsters herself to solve the problem! Now she just needs to keep her activities a secret...

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time has a story by Mato Kousaka, with art by Gaou. The English translation is by Jennifer Ward. Published by Yen On (September 19, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

The guild receptionist has become such a feature of light novel fantasies that it was only a matter of time before she got her own novels. Technically, this is the second receptionist fantasy to come out in English, but it's by far the more interesting – heroine Alina is a powerful adventurer in her own right, but she keeps it hidden in order to preserve her cushy receptionist job. Her one pet peeve? Whenever it takes too long to close a dungeon, she has to work overtime, and she hates overtime. So when that happens, she simply summons her ludicrously overpowered skill and takes care of the boss herself. Or at least, that's what three-quarters of the book wants you to think is going on.

It's an effective ploy, because while it isn't entirely misleading – it's clear that there has to be more going on with Alina than she's letting us know – by the time we get to the reveal, we can appreciate it. Alina's not just busy trying to avoid overtime, she's also working hard to avoid having to interact with many adventurers, especially the higher-ranking ones who go to more dangerous places. She's definitely engaged in self-preservation, but it may not be the precise kind of self-preservation she wants to believe it is. It does make her early relationship with Jade, the man who falls hard for her at first sight, a little awkward, but Alina herself is awkward, and that makes her a frankly more interesting heroine. Plus she's remarkably relatable when she talks about wanting to enjoy her PTO and worrying about her fantasy equivalent of a mortgage. The writing may not be brilliant or the illustrations fantastic, but the book is very enjoyable and a good change from the more standard dungeon-based fantasies – it even has a pretty good reason for why there are dungeons in the first place. Plus it isn't isekai, so if you're in the mood for something that's a bit more than it appears, this is a safe bet.