My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer

Volume 1

By: Mojikakiya, Roy Nukia - translator

Narrated by: Derek Shoales

The life of an adventurer isn't always a glamorous one. Belgrieve finds this out the hard way when a deadly encounter robs him of his leg and the ability to pursue his dreams not long after setting off for fame and fortune. But fate isn't finished with this retired adventurer! While gathering herbs in the wilderness, he discovers an abandoned baby girl and names her Angeline after deciding to raise her as his own. Angeline grows up to become a top-tier adventurer in her own right, yet after venturing out into the world and making a name for herself, fame, fortune, and power hold no allure for the accomplished S-rank adventurer: her heartfelt wish is for nothing more than to see her father again.

©2018 MOJIKAKIYA; English translation copyright 2021 by J-Novel Club LLC; Original Japanese edition published in 2018 by Earth Star Entertainment; Cover illustration by toi8 (P)2023 Tantor

Very interactive voice

The anime was very chill and peaked my interest so I started the audiobook to get the full story. The reader is quite good and puts plenty of prep into voicing each line with each character in mind. From the audiobook, you'll get a very interactive read and can easily differ from each character's words. The female voices are done well enough too to where I was surprised a male reader could keep it diverse. The books seem to go way further than the anime too and also have quite a few already recorded. I'm 3 books in and like the story but it may lack some action for some readers so I dropped a point for it but honestly, I had a great time with this audio series.

Pretty Cute

This is a little hard to review objectively since I've seen the anime adaptation already. I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, God, I hope this whole anime isn't going to be about her trying to get home." Fortunately, I think only about half of the season was like that and it became more interesting from there. Unfortunately for those reading this book, that's about all that is covered here. It is basically all setup to establish how much the father and daughter love each other, and how amazingly strong they both are, especially Angie. We get a tiny little bit of a peak of a larger story towards the end, but that is about it. If you consider this book a slow slice of life introduction to the series then you will have the correct mindset. There are fights in the book but they are not described blow-by-blow, which is fine with me but bloodthirsty little kids might be disappointed. However, overall, this is enjoyable and based on what I've seen of the anime, things pick up a bit from here. I will definitely be continuing the series.

Great book. Needs attention on Audible.

The story is compelling as a slice of life tale about a daughter leaving home and growing up and a Dad who has to keep going.

The only issue is the narrator. He's not horrible. He knows how to do the reading. The problem is that his reading sometimes is very garbled and low, making you have to rewind in order to figure out what he's saying.

Kind of what you'd expect from an easy going story

Overall I'd say this was an enjoyable listen. The story revolves around a doting father and his father complex daughter. It has a lot of tropes surrounding the two, but i don't think it detracts from the story too much.
The daughter obviously thinks the world of her dad and wants to sing praises about him to anyone who will listen, which leads to her spreading around a nickname he knows nothing about. It does lead to very entertaining interactions as visitors to his village start to call him a nickname he's never heard before and consider him to be the strongest around. Which does lead to the trope that despite his attempts to set the record straight, people will misunderstand him instantly and run off before he can correct them.

The cons about this are that the action scenes aren't really all that interesting, despite how cool they may seem if this ever got turned into an anime. As well as despite the narrators best attempts the female voices aren't all that great. I do believe this would benefit greatly with a female narrator assisting.

Overall this is a fun and entertaining story. Despite the female voices, the narrator does a great job with what he has. I will likely pick up the second volume just to finally see how the father and daughter interact in an extended scene instead of just flashback moments, as well as just to see what the friends think of their relationship. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a chill and cozy kind of story.

Edit: didn't realize they made an anime for this series. With that in mind, the novel adds a lot to the characters and story. The anime is cute and does a good job, but it's nice having more insight from the novel. Also the action scenes leave a lot to be desired in the anime, but since the action is a small part of the overall story it's still a great watch.

Read on a whim, but now an all time favorite.

I'm writing this review after reading the entire series. It's a wholesome and beautiful story of a father and a daughter each overcoming their individual struggles and growing as individuals. This series does a fantastic job world building and developing characters. While the story focuses on the relationships that Angie and Bellgrieve build (and rekindle), there is an immersive underlying plot that is building in the background. I highly recommend giving this series a go. If you found this series after watching the anime, you'll find that the pacing in the books and the story feels much better than the show!