There are a handful of light novels I regularly buy and read immediately. Disciple of the Lich is one of them. I have read up to volume 4 of the books and each time, it just kept me engaged. Story: It's a typical isekai with summoning rather than reincarnation (thank goodness! I am no huge fan of the deathification stuff). Our MC Kanata is summoned by the gods as an RPG plaything for their amusement. He refuses, gets smacked by them and banished to a dungeon with no chance of survival but by fate and luck, he meets Lunaere, a lich, who helps him outof boredom and he grinds to get stronger. It is generic but what really makes it so good is how well it is executed. The power scaling system is well done and when you see OP characters in this, you actually enjoy it because they likely had to work exceptionally hard to reach their level; especially Kanata. The actions is also really fun to read and the plot also holds on to the main premise of Kanata wanting to return home and stop the gods from abusing the world he is in now. Even with small subplots, they all feed into the main plot and never feel like filler. Best thing I enjoy is how the characters get stronger in this. The world building has a bit of eldritch horror mixed with isekai fantasy and it actually works well. One nitpick I have with worldbuilding is in terms of money. I wish these stories actually treated money like a serious part of the lore. Here, gold just starts to feel like copper when rewards for quests start climbing past a million gold but this is small mitpick.

Characters: These are stereotypical in a lot of ways but, as I said earlier, executed so well. Kanata is a plain highschool boy but not devoid of personality. Lunaere is an OP Lich and a tsundere but also such a great FMC that her own chapters and plots are fun to read. Pomera, Rosemonde and Philia a great supporting characters who compliment Kanata by both functioning a foils to his "Straight-man" persona and in-turn being the "Straight-men" to him. A few others are just there for a short time or don't get as much development as the core cast but they are still good additions to the plot.

Art: This may be the only area where I have issues with this series. The illustrations are very good, especially the cover at and colored early pages but for teh rest for the novels, they become sparse and what we do get doesn't usually depict the action or fight scenes too much or teh creatively described monsters and demons or locations. Not a huge deal if you are someone like me with a knack for imagination but it does feel lacking.

Overall, I really enjoy buying and reading this series. It's one of my favorites and it shows how to do an OP character so well.