I picked up Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound, Vol. 1 almost entirely because of the premise and the art. The artwork is gorgeous from start to finish, with a lot of dramatic flair and really strong character designs that immediately pull you in. Visually, this thing is STUNNING. And the original concept of having the Baskerville Hounds be a bunch of monster hunters sounds incredible. But that's about all of the amazing stuff. A huge part of the volume is dedicated to exposition, and while I understand it’s laying groundwork for the world, the power systems, the family dynamics, and everything else, I found myself getting bored more often than invested. It constantly felt like the story was explaining itself instead of letting me connect naturally with the characters or the world. And then there’s the video game aspect. I don't know how common this is in Reincarnation stories, I never picke one up before, so I was quite surprised when we literally gain XP from slaying a monster and that we enter what are essentially levels or dungeons to grind for more XP. It made the whole thing feel less like a story and more like watching someone play an RPG. If you enjoy LitRPG-style mechanics, I can absolutely see this being a plus. For me, though, it completely pulled me out of the barely existing narrative. I also struggled with the lack of depth. The characters felt more functional than emotionally engaging, and despite all the dramatic backstory and revenge setup, I never felt particularly attached to anyone. Combined with the heavy exposition and game mechanics, it left me appreciating the idea of the story more than the actual reading experience.

This was actually my first time reading a reincarnation story. I was always a bit weary of this kind of story because it just didn't sound interesting to me. But this concept of the Baskerville Hounds was enough to finally have me try it. That said I learned pretty quickly that this style of story just isn’t for me. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad example of its genre. I suspect it probably hits a lot of the benchmarks fans of reincarnation/progression fantasy are looking for. But reading this made me realize that those genre conventions just don’t appeal to me personally. So while I can admire the incredible art and the intriguing setup, I won’t be continuing the series and I think my first reincarnation story will probably also be my last.