The old saying that you can't judge a book by it's cover still holds true when it comes to Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon! One look at the title seems to explain it all but that's not really the case here. I'm sure that when most of us see the word Dungeon we quickly see a dim lit cold dark place where nobody sees the light of day ever again. However, the Clearflow Lake stratum is nothing like the typical dungeon we are used to. There's a sky, open fields and lakes so it's actually more like a fairy tail world than your typical Dungeon. Come to find out, Clearflow Lake is just one of many stratums in this world and for the sake of this volume it's the only one that's really mentioned.
The premise is pretty simple and to use the words of the author himself, "The protagonist is a man who died by being crushed under the weight of his vending machine obsession. But as fate would have it, he reincarnates as a vending machine, is sitting around on the lakeside in another world by himself, when the main heroine, Lammis appears. Machine meets girl, and the story begins."
I quickly took a liking to the main heroine, Lammis. She's a girl who possesses the power of 6 grown men and is able to carry the vending machine 'Boxxo' as she names him on her back. She takes him from place to place where inhabitants of the town learn to use him. Lammis is kind hearted, a hard worker and is loyal to her friends. It's refreshing to see such a strong young woman as the heroine in this novel. As for Boxxo, he's simply a vending machine that has the soul of a man inside. He fully understands everything going on around him and can understand their language but he can only say a few simple phrases that you would hear from a talking vending machine. "Welcome", "Please come again" and "Get one free with a winner" are a few of them. Boxxo and Lammis have a connection that allows them to communicate rather well even though only certain words and phrases are spoken by him.
Boxxo himself is actually a very special vending machine. He has the ability to produce and sell anything he has ever purchased from a vending machine in his former life which comes in very handy when trying to please new customers and to fulfill special requests that are asked of him. He has the ability to produce both hot and cold items and can even change the layout of his body to accommodate various products. However, being a vending machine means he can't walk or go anywhere on his own so that's why Lammis is such a crucial part of his life.
This novel is much more than a simple 'day of the life' of a vending machine and I was so taken in that I read the entire novel in 1 evening which is extremely rare for me. Seeing a number 1 on the cover makes me happy about getting new volumes to read about more of their travels however, the story did not seem to leave much unfinished so I'm very curious to see what the next volumes will be like.
I'm happy that I took a chance on this title and would recommend it highly to anyone looking for something that's a little different.
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Novel Volume 1
A middle-aged man with only one passion in his life meets a fitting end in a traffic accident. That's where most stories would end, but instead, this is when his story begins when he's reborn as what he admired the most in life--a vending machine! But his new lease on life(?) happens in the worst place possible--what can a vending machine do in a monster-infested dungeon when he can't speak or even move on his own?
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