His Soul is Marching On to Another World; or, the John Brown Isekai

In style and content, the closest comparison for John Brown Isekai is probably  Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Both involve their 19th century main character being violently transplanted into a medieval fantasy world (although with less fantasy in Twain's case). Both involve their progressive protagonist undermining backwards and oppressive social regimes. Both slowly accumulate a cadre of followers who adopt their leader's modern ideological leanings (at least that seems to be the direction JBI is heading as of Chapter XVII).

The appeal is similar (albeit with due respect to Twain's status as a master writer). John Brown Isekai is at its best when it is delivering little historical factoids, playing with what its characters know and do not know, deconstructing genre expectations (burlesques for Twain, isekais for JBI), and delivering the audience satisfaction when their modern sensibilities win out over political evils.

If there is a "cheat skill" John Brown has, it is his ability to stumble into success through single-minded - bordering on pathological - adherence to his brand of moral Christianity. A fair shake given the man himself. There isn't a lot of suspense when Brown goes stumbling into an altercation for that very reason, but the appeal, like that of a moral fable, is knowing that things will turn out alright for him through moral righteousness alone.

Not every story can be everything though, which is why John Brown Isekai sacrifices a few elements in service of its central conceit.

This is not a story for deep character studies, for instance. John Brown's character, by necessity, must be one-dimensional for the jokes to land and the plot to make sense. The side characters have some small, plot-related developments, but are largely in service of deconstructing a certain type of "slave-centric" isekai, and are thus constrained by that role.

The setting, similarly, isn't so much a steak you can sink your teeth into as a platter of familiar tropes served upside-down. And while some interesting political critiques are nodded to, they aren't intended to be deeply explored and interrogated the way A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court does.

This is not to say that JBI needs, or would be well served, by having these elements in it. A morally gray and complex John Brown sounds like a recipe for being an unfocused snoozefest. Discarding too many isekai staples would undermine the satire. And the levity of the humor relies on there not being too much heady ideology for the reader to juggle.

Ultimately, this is a fun little story that delivers on its central premise exactly how you expect it to. It entertains throughout with more than a few killer lines like:

"Old John Brown had expected to encounter slavery. He had expected to encounter crimes against humanity. He had not expected to encounter a catgirl."

The build-up to revolution is fun, as are the historical asides and the pains taken to make sure John Brown knows, speaks, and acts exactly what and how his historical counterpart would. The writing can be a bit dry and matter-of-fact. The concept a little shallow now and again. But I can't be too harsh on it for accomplishing exactly what it sets out to accomplish.

This is a fun little isekai, better written and with a far better premise than a lot of other generic titles, and I would highly recommend it.

FOREWARD

I'm going to keep this short because a full review on an incomplete story seems unwarranted and it's late and I need to go to bed. Also sorry if the formatting is weird, this is the first time I am writing a review in RR.

UNREFINED GENIUS 

This story reeks of a genius idea which surprises not only its readers, but its author. I can tell that it was nearly unintentional for this story to become so popular (RR says it has over 5,000 average views which surpasses the author's other works by over 20x). Not only does it provide some much needed catharsis for those sick of the shallow and edgy plots in a bloated genre like isekai, it also channels a huge amount of legitimate criticisms of isekais in general.

So often are the characters who are sent to other worlds largely blank! The author provides a character rife with bias and criticisms of the world he's been placed in, rather than accept it at face value. What fun is there in putting a fantasy fan in a fantasy world? Of course they will love it and dominate with their knowledge of chliches which for some reason govern a completely alien world. Not John Brown! John Brown is fanatical to a God no one else recognizes, and views the world he's been placed in completely differently than even his modern day isekai equivalents. This is by far the novel's greatest strength so far, adding  a whole new dimension to the otherwise one-sided interaction had by protagonists of the genre. 

CONCLUSION 

The reason I give this review the titles "Lightning in a Bottle" and "Unrefined Genius" is because this idea has everything going for it: Meme potential, room for both ironic and legitimate fans, civil war buffs, anime haters, etc. I hope this idea grows and supports a healthy community, because I really want to read more chapters! They only get better as you refine your writing style even further and create more of an identity for your characters/entire story. Best of luck to you!

Edit: the short stories are no longer on Royalroad, but you can find them on AO3.

These are a set of pretty good stories, I'll give a short review of each one

[1] Fall of the Slave Harem ( Latest chapter is Chapter XI – Blessed are the slaves.):

This was so amazing i had to get out of my seat multiple times just to think about the story, to be fair i also literally went out for a walk just thinking about how amazing this story was going to be just by reading the title but anyways. The prologue starts with the death of John Brown (OOPS! spoilers for Real Life), detailing his execution, this was a very captivating start to a story, especially 

really hammering the point home of the sort of fear he inspires towards his enemies. The story really helps give the audience an understanding of who John Brown is with his smarts and helpful nature. This book also has many moments of sheer comedy like John Brown being confused on the more modern usage of "Based" and "Cringe" when coming across someone who uses those words. Overall it feels like less of a joke "haha what if John Brown was isekaied" and a genuine attempt on the idea which works shockingly well, so well in fact I made an account just to keep track of the book and to write this very review. Overall i'd recommend this story

End of the Slave Empire (Short story):

This one is not as high quality as End of the Slave Harem, it feels more into the territory of "haha what if John Brown was isekaied" but it has a good excuse of being more like a what-if scenario. It doesn't go particuarlly in depth into the idea but to be fair it has to cover a massive span of time and many events into 7 chapters so judging it under the standards of a normal book would be incredibly unfair. I'd still recommend reading this as it still scratches the itch the novel version does. Though as i wrote before it suffers from a lack of depth i love from the novel version "Fall of the Slave Harem" due to the author rushing through at minimum 3 novels worth of events in 7 chapters.

Total Nekonomic Collapse (Short Story):

I actually somewhat enjoy this one more than "End of the Slave Empire" As it gives more depth into John Brown the man, with him working towards freeing the catgirls from the inequality and servitude they suffer from (read spoiler)

Nekonomic helps showcase John Brown's intellegence with more time being spent on his planning and him learning of the events of the 21st century in order to achieve his goals. It helps put into display his more caring aspects and his intelligence.

Conclusion:

Overall i'd recommend all three of these stories to be read, if you like one, you'll probably like the rest of em. Apologies for any grammar mistakes in this review, theres no automatic spell check on here which im a bit used to and I'm not exactly the best at writing reviews.

I mean it’s just nice to have an isekai that recognises that slavery is bad. Also John brown is an og so that’s cool too. The writing is also just very engrossing and the way it world builds is surprisingly good? The description of slimes is top notch, and the art, while not very good, is very charming and just fits. 

Do you hate your wimpy, cucked Japanese MC's who's only way to touch the hand of a girl is by buying a slave who they can then *gasp* treat marginally better than their environment used to and then use this to force a love relationship?

If yes, then this is the novel for you.

10/10 Story John Brown gets confused by the word based and then stabs a 4chan poster what's more to say?

Meme review aside this has some shockingly good character writing, as well as a pretty interesting worldbuilding and action so far. It's also really funny and scratches a specific itch I didn't even realize I had.

Its a regular isekai where the MC get to teach the isekai savages with superior earth morals and such

Now, the thing is, slavery in isekai is mostly an easy way for the MC to have trusted companions without actually having to write how those relationships develop

Which is exactly what this fic does, but by freeing the slaves instead acquiring them, the end result is still the MC easily getting a trusted tagalong character to interact with, who is also a catgirl

Mmmmkay?

Is a curious case of a narrative focusing on the most flashy problem (slavery), instead of the true problem (easily  aquired companions), and ending up with the same writing shortcut

But its ok, i guess, as the story doesnt take itself too seriously, and embraces the Savior MC angle

Is mostly another flavor of good ol' isekai

A concise and completed story, I recommend this story to see Slavers killed and slaves granted liberty. Is the language a  bit dry? Yes. But the core premise is entertaining and hell yeah is liberty and freedom worth writing a wish fulfillment fic about. While I would like o have seen more from this fic and the Las chapter really speeds things up, I can say that this story has certainly scratched my itch. 

Beautiful, this is exactly what I've been looking for lol. John Brown isekai is a very funny concept thanks for making, I have always hated isekai normalizing slavery in such a manner that it feels really weird and forced. I saw a meme and didnt think this would be real.

Short stories can't be assessed using the same yard stick as regular novels.  Consequently, there is no time for progressive character development or intricate plot design.  Ultimately, it comes down to a simple question; Did you enjoy the story?"  My answer is a resounding YES!.   "His Soul is Marching On" takes the historic revolutionary figure of John Brown Isekia, drops him in another world. From there, we follow his comedic progress as he continues his passion to free all slaves. Finally, it wraps up with a marvelous, bittersweet ending tying his real and fictional lives together. 

Highly recommended.