I tried picking it up where the Anime ended but only got a chapter or 2 in before I stopped. I really enjoyed the anime and want more Fran in my life but just couldn’t get into it at the time.

I would probably recommend reading from the beginning. Or from where you meet Fran. If the LN is a 10/10, the anime is a 6/10 at best. Don't get me wrong, I still love the anime but it waters down a lot of the world-building and character development. And Fran is an amazing character to see develop. Definitely would recommend more Fran in your life!

I was going through Didn’t I say to make my abilities average again.

And I totally forgot about Average Abilities! I loved the anime and always wanted to know more about the world with how the anime had a teaser ending! I might have to check that out now, especially since you've read it twice.

So I’m a Spider, So What? - I would say it’s worth a read

Well, that's another vote for Spider Isekai! Yeah, even with the anime people were upset with the episodes without Spider-chan. The one thing the anime did really well was disguise that there was a time skip. I loved that there were still enough hints about the time-skip that the revelation feels good and mind-blowing. I've also read a bit of the Spider Isekai wiki to know there's a lot more depth to things than what's presented in the anime. As time passes, it does seem less likely we'll get that season 2, which is a shame.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback! Very appreciated!

Are you sure you didn’t fall for an AI book scam?

I'm not saying it's impossible, but the book was published over a year before ChatGPT's release. Also that's not the impression I got from the writing. When I looked up the author, he had another series he was still writing as well. My guess is he would jump back and forth between the two tales, but would also just publish a book without even bothering to reread it and didn't have an editor. He WAS rapidly pumping them out every few months and I blamed that for the very unpolished nature of the book. If anything, I was more suspicious of the ratings as the book was rated over 4 stars, which is absurd for how bad it was.

Just for kicks I looked up my book review:

"By the third book the writing gets extremely sloppy. I found myself constantly reporting plot content errors. Let me reiterate this point. As a reader, I was pointing out how the author of the work was clearly wrong describing aspects of the world they themselves had created. Names of characters and languages were changed at random simply because the author forgot what he had named the character before. Other side characters were forgotten entirely even if they had been waiting for the main character to get back to them. Numerous times the main character inexplicably forgot his own exploits, claiming he had never done a task he had literally performed several pages prior. It became a struggle to get any sense of the plot with things being so inconsistent."

OMG, I forgot that the author would misspell people's names constantly! Like in one chapter a person would show up, "Hi, I'm Blake Cashmir" and then in a later chapter, "If it isn't Black Cushmire!" Like it really did feel like the author was just banging them out without doing any proofreading or outlining or anything.

as far as recommendations go I would put Death March to the Parallel Rhapsody forward

Oh, I did enjoy that anime even if it's a bit ridiculous.

it feels more like a travel log with some occasional fights in between

Based on how you described it, it also sounds a bit similar to The False Hero in that it's more of a travel log with comfy vibes so I think I'd definitely enjoy it. Thanks for the suggestion! Added it to my reading list now!

I would put Death March to the Parallel Rhapsody forward.

A good call. Defiantly worth reading. Karion says so too.