>>281393206Books don't really "take place" though. Most people who understand the phrase will initially interpret "in real time" applying to the act of reading. Which is redundant to the point of meaninglessness since every time you read something you're doing it in real time.
But someone with reading comprehension can still garner the intended meaning by finishing the sentence, and figure out that it's talking about reading an incomplete serialization. "Reading an ongoing light novel" would be a clearer and more natural way to phrase it. But then you couldn't trigger zoomer-obsessed ESLs.