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Reviews

The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat

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By Hanami Nishine and . Released in Japan as “Yatoware Heroine wa Akuyaku Reijou ni Zamaa Saretai” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I was somewhat baffled at this single-volume series after reading it. On researching the title further, I am slightly less baffled. It came out in 2019, which is not in the first wave of Villainess titles, but right after, which is why it tries to play with the form a little. It’s also one of the CIW titles that they licensed directly from the author, and only seems to have appeared on the Narou website. A lot of webnovels are written on the fly. They’re week to week. They’re messy. And when they get picked up by a publisher, they tend to get heavily rewritten. This is still in the “messy” stage. It starts off almost as a broad comedy, and gradually starts to get a bit tragic as we begin to understand our hired heroine, who just wants to live happily with her mom but sometimes life doesn’t let you get what you want. Her messiness makes this interesting.

Nina Scaglione has been reincarnated in this world form Japan, but her memories are vague (she *thinks* she may have lived in the country as the daughter of a rice farmer) and she’s not remotely noble. She lives as a commoner with her mother, who is dying and in pain. Her father is also dead. Then suddenly a talking cat shows up, and tries to make a deal with her. She can’t cure her mom, but she can get medicine that will ease her mom’s pain for as long as she has. In return, she has to play out this other girl’s “otome game villainess” fantasies and be the “heroine”, who is there to be a commoner, seduce the prince, and then get publicly shunned at graduation like all the best villainess books. There are a few problems here. The first is that the prince is uninterested in her, and she in him. The second is that this villainess is really, really dim.

At first I was certain this book was a comedy. This villainess, Clarissa, is a master class at “did not think this through”, and can’t even pour a bucket of water over the heroine without screwing it up. Nina’s attempts at being the heroine are helped along by this world’s “heroine powers”, which means everyone who has not co-signed a contract with God thinks that everything she does is wonderful and perfect, and this can also get very amusing. That said, as the book goes on, Nina’s life starts to get worse and worse. Things are not helped by Nina herself, who is very much in the “I am so plain and no one would be attracted to me” school of light novel protagonists. There are some real tear-jerking scenes later on, even as the book gradually manages to barrel along its narrative. That said, the book does end happily ever after, kinda sorta if everyone works art it. Even for the villainess, who is rather flummoxed by all this.

So yes, I don’t regret reading this, and enjoyed Nina’s struggles. But it’s a mess.

Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 1

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By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

This volume is plotted out in a very odd way, though I did end up quite enjoying it. The backstory of our villainess is quickly tossed off in about a page or two, as if it’s totally irrelevant – though it’s not, and I really want to find out what actually happened in the past. The feigning incompetence part is also given short shrift, as is the “everyone at school bullies her” part. That’s all just setup for the bulk of the book, which is a test that rapidly turns into a “death game” sort of environment. But this too is a sequel to something we only see in a side story at the end, as our heroine and her fellow low-ranking students all share a close bond of trust and are a fantastic team. What, you may ask, is this book interested in, then? This book is interested in taking shallow, arrogant nobles and destroying them.

Beljeanne was, so it is said, a cruel and heartless villainess who tried to kill her rival by summoning a demon. She was killed, and reincarnated as a Japanese girl. There, she went through school, work, getting married, having children, and dying happily at the age of 86. Whereupon she is reincarnated back in her original world, two generations later. as the granddaughter of the rival she supposedly tried to have killed. With ALL her memories, of course. What’s more, her mother enjoys hitting her, her father is indifferent, her brother is priggish, and her adopted sister is the “otome game heroine who’s evil because this is a villainess book” sort of girl. Clearly there is one thing that she can do in order to get the life she wants. Yes, it’s time for sandbagging.

Given that this book has a long sequence where Laviange ends up wreaking her revenge against all the nobles who have wronged her in this life, you may be wondering how I felt about it, given that Livid Lady had a similar plot and I hated it. But Notorious No More is very careful to only go after the specific people who deserve it. The noble who is killed off in this book because of Laviange’s actions tried to use mind control magic to brainwash her while they were in a dangerous area surrounded by powerful monsters. She’s very good at being nice to those who deserve it – the one good member of that team is not only spared by Laviagne but also used as fodder for the romance novels she writes as a side job – but those who have sinned against her are (with one exception) not offered second chances. We see the second prince, who has not only bullied her but is also being seduced by her stepsister – gradually realize that he’s been a complete piece of shit and trying to fix it. He fails. Fortunately, he’s only the second prince.

How much you like this book likely depends on how much you like protagonists taking down anyone they don’t like, but the people she doesn’t like are terrible, so I’m down with it. Hopefully in the next book we might find out what really happened in her first life. For smug villainess fans.

The Devil Princess, Vol. 1

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By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

Well, that sure went places. I mean, the basic premise suggested that it would. The author did too, as this author is also responsible for The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, which is definitely a series that Goes Places. But I admit, I was kind of taken in by the narrator, as is often meant to happen. The reason unreliable narrators are a popular literary device with authors is that we are meant to trust them. it’s what narrators are FOR. First-person narrators are there to be the POV character, the one you root for, mostly. Sometimes they’re bad people, but they still are fun to read. And our heroine Yulucia is fun to read. She starts off the book as a classic “dying in the hospital from weakness” Japanese girl, then ends up as a little demon slime, who rapidly, without knowing it, becomes a far more powerful demon. She becomes the crush of the most powerful demon there is. And then she decides she wants to be human. And this is where the story really starts.

So yeah, as noted above, our little demon suddenly finds that she is a human baby. She’s also spoiled rotten… and kept from doing anything at all… so it’s hard to figure out what’s actually going on with her family. Eventually, as she grows older, she learns that she tends to terrify people who are not her immediate family and staff, likely due to her demon past. She also has tremendously powerful holy magic, and also summoning magic, which she thinks is also due to being a former demon, but the local religious folks think may make her a Saint. Eventually they can’t put it off any more, and she is allowed to go out and socialize, and make friends with other… noble children? Wait, is he the prince? Just how important is her family? And then, of course, she’s kidnapped. And THIS is where the story REALLY starts.

So the main reason I found this so fascinating is trying to figure out along with Yulucia exactly what kind of world she is now living in. It’s pretty apparent from the start that she’s rich and probably nobility, but her dad is rarely around, she’s not allowed to leave the house, and her mother also never leaves the house. She also has a head maid with powerful healing magic, which is rare for adults. And, oh yes, she’s so inhumanly gorgeous that she looks like a perfect doll rather than a human, and everyone around her is either immediately taken with her or repulsed. The other good thing about the book is Yulucia’s determination to be human, as she worries that she’s still a demon underneath, due to being scary and inhumanly beautiful and being unable to taste most food. I don’t want to spoil the last quarter of the book, but let’s just say that her issues get resolved in a big way, and your jaw will drop. I suspect things will escalate as this series goes on.

This is 5 volumes so far in Japan, so there’s certainly a lot more “and this is where the story really starts” we can get. Please keep surprising me, Devil Princess.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 9

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By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

So yes, there is a cliffhanger. Sorry. However, the cliffhanger does not mean this particular arc is ongoing. Everything hanging from the last few volumes about this arc is dealt with here, thankfully. But yeah, this was, from what I hear, supposed to be the finale, but the series got popular, so the author was asked to continue it. And it works pretty well, though I will admit that I do grow a bit weary of the “you can’t trust anyone, can you” aspect to some of this series. There is also a lengthy flashback explaining the Emperor’s past and why he’s been so gung ho about sorcerers. It’s well handled, but I’m going to be honest, I read this series for two characters, and the Emperor is neither of those two. Any time we cut away from Reirin and Keigetsu, I begin to lose interest. And that’s because they’re so dynamic and vibrant that I can’t look away.

After rescuing Reirin from her near drowning, the cast get together to check their notes and explain exactly what’s going on. We find that the Emperor’s older brother, the only sibling who actually gave a damn about him, was assassinated as part of the massive throne war that was going on. Assassinated by a sorcerer, who had been let out of prison expressly for that purpose. And the sorcerer then got away, so the Emperor has spent the last twenty-five years searching high and low. Fortunately, Reirin spots a way that they might be able to talk the Emperor down and convince him that Keigetsu can help him. But to do that, they’re going to need to pull off another really good acting job. Which is a shame, as everyone knows that when Reirin tries to imitate Keigetsu, she’s been failing miserably.

The main reason this book is fantastic is the fight that’s been coming for a while now between Reirin and Keigetsu. After the events of Book 8, Reirin thinks that Keigetsu is making other friends, and thus doesn’t need her any more. Which, unfortunately, triggers Reirin’s tendency to use “and then I sacrifice my life” as her Plan A all the time, which causes Keigetsu to lash out, scream in anger and say “I hate you”. We are reminded that these girls may be consorts in not-China, but they’re also teenage girls who have grown up unable to express emotions like normal kids. As a result, Reirin needs to be sat down and have it patiently explained to her that Keigetsu is, in fact, still her best friend and would be very upset if she died, and Keigetsu has to have it explained to her that Reirin has the emotional sensitivity of toast when it comes to their friendship, and thus cannot read between the “I’m worried about you!” lines that Keigetsu is throwing at her. They make up. It’s great. Reirin possibly overcompensates, but that’s not a surprise. But hey, everything solved…

…OK, no, there’s a cliffhanger, and so not QUITE everything is solved. Still, this was great, except the bits not about our two heroines, which was merely good.

The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons, Vol. 1

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By Kazuma Ogiwara and CARIMARICA. Released in Japan as “Isekai Toushou no Maken Seisaku Gurashi” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ryan Burris.

I usually try, when J-Novel Club announces their usual pile of licenses, to try one or two that I otherwise might not. With the ones announced in April, this one piqued my interest, mostly as it did not seem to involve “weak to strong”, revenge fantasies, or harems of elves and beastgirls, the current hot new subsubgenres. This seemed to be about a bunch of sword nuts, and had a likeable cover. Why not give it a shot. And I am happy to say this is definitely on the “good” end of the “give it a shot” spectrum, leaning towards “very good”, though that comes with a caveat I’ll get to later. The biggest surprise for me was that, while this was indeed a title that featured a bunch of sword nuts, it also has a really sweet and lovely romance at the center of it, which I was not expecting. When your “ah, slow burn, I wonder how long they’ll drag it out” turns out to be “twenty pages”, you know it’s a different sort of romance.

Lutz is a struggling smith who lives in the poorer areas outside the city, and he’s just forged an incredibly beautiful katana. Perhaps a bit TOO beautiful, as while examining it he almost kills himself with it. He’s not sure what to do with it, though, and doesn’t even sign or name it. Then he has to go rescue his friend and business partner Claudia from a bunch of thuggish knights who plan to sell her into slavery, and ends up trading the katana for her (afterwards, brought together by peril, a rescue romance, and them both being incredibly attractive, they quickly become lovers, then spouses). The katana ends up attracting the attention of an old enchanter, Gerhard, who is also fascinated by beautiful blades. And when they bring in an engraver who also falls madly in love with a sword created by Lutz, we have a combination that may prove far more dangerous than anyone could imagine.

I made that sound a lot more dramatic than the book actually is. While there are some tense, dramatic moments, such as Claudia getting rescued, or hero Ricardo facing off against some dangerous creatures, this ends up being a lot lighter and more goofy than you’d think. A lot of this is due to the fact that it’s a pretty horny book. Claudia and Lutz, once they hook up, are very sexually active, which is a refreshing change from most LNs that drag things out 15-20 books. But what I actually mean is Lutz’s weapon that ends up with Ricardo, which, well, makes people want to kill themselves, and also arouses them beyond belief. Erections are mentioned more than once. As is the word ‘ahegao’. It’s also a really sweet book. Lutz and Claudia’s love is adorable, even if Lutz would sometimes rather the adorable part not be revealed for all to see.

Basically, unlike almost everything else out there right now, this doesn’t pigeonhole itself easily into a subgenre. Even the “isekai” in the title isn’t quite right – this is a fantasy world, but no one’s here from Japan, at least not in Book 1. It’s worth your time, assuming you don’t mind a slight layer of eroticism over the whole thing. These blades enchant people. Yes, like that.

Spy Classroom: Annette and Her Many Knickknacks

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

The author says in the afterword that this is an attempt to write a much lighter book after the events of the last arc, and I guess it is technically? There’s certainly a lot of wacky shtick going on here. There’s childhood marriage promises, There’s a search for PIRATE GOLD!, there’s Annette… being Annette, and there’s Thea… being Thea. That said, this is also darker than you’d expect, with even one of the jokes being an incredibly dark one about disposal of a corpse. There’s murders, there’s revolution, there’s tortured confessions getting brutally rejected. And there is Annette being Annette, because she is who she is, and despite the cover art changing for the first time to show her being all happy and a beachside setting, at the end of the day this is just a brief delay. We know, and Lamplight all gradually figure out, that these happy days are coming to an end, and it’s time for then to evolve further.

Lamplight are on an island resort (with an attached Naval base) taking a vacation after the events of the last three books. After partying on the beach on the first day, Klaus has one instruction for them: they can’t all gather together as one unit till the 13th day of their vacation. As a result, Grete ends up dealing with an island teenager who met Klaus years ago and wants to marry him; Thea and Sara investigate the naval base, as well as a grisly murder that is one of a string of grisly murders that have been happening every three months; Lily, Sybilla and Monika decide to try to find that legendary pirate gold, and discover a lot more than they had really planned, and Erna… fishes. (It’s OK, she gets the bulk of the prologue for the next arc.) As for Annette, she’s helping to plan a wedding at first, then loses interest and helps Thea at the naval base, then ends up finding the three pirate hunters, and then … vanishes?

The best part of this book is showing how the character development everyone got in the last few books has not vanished and is being built upon. Grete’s love of Klaus is not demeaned or made comedic, and he’s taking it seriously. We don’t know how Monika and Lily’s discussion went, but they’re treating each other the same as always, and a newly risen from the ashes Monika can now even be part of the goofy comedy relief when it suits her. Thea … OK, Thea has the grandest goal in mind for her future, but she also has the furthest to go, as this volume shows – but I did love the conflict between her and Sara and how it doesn’t damage their friendship at all. And Annette is still a sociopath, but she’s figured out how to use that as part of her job, and she’s also realized that she doesn’t want to get SO evil that her friends stop liking her. She’s growing up! They all are. The next arc, I expect, is gonna be dark again.

So get ready for… short story collection? (sigh) Short story collection. This was excellent.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 13

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

One of the memes that goes around about Reign of the Seven Spellblades – let’s be honest, it may be the only meme – has Fred from Scooby Doo in front of a villain with “Harry Potter” as a mask, and he says “Now let’s see who Reign of the Seven Spellblades *really* is!”, and removes the mask, showing Fate/Stay Night. I have, in fact, made this joke myself throughout these reviews. That said, no volume quite hammers this home as much as this one. Shirou and Saber… pardon me, Oliver and Nanao… are competing to see who can be the biggest death seeker (OK, that’s not quite correct, but both think death within a year or two is inevitable). Meanwhile, I’ve already talked about the ways, both physical and mental, that I think Chela is like Rin, but I wasn’t expecting her to also be Sakura. And of course, if you’ve played the original Fate game, you know how explicit it gets. This volume comes close to that.

In the aftermath of the last book, Guy has to distance himself from the rest of the Sword Roses, which is particularly devastating to Katie. To make things more annoying, they’re fourth years, and now is the time when they all have to essentially “choose a major” – decide what specific course they’re inclined to pursue in detail. Oliver has not really thought about his future at all, so simply goes along with Katie to keep an eye on her. Nanao accidentally forgets the most obvious path, mostly as she too is not bothering to think about the future. And Guy is seeing if he could be a good curse breaker, and also has the folks from Book 12 he fought with – including comedy relief Annie Mackley – trying to separate him from the Sword Roses. This all comes to a head when Katie gets so uptight she needs… relief, shall we say, and Chela asks for what is an obvious solution. Things go badly.

This book reminds us of two big things. The first is that our protagonists, the Sword Roses, are all thought of as huge freaks within the rest of the school. They’re literally described as ticking timebombs, and the main reason seems to be the fact that they’ve been so close knit since they first met at the start of their first year – most friend groups in this school drift apart. The second is that, despite all of this, there’s still a lot of secrets that have never been told between this friend group. Nanao learned one of Oliver’s worst tragedies from the past, but Chela didn’t, and that ends up blowing up in her face – mostly due to Chela’s OWN backstory, which we get another part of here, and – as Chela herself points out – she and Oliver are similar yet also opposite in some ways. I’d said that I wondered if this would end with just Oliver and Nanao dead or everyone dead. I now suspect this may be an all-or-nothing series – either the six survive or they all die.

All this plus a whole lot of… well, there’s no other way to put it, mutual masturbation… reminds us that this remains a really well-written, really horny, and really suspenseful series. I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

One Piece: Heroines, Vol. 2

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Created by Eiichiro Oda. Written by Jun Esaka. Illustrated by Sayaka Suwa. Released in Japan by Jump Books. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Given the extreme shortness of the book, and my struggles with the first volume, I was a bit worried I would have even less to say about this one. But it’s honestly not that bad! You could argue that Shanks takes over Uta’s story the way that Koza took over Vivi’s, but unlike Vivi’s story Uta is present and correct throughout, so I think it’s fine. It’s also, with one obvious exception that the author can’t do much about, a bit better at showing off these are cool, admirable characters who are not the type to go nuts over a man or to trip while running and break a heel. (The exception is Boa Hancock, and it’s not a surprise that I find that story the weakest, but that’s Oda’s fault, not the author’s.) Even the last story, which is about Nami getting upset about a tiny zit on her face, is sympathetic towards her love of her own beauty and how she uses it.

As with the previous book, there are five short stories. 1) On the island of Amazons, one of their number who had been missing for two years returns, heavily pregnant. Now she has to be interrogated by Hancock… but does not realize what has happened to Hancock in the interim; 2) Smoker and Tashigi’s boat needs repairs, so they land on a tiny island which is beset by small-time pirates. Meanwhile, Tashigi befriends a young girl who wants to become a swordswoman, but who doesn’t like Tashigi’s self-deprecation; 3) The four non-Sanji siblings commandeer a ship, but forget to have a cook on board. Aside from Reiju, the POV character, they all try to cook and then give up. Once they get to their destination, Reiju learns how hard cooking can be; 4) Shanks and an Uta who is about 3-4 years old go ashore when she can’t sleep, and end up going on a shopping spree, where Shanks tries to tell Uta what “peas and tancrillity” is without telling her too much about himself; 5) As noted above, Nami finds a pimple and gets upset, and the others try to help her out.

The Hancock story relies on Hancock being a) horny and b) dumb as a rock, so I wasn’t a fan. The Tashigi story is much better. Her tiny charge is happy to learn from Tashigi till she admits she’s much weaker than other swordsmen out there, whereupon the kid is like “oh, well, you suck then”. After getting captured (natch), Tashigi is able to show that while she can’t take on the sword powerhouses of the series, she’s still really strong in general. It also has her, again, reflecting on what the navy is supposed to do. The Reiju story is the most character driven of the four, being entirely an excuse to remind us that she’s the nice one of the siblings and also the only one who is vaguely sensible. Shanks and Uta’s story requires you to have seen the Red movie, but really, who picks up a One Piece novel and hasn’t seen Red? (Stop looking at me like that.) The Nami story shows that, even though it’s about something like a pimple, everyone knows that her appearance is important to her and no one really makes fun of her at all except to note they can barely see it. And Robin is 100% in her corner.

So a definite must for One Piece fans, and for casuals who know the series, pick up a copy of Red as well.

I Could Never Be a Succubus!, Vol. 7

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By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I feel a bit guilty that I don’t think this series is going far enough anymore? I mean, I was getting mad at it for going too far only a few volumes ago. But man, this seems tame compared to the “Girl Time (in Darkness)” robots from the prior books. And I say this despite the fact that part of the climax (hah) of the book involves everyone in the Hero’s party who does not have memory loss all having far too much sex with each other in order to lower their libidos. There are two “past” chapters here, fewer than ever before, and both are devoted to being law abiding in your fetishes. Lolicon play is fine provided everyone involved is over the age of majority. Exhibitionism is fine only when you can get away with it being an “accident”, such as a public pool. The hero’s party are all law-abiding heroes, it’s just they’re also really into sex thanks to their succubus. Who, alas, is still mostly sans memories.

Liz is being taught how to use her powers by fallen angel Lilith, which mostly involves throwing her into near-fatal situations and having her try to use both her holy and hell powers without going berserk and losing her mind. They’re also still trying to figure out what’s up with Cain’s sword, which researchers have managed to figure out almost nothing about. Cain mostly uses it on instinct. The next step is to take on an ultra-hard SSS dungeon, which is rumored to have a way to get to the demon king (current) if they beat it. Unfortunately, once they reach Level 50, they discover the level is actually… Hell! Even more unfortunately, once they hit level 60, this turns into a completely different sort of parody.

I jokes about the lack of sex jokes compared to prior volumes, but there’s also a distinct lack of Liz in this book, as she gets some stuff to do at the start but for the most part is functioning as a narrator as the most interesting things are happening to Cain. Cain is, for the most part, defined by his general grumpiness and also his lack of curiosity about much of anything besides “fight villains win”, and it comes back to haunt him. The back half of this book is a massive parody of Japanese game shows, something for which Cain is singularly ill-equipped, and I admit it is fun seeing him get more and more angry. It also forces him to actually strategize, and when he does things go much better. More importantly, he has a sword that seems to be the same as the demons are using and a very vague background. He is literally prevented from winning the dungeon because he doesn’t know enough about himself. It’s a good, if somewhat heavy-handed, lead-in to the next book.

…which isn’t out in Japan yet. Time to wait! Let’s hope Liz gets to go a little more wild next time.

My Fiancé Cheated, But a New Love Rings!, Vol. 2

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By Ehito and Koyukomu. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha no Uwaki Genba wo Michatta no de Hajimari no Kane ga Narimashita” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Chris Craigo.

Lately I’ve really been getting blindsided by picking up Volume 2 of a series and discovering that the series actually ends there. It makes sense. Especially in the genre of books we see with J-Novel Heart, long-runners are not the norm. Romance novels don’t really need three-volume tournament arcs to drag things out, and those that do run forever, like Bakarina, tend to be popular for reasons other than who Katarina will end up with. On the down side, this means we are essentially done with Sophie’s old kingdom, and we do not return to see how they manage to fix things now that Sophie has abandoned it. On the bright side, this means we get a lot more of the two eccentric characters we met last time, and find out exactly what their deal is. As you can imagine, things are very fraught and complicated. Fortunately, Sophie is finding that she’s not only a magic powerhouse but also enjoys sociopathy. In small doses.

Yes, that’s right, as the cover shows, Sophie picks up a new animal familiar, and they’re huge. As Sophie, Livio, Vyce and Lunetta make their way out of the town that had the monster attack, they come across an injured monster bear, and Lunetta asks Sophie to heal it to see exactly what her magic potential is. When Sophie manages to do so, it turns out that the injured bear is really an injured god, and it’s now content to get named by Sophie and become her cuddly but powerful bear familiar. Sophie and Livio want to go to the country of not-Japan, off to the East, so that they can eat delicious food. But Vyce wants them to stop by his kingdom first, partly as Sophie is making her first friend with Lunetta, who is making her first friend with Sophie, but also has he wants to recruit them. Unfortunately, we may have to deal with Lunetta’s tragic past first.

This is not quite as good as the first book, mostly as it does not have the sheer lunacy of Sophie’s family and royalty back in her old kingdom. Vyce and Lunetta are very likeable characters, but they’re also very familiar types, so there’s far fewer surprises. Even Lunetta’s tragic past, which turns out to go back many, many generations, is less about how awful it was and more about allowing Lunetta to show real emotions and let off some steam so that she can stop being an emotionless magic nerd drone. The main reason to enjoy this series, like the previous book, is the absolute syrupy sweetness of Sophie and Livio’s love affair, which is just sugary as hell, deliberately so, and also to see Sophie gradually start to accept that she does in fact have positive qualities and is not in fact a terrible person, which, given she’s about three weeks away from a lifetime of abuse, is slow going.

Now, the webnovel is ongoing, so certainly more volumes could be in the cards. But I dunno, this feels like the end of the published version. For fans of really schmoopy couples and bear gods who are not named Shardik.

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman: Ruination and Resolve, Part 2

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By Kamihara and Shiro46. Released in Japan as “Tensei Reijo to Sūki na Jinsei o” by Hayakawa Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

This is the second half of what was originally a one-part 500+-page monster, and as such it definitely feels different than the first half. Which makes sense. If you look at the subtitle of this book, the first half was all about the ruination, so it makes sense that the second half would be about the resolve. As such, there’s not QUITE as many tribulations in this book compared to the first two? At least in terms of piles of death and threats of death. That said, Karen certainly does suffer a large number of shocks here. She allies with Reinald, which is the best thing to do to protect Conrad and those she lost, as well as those she still has, but it does make a whole lot of people think of her as… something impolite. What’s more, after the shock of her parentage that started the series, we now get more revelations about it, which may become a bigger problem down the road, as everyone’s packing up and moving.

That’s right, they’re doing new covers for us! It looks pretty great. That said, Reinald’s sister sort of comes and goes like a storm, and is not the actual focus of this book, which remains squarely on Karen. The kingdom itself is done for, and it turns out that this was actually very deliberate on Reinald’s part – he’s the son of the Emperor of Arrendle, who declares that only those who do amazing things can succeed him, and “overthrow a country next door for me” is one of those things. Karen is given some new land to oversee, mostly as the fall of Conrad was engineered very carefully by the Empire and the country on the other side – but things are rough, and Wendel is getting bullied at school. As such, a large chunk of the family makes the decision to move to the Empire.

As ever, Karen is the highlight of the book, and I get the feeling that a lot of people who like her try to compete to see who can make her show an actual emotion – though that may be unreliable narration on her part, as we see at points that her face is showing emotions that she is deliberately trying not to tell the reader about. It was also nice to see Ern again, who apparently went to the Empire and became a mad scientist – not as eccentric as Six, but still plenty eccentric, to be honest. She’s on the cover of Book 3-1, so I’m sure we’ll see more of her. On the other hand, I have to feel bad for Gerda. She loved her sister so much she married a man she didn’t want to to save Karen’s reputation, and now here she is, with a husband she loved dead, and Karen clearly knew it was coming. It’s a quiet note of tragedy in the books, where a lot of times things happen that are sad but no one can quite do anything about. I suspect she and Karen will never meet again.

This ends the second book proper, so you can be assured the main story ends with a very nasty cliffhanger, as Karen is seemingly caught in a magical trap. For those who love seeing bad things happen to good people when it’s well written.

Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain, Vol. 4

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By Ageha Sakura and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Imokusa Reijou desu ga Akuyaku Reisoku wo Tasuketara Kiniiraremashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

In the first three volumes we saw how Agnes, as well as many, many other noble girls, were abused by their families physically, mentally and emotionally, causing them to either be broken shells or else turn towards evil. I had wondered if this was the norm for the nobility in this series. Well, in this new volume we meet a whole passel of noble girls who don’t appear to have suffered any of this. Unfortunately, they’re all either examples of the sort of vacillating, both sides have a point person who only wants to end up on the winning side, or they’re the sneering catty bitches sort who always tend to be in these sort of books, usually shoving the heroine to the ground and doing that laugh with the hand covering the mouth. I really want a nice girl with a loving family who ends up being fine. Just one?

Having settled in as Sutrena’s top lady, Agnes feels she now has to try to go back and achieve what she could not do in the first place: become a high society noble in the capital. She knows that negotiating tea parties and gossiping is how a true lady wields her power, and the fact that she hates that sort of thing is neither here nor there. Fortunately, the Queen sends her an invite to a tea party she’s having to try to make nice with the noblewomen. Unfortunately, the whole thing shows off that the Queen has very little support – in fact, it may just be Agnes. As if that weren’t bad enough, a reporter publishes an article saying Agnes is cheating on Nazel with his brother, someone keeps trying to kidnap Ralph, Princess Mia’s child who is now living as the son of a count, and Agnes finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy. Again.

I have to say, sometimes these books set in the standard “nobility and commoners” universe make me uncomfortable. The reporter who libels Agnes is a commoner with a tragic backstory, which involves abuse and abandonment. She is also a thoroughly unpleasant person, and by the end of the book she is thrown in prison, with more serious punishment implied. Meanwhile, there are also several nobles in this who are also thoroughly unpleasant people whose actions lead to terrible things, and they are… either sent to a convent or exiled. Indeed, the fate of the villain of the book is to end up on the same island as Princess Mia, and he regards it as something of a happy ending. No one really notices this double standard, mostly as the entire cast, almost, consists of nobles or those who work closely with nobles. Sigh. Anyway, aside from that, Agnes sure gets put into peril a lot in this book, possibly to disguise the fact that her magic can now do almost anything.

The end of the book comes with something that’s not too much of a surprise given how often Nazel takes his new bride up to bed. Maybe we can finally justify that chibi on the covers. Recommended for those who don’t think too hard about class struggle in villainess books.

Even a Replica Can Fall in Love, Vol. 3

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By Harunadon and raemz. Released in Japan as “Replica Datte, Koi o Suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

When I’d finished the first volume of this series, I felt it was very much a done-in-one, and felt a little wary that there was more of it. Then came the second volume, which had a couple of nasty cliffhangers at the end that made the reader desperately want to pick up the third, so I figured the author got a hold of where it was going. Having now researched it a bit, it appears that there are four main volumes and an “after story” volume. Which is good, because egads, that ending of the third book. But it’s also a bit of a shame, because if the third book had indeed been the last, the ending we get would have been an absolute banger, making desperate readers write into Dengeki Bunko saying that there’s a missing page and to find out how it actually ended. But, that’s not what’s happening. And honestly, that’s probably good, as there is still stuff to deal with.

As the book opens, Sunao has been doing the “going to school” thing, and is interacting with her classmates almost despite herself, as they prepare for the class trip… which is still going forward, despite the Student Council president vanishing in thin air in front of everyone and then ending up dead a week earlier. As for Nao, she is back at the house, unable to do anything except sit there every day and mourn Ryou. Fortunately, Aki and Ricchan stage an intervention and remind her that she is more than just a replica… or is she? As the book goes on and Sunao goes off on the class trip, Nao and Aki go on their own trip to the town where Ryou lived with her grandparents… and end up staying with said grandparents, where they get told something very shocking but also very obvious if you know what replicas REALLY are.

As with the first two books, it’s very difficult to talk about what’s really great about it without spoiling the whole thing, but let me once again take a whack. This volume gives us the biggest dose yet of Sunao, and we really get to see what’s making her tick and what she’s trying to do here. Her relationship with Nao is slowly killing her, and while I don’t mean that literally there are a few literary references in this book that allude to a story where it is taken literally. Sunao is not in a good place now, nor is Sanada, who is also back living everyday life while his replica stays home. Do we get to meet another replica in this book? No, bjut we meet someone who once had one, and that proves to be the key, as it shows not that Sunao and Sanada having replicas isn’t as unique as they think, but that the way they have replicas is uniquely wrong.

All this leads to one belter of a cliffhanger… sort of? Anyone who has read the series at all knows what Nao will say, but it’s the after that’s the important thing, so let’s see what happens next with Book 4. The writing remains excellent, and his is genuinely Harunadon’s best series in English right now.

The Villainess Is Dead! Long Live the Empress! Redoing the Story After a Poisonous End, Vol. 2

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By Iota Aiue and Tsukasa Kuga. Released in Japan as “Shokeisareta Akujo wa, Taikoku de Kouhi no Za wo Tsukamu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Mac B. Gill.

There was a lot of this that I liked, but the middle part made me want to start flicking throughn it, and it’s mostly due to the big villain. Look, as evil beyond evil villains go, this guy is pretty good at avoiding the absolute worst. He doesn’t have a bowl haircut or an arrogant laugh. He’s not trying to sexually assault any of our cast. For light novel standards, he’s subtle. Likewise, his punishment is very apropos for this kinda on the cynical end of the spectrum world. But man, he’s a bummer. Whipping his daughter, murdering thousands with poison dresses and flowers, also providing the poison used to kill our main villainess, drove a family to suicide and enslavement… there’s a very definite reason why the emperor is giving Westalia a chance, even though it looks like he’s not. There’s a very real chance that if Elizabeth wins the competition, the country is doomed. Bit of a bummer, honestly.

Now that Westalia and Elizabeth have tied in the Empress competition, there has to be a run off. The Emperor decides that the two of them will gather artificial flowers. They get a budget and a warehouse, which they have to fill with them. Given Elizabeth’s family is in textiles, this is obviously very biased towards her, but Westalia suspects the Emperor has a bigger reason for doing this – he wants the Reyn family’s secrets uncovered and to see them destroyed – without Tiberio, Elizabeth’s father and head of the family, getting out of it and pinning it on someone else, as he’s done before. What’s worse, Elizabeth seems to be falling ill with symptoms that seem very similar to poisoning, and Paige recognizes Tiberio as the man who destroyed her family and sold her into slavery. Westalia is really, really starting this event in a hole.

There are, of course, reasons I did enjoy this book. Every time Westalia loses her temper and gets mad is not only kind of scary but actually comedy gold, especially when she gets the official scribe to implicate the villain but fails to realize that the scribe will also be describing her own acts as well. More importantly, though, this is a book about people who have been abandoned and broken by loved ones learning how to reach out and accept help. Westalia is trying to do things on her own, and it doesn’t work, she needs to work with and trust everyone, even after dying once. Paige has to get past her rage and despair about the death of her parents and learn how to work trough this positively. And Elizabeth has to realize that fighting back against her father is better than ruling as a puppet while she slowly dies. (That last one is harder than it seems, defying your abuser requires a lot of gumption.)

Fortunately, everyone lives happily ever after and recovers from being poisoned, except that one guy. And so the series is over, and it’s a good end. That said, only get this if you get all the villainess books.

The Legendary Witch Is Reborn As an Oppressed Princess, Vol. 5

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By Touko Amekawa and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Shiitagerareta Tsuihou Oujo wa, Tenseishita Densetsu no Majo deshita: Mukae ni Koraretemo Komarumasu. Juuboku to no Ohirune wo Jamashinaide Kudasai” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

I admit to being quite surprised that this volume wasn’t the final one. Frankly, all the plot guns and secrets have now been well and truly revealed (and yes, I will have to spoil a lot of them further down this review), and yet there is a 6th and final book that is going to wrap things up. I am worried that the final book will just be a big fight, but that’s future Sean’s problem. As for what IS in this book, well, as you’d expect, Claudia wakes up three years later, but it’s everything else that manages to be the surprise. We’ve got multiple master plans being carried out at the same time. We’ve got alternate universes. We’ve got even more reincarnations. We’ve got concealed backstories. And yes, we do have a bit of cool fighting, though even that is made up of “you fell for it!” gambits.

Three years after the fourth book, Claudia remains in a state of suspended animation, basically dead but her body remains as it is and doesn’t decay. Meanwhile, Noah has risen to become Commander of the knights, and spends his spare time meeting with all the other allies and friends Claudia has made in the previous four books to find out how to revive her, as it’s taking a long time. They’re a bit hurried as Lemilsia’s “mourning period” is almost up, and everyone knows the moment it is Sieghart is going to invade. And sure enough, he does, muttering constantly about making Adelheid his and being controlled by a mysterious person. As for Claudia, she has in fact woken up… in an alternate universe where her magic is still suppressed and everyone knows who she is. And in this world, Leonhard is her enemy.

If I had a nickel every time that a reincarnated noble who was formerly one of the most powerful witches in the country ends up fighting against what turns out to be one of her former minions who was deeply in love with her and that love has turned to possessive need and a complete disrespect for what she actually wants, I’d have two nickels. In fact, call it three, as this is also very similar to one of the previous books in this series. But yeah, if you’ve read The Countess Is a Coward No More, this might seem a bit familiar. That said, this series is better written than that one, and there are a lot more surprise twists, mostly involving Claudia’s mother, who we get to know here, and who turns out to be trying to look out from her daughter beyond the grave, which involves a complex memory spell that only lets people remember things when it’s needed. Handy, that. As for the identity of the person behind all this… well, yes, it’s her obsessive minion, but it’s who they’re possessing that’s the other big reveal. We’re getting the family back together for a reunion.

As of this writing, the 6th and final book is not out in Japan yet, so it will be a long wait. Ah well, there’s a new 7th Time Loop by the same author that just came out in Japan. That’s something, right?