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Reviews

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?

The Hero-Killing Bride: The God-Killing Maiden

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By Aoikou and Enji. Released in Japan as “Yuusha-goroshi no Hanayome” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

I spoil one of the major “surprises” of this book in the third paragraph, just letting folks know.

There’s an implication in the afterword of this third volume that there will be more, as the author says this is the end of the first “arc”, talks about an online-only prequel, and tries to blackmail readers into buying enough copies to justify more of the series by implying they’ll throw sex in later. That said, it definitely has the feel of a final volume, and al the plot beats and secrets are revealed for all to see, so I won’t be surprised if we don’t get more. Alicia is still Best Girl, but I admit I was less wild about this volume than I was the first two, mostly because, in order to wrap things yup, it ended up being over 50% fighting against an annoying bad guy. As a general rule, anytime I can read a scene and have the bad guy say “Don’t you understand? Your weapons are USELESS against me!” a la MST3K and have it work perfectly, your bad guy is too over the top.

Now that Alicia’s mentor (and her beloved cat) have disappeared, Alicia and Cion are going around trying to stop the demons and negotiate with their leaders. This does not go particularly well. It goes even worse when the saint is also kidnapped, and there’s a huge wolf guy who is reminding Cion a lot of her missing mentor. And then there’s the guy we meet in the prologue, a former slave who tried to destroy everything ten years ago or so and has now reappeared and is trying to do all that over again. That said, the bad guy is very good at making our two heroines doubt themselves. Cion, who admits in the heat of battle that she loves Alicia without actually realizing it, is thrown off her game by almost anything, but especially the idea that Alicia may actually be an assassin sent to kill her. That can’t be right, can it?

And then there’s Alicia. She’s always been able to do most anything involving mana, even as she complains about running out of it. She’s survived being dead. Twice. And when she got a transfusion she grew animal ears and a tail. Funny, that. Oh yes, and she’s an orphan. Now we get the big reveal that she is in fact the daughter of the demon lord, which allows the bad guy to twist the relationship between her and Cion (who, y’know, killed the demon lord). That said, Alicia’s ancestry was never really why we read this book – and if I’m being honest, whether Alicia and Cion end up as a couple is not the reason either. We’re reading this to see if Alicia can meld her intense cynicism and bitterness over religion and the world they live in with the kind, pure heart and desire to save people. Which she finally does, trying her damnedest to save everyone, even the villain who has already murdered a WHOLE LOT of people. Fortunately, she gets a reward of “ignoring her boss and going on a vacation with her girlfriend and cat” at the end.

So yeah, good series, but too much fighting and it felt like a “you’re being cancelled, wrap it up” volume. For fans of Executioner and her Way of Life, as always.

Sword Art Online, Vol. 28: Unital Ring VII

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

And here we are, almost two years later. I’ve talked before about how I think the author is trying to do too much with this arc, where they have a perfectly good plotline with Unital Ring (it’s in the title!), but they also can’t resist going back to Underworld for more battles that could actually kill people rather than just log them out. But it’s not just the main series, it’s everything. Right now Reki Kawahara has going on, at the same time, Sword Art Online (last JP volume June 2024), Sword Art Online Progressive (last JP volume March 2025, almost four years after the last one), Accel World (new volume due out next month, but has only had four since 2020), Demons’ Crest (last JP volume November 2024), and The Isolator… wait, did I only imagine The Isolator? Does it really exist? it’s been so long… anyway, my point is, if he tries to juggle any more series I may have to start calling him Ryohgo Narita. As for this volume? It’s good, but needs focus. Surprise!

We pick up with the cliffhanger from the last volume, and it does not go well. Kirito is simply too overstretched, and Eolyne is kidnapped. Meanwhile, the villains are doing their damnedest to destroy Central Cathedral, with only Alice and Fanatio there to try to stop them. In order to fix things… and this sounds sillier than it actually is… Asuna will need to convince her father to drive her to Rath in the dead of night to log in and help them. Meanwhile, in Unital Ring, everyone’s still trying to figure out how to go to the next level without abandoning their beloved cabin. And Kirito, now back from Underworld, has to fight in a mock duel, because everyone still sees him as their leader. As for who’s behind everything in Underworld and Unital Ring… could it be the same person?

I’ve said this before, but a lot of the time in SAO the most interesting parts are what’s happening in the real world. I loved Asuna’s talk with her dad, who has very good reasons not to want her to keep diving into potentially lethal VR all the time, but also understands that she’s pretty much an adult now and she has to rescue those she loves. Then there’s the whole scene with her and Argo/Tomo at the cafe near her old school, which also brings back bittersweet memories, but allows her to reunite with another face from the past. It’s a reminder that not everyone who was in SAO was allowed to go off to the school designed for survivors, and some simply were told to resume their normal life only with FAR MORE PARENTAL CONTROL. Which, again, understandable, especially given the difference between Kawahara’s idealized AI of this world and our current AI woes. And it also allows him to tie things in to his movies as well. Because of course. And hey, Kizmel gets mentioned once!

If you have to read all things SAO to keep up, this is a quick, easy read, even if I did have to google some names to remind myself. As for what’s next? Probably Progressive sometime next year, but for the franchise, we’re back to GGO in the fall, so Swords Down, Guns Up.

Sword of the Stallion, Vol. 1

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan as “Sword of Stallion: Taneuma to Yobareta Saikyou Kishi, Ringoku no Oujo wo Netore to Meijirareru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

This wasn’t too bad a book, especially given the author’s tendency for light novel by the numbers, but I will admit to disappointment that it did not remotely live up to its premise. Now, I’m no fool, I was not expecting a book filled with our hero banging the entire cast. But I mean, we’re told that he’s spent the last two years in brothels sleeping with any woman that moves… and then we find out that the women he supposedly slept with were all abuse victims or being blackmailed, that the brothel is really a training facility for knights, etc. I lay you even odds by the end of the series we find he didn’t actually have sex with anyone. Anyway, if I can get past that gripe, this isn’t too bad, and allows the author to play around in the mecha genre. There may also be a villainess subplot! When genres collide.

Two years ago, our hero, Ras Talion (get it? Rapscallion?) defeated a potentially country-destroying dragon, but in the process the princess of the country – and his fiancee – was killed. He promptly resigned his commission and went to the pleasure district, where rumor has it he’s spent the next two years screwing anything that moves to try to get over his lost love. (Yeah, I spoiled you, but it’s really goddamn obvious, so I don’t feel bad.) One day, he is accosted by a beautiful knight and a mysterious young woman, who manages to knock him unconscious. He wakes up in the royal palace, where the prince – twin to the lost princess – is running things because of the king’s ill health. The prince (also Ras’ old friend from school) asks him… can he seduce the princess of the next country over? To save their own country?

First of all, given that I’ve frequently complained that the author’s sense of humor in Strike the Blood amounted to “oh no, I accidentally groped you and now everyone is mad at me and I run away as the sun sets” anime humor, I appreciated there was a very funny joke here. I appreciated it because when I saw the setup, I thought “that would make a great joke” and the author actually followed through – well done. As for the cast, Ras is a likeable guy who is not nearly the rogue he pretends to be. I also really liked the princess he’s supposed to seduce, who seems to be trying very hard to get everyone to dislike her, and is absolutely not going to play along with Ras. There are also some cool fights – honestly, action scenes are the thing this author does best, so I wasn’t too worried there. Oh yes, and in case you noticed the artist is ALSO the same as Strike the Blood, I assure you the 2nd volume has a different girl on the cover.

So this is basically “for fans of shonen action stuff and the author”, but if you like that it’s pretty good. Just… don’t expect sex. Even offscreen. He’s a faux-stallion.

To Sir, Without Love: I’m Divorcing You, Vol. 1

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By Kori Hisakawa and Airumu. Released in Japan as “Haikei Mishiranu Danna-sama, Rikonshite Itadakimasu” by Media Works Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Carley Radford.

This sure went places. Judging by the cover art and title, I was expecting a certain type of book, and I definitely got it, but it went to some odd and spiky areas. Speaking of which, I will put in a brief content warning that this book has what might be framed as a “reluctant” first time, and there is also discussion of an (off-screen) rape of a man by another woman. There is also an abusive husband and father, though he is very quickly “reformed”, by which I mean he gets the crap beaten out of him. We see, throughout the book, the rumors swirling around our main character that she is a loose cannon, and also a loose woman. She shrugs off the rumors because they suit her purposes, but once they no longer do that they become the toxic nastiness they’ve always been. And, as always, our two leads don’t talk to each other at all, so have to guess what the other is thinking, and it always goes badly.

Byletta Holland is horrified to find that her parents have engaged her to some soldier. After an Academy life where she gained a horrible reputation, all she wants is to start her own business and make a name for herself. However, as a noble’s daughter, she has to marry, and she’s now headed off to the Swagwan estate, where she will marry Arnald, the eldest son. She arrives… to find that war has gone badly, so Arnald went off to the front, leaving a message that his wife can do what she wants. Realizing that this could work in her favor, she accepts the marriage and decides to stay… and quickly finds that her father in law is a drunken lout who beats his second wife and menaces his 6-year-old daughter and the servants. Something will have to be done.

Byletta is the main reason to read this book. She’s smart, does not suffer fools gladly, and can beat her father in law so badly in a sword fight that he actually sobers up and stops hitting his family. (This is probably unrealistic, but given the alternative I handwaved it. He remains a jerk, though.) In the eight years between her wedding and her husband returning home, she does start a highly successful business, she has connections all over the city, and she is ready to be divorced. Sadly, her husband is one of those “what are these things called emotions” types, and when he hears the rumors about her, he assumes she’s sleeping with half the town. After their first night together, he realizes he was wrong, and starts to actually observe his wife more closely… and realizes that she’s his ideal woman. Unfortunately, these two don’t talk to each other, and it’s frustrating. They also have enemies, who set up the cliffhanger of this book. It’s definitely on the “potboiler” end of the spectrum.

This is nine volumes and counting in Japan, and it appears it will have a lot more drama in the future. If you like the genre, and don’t mind a bit more non-con than these books usually get into, this is a very good read.

The Girl Who Wants to Be a Hero and the Girl Who Ought to Be a Hero, Vol. 1

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By Inori and Akamoku. Released in Japan as “Yuusha ni Naritai Boku to, Yuusha ni Narubeki Kimi” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Genevieve Hill-Kaminishi.

I do love a good title, and this one is very good. Especially because the double meaning of the English word wrong-footed me about what was going to happen in the book. I had assumed this was about our protagonist, who wants to be a hero, and the love interest, who is the one who SHOULD be a hero instead of our protagonist. But that’s not it at all. Well, the first part is, Ruchika definitely wants to be a hero, at least at first. But Leonie’s “ought” is that she’s the daughter of the late, great hero, the one who sacrificed her life to defeat the demons and bring peace… well, peace between humans and demons, at least. Leonie ought to be just as good if not better than her, right? So when Leonie is seen to be good but not fantastic, well, there’s quite a few people who don’t like that. And that leads to the strongest part of the book, showing how damaging education can be when done badly.

Ruchika arrives at Kars Kingdom, ready to be a hero, which of course requires going to the hero institute that you get in these sorts of books. Unfortunately, she underestimates how far it is from home and how much things cost, so by the time she gets there she’s lying on the street starving to death. She’s saved by Leonie and her friend Nur, who feed her – and on seeing Leonie, and getting food from her, Ruchika decides immediately that she’s in love and proposes to her on the spot. This is apparently how demons do things, but Leonie is human. As it turns out, they’re all going for the exams to get into the institute, which are notoriously hard. Ruchika aces the practical and scrapes through on the written. Leonie aces the written, and… does okay on the practical, not great. Still, it’s nothing a good teacher can’t fix… oh, dear.

There’s lots of good stuff here, especially the relationship between Ruchika and Leonie, but allow me to talk about the way people learn to be heroes here. Everyone gets a device called a Gear, which is sort of mildly predictive AI, and it tells you who you’re most compatible with, what style of fighting you should do, and what moves to make when you fight. Everyone abides by what the gear says, it’s a rule. Ruchika hates the idea of gear in general (with the possible exception of her gear, which has big Homunculus Tears vibes if you’ve read that Inori book), since she runs on instinct, and really begins to hate them more when it’s apparent that trying to do what the gear wants is slowly destroying Leonie… helped along by a teacher, who has a grudge against her mother, out to get Leonie expelled. It is very hard to learn how to do things and be a good person when the person teaching you belittles, mocks, and hurts you, and encourages others to do the same. It’s even worse when you add AI learning to the mix. This hit very hard for me. Fortunately, Ruchika is exactly the sort of protagonist this book needs, and helps Leonie to find out what she really wants to be doing.

Now, this is a book that came out in 2023, with one volume to date in Japan, so I know what some folks are going to say. That said, Dengeki Bunko do have a larger history than most publishers of giving Vol. 2s or later volumes out of the blue if something changes. And this is a very good book to try to see that change happen. Buy it, you’ll like it.

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 3

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

It has to be said, if you’re going to have a family consisting entirely of airheads, it’s best to have them not only incredibly overpowered but also on the side of the angels. And make no mistake about it, the whole family are wacky. Emma is the poster child and the worst one, but her father is right behind her, followed by her two brothers. Melsa is easily the most sensible in the family, and we see that here in a book where she gets far more focus than the previous two, but at the end of the day she too is basically saving the world so that they can eat rice and miso again. That said, airheaded does not mean dumb, and all of these folks are rather brilliant, which is also why they know it’s a bad idea to get so many honors from royalty. Emma grasping at straws and asking for the rights to the slum district as her reward is a way of showing off the family’s compassion and observation, and the fact that they’re not going to be “normal” nobles.

We pick up from where we left off at the end of the last book, as Emma has accidentally revealed that she can speak the foreign language that no one else seems to be able to. Indeed, this becomes a more important plot point than I thought, as it’s suggested that it’s not just the diplomats being lazy but some inherent world thing that makes the language incredibly difficult to grasp. This also makes Emma phenomenally valuable. And so the rest of the family have to admit that they can also speak it, which causes even more of a fuss. (Fortunately there’s an in-world handwave they can use so they don’t have to pull out the isekai card.) Now, while Emma continues to socialize, be so kind and caring that she has people thinking she’s a literal saint, and getting bullied in a way that she’s gonna love, her mother is off to the Eastern Empire, where she discovers this is not just a simple famine, and that if something is not done fast the entire nation may be wiped out, people and all.

I usually enjoy a story where everyone is misinterpreting what’s going on, and the Tanaka Family makes that its bread and butter. Everyone except her family assumes Emma is this fragile maiden who is at death’s door after her tragic accident, when really most of the time she’s just overworking herself and avoiding reality. When petty nobles Robert and Brian decide they’re going to get revenge on her, I immediately knew exactly what was going to happen, but that does not diminish the humor of it, and it helps that it also ties in with a more serious plot. Most of all, Emma can get it together, usually when she’s not being stared at by hundreds of nobles. Her forced engagement of the tailor and seamstress was a thing of beauty. (I could have done without another “fantasy worlds don’t know about scurvy” plot, though.)

I assume the next volume will send our family off to the Eastern Empire to battle plant monsters, and I beg them to avoid the obvious fanservice. The fetishes of the leads are bad enough. Still, this remains an absolute hoot, and I can’t wait for the next book.

In Another World with Household Spells, Vol. 1

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By Rika and HIROKAZU. Released in Japan as “Isekai ni Kita kedo, Seikatsu Mahou shika Tsukaemasen” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi.

This is the definition of “Fine, I guess”. It doesn’t really do anything wrong, apart from one thing I’ll mention later. The heroine is a classic “I just want a quiet life where I can earn money to help my family” type who does not realize that every single thing that she does draws a tremendous amount of attention to herself. She’s seriously OP, but not in a flashy way. She doesn’t invent mayonnaise, but she does pretend that Mozart and Bach compositions are her own. There’s a royal family, but they’re pretty nice, and the prince her age clearly has a crush on her that is coming out as “you’d better watch your step!”. But there is nothing here to make someone who has read large amounts of “woman is reincarnated as a noble girl and attends a magic academy” books want to add another one to the pile. It feels like the bulk of the book was written to keep up with the trends.

One day Kaoru Aoyama is working her office job and living in her apartment, the next she wakes up as Patience Granger, a ten-year-old noble girl. She wasn’t even hit by a truck! Patience is, unfortunately, recovering from near death. In fact, it appears the real Patience DID die, and now Kaoru is in her body, with a sort of soul of the real Patience insider her yelling when she does things that are not appropriate for nobility. Unfortunately, their family is flat broke, as her father was fired from his royal position for reasons that we never actually find out in this volume. Fortunately, after recovering, she’s taken to the church and told she has “household spells” for magic, one of the most common types. That’s fine with her, though, and like so many other protagonists in these books, she experiments without knowing what not to do and winds up really overpowered.

First off, I understand that it’s in the original, and that there’s not really a Western alternative, but man, when the heroine talks about being a shotacon all the time, I don’t care if she insists “but not in a pervy way!”, it reads wrong and makes you like her less. There has be be a way around the word. Patience’s main trait, besides being oblivious to her own misguided attempts to not stand out, is her adoration of her two cute younger brothers, as well as the kids her own age, who her 25-year-old self sees as cute little ‘uns. If you can get past that steep hurdle… I did like her relationship with the first ;princess, who she is clearly rehabilitating. It’s implied that her late mother and the Queen had some history, and everyone and their brother talks about how their family is supposed to be filled with genius scholars, so there’s clearly a lot of backstory still to dole out. As for romance… she’s ten. Let’s table that for a while.

I’ll read the next volume of this – I do want to see what’s up with her otherwise nebbish dad. But for those who have to much to read already, there’s no reason to add this as well.

Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta, Vol. 4

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By Toshizou and Kuro Shina. Released in Japan as “Yuri no Ma ni Hasamareta Watashi ga, Ikioi de Futamata Shite Shimatta” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

Two years is too long between volumes, and the author apologized but it was still a wrench to remind myself exactly what was going on. Fortunately, the author’s self-awareness bleeds into the work – indeed, this is a book that you have to read with your tongue in your cheek. I think I’ve already talked about how insufferable this series would be if Yotsuba were a guy, but apparently some people are finding Yotsuba insufferable anyway. And sure, I get it. This is a giant failwhale of a teenager, who cannot go for half a page without talking about herself like she’s a food wrapper on the side of the road, and yet for some reason she has two woman in love with her and agreeing to both date her at the same time, a childhood friend who’s a famous idol who confesses to her, and she cannot walk ten feet without another girl going “well, maybe”. She’s a chad.

Oh no, Yotsuba’s in a big pinch! She’s already secretly dating the two hottest girls in the school, but now her childhood friend and celebrity idol has transferred into her class! And she and her two girlfriends are getting all passive aggressive! Worst of all, it’s time for the culture festival, and the class comes up with an idea for a concert! Makina is fine with this… provided she’s not the focus, so Rinka and Yuna get roped into being an idol trio! But wait, even worse, Mai is so stressed out by Makina upsetting the balance of power among the hotties that she’s skipping school, and Yotsuba has to dress in a maid outfit and bathe/massage her to help! And… really, Yotsuba should actually resolve this love square thing and go back to her love triangle! Yotsuba’s in a pinch!

There are some things here that aren’t ridiculous. We get Mai’s backstory at last, and it turns out to be Maria-sama Ga Miteru gone wrong, as she was Yotsuba at her old girls’ private school, but fumbled it and left everyone full of anger and resentment. As such, seeing Yotsuba somehow manage to always manage to do the right thing while at the same time being a giant goofball irks her greatly. Yuna and Rinka’s “dates” with Yotsuba are sweet, and as for Makina… well, Yotsuba still has to do something about her, and having her meet the parents is not helping. Best of all is the finale, where Yotsuba works out why she’s been so worried and stressed since this book began and manages to work up her gumption and do something about it, which also inspires the rest of the class. Once a volume there’s an amazing point where you understand exactly why everyone falls for Yotsuba, and this is the one this time.

That said, this is half a book, even though it’s 250 pages. The author assures us there will be a Book 5 with the actual festival, and the good news is that it is already out in Japan, so hopefully it won’t be two more years. This grows on me more with each book.

The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom, Vol. 3

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By Fuyutsuki Koki and Masami. Released in Japan as “Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tiffany Lim and Amelia Mason. Adapted by Shaenon K. Garrity.

I must admit, I used to get upset when I saw this sort of thing in Japanese light novels, but now I just laugh. is there some meme picture that is the opposite of the guy sweating over which button to push? Because I think if you presented two buttons to a light novel author, one of which said ‘tragic and nuanced villain who the audience empathizes but does not sympathize with’, and the other of which said ‘villain who will happily destroy the world for petty spite and also drinks puppies’, the average light novel author would not think twice before slamming Button #2. And needless to say Fuyutsuki Koki is exactly the same. Heck, we’re introduced to the villain and given a legitimate sympathetic reason for their villainy, but then it turns out to not be enough, they have to go full ham. Fortunately, the heroine of this series also goes full ham, albeit stoically.

All is well. The evil from Book Two has been defeated, Philia and Osvalt are engaged and planning their wedding, and the anime managed to fix a lot of the problems the second book had with pacing. Surely nothing could go wrong now… oh, what’s this missive from the Church? It turns out that the Pope is dead, and Philia has supposedly been chosen as the new Pope in his will, surprising everyone, not least of all Philia herself, as a Saint has never been made Pope before. But everyone agrees that she has to obey the declaration that she is Pope or risk being excommunicated and starting a Holy War in Parnacorta. It’s fine! She can even still marry Osvalt! But she has to live in Dalbert now, this world’s Vatican City. Philia, though, starts to smell a rat, especially when she hears about Archbishop Henry, who everyone THOUGHT would be the next Pope…

As with so many light novels, this is not a series to read if you like subtlety. Leaving aside the villain, who has an epic revenge that involves destroying Philia’s happiness and ruining the country of Parnacorta, and has plans to resurrect the dead and also command an ancient God to do his bidding, there’s also Philia herself, who hears about a divine spell that can let someone talk to the dead, hears that no one has ever done it as divine spells are lethal if done slightly wrong, and just does it anyway, in an Ace-Attorney style finale that has her calling the dead back to testify TWICE. The good news is that Mia, who was mostly sidelined in book 2, gets things to do here, and she also gets to show off that she is not only as OP as her sister, but can also get a prince to propose to her. If there’s a flaw in this book, it’s that no one ever really feels in danger when these sisters are around.

You’d think this was the last in the series, but no, we’ve got a long way to go. Next volume is the wedding picture cover art one, though. Fans of the anime can happily start here.