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Reviews

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 20

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

Yes, I know, I jinxed it. I was looking forward to this being the final Realist Hero volume, and lo and behold, there’s a short story collection still to go. Still, for the most part, this does serve as the “epilogue” to the series the author wanted, for better or worse. For worse is laid out right there on the cover, which might be the most bizarre choice of cover art for a final volume ever. (The short story volume, realizing this, will have Souma and his wives instead.) Of all the plot points I wanted this series to resolve, “who does Souma’s son marry?” was pretty low on the list, and the fact that the answer is Carla does not fill me with glee. To her credit, Carla brings up all the reasons I hate this pairing, but Souma essentially shoots them all down by telling her “Face it, Carla, it’s Chinatown”, and she ends up going through with it anyway. Sigh. What else do we have here?

In addition to the Carla subplot, we see the rumor that Souma has a secret love child (who turns out to be Souma’s actual child and not secret at all); Souma and the other nations open an airline service using dragon knights; Lombard struggles with ruling the new Kingdom of Remus, broken apart from Fuuga Haan’s old empire; Lucy runs a wedding planner service, and brings the reader up to date with more couples getting married; Merula goes back to the spirit kingdom, no longer exiled, but finds herself homesick fairly quickly; Julius and Tia deal with their carved-out bit of the former empire; Jeanne and Lumiere try to discuss politics, but their old friendship and Lumiere’s lingering guilt gets in the way; the rumors that Souma has a secret eighth wife turn out… wait, they’re true?; the former king and queen pay a visit to Georg’s widow and greet her “new” mysterious masked husband; and Anne, the former Saint and Fuuga’s abandoned ally, imprisoned for her own safety, is having post-war trauma and nightmares, and needs therapy.

As you can imagine for an epilogue that’s essentially a short story collection of its own, the contents are highly variable; made more difficult that I didn’t keep a spreadsheet when I read this series, so once again tend to forget anyone who isn’t Souma or his wives. I did enjoy the resolution of Juno’s plotline. The last of the women in love with Souma, marrying her off to someone else would have felt cheap. At the same time, it makes sense that she’d want to be a “secret” wife out of the royal limelight. Plus it allows Souma to use the mascot costume on a regular basis. I also liked how Anne’s story was handled. Her plotline is frankly horrific, and we’re reminded that she was 12 years old, manipulated by everyone around her, and forced to watch all her allies executed or slaughtered. Moreover, the fact that she’s never seen herself as anything but a tool now means she sees herself as nothing. The idea of animal therapy as a start is a great one.

We even get a “lady or the tiger” ending, where we’re told Souma eventually died of old age surrounded by his family… OR DID HE? This final volume of Realist Hero tried to dot i’s and cross t’s, and succeeds about half the time.

Promised to a Dragon, Vol. 1

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By Selena Pigoni and Minori Aritani. Released in North America by J-Novel Club.

Another of the J-Novel Club contest winners, this one feels the most like a standard light novel, in both good and bad ways. If I hadn’t been told it was a contest entry, there are only a few places where I might guess that it’s not translated from the Japanese. This is a shoujo light novel in the “escaping my horrible fiance and hooking up with a much better guy” genre, which usually intersects with the villainess or Cinderella genres but here doesn’t really have aspects of either of those. That said, this has something most of the Japanese versions lack. Japan’s wish fantasy books tend to have the ex-fiance/boyfriend by rather pathetic, shouty but completely ineffectual and easily humiliated. We do not remotely get that here. Brodrick is terrifying, and it is clear from Page 1 why Rhiannon wants to be as far away from him as possible and it’s clear on page 194 that he’s gotten even worse. I spent the entire book worrying he would show up again. He does, indeed, show up again. Still, there is a sweet romance at the core of the book.

Princess Rhiannon is not having a great birthday party, mostly as she’s horrified to find that she’s been engaged to her childhood “friend” Brodrick, who has carefully made sure no one else gets close to her, driven off almost all servants who support her, and is also casually screwing a lot of other maidens around the palace. Clearly it’s time to run away, which she does by the skin of her teeth, but Brodrick finds out and is in hot pursuit. She does have a plan, though. Her father the king made a promise to a witch that she would be engaged to a dragon when she came of age, and she fears what will happen if that promise is broken. So, with the help of a passing handsome, clever, and charismatic bard, she sets off on a journey to go and meet the dragon and escape a horribly marriage.

If you’re familiar with this genre, there are no prizes for guessing who the bard really is. The relationship between him and Rhiannon is the highlight of the book, as she falls for him relatively quickly, while he’s reluctant for some reason we don’t find out till much later. Everyone who meets them on the journey assumes they’re already married, of course. Unfortunately, as I said before, Brodrick keeps showing up looking for Rhiannon, and once he works out that she’s with her promised dragon, he demands her back in exchange for murdering him. This tension between terror and sweet romance is what makes the book work, but can be exhausting. The book also ends very abruptly, as if it were being written to a page count. As with most books in the contest, it could be stand alone but could also have another volume if there is an audience.

If you like fantastic romances but wish the ex were less of a cardboard villain, this is a solid option.

Buying You on the Day You Were to Die

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By Shiki Narito and Yamimaru Enjin. Released in Japan as “Kimi ga Shinitakatta Hi ni, Boku wa Kimi wo Kau Koto ni Shita” by Media Works Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Knight. Translated by Aleksandra Jankowska.

This is the first title I’ve read from J-Novel Club’s new Knight imprint, devoted to BL light novels. Which this technically is, I suppose. There are two men in it, and they are in love with each other. That said, I’d hesitate to call it a romance. More accurately this falls into that subcategory of books that can be summed up as “I am depressed and suicidal and someone gradually helps me cope and move forward”, and that sort of novel is very much up my alley. It’s also relatively short, and complete in one volume. There is, of course, that tricky premise to the book. Can we really root for a couple if one of them is paying the other one a substantial sum of money to hang out with him and be his friend? The answer is eventually yes, but getting there helps us to realize this book is also a mystery.

Sakuta begins the book in a very bad place. His mother has died after a long illness with extensive medical treatment. His father has abandoned them. He’s currently not going to school, working all the odd jobs he can find so that he can earn enough for a funeral for his mother and to pay off the medical debt. Then one day, a handsome young man walks up to him on the job site and says he wants to buy his services. Kadzuki offers Sakuta a large down-payment – enough to pay for the funeral – and a substantial monthly salary if he will be his friend, go to college with him, and stay there for four years. After the five years (high school and college) are up, Sakuta is free. Sakuta regards all this as tremendously suspicious, but he metes Kadzuki’s family and servants, and they all vouch for him. Just what’s going on here?

This book can be roughly divided into two halves. The first is Kadzuki slowly getting Sakuta to actually want to live again. Sakuta never attempts suicide in this volume, but he’s clearly planning it, and it’s only due to the efforts of Kadzuki and his family and staff talking with Sakuta and showing him that there are reasons to go on that makes him avoid it. Then we get the second half, where we learn why Kadzuki is so devoted to Sakuta, why the contract is for only five years, and why he keeps having unavoidable piano lessons. This is a lot sadder, but it tries to avoid becoming mawkish, and mostly succeeds. I also liked the subplot sprinkled throughout of Sakuta’s friend from high school escaping from an abusive situation, and the occasional updates we got. It was a nice reminder that there was a world outside this doomed romance.

If you’re looking for a quick tearjerker, and don’t mind that there isn’t even a kiss in terms of romantic content, this is a very good read about someone touched by tragedy who manages to live on and grow to adulthood with the help of… well, a large influx of cash, so OK, there is still that niggle, as without the cash he would not be able to get out from under. But also the love of friends and family.

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 8

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

I do appreciate Nia Liston really committing to its best running gag, which is that every time Nia watches a fight and is vaguely impressed by its fighters, she has to come in with a variation on the old phrase “I could beat them with one hand tied behind my back”. She’s simply so far over everyone else in this series that even now, as she watches people battle to see who is the strongest among 10,000 different fighters, she’s still not able to find anyone who could truly present a challenge to her. And indeed we see she’s not merely full of it, as at the end of this volume we see her facing off against two “heroes” whose job it is to be the best, and she has to hold back in case she breaks their legendary weapons. She is, frankly, terrifying. Which is why she spends most of this volume doing color commentary for the actual fighters.

The preliminaries are done, and so it’s time for the tournament itself. Well, after the “loser’s round”, which sees those who were knocked out get another chance to win their way back into the fight. Nia and her friends spend the time covering the fight itself, and she also gets to see her brother Neal start his own Junior Wingroad team as an added attraction. That said, most of what we get here are some really good fights… as well as some instant wins, because there’s a new clause: no one is allowed to be magically healed if they win, only bandages. This results in a lot of folks being too injured to go on. And of course some of our main characters are in the underworld, and are suddenly finding themselves on live TV. Some respond by making a deal to cut and run, and others respond by getting TOO famous to quietly murder.

The drawback to this volume is that there’s no suspense whatsoever. I kept wondering if one of Nia’s students would get a surprise loss, but no, she’s simply trained them so well that it doesn’t happen. The toughest fight is between Lynokis, in her Leeno disguise, and Gandolph, and they’re basically exactly who we expected to see there. (Well done to Gandolph for not dying, though he needed Nia’s help to avoid that.) Likewise in the weaponed fights category, it was pretty much going to have to be Anzel, both because the mob was betting on him and made it clear he had to win, and also because if he wants to avoid getting immediately arrested or killed, winning a tournament and making himself famous is a good solution. And a good time was had by all, the tournament is a success. Back to everyday life.

Or not, as we get a surprise cliffhanger ending as Nia is in a pinch! My guess is this is just “I want a change of setting for the new arc”, but I do wonder if any of the other regular cast will appear. In any case, girl punch good.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 28

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I think I’ve started to figure out why it’s harder to get into this arc compared to previous arcs, and it’s not just that 4/5 of the cast is new or we’ve only seen them in spinoffs. The problem is that Re: Zero’s plot is supposed to be, in part, a throne war. Emilia, Crusch, Priscilla, Anastasia and Felt are all vying to be the new leader. Unfortunately, we’ve now thrown that aside to get ourselves involved in another throne war next door, and… well, OK, maybe it *is* the fact that we don’t really know 4/5 of the cast. Now, some of them are becoming better known to us – I’ve really come to love Medium, and I hope nothing terrible happens to her. But for the most part the plot of this book is to have Priscilla save the day, but the enemy gets away, so they move on to the next location. Subaru describes it like an RPG and he’s not wrong. It’s a tad dull.

As hinted in the cliffhanger of the last book, when all seems lost and Arakiya is about to massacre everyone, Priscilla (and Al) arrive to, if not save the day, at least distract her enough to be subdued. Unfortunately, before she can be interrogated, our least favorite mercenary breaks her out. So they’ve taken the city but are otherwise back at square one. And Priscilla certainly isn’t here to help – anyone who has met her knows that. They need to prove that Abel can actually gain real allies, which means one of the nine demon generals. Unfortunately, one of them is so unreliable no one wants to deal with them, one of them is the enemy they just had escape, and one of them is the one who actually instigated the coup. So they’re going to The Chaotic Demon City to try to talk to one of the others… only they’re not the only ones there.

The good thing about Re: Zero is that while the overall plot may annoy and bore me, individual scenes can still be absolute dynamite. When he’s checking on Rem, and describing what happened to her, she points out, quite sensibly, that he’s taking too much on and that he doesn’t need to be a hero. To Subaru, however, who only moved forward thanks to Rem’s words in the 3rd arc, this is the worst POSSIBLE thing she could have said, and it briefly devastates him. I also enjoyed “Natsumi” being more formal while in the carriage with Al, because frankly the two of them sound too similar – it not only helps the author to differentiate between them, but helps to remind us that a lot of Subaru coping is his taking on a role, be it for himself or others. He keeps justifying being in drag throughout this book, and no one really buys it except him.

The cliffhanger suggests we don’t need to worry about Natsumi for a while now. That said, I warn you – this cliffhanger is one of the most contentious parts of this arc, and it will not go away anytime soon. Five more to go!

Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived, Vol. 4

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By Masekinokatasa and Kaito Shinobu. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Koutei deshita: Umarenagara no Koutei wa Konosaki Ikinokoreru ka?” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jason Li.

Those who know my reviews by now could probably guess that I would find writing about this volume difficult. It is, after all, a massive medieval battle, complete with little maps showing the position of the troops and everything. This is still a book of “let’s sit down and explain politics, economics, ad history”, but now we get “warfare” in there as well. Still, buckle down, I will get through this. After all, that’s what Carmine has to do. His “reincarnated from Japan” doesn’t help him quite as much when it comes to things like this, and after all the Emperor should not be fighting one-on-one anyway. Carmine is going to have to set back and let other people fight so that he can survive. And that’s hard for him to sit still and just watch happen. Fortunately, he can occasionally duck into secret night sabotage, but near the end, when all seems lost, he has to ignore everyone around him and take up a sword himself.

Carmine and his troops are headed into battle against Duke Raul’s forces, and they have clever plans to ensure victory. Well, sort-of-clever. Plans that don’t hold up against actual medieval problems like the fact that measurements haven’t been standardized yet. Or the fact that it doesn’t matter how many commoners you trick into fighting for you if they’re too scared to actually go in for the kill when it matters. Or, and thanks to the blurb for this book for spoiling it, the fact that the enemy army is twice the size of Carmine’s own. Fortunately, there are certain advantages they have – the mana batteries, Carmine’s own magic, which will allow him to sabotage the enemy cannons, and of course Vera-Sylvie, who has stopped being a shy maiden who finds it hard to speak in a tower and has leveled up into being a shy maiden who finds it hard to speak but is a magical powerhouse. That said… the actual battle can’t be predicted.

Vera-Sylvie did pretty well, though this clearly is not somewhere she wants to be. It is, though, exactly where Nadine wants to be, and it has to be said, if Rosaria, Nadine, and Vera-Sylvie are all going to end up with Carmine (and this book points us even more to the fact that this is going to happen), They’re very good at balancing each other out. They even get along – Nadine warns against Carmine making Rosaria sad as a threat. Mostly as no one trusts Carmine not to try to fix things himself at the possible cost of his life. Carmine would say that he rushes in to fix things himself because he wants to live longer – he explicitly says here that he does not care at all about what happens to the Empire after he dies, as he’ll be dead and won’t care. Everything is for the Carmine of now to live as long as possible.

Which means that cliffhanger is just rude. Fortunately, that can be solved by looking at the cover art for the next volume, which if nothing else should give me something to write about.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 4

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By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

It’s always interesting to read a series which does not quite know how long it’s going to be allowed to run. I mentioned last time that the third book felt like an ending, but here we are with the fourth book. The fourth book also seems to wrap most everything up, as while last volume we focused on the horrible abuse of Brigitte’s father, here we check in on Yuri’s abusive brother, and now that Brigitte has mostly managed to come to terms with her past and grow into a splendid young woman, it’s now Yuri’s turn to try to get past his own past and present and accept that he’s still in love with his ex-fiancee. They go through a trial, come out of it well, have a lovely confession, and we’re all set for a weddi–oh dear, it’s cliffhanger time.

It’s exam time at Yuri and Brigitte’s school, and because this is a school with magic and spirits, the exam is incredibly dangerous, because this is that sort of genre. That said, Brigitte has discovered she’s made of sterner stuff, and she and Yuri (as well as Nival and Kira, who I haven’t mentioned in my reviews but are basically a combination of “those two friends”, the beta couple, and comedy relief) set off to the crack between the human world and the spirit world, where they have to take care not to be tricked by spirits who can literally read your mind and become the person you’re closest to. Even worse for Yuri, his brother Clyde will be assisting with the exam, and he still has a massive hate-on for Yuri, and also is in charge of an evil spirit. Will they be able to pass?

Given that we’ve had to deal with Brigitte’s father literally sticking her hand into a fireplace in prior books, I did appreciate the lesson learned in this book, which is that not every abusive person is driven by being evil and psychotic, and sometimes it’s just pettiness and jealousy taken to extremes. Clyde can’t be head of household like his older brother, he can’t be contracted to powerful spirits, like Yuri, all he has is an “evil” spirit, who he can’t even use that often. This all adds up to “making my little brother feel sad makes me feel better”, and so can end with a mere apology rather than the exile Brigitte’s father got. That said, Yuri doesn’t forgive Clyde, which is also very valid, given that the bullying has affecting how he conducts his life to date – we’d thought Brigitte was the one driving the “competition”, but we see here Yuri uses it as an excuse to do things he’d never have the courage to otherwise. Fortunately, they’re both able to gather their courage here.

Unfortunately, remember how the archbishop was holding everyone back from taking Brigitte and abusing her phoenix powers for their own gain? Yeah, he died. See you in Book 5! (At least we now do know it will end with Book 6.)

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman: The Price of Glory, 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 review contains spoilers, though I will try to confine them till after the synopsis.)

Well, that went about the way I thought. Not that I knew what was going to happen precisely, but because “Great googley moogley, everything’s gone to shit” is the way that this series operates, and I had a feeling we were due for everything going wrong very rapidly, and that’s exactly what I got… eventually. Honestly, the first two-thirds or so of this volume feel like a typical “villainess” book, with just a bit more politics than usual. There’s even a big dance where Karen (who has been trying harder and harder to not be The Worst Dancer Ever) ends up needing to be literally dragged around in order to manage not to humiliate herself. And the Emperor even snubs her, which is a surprise given he invited her, but hey, good news! Then we get the last third of the book, and everything once again becomes a horror novel *and* a tragedy.

Karen is trying to make up with Ern, but unfortunately that involves running into Lubeck, the knight who really, really wants to seduce her and cannot understand why she seems to find him a massive creep. (The reason is that he’s a massive creep.) Fortunately, they do make up, and then Karen is off to the ball(s). She thinks that it doesn’t go well because after all this fuss, when she introdeuces herself to the Emperor he barely acknowledges her. To me, it read like she had significant conversations with every single powerful person in the Empire, all of whom are trying to curry her favor. But then, I’m not the one desperately trying to pretend I’m just a plain side character. (Un)Fortunately for Karen, the Emperor decides to invite her back for a meal. Breakfast. The next day. When she arrives, along with six other people the Emperor is “honoring”, we get to see just what he’s really like. It’s not great.

I admit I was not all that shocked at the window thing, as it was heavily telegraphed, but I was far more shocked at the Emperor essentially saying “rejoice, we’re going to make sure we have good Aryan stock by breeding my knights to you folks, so get ready”. Usually light novels aren’t quite this blatant, but this is Trials and Tribulations, and when has it ever held back before? To be frank, I’m amazed Karen escaped, and she even rescued a young noble who made me think of Galinda from Wicked but who quickly gets a nasty surprise. Then there’s the finale with Ern. Honestly, I suspected Ern would not survive this book, so again her death in and of itself is not what shocked me. What shocked me was HOW she chose to die, and the fact that Karen ended up, with gritted teeth and a callback to something that now seems far less funny, going along with it. On the bright side, this may make it harder for the Emperor to simply marry her off as breeding stock. On the less bright side, EVERYTHING ELSE. (Oh yes, bonus points for actually hearing the rumors about Karen explicitly, which frame her as the most evil woman in the universe.)

The cover to the next volume also seems to have a spoiler literally on it, suggesting that the events of this book affect Karen far more than we’d expected. I realize this is not for everyone, but I really do highly recommend it. It’s the best car crash being published right now.

The Dragon and the Blade Saint: This Isn’t Where We End, Vol. 1

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By garry and Taiga. Released in North America by J-Novel Club.

This is another of the winners of the Original J-Novel Club light novel contest, getting a runner-up prize. That feels about right, as while I enjoyed this book I felt it wasn’t quite as good as some of the others I’ve read. This is one of those titles where we go back and forth between the two protagonists. Unfortunately, it makes the book awkwardly balanced, as the author does not want to introduce the Blade Saint until nearly halfway through the book. This definitely makes me appreciate the dragon, as she’s a lot of fun, being a fish out of water sort, as well as an arrogant girl who can also back it up when she wants to. I was reasonably sure I knew where her story was going, but it was fun seeing her get there. As for the Blade Saint, most of his half of the book shows us his Tragic Backstory, and you can hear the capital letters as you read. Fortunately, the cause of said tragedy is dealt with here, so I’m hoping future volumes give him something to move forward with. (Like a dragon.)

Some time in the future, a dragon faces off against the human who’s about to kill her, the deadly Blade Saint. However, she uses a magical device to go back in time so that she can destroy him before he gets this powerful. She ends up at the ubiquitous magical academy that so many light novels have, where she’s quickly captured and collared – literally – by short but powerful mage Karen, who, after consulting with the student council president (a vampire who is more than she seems) and the headmaster, helps Mitaelshuroxa (now going by “El”) to attend school, provided that she can defeat enough people in the combat course she wants to join. This includes a beastgirl who’s fighting to give status to her family, an arrogant guy who wants to use SCIENCE!, and of course the Blade Saint, who is a teenager at this point, and who she dearly wants to kill.

El is fun. She’s annoyed that she can’t just fly everywhere, her lunch consists almost entirely of parfaits, and she has the brains and brawn to back up her attitude, though all three of her opponents give her trouble. Karen is also a lot of fun, and I wish that she’d been the other protagonist, to be honest. Ca’al is dealing with a lot. He’s a young man from a noble house on the decline, whose parents, when they aren’t screaming at each other, abuse him horribly. His sole happiness is going out to play with Soreya, a girl who unfortunately I found it hard to really like as I haven’t seen someone this destined to be a tragic backstory since Bridge to Terabithia. She’s fun, spunky, and “deserved” to be the next Blade Saint, but her death allows our hero to, after years of pain and nightmares, avenge her. There wasn’t anything wrong with this sequence, I just found it much less fun than El’s side.

This is a decent book, and I can see why it got a prize. I’d read some of the other contest winners first, though.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes, Vol. 10

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By Bisu and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Esther Sun.

It’s been so long with everyone in the cast adoring Rosemary that it’s sometimes a surprise to remember that there are those who don’t love Rosemary, and part of this is because she’s been kept in bubble wrap for most of her life. It’s only now that she’s married to Leonhart and has a few world-changing innovations under her belt that she can afford to move on to the really, really impossible tasks of shoujo light novels: the grand ball with catty nobility all present and correct. Fortunately, Rosemary is still so utterly gorgeous that almost everyone who sees her either falls in love or gives up. Oh sure, there’s the King’s annoying cousin, who fragrantly tries to get Leonhart to take his daughter as a mistress in front of Rosemary. But clearly he’s too stupid to love, so there’s no way that he’d actually be part of the main plot, right?

Now that Rosemary has used her protagonist powers to not be evil and executed, and to make sure that her family all love each other (well, mostly, the King and Queen still mostly exist as a political marriage), she has to deal with the fact that that family wants to protect her and see her safe, especially now that she’s pregnant.This means her mother wants to help her choose the proper dress for the ball, while her brothers, who want to help but can’t see her change, are left to fume outside. Even her father, who has lived his entire life under the rule of “it doesn’t matter if I’m an asshole as long as the end result is good” spots her exhaustion at the ball and deliberately screws up her hair to force her to leave early and not get sick. This is not even mentioning her husband, or bodyguard, or any of the 80,000 others. Boy, you’d have to be REALLY DUMB to try to go after her!

The bulk of this book is Rosemary setting up a harvest festival for her nearby village. They used to have a big one, but it gradually petered out, and she wants to peter it up again. This is helped by her actually caring about the wives and grandmothers of the village and wanting to see what their traditional foods and crafts are. Speaking of crafts, we also see her interacting with her autistic jewelry designer Ayame (I usually try not to diagnose fictional characters, but sometimes it’s impossible not to) and Ayame’s childhood friend/minder Hiiragi, who would probably be married to her if she weren’t in love with Rosemary and making delicate jewelry pieces, in that order. Oh yes, and there’s even the son of Duke Evil, who is trying his best to save his family and domain from dear old dad’s plotting, and he ALSO falls in love with Rosemary while also seeing she already has the perfect husband.

With all this going on, it’s no wonder she doesn’t give birth in this. There’s no sign of Book 11 in Japan, either. Oh well, we’ve got enough adoration of Rosemary here for three new books. I do enjoy this, but hope you don’t hate perfect characters.

Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex, Vol. 1

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By Tobirano and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai Sareru” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Rymane Tsouria. Adapted by Zubonjin.

Ah, it’s time for another of my favorite genres. No, not Cinderella story, although this is that as well. No, it’s the classic shoujo light novel genre of “I am so horribly abused by my family that my self-worth is garbage and I will spend volumes trying to like myself”. Generally speaking, these books live and die on their heroine. Sometimes they suffer stoically, such as The Too-Perfect Saint (this will not be the last time I mention The Too-Perfect Saint in this review). Sometimes they are such pollyannas that the abuse doesn’t even register as such. And sometimes they just accept that they’re terrible and ugly and awful because that’s what their parents say, and live a life of quiet desperation. That’s where Marie is at the start of this book. Fortunately, we know that things will get much better for her, but the challenge, with someone like Marie, is to make her accept that she deserves to have good things happen to her at all.

The title may throw off the savvy reader, who sees it and expects an evil sister to go along with the evil parents. In fact, Marie’s sister Anastasia is the only good thing in her life, and the two of them get along great (Much like Too-Perfect Saint). Unfortunately, Marie’s parents REALLY despise her. They force her to do all the chores – yes, they have servants, but why use them when you have Marie? – and her 18th birthday party is hijacked and used as an excuse to get a rich husband for her sister. A proposal soon arrives from Kyros, a Count who’s going to be a Duke when he inherits. The parents could not be happier. Anastasia is, frankly, terrified, but she goes to his country… and dies in a carriage accident along the way. Now they have to send Marie, the “horrible” sister. (Again, Too-Perfect Saint, yes.) Marie, who is not only grieving for her sister but being told she’s only useful as a womb and that she should never have been born, meekly goes along. Fortunately, a series of misunderstandings mean that her welcome is much nicer than expected.

An anime of this has aired in the summer (so no spoilers for the second book in the comments, please), and everyone agreed that the absolute best thing about this title was Mio, Kyros’ head maid. They’re absolutely correct, Mio is indeed the best thing. She’s a badass, snarky, caring, and has an appetite for food that boggles the mind. She helps both of her charges, though finds herself exasperated with Kyros, whose screw-up (he met Marie at the party when she was hiding in the garden and fell in love with her, but assumed, as it was a party to engage the other sister, that she was Anastasia) led to all this. I also like what little we see of Anastasia, who loves to sew masculine outfits for women and wishes she were in a different type of shoujo light novel (the “my family goes under and I have to become a merchant” kind). As for Marie, well, her growth is the point, but I will warn folks, her self-hatred oozes from almost every line she has till near the end, and she cannot accept anything good happening to her. This is understandable, but readers might balk.

Not me, though. I want more of this. It’s like catnip.

ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero, Vol. 1

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By John Rohman and ttl. Released in North America by J-Novel Club.

This is another of the J-Novel Club Original Light Novel contest winners. In fact, this is the Grand Prize Winner. That said, I had put it off, mostly as the description made it seem sort of futuristic sci-fi dystopia, which is generally not my genre. And it certainly is that genre, but there’s more going on here than that. This is a story of two seemingly ordinary people who really aren’t, forced into a role that emphasizes how special they actually are. There’s a lot of prejudice and class struggle in this world (we see that on the “her” side), but even if you are comparatively privileged you can still end up being forced into things by those richer and more powerful than you (the “him” side). Of course, there’s also things familiar to light novel/anime fans here. Super sentai armor, lots of cool shonen battles, and powers that remind me a whole lot of My Hero Academia. That said, the main reason to read the book are her and him. They’re great characters, and even better when they interact with each other.

Calli is a young woman struggling to get a job in his world that is very prejudiced against those with her hair and skin. She’s a Stratan, and got an opportunity to make something of herself, which she is trying to do so she doesn’t have to crawl back home as a failure. Unfortunately, all she can find is temp work, and her co-workers mostly hate her on sight. Then she’s offered a special job. Meanwhile, Genesis is a young man who’s in charge of a loading dock where an explosion occurs. He got everyone out without injury, miraculously. A bit TOO miraculously, though, and the richest man in the city took note of it and wonders if he’s hiding a secret. A secret that might also give him a different job. Can these two people who end up opposing each other find common ground? And can you really meet cute when you’re a cop and a terrorist – sort of?

I won’t lie, this book starts slow as it serves up its worldbuilding, and I found the flashfoward at the start (which we never catch up to) somewhat pointless. But it gets better as it goes along, especially when it gets to the first big action sequence on the train. The best scene, though, is when Calli and Genesis meet cute for the SECOND time, and finally give in and decide to go grab some pizza. What ensues is a fantastic conversation as the two of them try to bitch about their respective new jobs without giving anything away… all while not realizing that they’d been desperately fighting each other earlier that day. Despite essentially being a terrorist for the money, Calli has a good head on her shoulders and cares about people, but she knows that sometimes you have to survive. As for Genesis, he wants to be a real hero, but finds his job doesn’t want that, and also some of the most famous heroes out there are just in it so they can beat the shit out of “bad guys”. Ideals are tough.

This ends the way most contest winners do, I assume, as it has enough of an ending to satisfy while still clearly promising more. I enjoyed her. And him.

My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 11

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By mikawaghost and tomari. Released in Japan as “Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

It’s been well over two years since the last volume of this series, and that volume was a massive flashback, so it’s actually been almost three years since we were last dealing with Akiteru’s confrontation with Iroha’s mother. Since then an anime has been announced and is currently airing (I’m not watching it, but I don’t think it’s setting the world on fire). Also since then we’ve had just this book. The author apologizes for it taking so long (it was two and a half years between 10 and 11 in Japan). Fortunately, it’s a very solid volume, which mostly goes how I thought it would, but also contains a few surprises. The surprises are not related to Iroha, who honestly takes this a lot better than I’d expected. No, it’s something unrelated to the game or to Iroha’s voice acting, it’s Mashiro’s writing. In which we learn what happens when producers decide to adapt something into an anime without actually enjoying the work itself.

The confrontation between Iroha’s mother and Iroha’s crush ends pretty much as you’d expect. Amachi agrees to let Iroha continue to do her acting work… but she’ll be the one managing her career. He has to stay out of it. Possibly realizing that this is never going to work as long as he’s literally next door, Akiteru thus decides to vanish from everyone’s life… though in reality he asks for a temporary job at Canary’s book publisher, where he gains valuable experience at how deal making works in the land of adults. Unfortunately, only Canary knows he’s there, so the rest of the cast are feeling rather bereft. Iroha at least has a new job she’s doing providing multiple voices for a VTuber project… but when Mashiro is told that the anime team wants to change her anti-bullying revenge fantasy so there’s no revenge and the bullies don’t get harmed, she goes completely to pieces.

As I said, the most startling scene in this whole book for me was the fact that Mashiro showed up for the meeting with the anime team with a gun in her pocket. Yes, it was a model gun that doesn’t shoot, but still. Her yakuza fantasy may have helped her get through the meeting without breaking down, but it did not stop her breaking down after. Actually, “after” may be the biggest flaw with this volume – it feels like it was being written to a page count. There are several plot points (Mashiro, Akiteru’s schooling) where I wish we’d gotten a bit more closure than we did. We did get some great background on Canary, though, which reminds us that sometimes when you work in an industry where you promote others, and you screw up, you can destroy lives that are not yours. I also enjoyed Akiteru being reminded “your uncle is famous, so throw his name around a bit”. Sometimes being an adult means not being straight and narrow all the time.

This author loves to start new series, and start new series that get anime adaptations, so it may be a while before we get the 12th book. That said, with the new events here, I don’t think it’s wrapping up soon anymore.

In Another World with Household Spells, Vol. 3

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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.

There is a Looney Tunes cartoon called The Big Snooze, and at one point Elmer Fudd is running through a hollow log and Bugs Bunny positions it so he runs out of it off a cliff into midair. Elmer realizes what has happened, stares at the viewer, and turns into a lollipop with a hunter’s cap, with the word ‘SUCKER’ written on the lollipop. He then quickly scrambles from midair back to the log to run through it. Bugs merely flips the log 180 degrees so that this happens again. Elmer then turns into a ‘SUCKER’ again, and runs back to try a third time. This time he tests it first, discovers there’s ground, and runs back to get a head start… at which point Bugs flips the log again. The reason I mention all this is that Patience Granger is the Elmer Fudd of this scenario. She spends the entire book not wanting to do things and then ending up doing them anyway just because everyone’s just too assertive for her.

Patience is very, very busy this school year. She’s already doing a double track with home ec and civil service, but there’s also a lot of magic/alchemy related stuff she wants to do, as her goal is to make money so that her family can stop being so poor and she can provide for her adorable brothers. (Yes, the shotacon thing has not gone away, I’m ignoring it.) Unfortunately, Princess Margaret’s girl posse all hate her, Prince Keith can’t say anything to her without sticking his foot in his mouth, the alchemy club is trying really really hard to get her to join, the music club is asking her to write an opera, and the entire curriculum has changed to become far more practical, much to the horror of noble ladies who find they will have to sew their own ballgowns. And then there’s the Knight Club, whose new president is taking this a bit too far, and this may lead to the end of the club…

Much to my relief, despite hints in the 2nd book, no one is going dungeon crawling just yet. Indeed, this is a very school-oriented book, though I suspect the author has a bit of a grudge against mandatory education, as Patience (who has her past memories and also OP magic that everyone underestimates) ends up essentially passing most of her classes for the year in the first week. This allows her to meet the alchemists, who are generally regarded as weird creeps, and not without reason, but they also help her to create lamps with dimmer switches, and possibly even washing machines in the future. That said, when Margaret and Keith say Patience is painfully naive, they’re not wrong. She’s blind to Keith’s crush on her, as well as several other characters who are ready to propose. (Also, Patience, who is supposed to be far shorter than her peers, is 149 cm, which is… average for an 11-year-old girl?) Basically, Patience might want to take a bit less herbology and magic circles and a bit more “how noble society functions”.

This was VERY nerd-heavy and education-heavy, but assuming you don’t mind either, it’s a good read. Also, author, just because you have Patience realize she’s being a sucker doesn’t make it less true.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Book Three: Sea of Wind, Shore of the Labyrinth

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By Fuyumi Ono and Akihiro Yamada. Released in Japan as “Juni Kokuki: Kaze no Umi, Meikyū no Kishi” by X Bunko White Heart. Released in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Monica Sullivan.

So I’m sure that after the events of the first two books, everyone is ready to dig in and find out how Youko settles in to her new ruling status. Well, hate to break it to you, but not only is Youko not in this book at all, but the entire volume takes place prior to the first two, and deals with a completely different kingdom. As I noted in the last review, the books are not called Twelve Kingdoms for nothing. That said, despite the fact that we get a new protagonist, a lot of this may feel very familiar. We see someone who grew up in Japan suddenly yanked to this world, where they’re forced to try to figure things out that everyone else assumes are either common sense or just come naturally. Youko dealt with this mostly through fury and increased paranoia. Taiki deals with it through depression and increased anxiety.

Up on Mount Hou, everyone is awaiting the birth of the new kirin, who will be the one to choose the next ruler of the country of Tai. Unfortunately, a storm blows the fruit containing the unborn Taiki off to god knows where. Ten years later, Kaname is an unhappy boy who lives with his family but can’t seem to please them, especially his strict grandmother. Then one day while standing outside in the snow as punishment, he sees a pair of arms reaching out from nowhere, and when he goes to investigate he finds himself on Hou Mountain. He *is* the missing kirin, and Tai needs a leader post haste, so he’s got to become a full-fledged kirin and choose the new leader. Unfortunately, kirin is a very instinctual position learned from birth, and since Taiki lived in Japan for ten years, he has none of that instinct. Good thing there aren’t also crushing expectations! Oh, wait, there are.

Despite the previous paragraph, this is a book with a great deal of heart. Taiki gets a lifelong familiar, Sanshi who sort of acts as a combination pet/mother/bodyguard. The sages of Mount Hou are all very nice to him… possibly they spoil him, but let’s face it, after passive abuse for ten years, Taiki needs a bit of spoiling. I really liked Youka, who we first meet ten years prior as a neophyte who still can’t find her way around the labyrinthian mountain, but who is also the best older sister for Taiki once he arrives. Taiki definitely feels like a ten-year-old with crippling anxiety throughout the book, so it’s good to see when he finally gets what a kirin needs to do, or when he’s actually enjoying and smiling over something. And for those who are sad about the fact that the first two books are in the future, Keiki is a supporting character here – indeed, he and Taiki bonding, and Keiki thus becoming less stoic and nicer, might be what leads to the troubles from the first two books.

So do we get a whole new cast next time? Not quite. The King of En has been supporting in both the first arc and the second, and the next book will look at his relationship with his own kirin. Till then, this is a wonderful fantasy series, highly recommended to everyone.