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Reviews

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 5

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

If you go to Pixiv and look at fanart of the Bookworm series (please god set your setting to all ages), you will find that a good 90% of it is Rozemyne/Ferdinand shipping. If you go to AO3 to look for Bookworm fanfics, you will likewise see that 90% of it is shipping Rozemyne with Ferdinand. And, I assume, if the idea of the ship really bothers you, you’ve probably already dropped the series. And in this book we see that it’s not just fans of this fictional universe: all the nobles see it. Rozemyne and Ferdinand are far too close. The books have basically has as a major selling point that we see Rozemyne’s view of a thing, and then frequently get the noble view, showing how incredibly wrong or off base she is. She’s not a great narrator in the “truth” sense. And we see that here as well – only Rozemyne is in denial about this, saying that Ferdinand is like family, and that she’d do the same for other members of her family. Uh-huh.

The bulk of this book is taken up with the Archduke’s Conference, which normally would not involve Rozemyne, but she’s there to do blessings. She’s also sent to the underground archive, along with Hannelore and Hildebrand, to translate the writing there. Unfortunately, this means that she’s there when Detlinde stops by to essentially Detlinde all over the library, so she and the others have to hide. They do so by essentially sneaking out the back of the library and into a forested area, where they find a small, unlooked-after shrine. Rozemyne being who she is, she immediately cleans it, then goes to see what’s inside… and gets sucked into the shrine. What she finds is that she’s a potential Zent candidate and she gets a clue for finding the magic doodad that will automatically grand power to whoever finds it.

There’s no getting around it, this is a much darker book than the last few have been. Leaving aside the final story in the volume, which seems to imply we’re about to have a supporting cast member be horribly murdered, there’s everything about Rozemyne being a Zent candidate. The problem being that she’s not a royal. And this leads to bad things happening to her and Ehrenfest. Anastasius and Eglantine, two royals she thought were her friends, show how little that friendship really means when the fate of the nation is at stake. Her marriage to Wilfried is annulled, which does not bother her at all, but now she’s engaged to Sigiswald, which is bad because, as Adolphine already knows, he’s a terrible human being. And she has to leave Ehrenfest, who initially are supposed to just accept it and suffer, though thankfully Rozemyne’s inner Benno rises to the fore and she gets some concessions. This whole book is a game-changer, and the game is getting more dangerous.

And, as noted above, there is Ferdinand, who at least is no longer in danger of being executed for failing to contain the disaster that is Detlinde. Will he show up in the next book? Probably. And will Rozemyne stop looking nine years old? Probably not just yet.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 9

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The review I did with the last volume indicated that I expected the main thrust of this one to be a big battle between Van and Ruti, and Ruti’s smiling presence on the cover art might seem to indicate that she is victorious. Which is kind of true, but it’s rather remarkable how little Ruti is in this book. the bulk of the story here is spent trying to do two things: 1) get Van to actually listen to other’s advice and be a bit less sociopathic, and b) have him not find out this is where Ruti is. They’re unsuccessful on the second one but manage to mostly succeed on the first one, because of course this book isn’t about the hero, or even the former hero, it’s about that guy who was banished from the hero’s party and living a quiet life in the countryside. As such, it’s Red/Gideon who saves the day, by going back to his roots.

Van has temporarily left Zoltan, but he’ll be back very soon, and they need a way to try to get through to him. Their instinct is to try to go through his two most stubborn allies. Red will try to talk to Ljubo, the corrupt cardinal from the Church who is trying to guide Van on the hero’s path, and Rit will attempt to reason with Lavender, the killer fairy who has a severely maladjusted idea of what love is. Both these negotiations go fairly well, all things considered, perhaps the first one better than the second. Unfortunately, things completely go to hell when a girl is accidentally led into danger by a fairy dragon, and Van thinks that, even though the fairy dragon has apologized and the girl herself doesn’t want it, the only solution is murder. And unfortunately, his blessing has decided to stop speaking to him…

The best part of this book, as I hinted above, is Red going back to being Gideon temporarily and being the Guide for the newest Hero. He realizes that the best way to try to break Van is to make him MORE emotional, not less, and this actually works, as eventually Van gets so angry and frustrated that he simply snaps, which makes it much easier to fight him, as he doesn’t really do anything other than “attack head on” and rely on healing powers. That said, the book also shows signs of the back half being rushed. Ljubo, the cardinal who is persuaded by Red and his allies to dissuade Van from destroying Zoltan, ends up being brutally murdered by Van… and then is literally never mentioned or heard about again. I get that he was a bad guy, but still, at least acknowledge that Van did a murder.

the next book in the series promises Van aftermath, though, so it may come up there. That said, I do hope we get back to Red and Rit wuv wuv time, as while there was some of that here it wasn’t really enough. The quiet life is the point.

Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 4

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By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

What is supposed to happen after Monica fulfills her mission and whatever happens with Felix happens? I think, in Monica’s mind, that what will happen is that Monica Norton will suddenly vanish, having to “withdraw from school”, and Monica Everett will go back to her little cabin in the woods and live a quiet, cloistered life as she always had. There’s just one slight problem with that, which is that Monica is growing and gaining more emotional depth the longer she’s at the school. The combination of her father’s death and the abuse she suffered afterwards had left her with the ability to only see people as a series of numbers. But as she’s made real friends and learned how to actually socially interact, Monica sees them as people with actual feelings now. Of course, this is not all good – she loses a battle here because, even though her opponent is obviously bluffing, she can’t simply see her friend who is being threatened as “numbers” anymore. Monica will find withdrawing back to her cabin very hard.

This may be a fantasy world, but it’s still taking place in a school, which means it’s school festival time. No, we’re not doing maid cafes or haunted houses – the festival runs more towards presentations of magical theory. But the student council still has to move around and make sure everything runs smoothly. Of course, things do not run smoothly. Another of the Seven Sages arrives, and he’s a pain to deal with but basically harmless. He’s searching for a cursed artifact, which unfortunately ends up in the hands of The Littlest Petty Noble, whose feelings of one-sided love for Felix subsequently take a turn for the worse. And then there’s someone else who’s infiltrated the school, and they’re in a clever disguise. Can Monica sort all this out? And can she do so without revealing who she really is to the wrong people?

Claudia remains an absolute delight, and will probably continue to remind me of Hanajima from Fruits Basket. Speaking of characters from other manga and anime showing up in the book, it’s really hard to see Ray Albright in this book and not think of Tamaki from My Hero Academia, who also seems to have “socially inept” at his main feature. Oddly, his appearance here shows off how far Monica has come since the first book, as she’s now the outgoing one by comparison. The “boy of the book” in this not-quite-reverse harem is Cyril, whose subtle romantic overture to Monica is completely misinterpreted by her, but that might actually be for the best. By now I’m actually hoping that this does not end with a standard romantic ending – if ever there was a series that needed the “friendship ending” like a reverse otome game, Silent Witch is the one. Give this poor baby some good friends.

Assuming she can somehow solve the impending crises, that is. Crises which will have to wait, as the next book is apparently a short story volume. In the meantime, this series remains an absolute delight.

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 16

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the overuse of slavery in isekai books, and it’s a good discussion to have, but I also think we need to look at the “plucky orphans” trope as well. Our hero/heroine comes across either children starving on the street or an orphanage where they barely get enough food to survive. And over the course of the next few pages, what happens for the most part is “sweet, free workforce!”. The general feeling is that they are amazingly fortunate to have our isekai’d person come along and teach them skills and trades, and what’s more, their bellies are finally full, so they’ll do anything they’re asked. Sometimes there is at least a vague attempt to show that this is bad (Bookworm). Sometimes it’s abused horribly, but at least the kids are paid actual wages (Kuma Bear). And sometimes it’s “they’re getting food from me, so let’s turn them all into little 6-year-old waitresses”. Welcome to FUNAtown.

Mile and the rest of the Crimson Vow finally get to see the Demon Village, which is mostly an anticlimax, though she does meet the “Holy Maiden”, a demon girl with the same ability as Mile to talk to the nanos. (The girl is clearly being used and mistreated by the village, a fact that Mile mostly ignores except to give her and her family a pile of food). Elsewhere, Mile ends up getting led to an ancient artifact, buried deep (very, very deep) beneath the ground, and communicates with it, learning a lot of backstory about this world’s past. Unfortunately, it turns out that there was some time dilation involved, and when she and the Vow emerge from the Earth the invasion that Mile has been worried about for the last couple of books is about to go full blast. Will Mile be able to stop it? And can she get Reina to cosplay as Kuroko from A Certain Magical Index?

As always with FUNA, any attempts at a serious examination of the world or actual danger and angst is offset by the fact that her heroines are massive overpowered goofs. This is especially true of Mile. She gains the ability to show the entire world a projection of herself in order to warn them that the real danger from another world is going to emerge from a different place… and the first thing she does is imitate the MGM lion. I did appreciate that she finally started to tell her friends SOME of the reason why she is what she is. Not the reincarnated from Japan thing, but that God had given her special abilities, and that she needs to use them to save the world. Mile is making a lot of inferences that I’m not sure hold up, but as long as she’s trying to do good and doesn’t just farm it out to the orphans instead, that’s fine.

We’re mostly caught up with Japan, so expect a new volume in 6 months or so. It also seems like the series might be getting near an ending, and the cover of Vol. 17 looks like a “final volume” cover… but there’s an 18 already, so I doubt it. Recommended for fans of this author.

Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess, Vol. 1

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By Sora Hinokage and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Loop kara Nukedasenai Akuyaku Reijō wa, Akiramete Sukikatte Ikirukoto ni Kimemashita” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Andria McKnight.

It’s always nice to see a refreshing variation of the old formula. In fact, this book takes two formulas and combines them. Selene starts off by having her engagement broken by her fiance (who is, of course, in love with her younger sister) and has “dark” powers that are typical of a villainess character. We also get the time loop variation, where our heroine keeps dying and resetting, trying to find the timeline where she can live happily ever after. The gimmick here is that Selene was a kind, fairly shy young women who has been desperately trying to find a solution for nine lifetimes, and once she hits the tenth she decides that all this can go to hell. She’s not quite broken, but she’s certainly now jaded and cynical as hell, and perfectly willing to torture her father to the brink of death in order to become head of house. The trouble is, deep down? She’s not THAT bad, really.

Selene is the daughter of her father, head of the Vixent House and a commoner woman. Ever since her younger sister, Soleil, was born, she’s been treated like crap by her family and the servants. Worse still, she manifests the power of Shadow, which is seen as an ill omen – her family are supposed to manifest sun powers. So she’s locked in a room to starve to death. Or murdered. Or she runs away and is killed. Or she kills herself. Nothing she tries can stop bad things from happening and her going back to try again. Now, in this new life, she’s determined to stop playing nice. She quickly gains control of her family and finds that hey, now that she’s powerful and can theoretically kill them all, the servants love her! But she needs to find out why this is happening, so teams up with… a man who doesn’t exist anymore.

There’s a lot to like here. The one weakness in the book, I’d say, is that Selene is of the “stoic, relatively unemotional” style of protagonists, which can be a bit boring in some places where I had hoped for a bit more oomph. That said, there’s absolutely a reason for her to be that way, so I get it. Her not-quite-romance with Dier is fun – they’re “accomplices” rather than anything else, which made me think of Otherside Picnic. The other family heads with power are variations on a stock type, but none of them are overly annoying except maybe the water user who is obsessed with Selene… and even then, the fact that she doesn’t take him remotely seriously helps. The one shoe that hasn’t dropped yet is her younger sister. The only person in her family who seems to love Selene, Soleil, throughout this book, acts like a loving but somewhat ineffectual young girl. But I’ve read these books before, and I just KNOW that in this situation, she’s going to be evil. That may have to wait for the second book, though.

This wasn’t lights out fantastic, but it was a very solid read, and if you like jaded women who nevertheless are still pretty kind at their core, give it a try.

Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 9

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By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

Sometimes I tend to dramatically overthink things. This even applies when I’m reading a series like Reborn to Master the Blade, where I know that the main motivation behind the author writing it is “have fun and cool fights”. So when Inglis had her body aged down that of a six-year-old early in the book, I started to theorize about what would necessitate this change in the book. Was it related to the engagements that Inglis and Rafinha are apparently going to face at the start of this volume? No, that’s not it. Is it to make Inglis less powerful so that she actually loses a fight and ends up learning an important lesson? Hardly, though there is one fight here where the records a draw. Then, by the end of the book, I began to realize the real reason: it’s because the author thinks that a 6-year-old Inglis is cute as a button, and wants more art of her than the first volume could provide. Fair enough.

Inglis and Rafinha return home to find that they have a bevy of suitors now, both being hot commodities. They both write to the royal palace to ask them to stop this; Rafinha because she only wants Inglis to marry Rafael, and Inglis because she doesn’t want Rafinha to marry ANYBODY. Before any suitors arrive, though, an experiment Inglis is trying goes wrong and now she and Rafinha are back in their six-year-old bodies! And bad timing there, as there is a Highlander who has heard about Inglis and is there to have a really good fight. He’s basically Inglis as a man, and the fight the two have is indeed epic, and takes up a big chunk of the book. Unfortunately, Inglis was using Eris as a weapon during the fight, and Eris got a little broken, so to fix her, they’re going to need to… well, need to wait till the next book, but the back half of this sets us up for that.

Not gonna lie, for all that he is a walking cliche, Jildegrieva was easily the best part of the book, finally giving Inglis the fight that she’s wanted since the series began – a fight that, admittedly, ends in a draw, but she is in a much smaller body now. Other than that, though, the other main plot of this book is basically introducing zombies to the story, and showing that someone is making it so dead assassins become zombies. This leads to mental trauma in some cases (Leone) and showing off to family in others (Lieselotte). But, as with Inglis becoming a child or Eris getting damaged/injured, it’s a plot point that is not going to be resolved this book. As a result, like a lot of books in this series, how much you enjoy it depends how much you like straight up fighting.

We’ve also caught up with Japan, so that next volume that explains everything may be a while. Ah well. Inglis is pretty cute as a kid (and there is thankfully a minimal amount of lolicon shtick that comes with it).

Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash, Vol. 3

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By Tofuro Futsukaichi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Gendai Shakai de Otome Game no Akuyaku Reijou wo Suru no wa Chotto Taihen” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Emma Schumacker. Adapted by Jack Hamm.

I want to be more mad at this series than I am. It’s ludicrously pro-capitalism and pro-cop. Our heroine builds gated communities for people in the previous book, then in this one seems to be absolutely shocked that racism exists in the United States. The bulk of the middle third of this volume involves her trying to prevent 9/11 from happening. She fails. But then you also see that 9/11 has been enhanced by a deadly nuclear train almost wiping out Denver, and you think to yourself, “Wasn’t that the movie Atomic Train?”, and you realize that the author really does not have a hidden message or meaning to this book at all. It’s not trying to use its heroine to show you that right-wing politics is good, actually. It’s an author playing with toys, and when there’s a section of the plot where, say, you can work in a Tom Clancy book’s plot, in it goes. It’s hard to get mad at a Tinkertoy novel.

Even the author admits that this volume’s “plot” is scattered. It’s basically events that happen before and after Runa’s 10th birthday. This includes the aforementioned 9/11, which happens DURING Runa’s birthday party. We get school adventures, like Runa doing sports and club activities, and also a mountain climb and a trip to Kyoto. We also get more of Runa being the hidden power behind most of Japan, and start to see the beginnings of a rift between her and Prime Minister Koizumi. But other people are finally beginning to realize that this little girl has her fingers in a LOT of pies, and they’re trying to stop her. Not necessarily for reasons of “I want to control what she has”, but also for upright reasons like “this 10-year-old girl is killing herself trying to do everything”. How much longer can Runa get away with this?

I was very amused at the new character in this book, a “high roller” type who, like most of the capable people in this world, ends up becoming one of Runa’s employees. Unlike the rest of her staff, who likely realize something is wrong but don’t say anything out of politeness, he straight up asks Runa how the hell she is doing this. Runa still has not quite admitted “I’ve been reincarnated into an otome game”, but there’s just no way to accept any of her decisions without thinking that she has supernatural powers. Hell, her friend Hotaru has them, why not Runa? As for Runa herself, I think the book’s weak point remains her “villainess” part of it. She seems torn to the point of tears about whether she can change her fate, but she’s not trying to make herself a better person, she’s just trying to make sure her financial empire is not ruined. She’s still sort of evil. Work on that.

I don’t really recommend this series to anyone but economics majors, but I still find it rather fascinating in a morbid way. The webnovel version of this has 11+ books of material, but the 4th volume is the latest published in Japan, so we’re mostly caught up.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 14

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

No series has quite managed to make me eat my words quite as much as Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, a group of books that is about an overpowered shut-in who wanders the land defeating powerful monsters and acquiring a string of little girls to follow her around and hero worship her. The start of the series balanced out the “cute girl doing OP things” vibe with some truly dark and weird plot points, with young girls being abducted, raped and killed, or Yuna having to repatriate a group of women whose families were murdered and who were *also* raped. To no one’s surprise, as this series got an anime, almost all of this was thrown out the window in favor of “let’s watch Yuna finance a bakery” and similar things. But it still occasionally dips its toe in darkness. Last time I was grumpy about Yuna’s pathological avoidance of praise being treated like a quirk of her personality rather than a genuine problem. In this new volume, it’s clear the author knows that, and is sending us to dark places again.

It doesn’t really seem that way at first. The majority of the book is Yuna coming back home after her trip to the land of giant scorpions. She presents a “Mission Accomplished” to the King, then relaxes in her bear house, only just remembering to tell Fina and the others that she’s back. She then prepares for the massive vacation to Mileela, which by the time it starts has about fifty people going (mostly the orphanage who are Yuna’s main child labor force… let’s not go there right now) and requires Yuna to create not only a big bear bus but two bear minibuses, powered through her mana. This requires her, on the journey there, to switch from her normal black bear outfit to the reversed white bear outfit, as she’s going to be using mana like a sieve. This leads to people not recognizing her at first, which merely irritates her… for now.

So yeah, once they get to the ocean and the beach, Yuna has to give in and remove the bear costume. She’s done this before at a palace function, but that was mostly filled with people who had no idea who she was anyway, so it was mostly her own personal safety that worried her. Same with the school festival. Here she has a bigger existential crisis: when she walks around as Yuna, dressed in a swimsuit and without her bear things, almost no one recognizes her. Literally, they stand next to her and ask Fina where she is. Fina, bless her, seems to be the exception to this rule. (Note that everyone, once they DO see it’s Yuna, immediately praise her pretty and petite body, but Yuna being Yuna, she doesn’t take this as praise at all.) At first Yuna is merely annoyed, but as it goes on and on, and as she attempts to do normal things (like teaching girls to swim) and failing as she has NO STAMINA without the bear suit, she gets more and more depressed. As she states to herself, no one is friends with Yuna, they’re all friends with “the bear”. The bear is the one that does everything. The bear is their savior. The bear is their friend. Yuna? Yuna is just an out-of-shape shut in.

Frustratingly, the book goes from Yuna’s spiral of depression to the usual end of book side stories, so we’ll need to wait till next time. Fortunately, as this book ran a bit late, next time is next month. Join me then to see if we get to see Yuna on the verge of a nervous breakdown, or if she simply shrugs everything off. Again.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: Fantastic Days

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By Hirukama, Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Spinoffs can be hard. Spinoffs written by someone other than the original author are harder. And when you get a spinoff written by someone who’s not the original author based on a mobile game that likely was also not written by the original author, well, you’re really starting to get into trouble. Hirukama is best known over here for the Reborn as a Vending Machine light novel that’s currently getting an anime. He also writes the longest running KonoSuba spinoff, Ano Orokamono ni mo Kyakkou wo!, which focuses on Dust, the loser guy who seems to linger around the edges of the main series. We’re unlikely to get that, if only as it doesn’t star Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Darkness. This book we are getting does feature three new girls who have the plot built around them, but it has healthy doses of our main cast as well, so fans will not feel cheated. Is it good? Eh.

For those wondering where in the main story this fits in, it’s left deliberately vague, but I’d say around Volume 8, mostly as Megumin and Darkness show no signs that they’re in love with Kazuma at all. While trying to stop a disaster, Megumin blows up a wagon containing a) a monetary tribute to nobility, causing him to go deeply in the red, and b) the supplies to a dance troup/adventuring party. The troup consists of Lia, the theoretically sensible one with the mysterious past; Cielo, a noble whose upbringing caused her to develop an extreme fear of men; and Erika, a girl who tries her hardest to be cute, and is also searching for her birth parents. Kazuma, on seeing them, is reminded of Japanese idol groups, and decides to make them stars!… mostly as making them stars will help pay off his debt. Unfortunately, these idols have fanboys, and they’re also trolls. No, not internet trolls, real trolls.

The three new girls, of course, are deliberately meant to contrast with the three regular stars. Cielo and Darkness are both blonde nobles trying to get away from all that by adventuring. Erika focuses on cute as much as Megumin does on cool. As for Lia… well, OK, she’s not that much like Aqua, except perhaps for her pathological messiness. She is, however, the character whose plot matters the most, as her amnesia turns out to be an important key to defeating Daniel, the troll lord who has decided to stan her. Everyone gets to do their bits. Megumin fires off explosions, Darkness is masochistic, Aqua screws up everything, etc. Unfortunately, it really does feel likely someone trying to write an “original flavor” fanfic with their own OCs, to be honest. By necessity, this cannot grow or develop any character except the new girls… and actually, it ends up just being Lia. That means this rides on how funny it is, and the answer is: not as funny as the main books.

If you really love KonoSuba, you can certainly enjoy this. As a spinoff, though, I’d rather read the Megumin books.

Sabikui Bisco, Vol. 5

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By Shinji Cobkubo and K Akagishi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Sabikui Bisco tends to coast along on three elements. The first is what I would call “high concept”, coming up with fantastical ideas, people or places that make the jaw drop when they’re described. The second is the wall-to-wall action sequences that make up the bulk of the book. And the third is Bisco and Milo getting closer and closer to just making out, even as each book seems to add a new girl to fall in love with Bisco and sigh as she watches he and Milo declare themselves to be soulmates. The good news is that this fifth volume has all of those things in abundance. The bad news is that it does tend to lean a bit too much on the action scenes this time around. Bisco is not really someone who ever slows down or stops to smell the roses, but reading this book is like watching an action movie that’s all the last 15 minutes. It can be utterly exhausting.

After the events of the last book, Shishi is now apparently evil, and Bisco is very definitely a 10-year-old. As he and Milo try to catch up with her so that he can do something about that, they end up on Hokkaido… which it turns out is basically a giant floating space whale. That was not in any of the guidebooks! Unfortunately, Shishi got there first, and is trying to take over the island with camellia flowers… which have already taken over the prison wardens from the previous book. Fortunately, they have allies in the native peoples of Hokkaido, which include (yes, try to contain your surprise) another teenage girl who thinks Milo is pretty hot. She’s not into Bisco, though, as he’s just a kid. Will they be able to stop the island being used for a mass terrorist event? And just how evil *is* Shishi anyway?

The book makes an effort to try to keep it ambiguous about Shishi’s motivations, saying that it wasn’t just her being possessed by an evil flower but her own desires that led to her murdering her dad. But given that this motivational speech is coming FROM the evil flower, it’s a bit hard to take this as anything more than “sorry, bro, I was possessed”. Indeed, it’s not the only possession of the book, as the climax of the volume shows that there is no character the series will not bring back to make another appearance. Speaking of which, Pawoo is kept far away from her husband, but Tirol is around to be the absolute worst again, and Amli also shows up to try to save her god/crush delete where applicable. This is a series that thrives on barely controlled chaos, so it works, but eventually the “controlled” part is going to be lost, I suspect.

Still, overall I was less grumpy about this book, despite it basically just being Bisco and Milo screaming for 260 pages. I’ll keep going.

The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 10

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By Toru Taba and Falmaro. Released in Japan as “Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu ~Sou da, Baikoku Shiyou~” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

As the series hits double digits, it’s pretty clear that it’s at least sauntering towards a conclusion. Wein is closer than ever to becoming the King, but (see premise of the series) he really does not want this, and would much rather leave things to the little sister who’s been growing by leaps and bounds over the course of the book and just run off somewhere with Ninym to do all the things he could not do with Ninym when he was heir to the throne. Of course, what’s stopping him is the rest of the plot. For one thing, he’s made such a name for himself that people are not yet taking Falanya seriously, though I expect that will change in a big way after this book. For another, there are too many people whose ongoing plans really need Wein to be around and also as clever as he normally is. Lowellmina is the obvious one, but the Church has an eye on him too… or rather, on Ninym, by his side.

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After events in the last book, Wein’s country, or more accurately the vassals in his country, really want him to stay home. Unfortunately, Delunio is holding a big event to celebrate their alliance with Soljest and Natra, and have asked Wein to attend. He’s not going to, but he can send Falanya… despite the fact that the disgraced prime minister of Delunio is now Falanya’s adviser. Of course, this does not mean that Wein gets to sit around either, as there’s a more serious crisis in the Empire. Lowellmina has too much power now, so her brothers have come up with a clever scheme: fight each other, let the casualties pile up, and then tarnish Lowellmina’s name because she, the peace loving princess, did not intervene. She wants Wein’s help. And as if this weren’t enough, in Soljest… Gruyere has been overthrown?!

The fun of this series is the fact that not just the main characters, but EVERY character seems to have one main scheme and seven backup schemes all going at the same time. The best scene in the book features a most unlikely pairing, Gruyere and Nanaki, but of course the main thing to talk about here is Falanya. She’s finally gotten to the point where Wein does not have to worry about her when she’s trapped in a dangerous political hothouse, and while she does need his help near the end, 80% of the victory in this book is down to her own clever scheming. There’s a reason that Sirgis has decided to make it his goal to have her become ruler rather than Wein, though I’m not sure I buy his “he doesn’t care about the people of the country” – if that were the case, Wein could have schemed himself out of this a while ago. But it definitely feels like we’re headed for a sibling throne war, which is good, as Natra has experience with that.

So very glad to have this back, and I am pleased that it won’t take as long for the 11th book to come out here. Recommended for political intrigue fans.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 2

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By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton.

Sigh. There was no good way to do this. Kodansha Books re-released the first two volumes of this light novel series as an omnibus, which is good! It meant folks didn’t have to re-buy two books that they already had from the late, unlamented Sol Press and we could get to new content faster! But it also means that this second volume is the third in Japan. And that will be the case going forward. That’s why this is another review of the 2nd volume – it’s really a review of Volume 3. Got it? Good. That said, the first volume of this series originally came out here in 2019, the second 19 months after that, and here’s the third, about 30 months after that one. You might be forgiven for completely forgetting what’s been going on. Fortunately, there was an anime! It covered Books 1 and 2, so go watch it, then come back here. Because this is more of the same, and it’s fun and mind-boggling and a little disturbing. See: this author.

Things are getting busier for Mitsuha – so busy that she seriously considers, near the end of the book, stopping the “go back and forth between here and Japan” thing and permanently settling. She has a new territory to run. She’s being asked to attend all sorts of society balls. She’s trying to get board games to be a thing in this country, specifically shogi and reversi. She’s trying to create popcorn, with the help of some adorable… if somewhat mercenary… orphans. And of course she’s looking to make that money so that she can retire, though several times in this book she admits to herself that she needs to stop inventing new things and let this world relax and catch up a bit. That said, the biggest problem may be when three huge ships show up in her domain. Maybe they’re friendly!… OK, probably not.

Fans of FUNA will be happy to know there is quite a bit of what I call “the heroine goes completely batshit” in this book, the biggest being how she deals with the invading foreign army. As with I Shall Survive Making Potions!, the heroine’s morality is firmly in the grey area, and her solutions do sometimes involve “there’s no way I can do this without killing a few people, sorry”. Much of the “fun” in this series is seeing her do something along these lines, then act surprised that everyone is staring in disbelief at her. She actually has another crying breakdown here, after the Count who has become her surrogate father has to remind her that people actually love and care about her here, and she should not treat her life as disposable. Which, let’s be honest, she is. Almost all her decisions in this volume have a form of “what if I die, how will they deal with this then?” Which is great in a worldbuilding way, but not so good in a psychological one.

If you hated Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average and I Shall Survive Using Potions!, you’ll hate this too. If you loved them, you’ll love this too. It’s as simple as that. See you next time for the third (fourth) book.

Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster, Vol. 2

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By Saki and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Albert-ke no Reijō wa Botsuraku o Goshomō Desu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

Most of the time, when you hear about a light novel protagonist who is described as “no one has any idea what they’re thinking”, there’s a fairly obvious reason for it. usually it’s because they were reincarnated from Japan, or (as in Mary Albert, theoretically) a villainess in an otome game. But we, the reader usually know why they’re thinking what they’re thinking. it’s just the poor supporting cast who have it rough. That’s not the case in this series, and I have to hand it to the author: there are many times in this volume when I *really* have no idea what Mary Albert is thinking. It’s not even a case of “trying to sabotage my future” like the first book in the series – she did that (well, OK, the opposite, but you know what I mean) and has moved on. But in the case of Mary Albert and her feelings for Adi, even she has no idea what she’s thinking. Until WELL after you might expect.

Everything’s coming up roses for Mary Albert at the start of this book. Despite attempting to be a villainess, she actually managed to work things out in a different way, so the ending of the otome game is not going to happen. She’s going off to a foreign land to study management skills. Hell, even her trademark drills, previously unable to be tamed, are now gone thanks to the power of the game being over. But there is a second game, the sequel to Heart High, that takes place at the school in that foreign country. One with a “heroine” and a ‘villainess”. That said, Mary’s not in that game at all, so she can simply sit back, watch the enfolding disaster, make good friends with a wet blanket of a noble, and also get married to Adi. Wait, what? What was that last part?

I admit that I *was* expecting the events of this book to some degree, but the author really threw me off by the order in which they happened. Mary is not yet finished dealing with/watching for villainess pointers at her new school when she’s called back to her country to get married, something that she does unconsciously and without think9ing about it, to the amazement of everyone. It’s only after she and Adi are already married that she’s forced to confront the fact that it happened, and why she was so blase about it. Mary Albert is a rare “villainess” who’s retained very little of her Japanese self, and simply associated marriage with “political move”. Marrying for love never was a thing she expected. As such, when she realizes it happened, her freakout is possibly the best part of the book. As for the second game and its resolution, it’s yet another example of why “harem” endings are good in a funny way when you’re a gamer, but terrible if you try to consider them seriously – see also Endo and Kobayashi Live.

And so, we’ve reached the end of the series. Um. There are HOW many books left? Let me guess, short story volume? (checks) Yup. We’ll be back next time for the obligatory short story volume! Till then, this is much more fun than I expected, with a great heroine.

Earl and Fairy: Beware the Enticing Trap

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

I was very excited when Earl and Fairy debuted from J-Novel Heart, but I will admit that I underestimated the backlash that the series got from some areas of the community. This is an old-school shoujo series, and it stars an old-school shoujo love interest. If you don’t know what that means, look up “Black Bird” or “Hot Gimmick”. Though Earl and Fairy does not go nearly as far as those two series, it is definitely in the school of romance that is “he starts off as the worst, but gradually gets better due to the influence of our heroine”. And given this is a long-running series, it’s going to be very gradual. Edgar is not going to suddenly soften up and tell Lydia his deepest secrets. Moreover, given that he thinks Lydia would be perfectly happy to walk off and never see him again, don’t expect him to stop giving affectionate overtures that may be unwelcome. That’s how these series roll. Tender romance will be along in a bit.

Lydia has been hired by Edgar as his Fairy Doctor, meaning that she’s now living in London. Of course, this being a supernatural mystery series as well as a romance, trouble is following her around. Or, more accurately, following her employer around. A young woman has disappeared, and was last seen in a carriage with none other than Edgar. There’s a bogey-beast in the vicinity, and it’s not clear who its master is. Rosalie, cousin to the missing girl, is very much attracted to Edgar, and thus very annoyed that he only seems to have eyes for Lydia. The fog, always terrible in London of vaguely Victorian times, is even worse because of the threat of the Fogman. And possibly worst of all, Lydia is finding herself wanting to get closer to Edgar, and she has absolutely no idea why.

Lydia, I will admit, does suffer from some of the worst traits of a shoujo heroine. When she blithely walks into an abandoned warehouse with a girl that she already knows is antagonistic towards her, you will want to smack your forehead. She’s no shrinking violet, but sometimes that gets her into trouble as well – her desire to take quick and decisive action is what gets her soul trapped near the climax of the book. As for her relationship with Edgar, she’s not close enough for him to open his heart to, but that also means that she’ll never take any affectionate overtures he makes seriously. Nico, Lydia’s walking, talking, sarcastic cat (just throwing that out there for those who are still on the fence about this series) tells Edgar if he wants to win Lydia over he needs to stop lying to her. Unfortunately, Edgar has been hurt so much by so many people – and had nearly everyone who trusted him die – that this may not even be possible.

To sum up” great shoujo potboiler. Lydia is naive but awesome. Have patience with Edgar. Give Nico some tea and fish.

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 6

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By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Eric Margolis. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

It occurred to me as I was reading this volume, this lacks one of the main parts of “summoned to another world” books, which is the summoning. I was thrown off by the god at the start of the series, who actually does summon the class to a different world, presumably to save it, but the world itself is not involved with the summoning, and (while we see some small evidence that past heroes may have also been summoned), there’s no sense that anyone is used to new people suddenly showing up all at once. As a result, try to imagine what the people in the capital city must be thinking when they see Haruka and twenty gorgeous young women, all with black hair and black eyes, show up and save the day almost instantaneously. Seriously, this 413-page book only takes up one week of real time in the book. They’re all absolute monsters. It is, frankly, amazing that more people just give in and go along with it… though given their situation, maybe it’s not so surprising.

Despite various attempts to try to negotiate, war is becoming inevitable. The king’s brother is there to try to work out a compromise: the first prince has said he will spare the frontier if they give up Haruka. Literally everyone except the king’s brother knows this is a trap, but Haruka goes along with it anyway, because it’s just easier to trigger the trap and then massacre everyone. Yeah, there’s a lot of death in this book, this isn’t the manga. Having fixed that problem (and killed one prince), everyone then arrives at the capital, where the king is dying, the second prince is allied with evil merchants, and there’s an orphanage filled with kids who would make Oliver Twist look like a plump spoiled brat. This lights a righteous fire under all the main cast, who proceed to turn into villains in order to save the civilians who are being ground down by the real enemy… capitalism.

These books are starting to struggle a bit with the “wacky” side of things. Don’t get me wrong, Haruka is still damn near incomprehensible and incredibly annoying. And there are still an incredibly large number of pages devoted to Haruka making underwear for all his female classmates, which involves using his “magic hands” to grope them into unconsciousness (with their consent – the underwear is JUST THAT GOOD). But there’s no sugarcoating how awful everything is this arc. The majority of the nobility are cartoon villains, the merchants are greedy scum, and while we haven’t met the church yet (next book), they’re implied to be worse than all of the others. The orphanage is played for maximum mawkishness, except when you see things like the girls all finding the nobles most responsible for it and using status effects like “Pure Pain” on them. And even saving the capital doesn’t fix things, as in the meantime the church’s forces have gone to destroy Omui.

The series, for once, ends with a genuine cliffhanger, as we wonder if Haruka vs. 30,000 troops will finally be what gets him killed. The girls all worry this as well, which is why they’re racing there as well. As always, once you dig past the nonsense, Maria-sama Ga Miteru and Mary Poppins references, and endless descriptions of tits, there’s a whole lot to sink your teeth into. And not in the mean girls way.