What light novel(s) have you read this week, and what do you think about it? [December 04. - December 10.]
Tearmoon Empire Vol. 3
See my review from last week for more details. My thoughts haven’t really changed a lot since last week, the Sasugasm of everyone around Mia are very entertaining but her antics do annoy me a bit sometimes. Granted there has not yet been a lot of time to allow for her to become “smarter” so currently it all sort of fits into the story. I do liker her arriving at the right conclusion through the wrong reasoning a lot, could become a 9/10 and maybe even 10/10 for me once her character grows out of occasionally being a mentally 6 year old. - 8/10
So You Want to Live the Slow Life? A Guide to Life in the Beastly Wilds, Vol. 3 - Ah yes, the textbook about preserves that mimics as a light novel. Not gonna lie, the actual amount of plot in this volume wouldn’t fill more than maybe one chapter. All the rest is an endless essay about cooking/preservation food. The setting of the series is endearing and I like the sidekicks, but the actual plot is thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread as a famous Hobbit would say. - 5/10
Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! Volume 3 - A good volume. The series seems to have found its stride. The annoyances I had in the last volumes are mostly gone and a character that I didn’t like was also written out after half the volume. - 7/10
The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: Volume 1 - Interesting first volume. There are definitive red flags with a middle-aged man marrying a 15-year-old girl at the forefront. I give it a tentative pass for the moment though because the girl in question is written like an adult woman in both her personality and actions. It reads like this was written as a normal story between two adults and then someone decided in order to sell it to the Japanese light novel crowd they just had to spice it up. Something like an editor saying “Just throw in a line or two that she is 15, no need to change anything else, and we will sell 10 times as much, muhahahaha”. Another criticism I have is that the protagonist is a bit too simple for my taste. But at least he isn’t dumb and oblivious like so many LN/anime protags. Anyway, the setting of the story is the interesting part. There is an emphasis on non-standard cultures within a standard fantasy setting in the form of a nomadic Oni tribe. Something that I really enjoy in Coking With Wild Game for example. And there is a bit other demi-human cultures as well. Hopefully there is more of that in future volumes. - 7/10
If I had to pick I prefer a well written simpleton over a failed attempt at writing a genius. Plus the MC to me seems about par for the course given he spent almost his entire life at war. Haven’t finished the Volume yet though so I can’t say anything definite about that.
Yes, absolutely. That’s why I especially pointed out that MC isn’t dumb like many other MCs - just a bit simple. It’s just that for my taste I would prefer MC a bit less simple. He doesn’t need to be a genius, but :
spoiler
if he at least had at least recognized that something wasn’t right with the Kingdom officials just dropping him off in the grasslands without anything, I would have been able to emphasize more with MC. No need to outwit the officials, but at least realizing that he is getting like being screwed would have gone a long way. His soldier background could have been the reason why he wouldn’t speak up and just accepted his fate in that case.
Well, that’s just an example. Like I said, I like the first volume, but I hope MC wises up somewhat going forward.
Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole vol 4&5
Very decent continuation. The adventures around the globe are nice to read. Slow development of the base and making new acquaintances are points that I appreciate. 6.5/10
Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World: Preach the Good Word of Mr. Henderson vol 1 For me this just doesn’t click. In the chapter “1.0 handerson” (last chapter) we got a plot hook but I expected something more akin to Turning Point from Mushoku Tensei.
The plot hook is provided at the end. Several dominant woman try to seize MC attention. Quite often MC is described as food or prey for them. Author tries to reinvent the wheel with world building when he doesn’t need to. The obvious stolen races with names exchanged, Buddha for some reason, complex magic and skill system that is opaque and unclear is quite jarring for me. 4/10
I’ve just read the bookworm when… 1 - 5 - Ascendance of a Bookworm fanfic. Light novel safe. It scratched my adventure itch and lathe itch. The plot and behavior of characters and fitting into established world feels a bit clunky but it doesn’t fail spectacularly in those regards. The trauma is portrayed quite gracefully. MC isn’t defined by it but also isn’t just shrugged either. 4/10
The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom vol 6 Finished the prepubs so it isn’t quite fresh in my mind. Cliffhanger at the end of volume is BIG and as vol 7 came out recently in Japan I don’t expect to get licensed quite as fast as I would like. The intrigue, new revelations, relationships are quite good in this volume. As far the afterword goes it doesn’t seem that the story will go into the direction I was hoping to go. MC instead of facing new problems he will probably get rid off old problems. 8/10
In the chapter “1.0 handerson” (last chapter) we got a plot hook but I expected something more akin to Turning Point from Mushoku Tensei.
Just a heads up: The 1.0 Hendersons chapters at the end of each volume are “alternate universe” type of chapters that aren’t canon to the main story and stand completely alone (i.e. whatever plot hook there was for you, it’s not going to build upon in the 1.0 Hendersons chapter of the next volume).
Yes. I got it. I didn’t word it properly.
I have started reading vol 2 but I lost interest mid way when even more woman wants to dominate the MC.
I found that the entire arc beginning with volume 2 was very tiring for my taste but I enjoyed the last volume where arc 3 begins. But slugging though 3 or 4 volumes just to get to some better ones later on is a hard ask. I am just a die-hard Margit fan so I managed to power through the 2nd arc to get back to her.
I’m not sure what you mean by “dominate MC” but there is only one love interest in the series (so far no harem plot in sight - knock on wood).
I’m reading Shadowtrap. It’s a really neat concept with okay execution. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy where they invent a fully immersive VR and send a fantasy game VR championship Alpha team in to test the system. Mayhem ensues. I say the book is only okay because the sections involving the team traveling are completely uninteresting, and some other parts feel repetitive. That said, it’s worth finishing so far, and it has entertained me.
Hmm, idk what that is. I saw this post on Everything and thought the community was for light novels, as in novels that are light reading. My mistake.
No worries. The term “light novel” usually refers to a type of “popular literature novel native to Japan” to steal the definition from Wikipedia. I highly recommend giving them a try if you interested in light reading material. They are mostly very entertaining even if my weekly reviews here sound as if I’m only picking on them ;)