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Every season at this point is a good one for light novels. That holds doubly true if you’re not sick of
isekai, and I have to admit that, while I sometimes despair of it as a genre, I do still enjoy it. (I blame my
childhood obsession with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Narnia.) What’s interesting is that, although they’re outside the scope of this Guide, we’re starting to see Chinese and Korean equivalents
get official English translations as well, with Yen On‘s Solo Leveling and Seven Seas‘ Airship line’s
upcoming release of a few Chinese novels, to say nothing of WordExcerpt’s translations from both
languages. There’s also been a continual increase in female-oriented light novels being translated, and
they’re not all villainess stories – although as you can see from this article, those are still thriving! But
we’re also getting darker and more creative work, like the upcoming (in January) Sabikui Bisco, which
takes place in a steampunk post-apocalyptic desert world, the recent release of Planet of the Orcs,
which takes isekai to a couple of new(ish) places, and the very bizarre (but fun!) Endo and Kobayashi
Live!. Add in more non-manga companies translating Japanese children’s books like Temple Alley
Summer and Kiki’s Delivery Service and Pushkin Vertigo’s releases of classic Japanese mystery novels,
and it’s really a good time to be reading the books that have and will inspire new seasons of anime and
films. So jump in and look at this partial list of what’s new and upcoming – but don’t forget to look
beyond it, because there’s a lot out there to make novel readers happy.
November
Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
Story by Suzu Enoshima, art by
Eihi. J-Novel Club, $6.99 digital.
Synopsis:
One day, Crown Prince Sieg hears the Voices of the Gods out of the blue. Apparently, his fiancée
Lieselotte is a “tsun de rais” villainess destined to meet her demise…and her sharp tongue is just a way
of covering up her embarrassment. The prince can hardly contain himself after discovering Lieselotte’s
adorable hidden side. Little does he know, the heavenly beings that bestowed this knowledge unto him
are actually high schoolers! Can he use their divine prophecy (let’s play commentary) to save his
betrothed and avoid a Bad End?!
Rating:
I perhaps say this a lot, but it’s always a wonderful treat when a story in a saturated genre does
something a little bit different with its plot. Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess
Lieselotte is a fun riff on the villainess novel theme: its eponymous villainess is not only a misunderstood
tsundere, but she’s not reborn or reincarnated or anything like that – she’s actually IN the game. The
story’s schtick is that two Japanese high schoolers, Aoto Endo and Shihono Kobayashi, are major fans of
the game and the character and wish that poor misunderstood Lieselotte had a chance with the
prince…and one day something weird happens when they’re playing. The game goes more or less on
autoplay and Prince Sieg can hear them from inside the screen. Not that Sieg knows that they’re playing
a game; he thinks they’re gods and that he’s inherited his family’s divine power to hear them. Endo and
Kobayashi are even more weirded out, but like any good fan, they know that this is their moment to bring fanfiction to life, and they are 100% going to seize that. Why write fanfiction when you can just make it canon, right?
What follows is a story that’s by turns sweet and very, very silly. In our world, Endo has been crushing
hard on Kobayashi for quite some time, and the game is a way to spend time with her and maybe move
their relationship forward. In the game, Sieg learns the concept of a tsundere (or “tsun de rais”) and
discovers that it’s absolutely his thing, and once he realizes that Lieselotte is one, he begins to find her
astoundingly adorable. Meanwhile Fiene, the game’s heroine, undergoes some major power ups and
Endo and Kobayashi do their darndest to make sure that she ends up with their second favorite
character, who dies in almost every route except his own. It’s like a smorgasbord of potential happy
endings that all of the characters are trying their best to bring about.
Of course, in order to get at least another volume out of the series, things can’t be too easy, and
Lieselotte isn’t yet fully safe from the bad ends she’s doomed to in most routes of the game. There’s
also the question of why Endo and Kobayashi can communicate with the game in the first place, and
there may be some Inception-like game twists about what we’re currently assuming is the real world.
Strictly speaking, this would have been a very good single-volume work, because by the end things are
feeling a bit stretched out. But it’s still a very good time as it does something just a little bit outside the
norm for a villainess story.
I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top
Story by Syuichi Tsukishima, art by
Mokyu. Yen On, $8.99 digital, $15 paperback.
Synopsis:
On the verge of flunking out of Grand Swordcraft Academy due to his total lack of talent, Allen Rodol’s
life goes from bad to worse when the class prodigy challenges him to a duel where it’s win or face
expulsion. However, the night before his hopeless bout, a mysterious hermit grants Allen a button that
will give him one hundred million years to train in an alternate reality when pressed. Allen not only
gladly accepts the offer but also goes back for seconds, thirds, tenths even! With over a billion years of
straight practice under his belt, the world is about to see what the “Reject Swordsman” can really do!
Rating:
Strictly speaking, the title here is a bit misleading. Yes, protagonist Allen does push something called the
“100 Million Year Button,” and it does help him to vastly improve his lackluster sword skills, but he
doesn’t “keep” pushing it; he presses it a grand total of twice and then the thing breaks. Granted, this is
more than enough to make the point, which is that the button puts him in a time-out-of-time where he
can train for the eponymous number of years while no time at all passes in the real world. Since Allen is
very, very keen on improving his bladework, this is pretty much exactly what he’s hoping for when a
random old man calling himself the god of time hands him the button in the first place. And Allen has a pretty good reason to want to be a better swordsman, too – his single mother scrimped and saved to
get him the tuition money for even an unimpressive sword school, and he desperately wants to make
her investment worth it for her. So, when another student insults her to his face, Allen is furious – and even more invested in kicking the other guy’s butt.
The problems arise when Allen, in the space of less than a chapter, spends two hundred million years
training in the world provided by the button and instantly (in terms of the book) becomes super
amazingly powerful. On the one hand, it’s good that the training is pretty much glossed over, because that
could have been excruciating to read about. But on the other, the stakes are incredibly low, because
Allen is, in the space of a few pages, suddenly the strongest guy around (or at least one of them). While
there are some stakes in the subsequent fights, particularly towards the end of the book, they never feel
all that high. That Allen isn’t entirely comfortable with his newfound celebrity is a good detail, but again,
we know that he can pound his naysayers into the ground with ease, so it just doesn’t feel all that tense.
Mostly this book reads as if it’s trying to throw too many things into one story and doesn’t have the
time or interest in developing any of them. There’s Allen’s fancy magic sword training place, the fact
that his family’s hometown is definitely hiding something about it and the so-called god, the two
swordswomen who are rapidly developing a thing for Allen, the fact that one of them loses a duel with
him and is mandated to become his slave by the academy chairwoman with the suspect morals…it’s a
bit like Light Novel Bingo, complete with Allen walking in on Lia when she’s changing for the hot spring
in the men’s changing room. It isn’t a terrible book, but it definitely isn’t trying to do anything creative or
new with the light novel standards, and that more than anything damns the book with its lack of
ambition.
Planet of the Orcs
Story by Himataro Zukanashi. Seven Seas, $8.99 digital, $14.99 paperback.
Synopsis:
He was fifteen when he first became a hero, blasted to another world by an unknown entity. At the end
of his harsh and hapless journey, the hero defeated the Demon King. Over the next ten years, he was
sent off to different worlds, and every time, he saved them. Now, on his thirteenth world, the enemy is
the orc race whose highly advanced civilization has forced humanity into a desperate struggle for
survival. What’s more, the orcs seem to have banded under a cunning leader. Has our hero finally met
his match?
Rating:
Himataro Zukanashi might be an author who is aware that isekai has gotten very cookie-cutter lately, as Planet of the Orcs’ first volume feels like an attempt to combat that. Not only is our nameless hero on his thirteenth
otherworld, having been the hero of choice since he made an ill-advised wish when he was fifteen, but
he might actually not be the hero this time around. That’s a nagging feeling that grows the further you
get into the book, and if it isn’t subtly done, it’s definitely enough to make the story feel different from
many of its genre brethren. The hero knows that there’s something off about this human versus orcs
situation he’s been summoned into; he just can’t quite put his finger on any one reason why that is. The
fact that the humans consistently underestimate the orcs’ battle tactics is definitely one warning sign –
sure, the humans have (feathered) dragons, but the orcs have guns and cannons, which certainly flies in
the face of their assertions that orcs are just dumb beasts. That no one has bothered to realize that the
orcs have a language is another oddity for the hero, as is the fact that everyone keeps going on and on
about him being specifically a hero sent by God.
That does contribute to this being one of the darker isekai novels out there, although that’s by no means
a bad thing. It’s fairly blood-free despite all of the deaths and battles, but the humans are just so off in
their thinking that it seems like the hero is in for a much tougher time than he’s had previously – and the
idea that maybe he’s not fighting on the “right” side this time. The ending certainly does its best to drive
that idea home in an unsubtle but successful way, and the occasional sections from the orcs’ point of
view further reinforce that. The humans are clearly still in a Crusades-era society, but the orcs have
schools (possibly even universities), advanced tactics and weaponry, and a more symbiotic relationship
with their riding animals. All of this does a good job of making us wonder what the real story is, even as
the hero does his best for the human side of the conflict – a decision that we’re forced to think may end
up backfiring on him. He may know that too, at least subconsciously, because he’s begun having
nightmares about his return from his first isekai experience, letting us know that on some level, he
knows this world isn’t going to end up being a good one, even if (or perhaps especially if) he wins.
There are no illustrations for this novel, but that’s just as well. The imagery is still easily pictured and
fairly vivid, and the story has real potential. It’s a novel take on its genre, if nothing else, and that alone
may make it worth giving the series a chance.
A Tale of the Secret Saint
Story by Touma, art by Chibi. Seven Seas, $9.99 digital, $14.99 paperback.
Synopsis:
Born into a long line of knights, Fia is determined to become a knight herself, just like all her siblings. But
a brush with death awakens memories of her past life as a Saint–a woman who wields rare, powerful
healing and protection magic–along with the ability to use that magic herself! The downside is that Fia
also remembers her past life’s untimely death, and the danger she will be in if anyone finds out what she
really is. She vows to stay on her knighthood path and keep her powers a secret forever! But how can
she resist using her newfound powers when they’re just so useful?
Rating:
If A Tale of the Secret Saint has any one thing going for it, it’s perhaps that, despite being a reincarnation
story, it’s not isekai. Fia, the heroine, is a spectacularly untalented young woman born into a family of
knights, and despite her grit and determination to become a knight like her father, sister, and brothers,
she in no way has the ability to pull it off. But that doesn’t mean that she’s totally hopeless: as she lies
dying in the forest after having attempted to prove herself to her family, Fia suddenly starts flashing
back to a life that’s not her own – or at least, not the one she’s just finished living. Instead she
remembers her days as the greatest saint that the kingdom ever knew, the founding princess of the
magic-wielding women now revered as “saints.” Only…it’s definitely not the life portrayed in the history
books. Rather than marrying a hero and more literally founding the ruling line, in her past life, Fia was
betrayed by her brothers and died horribly at the hands of a particularly sadistic demon. And now that
Fia has her memories back…
…there’s no way in hell she’s doing that shit again. Be a selfless princess who sacrifices everything for a
bunch of ungrateful royals? No thank you. Besides, history has become so warped and current saints so
stuck up and yet also powerless (compared to past Fia) that it just really doesn’t seem worth it. Instead,
Fia’s going to keep her abilities a secret and keep going with her knight plan. After all, now she’s got the
skills to pull it off.
On paper, this sounds like a great story, and parts of it are a lot of fun. But in practice the book is
hamstrung by the fact that Fia is not the sharpest tool in the shed and keeps nearly giving herself away
because she’s too dumb not to. The girl makes Katarina (of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead
to Doom) look like a genius; if she’s not overdoing her spells, she’s sewing bluebird costumes to
“disguise” the dragon she sort of accidentally made her familiar or getting drunk and practically telling
everyone the truth. Her overinflated sense of her own intelligence would be funny if she wasn’t so bad
at pretty much everything. It’s a shame, because Fia’s past life absolutely gives her an excuse not to
want to do things the same this time around, and the way that the mere idea of saints has become
corrupt over the centuries is interesting. She’s also building up a decent reverse harem of hot knights
and princes, so this really isn’t without its potential. It may live up to it yet if Fia can become a bit less of
a burden on her own story in future volumes. But at this point the kindest thing I can say is that it has a
good premise and cute illustrations.
Vampire Hunter D Omnibus
Story by Hideyuki Kikuchi, art by Yoshitaka Amano. Dark Horse, $11.99
digital, $19.99 paperback.
Synopsis:
The aristocratic vampire lords known as the Nobles inherited our world, and with dark science and
immortal patience made real the things that mortals had merely dreamed, whether voyaging to the
distant stars, or conjuring monsters to roam the Earth.
Yet the grand civilization of the Nobles has grown decadent, and as the terrorized remnants of humanity
at last found the strength to rebel, their undying lords have been pushed back to the Frontier—the
violent borderlands where humans still remain the prey of vampires, who for all their knowledge and
power have never lost their obsession with our living flesh, blood…and souls!
In this bizarre and deadly far future the most dangerous thing of all is not a vampire, but the one who
hunts them–the one who is half them–a dhampir, the unearthly beautiful wanderer known as D. The
Vampire Hunter D Omnibus collects the first three novels in author Hideyuki Kikuchi‘s adventure horror
series: Vampire Hunter D, Raiser of Gales, and Demon Deathchase. Illustrated by Final Fantasy artist
Yoshitaka Amano, this book is only the beginning of a legend!
Rating:
This is a very opportune moment to get into the long-running Vampire Hunter D novels, because the
sheer number of them can be very daunting. But with Dark Horse‘s reprint of the first three in this
omnibus, it becomes rather more doable. At 640 pages, the omnibus covers a fair amount of story
ground, much of which can admittedly feel like it’s been devoted to worldbuilding. But I’d
argue that Kikuchi’s world is one that grows more fascinating the more depth you go into. It’s clear from
the start that this is a post-apocalyptic version of our reality, and the way that the author tracks how
things got to this point, as well as the ways in which the original world may not have been just like ours,
grows with each novel. In many ways the setting is just as much a character as D himself, and that’s not
necessarily an easy thing to do.
Of course, it helps that the book is practically dripping with atmosphere. Even if we discount Yoshitaka
Amano’s illustrations (which we really shouldn’t; they’re like beautiful little nightmares), the story’s
descriptions are florid and detailed, giving us a clear image of where the books take place. There is
something very pulpy about the whole thing, thanks to both Kikuchi’s writing style and the impressively
melodramatic word choices of the translation (“ineffable eldritch aura” from the second book is my
favorite phrase in here), but that largely serves the story. D’s journey is one we recognize from any
number of old pulp fiction genres, with westerns and hard-boiled mysteries feeling like two of the most
prevalent. These are blended with the sensibility of old monster movies to create a unique world and
story, where “steel horse” isn’t a euphemism for motorcycle and demonic beings may be lurking in the
ruined castles that dot the ruined Frontier landscape.
Naturally this means that the series won’t work for everyone. It can feel melodramatic and most of the
heroines feel like they, too, stepped out of the pages of a very outdated old pulp magazine. (Leila
perhaps a bit less than Lina or Doris). Left Hand, the character who, as a friend commented, is the
original “talk to the hand” character, can be a little annoying, or just plain weird at times. But this series
is a classic for a reason, and if you haven’t had the chance to pick it up before, now’s a very good time.
December
Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers
Story by Isle Osaki, art by Tam-U.
J-Novel Club, $6.99 digital.
Synopsis:
Makoto Takatsuki is a normal high school student and a hardcore RPG player. However,
“normal” goes out the window when his whole class is involved in a bus crash and whisked
away to another world! Powerful gods rule this strange new land of magic and monsters, and
every newcomer is blessed with strong stats and unique skills. Well, not quite. Makoto’s stats
turn out to be pathetic, and his skills are super weak compared to his classmates’…he’s even
stuck as an apprentice mage. Worse still, he’s given only ten years to live!
Luckily, Makoto soon meets a minor goddess named Noah, who appears in Makoto’s dreams
and asks him to become her first believer. With the help of Noah’s blessings and a divine
weapon, Makoto seeks to become strong enough to rescue his goddess from the dungeon where
she’s been trapped. By training hard and using his weak skills in unorthodox ways, Makoto
proves that, even when playing on hardcore difficulty, an RPG player always makes it to the end!
Rating:
It almost feels mean to rate this title so low, because it doesn’t necessarily do anything wrong. On the
other hand, it also doesn’t do anything that goes much beyond the genre standards, and when author
Isle Osaki comments in their afterword that after reading many similar web novels they decided to try
their hand at writing one, it makes perfect sense. This novel has the feel of the first try of an author who
may very well move beyond the point where they currently are, but is currently still too hesitant to
really try branching away from genre norms. The result is a perfectly serviceable isekai light novel
wherein a high school boy and some of his classmates are whisked away to a fantasy world where
everyone has game-like stats and he has to figure out how to survive.
Makoto at first appears to have a few handicaps. Like other similar protagonists, his stats are laughably
low, especially when compared to other summoned classmates, who have “ultra” level skills or titles like
“hero of light.” Makoto’s biggest boon appears to be a skill called “RPG Player,” which, apart from being
way too on the nose, allows him dialogue options (“Add Emily to Party Y/N?”) and the ability to view his
surroundings as if playing a top-down RPG. Naturally all of his apparently low stats and skills are better
than they at first appear, and before too long, Makoto has earned himself a decent reputation and a few
party members, or rather, a party member and some adventurer friends. In part some of this is due to
his gamer skills, but he’s also managed to land the status of being the sole worshipper, or acolyte, of a
goddess named Noah…who has the reputation of being an “evil god” based on actions relegated to
mythology.
Noah is the most interesting element of this story. Makoto doesn’t have much choice when she offers
him her blessing, but as the book goes on and he learns more about the lore of his new world, he begins
to wonder if maybe he hasn’t thrown in his lot with someone he shouldn’t have. He’s bound to obey
Noah’s orders, and right now she’s physically trapped in a particularly hard dungeon…which she wants
him to free her from. She’s almost certainly not evil and even if she is, Makoto’s friend Fujiyan is quite
powerful himself (and, in a nice bonus, absolutely thrilled to remain besties with Makoto), so he’s
probably not going to die horribly because of her. If nothing else, Noah feels like the best indicator that
Osaki is going to mature into a better author than this volume otherwise suggests, and in the meantime, if you just want some good old-fashioned boilerplate isekai, this isn’t terrible – it just isn’t all that good, either.
Goodbye Otherworld, See You Tomorrow
Story by Kazamidori, art by Nimoshi. J-Novel Club, $6.99
digital.
Synopsis:
The world he woke up in is long dead, dusted in ashen powder, and yet Keisuke still sees
splashes of color as he travels through it. For the longest time, he’s wandered alone across the
deserted landscape, clinging to the hope that something—or someone—might be out there in the
emptiness. When he finally stumbles across that someone, even more threads of color start to
seep into the ashen world around them.
This time, when Keisuke sets off down the road, someone sits beside him in the passenger seat.
The first acquaintance he’s ever made here, his first companion in this barren world. They’re
both traveling in search of something, and after searching alone for so long, maybe they’ll have
better luck working together?
Their only lead is a witch who can answer any question—for a price. What will the two ask her,
and what will she be able to tell them? More importantly, what will it cost them, and will they be
willing to pay the price?
Rating:
It has been twenty-four hours since I finished reading this book, and I can’t quite stop thinking about it.
Goodbye Otherworld, I’ll See You Tomorrow, on the surface, shouldn’t be that sort of novel. It’s yet
another isekai title, it features a lone, vaguely unhappy hero traveling with a mildly enigmatic and prickly
heroine, and elements of it, particularly the food descriptions, are overwritten. But the positives
overwhelm the negatives upon reflection, and the premise is unique enough in its way that this
becomes a lovely blend of the expected and the unexpected with a dollop of melancholy for good
measure.
The story follows Keisuke, a high school boy who, while on his way to go camping, suddenly found
himself summoned to another world. The problem? The world is dying, having recently gone through an
apocalyptic event, and there’s no one to tell Keisuke why he’s there, much less to help him go back. A
mysterious man in black helps him in events we never see in the text, and when we join Keisuke, he’s
been driving around the ruined world in a steam-powered car he calls The Kettle, surviving as best he
can and thinking about not surviving any more. (This book does come with content warnings for suicide
ideation.) When he meets a younger girl at an abandoned train station, things start to change for him.
Nito, a half-elf, is also traveling, looking for the places her mother painted in her sketchbook, and the
two join forces to navigate their new existence. Along the way they meet other survivors – a mechanic, an older couple, a witch – and each of them helps Keisuke and Nito to make sense of where they are and
how they’re living. It’s a bit like Kino’s Journey with the sensibility of Sunday Without God.
The world-building is also an integral part of the story, albeit in a mildly unexpected way. Nito being a
half-elf and the use of mana stones to power the steam engines suggests a fantasy world, but the
technology, which with the exception of computers and cellphones is very like our own, suggests science
fiction. As Keisuke speaks with more older people, it begins to sound like this was once a
fantasy world where dozens of people like Keisuke were routinely summoned to help clear labyrinths.
But one of those Otherworlders introduced the concept of burning mana stones for electrical power,
and the world slowly changed from magic-based to science-based – and that may have been the reason
for the apocalyptic mana saturation event that ended everything. It’s interesting to think about and
suggests a darker side to the isekai genre than we often see, or at least darker in a different way.
This is a novel that sticks with you. It’s slow-paced and doesn’t seem like much at first, but when you’re
finished reading and sit back to think about it, there’s plenty to sort through and consider.
Magical Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim
Story by Iris, art by Noboru
Kannatuki. Yen On, $12.99 paperback.
Synopsis:
Reincarnated as a character in the legendary erotic game, “Magical Explorer,” it doesn’t take long for
our hero to discover that he’s been designated the unlucky side-character rather than the game’s lady-
killer protagonist. Not to worry, though! Armed with his vast knowledge of the game (and a few cheats)
he’ll do whatever it takes to win the hearts of the game’s heroines and emerge as the most
accomplished student at the Sorcerer’s Academy!
Rating:
If there’s one thing that you can say about Magical Explorer, it’s that it’s fully aware of what it’s doing.
Opening with a dissection of all of the logic-defying norms of your basic eroge, the novel is invested in
making sure that we know that author Iris is fully aware of how ludicrous plot developments will be.
That lets us in on the joke while still paying homage to the game genre that the protagonist finds himself
living in, and there’s definitely something appealing about that. And let’s face it, none of us play that
kind of game for a realistic life simulation – it’s all about the fantasy of the story, whether it’s about
building up your harem or picking just the right romantic interest.
That’s something that Kousuke, the protagonist of the novel, is fully aware of, and he’s simultaneously
tickled and a little peeved to find himself suddenly in the world of one of his favorite eroge. He’s happy
for the obvious reasons, but that’s dampened somewhat by the fact that he’s not the hero – he’s the hero’s goofy best friend. You know the type: the one who exists as a foil to the hero to make sure that
all of the capturable characters fall for him by showing how not like the best friend he is. Kousuke,
however, isn’t just going to sit back and let this happen; he quickly realizes that just because he’s in the
game doesn’t mean that it has to function exactly like the game, because now it’s a fully-formed reality.
This naturally means that in this novel, which the author notes is basically a prologue to the main story,
he begins to replace the hero with the girls, although the plot of the game hasn’t started yet. To his
credit, Kousuke does worry that he may be really screwing things up by doing this, but he’s also not
willing to just roll over and be the dorky sidekick, and it’s kind of hard to blame him for that.
Because this is essentially a parody of eroge, the female characters aren’t particularly well-developed,
which is a shame, but then again, we know from page one where this book is heading. The fight scenes
and magic explanations can be a bit on the overdone side, making them drag more than they ought to,
but the illustrations – by the same artist who illustrates the Goblin Slayer novels – are very attractive,
and if at times it looks really uncomfortable to be female in the story’s world, well, once again: from the
very first sentence, we know what we’re getting into, and luckily, it does it decently well.
Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter
Story by Riku Nanano, art by cura. J-Novel Club, $6.99 digital.
Synopsis:
After failing the final exam for his dream job at the royal court, promising young sorcerer Allen wants
nothing more than to retreat to a simple life in the countryside. Unfortunately for him, he can’t even
afford the train fare! His only solution is to get a job, but his one lead is anything but modest—Duke
Howard, one of the kingdom’s most powerful nobles, needs a private tutor for his daughter Tina.
Despite her academic brilliance, Tina is incapable of casting even a single spell. To make matters worse,
entrance exams for the prestigious Royal Academy are fast approaching, and magical aptitude is
mandatory! Can Allen use his unique brand of spellcasting to help Tina overcome her magical
impairment, a mystery that not even the kingdom’s finest sorcerers have been able to solve? And does
her father, the duke, even want him to?
Rating:
This is a perfectly serviceable book that, fifteen minutes after reading it, I found myself at a loss to
discuss or even summarize. That isn’t intended to be a damning statement; after all, plenty of people
would tell you that light novels are meant to be light and easy entertainment, examples of books that
aren’t notwithstanding. But this one almost certainly is intended to just be comfortable fantasy fluff, and
in that I would say it succeeds. The story follows a young sorcerer, Allen (apparently the name for
male protagonists this season in translated light novels), who has just failed his application to become a
royal sorcerer. Since he’s now at loose ends, his not-at-all-suspicious professor sends him to the far
north to be the tutor to Tina, the younger daughter of a powerful duke. Tina wants desperately to
attend the royal sorcerers’ academy, but her father is, for some reason, just as desperately opposed to it – despite the fact that her older sister is already there. Allen, not being an idiot, immediately senses that
something is up.
This volume doesn’t give an answer as to why that is, but by the end Allen has a pretty good
grasp of the situation. Tina, who has oodles of power but no real ability to use it to cast spells, may in
fact be a throwback to the sorcerers of old, who could cast spells far beyond the reach of modern
wizards. Since this would make her a potential threat to others – namely those in power – her father
would rather keep her safely at home in the frigid north. But Tina’s still a young teen or tween too naive to understand the implications of her abilities, and Allen, possibly sympathetic to her cause but
possibly with ulterior motives himself, is inclined to come down on her side. The question of who Allen
really is and why he failed the exam becomes increasingly pressing as he figures out more about Tina,
especially since he’s already involved with a very powerful fire mage named Lydia.
Unfortunately, none of this is quite as urgent as I’m making it sound, and the plot is interlarded with
plenty of near-loli scenes of Tina and/or her maid Effie (who’s the same age) crushing on Allen and
trying to get him to do anime-approved things like pat them on the head. (It’s such a condescending
gesture. Why do anime girls love it so much?) It’s a book with a decent plot languishing in a sea of cutesy
tropes to the point where, while it’s not bad, it’s not all that good either. If you just need something to
read without thinking too much, this would fit the bill.
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