By Crane and Hachi Uehara. Released in Japan as “Yandere Mahoutsukai wa Sekizou no Otome shika Aisenai – Majo wa Manadeshi no Atsui Kuchizuke de Tokeru” by Mitsu Neko Bunko. Released in North America by Steamship. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Kathleen Townsend.

I had to remind myself a lot while reading this that I am not the intended audience for this sort of book. Not only is this an erotic light novel written for women (which is why it’s in the Steamship line rather than Airship), but it’s for women who see the word “Yandere” in the Japanese title and go “oh hell yes!”. In that sense, they absolutely get what they want, as Alistair starts the book off as a 12-year-old bratty yandere with tremendous magic power and a lust for his mage mentor, and ends the book as a 32-year-old yandere who really has not changed a bit. There is a brief scene where we see that he apparently really did do good things in the 20 years in between because he believes in those values, and not just to get into Lara’s pants. Which is good, as that’s really the only scene. I won’t get into what he does to the statue in the interim.

Lara is a low-level mage with not a lot of power but a lot of precision and one really neat trick. She’s told to mentor Alistair, a young boy whose magical power is off the charts and who was abused so much as a child that he not only murdered his parents but also the entire mountainside they were on was destroyed. Fortunately, Lara is a big sweetie pie. Actually, to be honest, Lara is a bit of a saint. And a doormat. Nevertheless, for four years, she trains Alistair and thinks of him as a little brother, ignoring that he’s hopelessly in love with her. Unfortunately, they run across a dragon, and he’s badly injured. Telling him to live on, she draws the dragon away and seemingly sacrifices herself… but in fact her one cool trick is that she can turn herself to unbreakable stone to protect herself. Twenty years pass, and now her stone body comes back to life… but what’s with this hottie?!?

So yeah, if, after reading that description, you went “ergh” a bit, I don’t blame you. This relies on “reverse age gap” romance as its main thing, and if that squicks you, don’t read it. As for the sex, unlike the other Steamship light novel, this does prioritize the plot – somewhat. That said, when the sex comes, there’s quite a bit of it, and most of it kind of consensual, in a romance novel sort of way. I will admit that hearing that men found “nothing sexier than a woman with big tits and a baby face” makes me wonder if this book was trying to draw in male readers as well – Lara is certainly a male fantasy sort, being super nice and caring, has super low self-esteem, and of course is very easily aroused. The main “plot” takes a back seat to their romance, which dominates the book, as you’d expect, though I was amused by her mentor and his wife, who Alistair is insanely jealous of, because see: yandere. Honestly, given how they both treat her, he’s right to be jealous.

In any case, if you’re looking for a romance with sex in it, make sure you fit the narrow demographic this book is in. If you’re in that demographic, it’s fine.