Rising from Ashes: My Dear Emperor, You’re Putty in My Hands!, Vol. 2

May 3, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Makino Maebaru and Yoko Matsurika. Released in Japan as “Torotoro ni Shite Sashiagemasu, Kōtei Heika. Moto Konyakusha ni Ie o Yakareta Tsuihō Miko wa, Ringoku Kōtei ni Chōai Sarete Sainō o Hanahirakaseru” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Zihan Gao.

As with the first volume, this is a series that I find interesting for its darker elements more than the romance at its core (though I will admit to a fondness for Sai’s dorky maid, who at one point vows to defend her mistress by hitting a man with a broom over and over… and then we fond out he’s the king of a foreign nation. Luckily, he’s amused). Lilly, the Saint who has been busy destroying Sai’s home country since the start of the first book, is barely in this. When we do finally see her, at the very end, Sai is there to sacrifice her own life to send Lilly back to Japan… which is a shame, as Lilly would rather die than go back there. In fact, that’s her goal. She’s riveting, and I wish her fate was a bit less vague.

Everything’s been going well for Sai lately. The Wagtail Priestess is hideously popular… indeed, perhaps a bit TOO popular, as a visit to an island that’s also a penal colony proves. Indeed, she’s so popular that she’s getting a lot of marriage proposals… mostly as her daughter will, of course, have the same powers. But there’s a slight hiccup – Sai’s in love with the Emperor, and the Empress can’t be the Wagtail priestess because *she* has to give birth to the next God. And that’s not even getting into Sai’s terminally low self-image. With all this going on, honestly, a request from her old country, which is now being completely destroyed, to get rid of the Saint might be a welcome distraction.

A bit of a spoiler here, but it’s also my biggest issue with this series: given that so much of Sai’s personality and backstory revolves around her beloved parents dying in war and her abusive, Cinderella before the ball childhood, the revelation that her parents *are* still alive… and in fact that she has a sister… really reads like a rabbit out of the hat too many. Then again, it might have been the only way to possibly get the writer out of the hole they’d written themselves into. When you have various things that can only be done by sacrificing life, magic, or life AND magic, sometimes it helps to have a spare daughter who can take up the slack. The book ends rather abruptly in general, to be honest. The fate of Centoria, with a queen who was presented as being very sympathetic, is basically “eventually the country fell” with no other explanation. And Haruka and Sai’s wedding is confined to an “extra story”, not even wrapping up the main series. Ah well.

As with the first volume, this wasn’t terrible or anything, but it’s definitely in third place (of three) in terms of series by this author which have come out over here.

Filed Under: reviews, rising from ashes

Making Jam in the Woods: My Relaxing Life Starts in Another World, Vol. 3

May 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Kosuzu Kobato and Yuichi Murakami. Released in Japan as “Mori no Hotori de Jam wo Niru: Isekai de Hajimeru Slow Life” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jade Willis.

The author says in the afterword that the webnovel version of this series ended with the second book, and that this third volume was an “after story” written for the published books. That might be a bit of a surprise given that this book ends with Margaret and Mark’s wedding, which you would have expected to end the series proper, and also that it manages to (mostly) resolve the other open-ended romance in the series. But it also does explain some things, like the total lack of conflict in this volume. If this is a final volume, there’s no real resolution of the “Spirit Caller” plotline. Sure, Margaret does meet with the Spirit herself, and we learn a little bit about her that may have odd implications, but in the end if that scene wasn’t in this book nothing would change. This volume is pleasant little scenes that chug along until we get to the end. And honestly, that’s fine.

Margaret and Mark are together, and she’s living a happy life with Adelaide and Daniel, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more things to do. First of all, there’s jam making, as Rachel (who is very carriage sick, as Walter is too busy and couldn’t come) returns so they can hang out and talk about romance together. Then Margaret finally goes to the capital,,, not to meet the royal family, but so that she can sign off on the illustrations for her children’s book, which have an incognito artist. After this, Walter, who has been doing nothing but work for the past x months, finally collapses, and is forced to both take time off and have to face up to the fact that Rachel is in love with him… and also getting proposals from other men. And Margaret also finds that her total lack of mana makes her ideal in dealing with the children at the magic academy, all of whom suffer from too much of it.

I will admit by the end of the volume I was wondering if this series started off as one of those recipes you see online, the kind that can’t give you directions without a long story first. The jam making is detailed for pages on end, and I’d be interested in seeing if anyone tries it out using this volume. I will admit I was briefly worried when Rachel met the Spirit and got her voice back, but it turned out that this was something that could only happen when she was in Spirit Land, so when she returns she is still mute and her leg is still not quite healed. I appreciated this, as it underlines the actual plot revelation from Book 2: Margaret’s summoning was entirely by accident. In the last scene in this book, Margaret wonders to Mark if her life will continue to be troublesome due to her calling. I’m not sure, I suspect as her life goes on the crisis moments will continue to be small in number, and the jam making, trying on dresses, and being good with kids will take up far more.

In the end, this series is just NICE. I’m glad I read it.

Filed Under: making jam in the woods, reviews

Once Upon a Witch’s Death: The Tale of the One Thousand Tears of Joy

April 30, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Saka and Chorefuji. Released in Japan as “Aru Majo ga Shinu Made: Owari no Kotoba to Hajimari no Namida” by DENGEKI no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Richard Tobin.

I rarely begin a review by noting whether the series is continuing in Japan or not, but it actually makes a difference in how we’re supposed to take this story in this case. Yen is releasing this as a one-shot, and Dengeki seems to have had no desire to release any more since this came out in Japan in December 2021. But if this is the only volume, then the plot sort of becomes irrelevant. It’s not a story of how a girl tries to gain powerful “tears” in order to avoid her impending death, because that plot, spoiling a bit, is not remotely resolved. Instead, it becomes a sort of slice-of-life book starring a very fun main character. And that’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it makes the ending seem like this was more of a parable than a novel, with a final revelation that kind of made me go “ergh”. Which is a shame, because Meg really *is* a great main character.

Meg Raspberry is an apprentice witch. When she was a young girl, her parents passed away, but she was taken in by a witch who saw her potential power. That witch was also the Eternal Witch, Faust, so Meg actually ends up in a pretty cushy position. Unfortunately, when the novel opens, we hear Faust tell Meg that she is cursed, and has a year to live. Unless she collects “one thousand tears of joy”, she will age 100 years within a day and pass away. Unfortunately, getting these tears is very difficult, and getting one thousand is next to impossible. Given that… why not just have Meg go about her normal life in Lapis, an English village? While trying to pick up these tears along the way, by helping people and having them cry with happiness?

Meg is, frankly, a hoot. The Japanese reviews of this book all say she “talks like a middle-aged man”, and there is a bit of that. She’s excessively tomboyish and casual, and is not above pretending to perv on her friends as a joke. She’s also a bundle of positivity (which she calls her one good trait), can get along with absolutely everyone, and has a knack for making people feel better. She’s also really good at magic, though she seems to think she’s still an amateur, mostly as she’s surrounded by the most powerful witches in the world. I really wanted to see how she would either succeed (if this is a heartwarming series) or fail (if this was a tearjerker). Unfortunately, the book ends a good 9 months before the deadline, with Faust hinting that what Meg was told may not be the entire truth after all, and that this might be for a totally different reason. Which… didn’t sit well with me.

So yes, if this ever gets more books (the webnovel apparently continued to a conclusion), I’ll happily read more. As it is, though, for once we really do have a book that is lessened by being part of a “cancelled” series.

Filed Under: once upon a witch's death, reviews
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