Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Great-Tree Warden’s Testament

September 4, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

I am prepared to eat a bit of crow here. Last time I mentioned how all the characters were getting something to do and character development except maybe Ellie. Well, character development is still thin on the ground (she’s meant to be the pure, naive one, and I think at times the author overdoes it) but certainly in terms of plot function and battle readiness she’s advanced by leaps and bounds. Her magic is strong enough to be able to take on giant monsters to protect Allen and Stella, and we also find out that she’s a Great-Tree Warden, something that was thought to have died out. Oh, and she gets to link mana with Allen. So yes, this is absolutely the book for Ell.ie fans. That said, this harem is large, and you know that no one can stay in the spotlight for too long, so by the end of the book she makes way for Book 14, which promises to be all Stella. Who, um, may be evil now.

We’re now back from the City of Water, after leaving everything to Niche Nitti (which, for some reason, makes Felecia intensely jealous), our cast return home so they can set up for the next part of the plot. Some of that is put off till future books – the Church is still lurking in the background, and every single bad guy who hasn’t died seems to have converged on the same country that’s right next to our heroes. But some of it needs to be dealt with now. There’s an oracular prophecy that may help to fix Stella’s magic issues, but it requires Allen, Stella and Ellie to go visit an underground archive that happens to be controlled by the very people who despise Allen. Now, this would not be an issue if Allen had a title – but he keeps rejecting, deflecting, and avoiding them. So we just have to make it so he can’t refuse…

Allen’s position makes a lot more sense after this book – there are some people who are doing their damndest to try to not only make sure he’s a failure but also, if the ending is accurate, .literally kill him. It’s all related to the Beastmen, because surprise, there’s prejudice. As for the harem, for once we actually get a long look at the Princess, Cheryl Wainwright. The author apologizes for his being unable to shoehorn her into past volumes, but it makes sense – she’s in line for the throne, and unlike Lydia can’t run away at the spur of the moment just cause. She was fun, and at times seems to possess the common sense the rest of Allen’s harem lacked. But I’m sorry, even with that title, she’s lagging behind the rest of the harem.

I’m not sure when we’ll get the next volume – it’s unscheduled in English at the moment – but it’s likely to finally resolve Stella’s issues. Whether she actually does turn villainous is up in the air… well, not really. This isn’t that kind of series. But she may turn for a while. Till then: good job, Ellie. Sorry I doubted you. Headpat from Allen!

Filed Under: private tutor to the duke's daughter, reviews

The Crown of Rutile Quartz, Vol. 2

September 3, 2024 by Leave a Comment

y Surume Enoki and ttl. Released in Japan as “Rutile Quartz no Taikan: Ō no Tanjō” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alice Camp.

Siiiiiiigh. Great, another attempt to review a book which is “okay, I guess”. Again, it would be so easy to paste the review of the first volume here. It’s a decent read, it held my attention, the battles are well-done, and I like Slaine as a character. But it’s again using a fantasy world as an excuse to get people to read a generic military history book, and Monica, Slaine’s lover and later in this book wife, is painfully undercharacterized. The book is happy to have her there to cheer Slaine up and pat his head, as well as glare at anyone who does anything vaguely insulting to him. And that’s really about it. She reads like a prize, which, honestly, I thought authors knew better than that now. On the bright side, the court mage is shown to have another woman as her partner, and even if gay marriage isn’t legal in their country, they call each other wife and wife. Maybe Slaine should do something about that in between fighting to save the kingdom.

Slaine and Monica are now lovers, which you’d think would be an issue given her low noble status, but as it turns out the kingdom’s nobles are balanced so precariously following Slaine taking the throne that everyone’s actually okay with Monica being the Queen provided her family doesn’t get extra perks – well, at least publicly acknowledged extra perks. Meanwhile, Slaine’s reign is still regarded as “laughable” by far too many people, and so he suffers an assassination attempt, then an invasion by a noble who regards him as beneath contempt because he was a commoner… and finally by the Third Prince of the Empire, Florenz, who was behind the noble’s attack in the first place and who seems to think that invading will be easy from their impregnable fortress. Can Slaine perhaps make that fortress less impregnable?

The men in this book fare a bit better than the women, though honestly only three characters really stand out, and one of them is Slaine himself. We get two varieties of “evil ruler” here. Julius is the sort who’s actually good to his men, and goes out to fight with them, etc. The ‘noble bigot’ sort. The bigot coming because he is deeply,. deeply classist to the point where he’ll gladly go to war over it. This goes badly, mostly as Slaine has very well trained troops who know how to perform obvious sucker moves without making them LOOK like obvious sucker moves. Then we get the third prince of the Empire, who is the ‘entitled dickhead’ sort of villain, who assumes that anything he does can be taken care of after the fact provided he wins… and then when he loses literally goes mad. I did like Slaine’s idea for how to take the impregnable fortress, which felt very much like him, as opposed to “tactics that we’re supposed to handwave the enemy couldn’t think of”. More cleverness, less pushing soldiers around on a map, please.

This comes out slowly, so I’m not sure when the next volume will be. And it’s a DRECOM title, so who knows if the third is the last. The webnovel suggests 7 books in total. I’ll read the next one, though. Even though I’ll go “that was all right, I guess” at the end.

Filed Under: crown of rutile quartz, reviews

High School DxD: Mages of Career Counseling

September 2, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

I’ve said before that this is a series where you come for the boobs and stay for the worldbuilding, but if I’m being honest this is a series where you come for the boobs, stay for the boobs, and there is also worldbuilding. This series is never going to shy away from what its readership wants. Sona Sitri plays a major role in this volume, and you’d expect a color page showing her, say, directing the combat against the mages as she does towards the end. Instead, we see a shot of her cooking in an apron and panties, whipping up cake batter in a way that leaves her covered in white goo. Needless to say, this scene does not exist anywhere in the book. I think the artist thought that this book had too much actual fighting and a lot less service, which is… wrong given that we see seven naked or near naked girls in Issei’s bed during this, but also correct. This is a more serious volume.

Issei is back from the dead, though most of the girls around him are still traumatized by his death, to the point where EVERYONE is sleeping in his bed at night. Meaning he has to sleep in a chair. Yeah, sorry, still no sex here. In the mean time, stuff continues to happen even though Issei is recovering and Draig is still inactive. He has to train to get better, as to the rest of Rias’ peerage. They’re all being buried in offers to work with mages, and they have to filter down to the actual good offers, which includes a former enemy, Le Fey Pendragon. And there’s a war between vampire clans, and one of them shows up and tries to bully and blackmail Gaspar into joining them or else his childhood friend will fall into darkness. Needless to say, that really does not go over well, and Rias and Kiba head off to negotiate with the vampire clans in Europe. Which means they’re not there when rogue mages kidnap Ravel, Koneko and Gaspar…

Generally speaking fantasy light novels tend to start off with mages in Book 1, then work their way through vampires, and finally end up with angels, demons, and wars in heaven. High School DxD is not afraid to do things ass-backward, of course. Nor is it afraid of asses, though Issei prefers boobs. Seriously, though, this is a clear transitional volume, setting up the table for the plot that will likely carry through the rest of the series (which ends at Book 25, though yes, there’s a “sequel” that just continues it). We get to see some characters show off their talents. sometimes comedically (poor Asia, though at least Issei promises to be with her forever), and sometimes seriously (Ravel, who makes it as clear to Issei that she is in love with him without saying the words, and he reacts… like Issei would, of course. “Please be my manager forever” will have to do for now). And there’s a really cool final battle, and some cool new bad guys, who are very bad, and also related to the cast – literally in one case.

So yeah, we’re back and ready to go!… what? More short stories next time? Oh, *half* a short story volume. I have no idea what that means. Anyway, next time I hear Irina gets something to do. Looking forward to that.

Filed Under: high school dxd, reviews
« Previous Page
Next Page »