The Countess Is a Coward No More! This Reincarnated Witch Just Wants a Break, Vol. 1

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By Ageha Sakura and TCB. Released in Japan as “Tensei Saki ga Kiyowa Sugiru Hakushaku Fujin datta” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

I hadn’t realized till I’d finished this book that the author also wrote a book I read less than two months ago, also a J-Novel Heart title, Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain. That one came before this one, I think, which may explain one reason why this book does not bother with any of the heroine’s coward period. We open on page 1 with her getting her memories from a past life back, and after a short “everyone was abusing her since the day she was born” explanation, our heroine never looks back, taking control of her life and making sweeping changes. And honestly, I will admit that that’s probably for the best, though I have one caveat I’ll get to later. Lam, the countess, was a magical legend 500 years ago, and now she’s in the future where magic is much less impressive and much more oppressed. Shades of Reborn to Master the Blade, but Lam is quite happy to continue using magic, as long as she can retrain her weak body. You’ve read this sort of thing before.

Lam was born into a commoner-turned-baron’s household, and when she was found to have residual mana in her she was abused and belittled by her entire family. When she came of age she was sold to an earl, who doesn’t care about her, and is beaten and abused by her servants. Then one day, after getting hit one too many times, she remembers she used to be the legendary with Aurora, who was powerful, saved many people, and had equally powerful apprentices. Sadly, she can’t remember how she died, but that’s not important right now. What is important is beating the shit out of every servant, firing their asses, and getting a divorce from her husband. She’s successful in all but the last of these – now that she’s no longer a nervous wreck who can’t respond to anyone, he finds her super attractive. Even more so when he sees the magic she can now wield…

So, two issues with this book, one of which is not the author’s fault. The petty issue is it makes me think of the Kenny Rogers song Coward of the County, which I hate. The less petty issue is there’s a lot of “if only she’s been stronger and stood up to her bullies she might have been able to fix things”, which always irritates me, mostly as it’s still a prevailing attitude to this day. Other than that, this is fun enough. Lam is the sort who likes to pretend that she’s got it all together even when she doesn’t, and is at her most interesting when she’s struggling with stamina/romance, or when she’s forging new family bonds. Char, the earl and her husband, seems to be the classic “stoic uncaring guy whose heart is opened by a woman”, only it turns out he’s also a massive Aurora otaku, which is the funniest part of the book. Also, unlike a lot of books like this, this was written knowing there would be more than one volume, so there’s a cliffhanger.

Also, Lam’s sisters are named Lem and Lim. Presumably Lom and Lum were busy doing the Pink Panther movies and Urusei Yatsura. For fans of the disgraced noble genre, even though the disgrace all happens before the novel starts.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 12

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I’ve talked before about how my desire to see the main six cast members live happily ever after is warring with the narrative, which keeps underlining how Oliver and Katie are doomed. With this episode, I get the feeling that we’re going to be adding everyone else to that list as well, and make this an All Or Nothing type of series. The two characters who have gotten the least focus get attention here, and while Pete is mostly setup for future volumes (with one huge exception which I’ll get to later), Guy’s arc is looking to be a lot more dangerous and potentially fatal. Generally speaking I’ve always thought of Guy and Chela as “the sensible ones”, and this book is here to throw that out the window and remind me that absolutely everyone in that group is weird as hell. Of course he survives – none of them will die till at least Oliver explains what he’s doing. But yikes, I don’t wish what he has to go through on anyone else… wait, absolutely the wrong way to put that.

Despite the fact that Guy and Pete get much more focus here, the publisher still knows who its big sellers are, so Oliver and Nanao are on the cover again, along with new teacher Rod Farquois, who will be taking over astronomy, is a reversi just like Pete, and absolutely no one knows what they’re up to – it’s very clear they’re not here at the school’s request. As for the main plot, half of it … again, we’re coming to it… but the last half of the book is a rescue arc, as Guy, Ursule Valois’ twin attendants, and forgotten first book teen bully Annie Mackley are trapped on the second floor of the labyrinth, which is dealing with someone consumed by the spell, and he’s turned the floor into his own cursed treehouse of horrors. Everyone will be going there to rescue Guy/the twins (sorry, Annie, no one really likes you), but can they do it before Guy makes an irreversible decision?

I hate to be a broken record, but my god this series is horny. It’s baked into the plot, as it’s hinted that one of the main reasons that our heroes are suffering so much right now is that they’re not banging each other on the regular. Pete, at least, takes care of that in one of the more startling scenes in the book, where he confronts Oliver in his female body and takes him to bed. Oliver, of course, is doing similar things with Nanao, and Chela helped him earlier. Katie loves Oliver, but knows he’s rejecting her, so is snuggling Guy every chance she gets. Guy likes Katie, so is helping her with this. Third-year Rita likes Guy too, and is angry at Katie. And we also meet Leoncio’s sister, a third year who is absolutely his distaff counterpart, and who seems to be constantly aroused. I don’t think that all Oliver’s problems would be solved with an orgy… unless?

This is another book that ends WHAM, no epilogue at all, so I’m not sure what happens next. The cover to Vol. 13 sure looks like a “Breaking of the fellowship” situation, though, huh? In any case, please read about these powerful and pent-up idiots.

Agents of the Four Seasons, Vol. 4

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By Kana Akatsuki and Suoh. Released in Japan as “Shunka Shūtō Daikōsha” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sergio Avila.

Last time I mentioned that everyone in this book is an abuse survivor, and in this book it becomes even more clear that our heroes are all either children or traumatized when they were children, and the bad guys are adults who are seeking to manipulate them for their own ends. It even spells this out literally, with the leader of Doyen Turtle says how good it is that the Agents are young and easily manipulable. The kid we briefly saw in the last book is no exception, and the biggest plot twists revolve around making him have a complete nervous breakdown because of his powers and things he had no control over. Thankfully, the Agents and their Guards are all much better at this than the last arc,. and things actually go swimmingly… OK, partly as even the “good” adult characters are also manipulating everything behind the scenes. A lot of the main characters end up in romantic relationships, and there’s a reason for that – when you can only trust one or two people, you stick with them.

Picking up where we left off, the Agents of Summer are up on the mountain, and have met up with the Archer of Twilight. The other Agents and Guards are on their way there, but are being blocked by the usual insurgents and traitors, because we still have a battle between two organizations, one of whom wants (theoretically) to protect the agents and one who wants to “replace” them all. And then there’s Ruri and Ayame’s fiances, who are also on their way to the mountain… and it turns out Ruri’s fiancee is actually head of the “protect” organization. They both really love their fiancees, something they hope they can convey after all hell breaks loose. Oh yes, speaking of fiancees, Sakura gets a marriage proposal from Hinagiku’s brother, which would keep Hinagiku safe but make Sakura’s life a nightmare. She is, of course, considering it, because EVERYONE in this series hates themselves.

A lot of the back half of this is an action movie, so forgive me if I talk about the couples a bit more. We learn a lot more about Raicho here, who seems to be someone you would not want to trust. He’s never had a girlfriend longer than three months, and regards love as something he doesn’t want to bother with… till he meets Ruri. Ruri is his OTP, even if they get off on the wrong foot, and it brings out… not the best in him. There really aren’t any sweetness and light relationships in this series. But it does arouse his protective instincts. As for Eken, the cause of most of the “mountain” plot, he gets the plot twists, and they’re very good, forcing us to re-evaluate everything we’d been told – and then do it again later. He might be a bit annoying, but given that he’s been super traumatized and is having guns pointed at him, who can blame him?

So things are temporarily safe again, and Summer Is Icumen In, or at least getting married. The next book in the series is, finally, a stand alone, dealing with the other Archer, who we only briefly saw in this arc. Hopefully it will be less fraught. Please keep these poor kids happy, I beg you.