Sword of the Stallion, Vol. 2

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan as “Sword of Stallion: Taneuma to Yobareta Saikyou Kishi, Ringoku no Oujo wo Netore to Meijirareru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Last time I said that this mecha fantasy might be meeting up with a villainess story, and this second volume leans right into that. Ras goes back to his country only to find that they’re immediately returning, as it turns out that Princess Tishna has an assassin that’s been hired to kill her. So they’re moving up their plans to try and cut this off at the past, all while dealing with their own internal politics – they attend an event that features the ex-fiancee of Auriol, the prince that Fiarca is currently impersonating, which is fun – and trying to figure out exactly what Tishna, a so-called Wicked Princess who acts selfishly and horribly but whose selfish actions always turn to be the right thing to do and uncover greater crimes – is up to. Oh yes, and she and Auriol – who is really Fiarca – are getting engaged. Given all this, it’s no wonder Ras has no time to deal with his increasingly poor reputation.

If you’re familiar with my reviewing style, and see that I put the summary of the volume before the cover art, you know spoilers are a-coming. Because I want to discuss my favorite part of the book, which examines the type of plot device that most “time loop” villainess stories use. Generally speaking, for the most part, the books rarely go into the mechanics of the loop itself beyond “stop dying” or “stop being evil” – the protagonist taking actions to prevent her (it’s always her) fate are what’s enough. The main part of this volume is no secret, as it’s discussed in the first few pages – Tishna has gone back in time and is redoing this life. This also explains why she’s being “wicked” in order to ferret out corruption. But she also plans, when she’s achieved her goal, to die. But… is her goal achieved? What evidence does she have that she won’t just wind up back in time again because she died? How much of a happy ending do you need? She can’t know, and thus they’re able to stop her.

Other than that, this is a perfectly decent book that is also not really exciting in any way. I’ve dealt with this author before in Strike the Blood, so I know how things are going to go. The fights are good, the interaction is solid, the characters are types. There’s never going to be anything here that will make you go “wow!” and punch the air. Likewise, you’re never going to go “ew” and put the volume down – even the so-called premise gets undercut at every turn so that we can be assured he’s not actually a sleaze. It is very much written to be adapted into an anime down the line. Whether that happens or not I don’t know – but this is just the sort of book to read on the beach, when you need something uncomplicated.

There’s a lot left up in the air at the end of this book, so I think when I tell you this book came out in 2023 in Japan and there’s no sign of a 3rd volume, you’re just going to be annoyed I made you read the review at all. Sorry! Tee-hee. (bonks head) We can just imagine that they solve everything and he ends up with multiple partners, just like Strike the Blood.

Spy Classroom: The High Plain of Sara

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

After the events of the last volume, which were dark but not as dark as the rest of the series, we’re back into pitch black with this volume, which does just about everything except kill one of the main cast off – and even that’s left up in the air at the end. It turns out, amazingly, that being a spy continues to be very hard! And that one of the few things harder than that is starting a revolution. Honestly, this particular book feels very relevant to our times right now in a way that I will try not to go into great detail about. Things aren’t helped by the fact that we’re down a good two-thirds of our regular cast. The team split up to do their big job at the end of the 9th volume, and it’s now over a year later, and they’re still split. Which is good news if you’re a fan of Sara, of course, as well as Erna and Annette, but fans of other girls will have to be patient.

The book consists of one main plotline interrupted by a subplot that happened before the start of it. The main plotline continues the adventures of Erna and Annette that we saw at the end of Volume 9, as they try to incite a revolution among the people, infiltrating an underground organization, investigating a very suspicious mine explosion, and trying their best to avoid getting noticed by Nike, who is the country’s top spy, and would absolutely destroy them. Oh yes, and Erna also has the added problem of Annette, who has basically resolved that she’s just going to get more and more evil as time goes on, and eventually will not be able to be held back. The subplot involved Sara, who objects to Klaus’ plan – not splitting everyone up, but pairing Erna and Annette, which she regards as a bad balance. Klaus takes the opportunity to show Sara how far ideals go in the spy world.

This is technically Sara’s book, despite the fact that the bulk of it is pretty much Erna’s show. I feel very bad for Erna, who after weaponizing her woobiefication finds that being a woobie is something that can happen whether she wants it to or not. By the end of this book she’s a wreck, but I’m sure she’ll get more opportunities for cool things later. Sara, probably not so much. Now, I am not so naive as to think that the author is going to kill off one of its more popular characters. I do, however, think Sara will probably sit the rest of this arc out. Which is fine, as this was a really killer performance by her. The theme of “you are a very competent spy but still about 5000 times less competent than everyone else” is a hard lesson to take in when you are trying to ensure everyone survives and lives happily every after, and it’s very Sara that she accepts the lesson and then decides to be an idealist to the end anyway. It’s no wonder that “big sis” Sybilla says about Sara, “She’s such a mom.”

By now you know what I’m going to say: next is a short story collection? Yup. Still, good start to this arc, which reminds you how difficult it can be to make folks understand who are the right people to hate.

To the Monster I Love, Vol. 1

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By ryunosuke and Gesoking. Released in Japan as “Bakemono no Kimi ni Tsugu” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Laura Sitzer.

I was on the fence about picking this series up, as let’s face it, I read way too many light novels, and the first I heard about it was hearing complaints about the way the title is translated. (My Japanese is not good enough to go into what it should or shouldn’t be, but the title as chosen certainly can fit the book.) As it turns out, I enjoyed this a great deal. It may be a tad grimmer than I expected, with a high body count overall, but none of those deaths are in the main cast. Instead, the main cast are defined by basically being really sweet – almost ridiculously so at times. The series is about solving crimes, but at the end of the day it’s also about a man who is in love with four women, and they love him, and while the women may not be happy with each other, they’re very happy with what they have now. Also, unlike a lot of “contest winners”, this feels like the start of a series.

We open on an interrogation, as a frankly far too manic researcher has a young man tied to a chair, and wants to ask him questions about his actions of the last month. As it turns out, Norman, the tied-up young man, acts as a detective/detective’s assistant/minder/lover to four different girls, all of whom are designated Unlaw by this city – Unlaw meaning essentially they have magical powers. We hear about how he and Shizuku, a stoic musician, solve a gruesome society murder. About how he and Eltiel, a huge and loyal blonde woman, investigate a depressing string of murders in the slums. About how he and Lonsday, a brilliant but easily bored detective, look into a “phantom thief” stealing from a museum. And about how he and Clareth, a schoolgirl, are lured into a trap involving a train car full of corpses. Is Normal really just a protagonist in a light novel? Or is it something more sinister?

I had expected Normal to be the weak link, as frankly he’s mostly a blank space that the women project themselves on to. But as we find out, that’s on purpose, and I appreciated the fact that his love for the four girls wasn’t to keep them in line, or because that’s the best way to use them, but because he really does love them all as humans, not Unlaw. The girls are, let’s face it, all types set to appeal to a light novel reader in general and a Dengeki Bunko competition judge in particular. Eltiel in particular hits about 5 or 6 buttons alone with her backstory, powers, and appearance. (She’s also the nicest of the four, although that’s by design given the type of “monster” she is.) The final scene also has a really good battle between not-so-blank Norman and the villain, and shows that deep down, the man is a sweetie pie. Though admittedly a sweetie pie who will not hesitate to kill a lot of folks to protect his loved ones.

In the end, they’re all rewarded with a detective agency, which means that the girls may have to – shock, horror – interact more in Book Two. If you like supernatural mystery books, and don’t mind that it feels like a book written to be an anime rather than a light novel, this is quite well done.