By Mashimesa Emoto and Nitou Akane. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha wo Sutetara, Tanoshii Mahou Gakkou no Seikatsu ga Matteimashita” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

Now that we have a glut in the market when it comes to broken engagement light novels, it can be hard to really sell one to readers as a reviewer. I enjoyed this book, it has a likeable lead, some fun scenes, good support. It does not really, however, have that one thing that makes it stand out of the pack from other books with this exact premise. There’s no quirk, no eccentricity that made the publisher go “wow!”. The publisher put this out as the author has a proven track record (Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Knights, also released by CIW) and this was a title the author really wanted to see published (they bluntly state this in the afterword). So you don’t have to buy it. But again, if you do buy it, it’s a lot of fun… once you get past the first twenty pages or so. Because trust me, the horrible fiancé thing is not a lie.

Misha von Ritual is a viscount’s daughter in a snowy minor territory in the North. She’s engaged and ready to do her all for the territory. Then her fiancé shows up and says that he’s gotten her cousin pregnant. And is marrying her. But he still wants Misha as his second wife. To keep earning money for the child her cousin is now carrying. Who will take over the territory. Oh, and he says he has no plans to sleep with her. Needless to say, she punches the shit out of him, and after consulting with her parents, the errant fiancé and his pregnant girl are hurled out of the kingdom. The parents, who were very lax about this, offer Misha anything she wants, and she asks if she can go to the magic school in the center of the country. It will be hard to get in, but if she does she’ll be happy. Because she has (gasp!) past life memories from Japan, and remembers a certain series of novels about a magic school…

It’s never explicitly stated, so I’m gonna assume she means Diane Duane’s books rather than that other author. One thing I did like is that the application process has multiple tests, takes an entire year, and it’s very easy to fail. In fact, Misha would not have gotten in (her uncle dropped out, an automatic black mark for full scholarships like she needs) if she hadn’t impressed a teacher with her herb talents and ability to essentially work for her tuition. I also appreciated the character of Alice. I will always love a girl who appears at first to be a haughty, arrogant girl but who it turns out is just really awkward and has resting bitch face. As for her obvious love interest, I worried as he seemed to be a teacher, but the end of the book shows that isn’t the case, so I will allow them to be cute together. Also, she has a slime familiar. Everything’s better with slimes. (Don’t worry, he’s a super powerful slime spirit, and can basically do anything required of him.)

There’s at least one more volume of this, and I’ll read it. If you like magic academies and heroines who are quietly awesome without the narrative beating us over the head with it, this is a winner.