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Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain, Vol. 8

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By Ageha Sakura and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Imokusa Reijou desu ga Akuyaku Reisoku wo Tasuketara Kiniiraremashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

When I reviewed the 7th book in this series, I had not realized that this 8th book would be the final one. It does its absolute best to cram everything in so that we’re not disappointed, though. There’s lots of Nazelbart spoiling Agnes, being overprotective of Agnes, and trying to seduce Agnes. (There is a joke made here that if Agnes dies, Nazelbart will destroy the entire world, only to everyone but Agnes, it’s not a joke.) There’s Agnes saying that she’ll be careful and wait right there, and then heading into battle anyway. There’s another guy who’s so evil it’s almost comical, and of course he ends up getting caught and being put to manual labor. We see Robin again, he’s a schmuck. We see Mia again, she’s so hung up on her past actions that she fails to realize how much she’s changed. And there’s the next generation, who are very shippable. A bit earlier than I would like, admittedly.

About two years after the last volume, there’s a fresh new disaster: giant hoppers are attacking their domain, and no one is quite sure how they got there. Fortunately, everyone is able to work together to take them out, but there’s some crop damage. They then head to the capital, where the King is getting ready to marry his younger brother off to a foreign princess. She’s arriving with her older brother. He seems… like he’s trying to hide his evil. She seems like she’s desperately trying to be normal. Both are true. When Nero (the brother) offers then a horribly mercenary plan to help them after their lands have been mysteriously ravaged by hoppers, everyone smells a giant rat. Are these new characters really responsible for all the natural disasters of the last few books?

Starting off with a bit that made me uncomfortable, they’re both so young it shouldn’t matter, but the 3-year-old falling in love with the 1-year-old at first sight, and remembering this even when he’s an adult, smacked too much to me of gender reveal parties and parents whose friends talk about their babies marrying right after said babies have been born. Other than that, this is a fun “victory lap” sort of book, where Agnes gets to show off, be sweet, and finally has to give in and become the next Saint (we all saw it coming). I also really liked Beatrice, the bug-loving princess who gets to turn traitor against her homeland and have it all work out, because (the funniest part of the book) all her brothers, sisters, parents, and evil nobles killed each other in a throne war while she was away. That sure was lucky! We also get several flash-forwards, where we see Agnes’ daughter Luna and her insecurities about her power, which is the opposite of her mother’s.

As Agnes and Nazelbart re4mark, we’ve come a long way from the pancake makeup and 200-pound dresses of Book 1. Agnes is living her best life now. Good for her! Fun series, glad I read it.

The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits, Vol. 3

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By yocco and Junsui. Released in Japan as “Outo no Hazure no Renkinjutsushi: Hazure Shokugyou datta node, Nonbiri Omise Keieishimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andria McKnight. Adapted by Lex Reno.

Everyone has their own pet things they don’t like in fantasy light novels. Well, pretty sure almost every right thinking person hates “welp, guess I gotta have slaves”, but leaving that as a given, there are others that grate on me, and one of them is front and center at the start of this third book. I’m sure it’s from some JRPG or other, but the whole “you are given a god-given talent at Age 5 and if the common wisdom is that it sucks you are abused, disowned, abandoned, or even straight up attempted murdered”. HATE this. Hate the “lol evil parents/family” that comes from it. Hate that it’s part of the tired “your weak power is actually STRONG it’s just that everyone is an idiot!” subgenre. Hate the idea of your life being defined by your job that you don’t get to pick at all. Banished from the Hero’s Party deals with consequences of this better, here we just get the trope straight up. Kinda sucks.

Daisy is living her best life, along with her family. Sure, her brother and sister have now been chosen as the new Sage and Saint, respectively. Sure, that means that bratty nobles are challenging them to duels. But come on, they’re in this series and related to Daisy, they’ve got it made. Unfortunately, one day Daisy comes across a young girl who’s just gotten her Alchemist job being screamed at and abandoned by her father. (Who is a royal knight, by the way, in case you wondered if he was dumb as well as evil.) Daisy sees a lot of herself in this little girl, who looks, frankly, exactly like her only five years younger (see cover). And so Daisy talks to her family and they end up adopting the girl, Lily. Which is a good thing, as she also has a special God blessing, special alchemy powers, and is also the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I kid because I love, trust me. This series remains ridiculous, and has the characterization of an underweight. Actually, Lily got so good so fast I wondered if there would be an arc where Daisy felt jealous of her younger adopted sister, but no fear, Daisy is still too awesome for words, and also gets ennobled here, at ten years old. Elsewhere, she starts to create all the things she and her party will need to take on the tower she couldn’t take on last book; she invents moisturizer, lip balm, and Montessori schools, and she picks up an apprentice, who I thought might become a second potential toy ship love interest, but the author makes sure to give the 7-year-old kid a 7-year-old sweetheart, so no worries there. Even the King finds everything about Daisy and her family delightful.

There are a few ominous hints at drama in future books (the other elves are not very proactive), but for the most part, again, here is Daisy. Ain’t she grand?

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck, Vol. 4

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By Izumi Okido and Jyun Hayase. Released in Japan as “Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu!” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

Last time I was worried about what the series was going to do with Liz, but I ended up reading into the setting too much. Just like Alicia, I am far too aware of the otome game origins of this world, so I naturally assumed that Liz’s stubborn hyper-idealism and unconscious charm power were going to be near impossible to get rid of without sterner methods. As it turns out, though, Liz lives in reality like the rest of the cast do, and therefore all it takes is just talking to her and trying to convince her that she’s doing this mostly because she’s jealous of Duke loving Alicia. Which is really easy to do, as if Liz is aware of anything it’s that. While there is a bit of tough love involved, it’s rather startling how easily everything falls into place. Which is good, as we may be seeing a plague soon.

The book alternates POV between Gill, dealing with things back in Durkis, and Alicia, who is still “in disguise” as part of her exile to Laval. As it turns out, the fact that she’s a woman gets revealed pretty fast. She’s now being monitored by second prince Victor, who is intrigued by her and also kind of a massive jerk. And then there’s the first prince, who Alicia tries to get to meet… and when she does discovers a secret that really surprised me. She also meets two young criminals, one of whom seems to have “spot sickness”, a deadly disease which can only be cured by the usual “impossible to get to flower” that you usually see in fantasy books. Hopefully she can get it soon, as Durkis also has someone down with Spot Sickness…

There’s lots of interesting stuff going on, some of which I broke down earlier in my review, i.e. the stuff with Liz. But the big surprise was Vian, the first prince… who it turns out loves makeup and dresses, and wants Alicia to use the name Vivian. I’m not sure how much of a trans narrative I’m supposed to read into this, but the fact that it treats Vian’s desires completely seriously, and forces us to think about the issues that a first prince who will someday take over the kingdom would have with wanting to dress as a woman and use a woman’s name… I really hope that we’re not done with this plot now that Vian has found a confidante in Alicia, and that it may go places. Elsewhere, she’s slowly learning about the kingdom she’s been exiled to, bonding with her grandfather, and also starting to get pain and reactions in her missing eye, which she is 100% in denial about. I am fairly certain the next book is going to kill off one of the cast.

Still good, and it’s surprising me by going places I didn’t expect. This may be the best volume yet.