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The Royal Hostage Has Vanished: The Black Wolf Knight Yearns for the Persecuted Princess, Vol. 2

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By Ajigozen and Yura Chujo. Released in Japan as “Hitojichi Hime ga, Shōsoku wo Tatta. Kuro Ōkami no Kishi wa Rinkoku no Shiitagerareta Hime wo Zenryoku de Aishimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

It’s always awkward when a book doesn’t really do anything wrong but leaves me a bit cold. Most of this second and final volume is fine. There are a few action scenes, which are exciting. The lead guy is perfectly fine, vacillating between stolid handsome hunk and soppy “I’m so in love with my wife” annoyance. There’s a few plot twists near the end that work pretty well, and the evil nobles are cartoonishly evil without feeling like they also kill babies and kick puppies. And yet, I think I came away from this book shrugging. In the end, I think it comes down to having the wrong narrator. This is Sonia/Nia’s story, but except for one or two POV scenes, mostly in the first book, we rarely see inside her head, instead spending all our time with husband Ark. I appreciate that not all shoujo romances have to have a woman’s POV, but this story would have worked better with it.

After getting unofficially married at the end of the last book, Ark and Nia move to their new domain, which as it turns out is dealing with a nasty outbreak of bandits… which are fairly obviously being sent by the second prince of Sylvario, Nia’s brother. Fortunately, when she was Sonia, the princess formed a bond with the denizens of the towns, which helps them win everyone over fairly quickly. The medicine also helps. Ark is a distant third. Once it’s determined that the foreign prince is behind this, it’s decided to bait him into a trap and capture him, which works so well that everyone wonders if they’re in some sort of Reverse Uno situation, but no, the prince really is that stupid. That said, he’s not the only antagonist…

Towards the end of the book we get several genre shifts to go with the “disgraced noble” that we’ve been dealing with all along. There were hints of a “secret saint” plot, and they turn out to be correct, and we also get a villainess plotline that reminds me far too much of the recent arc of Bakarina – the third princess reads very much like the original evil Katarina Claes, and her fate is likely going to be much the same. (Isekai’d otome game villainesses seem to do very badly in this world, in fact, as she’s not even the first one.) I would argue that the identity of a secret royal who can end up being a potential love interest for Prince Alphonse is perhaps one twist too far, and mostly serves as a way to allow our main couple to actually get it on without getting a cold stare of shame. But for the most part they work well. They just didn’t excite me.

If this was ongoing, I likely wouldn’t get more of it. Fortunately, we’re done here. This was good, but in the end, I wish I’d read it from the other POV.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 13

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

Let’s face it, Fortune Lover I was a bad game. Lots of fans have spent ages pointing out what a disaster it would be for the country if Maria’s routes played out the way we’re told they did, but more importantly, it’s shallow and badly written. Katarina absolutely did the best thing possible by “trying to prevent her doom” and accidentally saving everyone. Unfortunately for her, they brought in better writers for the second game. Not in terms of the routes themselves, those are still lame. But in terms of the politics behind it, and how it’s now affecting multiple kingdoms. And unfortunately for Katarina, that one’s much harder to derail. The kidnappings, murder attempts, and potential coups we’re seeing in Sorcier are not “a problem for the player to solve”, and as such even when Katarina does her best, success remains elusive. Especially since she still has that pesky dark magic, and it turns out she now knows how to make it strong, and it’s not a good thing.

Cezar, the prince of Ethenell, is being sent to Sorcier as part vacation and part to see how a country that’s not recovering from a civil war is doing things. Everyone tells Katarina that she should absolutely not get involved with him, because something else he’s doing is looking for a wife. Of course, Katarina absolutely gets involved with him. She accidentally breaks up his meeting with various other desperate noblewomen, she takes him on a tour of bookstores, cafes, and farms (of course the farms are the most interesting), and she sees him touring the ministry of magic while she’s busy trying to practice with her dark magic (she’s only good at absorption) and translating the dark magic book (she gets bored easily). Unfortunately, Cezar is also investigating the conspiracy that everyone else is, and this investigation results in Maria’s family being attacked…

Those who read my Bakarina reviews know that I don’t really care about the cishet pairings, even as I acknowledge the author does. Mary and Sophia barely appear. Fortunately, our one exception is present throughout. Yes, Maria ends up getting a bit damselled in the climax, when Sarah and a bunch of goons overpower her, but the best moment might be when she sees Cezar and Katarina at the orphanage, where Katarina has been showing off what a great place it is for kids, and Cezar starts putting the moves on her (something she has no idea about). I love seeing Maria being jealous, and her cold attitude towards Cezar, though it doesn’t last long (they bond over Katarina being awesome) is great to see. What’s more, Katarina has literally saved the life of her and her mother this time. Maria is going to be more in love than ever.

As for HOW Katarina saved Maria, well, that’s worrying. I get the feeling “have better control over your emotions” is easier said than done, but I don’t think this series will get TOO dark. This continues to meander towards its ending. Mary and Sophia fans (and Alan and Nicol fans, honestly) can drop it, but Jeord, Sora, Cezar, and Maria fans will be happy. (Keith? Who’s Keith?)

Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry, Vol. 1

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By Kou Yatsuhashi and Mito Nagashiro. Released in Japan as “Ojou Denka wa Ookari no You desu” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

(This was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.)

We’ve seen quite a few of these “young noble lady suddenly has memories of her past life” series before, but if you’re looking for something unique to separate this one from the others, there are one or two things. First of all, she’s not reincarnated from Japan, but from centuries in the past, when the world was at war. (Not to worry, isekai fans, there are indirect hints that her husband from the past was in a good old fashioned normal isekai plot, albeit a tragic one.) More importantly, rather than struggle with the embarrassment of what she was like before, or have to somehow amalgamate her old self with this new one, Leticiel literally overwrites her present body. The book has her think of herself as Leticiel, her old name, throughout, and she wakes with no memory of any time before that point. It’s as if she simply murdered her past self and took them over. Which, well, her fiance also suspects might be the case…

We open with a prologue, showing Leticiel’s country on the verge of being wiped out. Her family and husband are dead, and she elects to mind-control a soldier into killing her rather than be taken alive. A ,long, long time later, she suddenly finds herself in the body of Drossell, a duke’s daughter who is engaged to the first prince. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember ANYTHING. So, as she tries to figure out where she is and what the state of the world is, she fends off her family by simply being incredibly standoffish and curt. No one really bats an eye at this, which should tell her something, but she doesn’t really care enough to find out. Worst of all, when she goes to her magic academy (you knew it was coming), she finds this kingdom is all about magic! What? Why, when it’s so much less powerful than sorcery?

The weakest part of the book may be its title, as Leticiel spends most of the book being rather nonchalant, only getting seriously pissed off once. I assume it refers to her being upset that sorcery has fallen so far as to be unrecognized. There are more things that I enjoyed, though. The main “love interest” seems to be, not a grumpy noble as is usually the case with these series, but a nerd who spends most of his days working with machines. And then there’s the late Drossell herself (It’s possible the memories will return someday, but for now I have to assume that the girl who used to be in that body is dead.) The book sets us up to see her as an annoying spoiled brat, the typical “villainess” that you see in this genre… and then the backstory explains exactly why she’s acting that way, and it’s a lot closer to I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! than I’d like. Moreover, most of what’s happened to both Drossell *and* Leticiel seems to be foretold, and I’m not entirely sure I trust the king and his ageless advisor to act in their best interests. The end of this book makes me want to read the next one.

So yes, at the risk of being like the “And you’ll hear it again!” Brooklyn Nine Nine meme, I enjoyed another villainess-style book.