Category Archives: reviews

Promised to a Dragon, Vol. 1

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By Selena Pigoni and Minori Aritani. Released in North America by J-Novel Club.

Another of the J-Novel Club contest winners, this one feels the most like a standard light novel, in both good and bad ways. If I hadn’t been told it was a contest entry, there are only a few places where I might guess that it’s not translated from the Japanese. This is a shoujo light novel in the “escaping my horrible fiance and hooking up with a much better guy” genre, which usually intersects with the villainess or Cinderella genres but here doesn’t really have aspects of either of those. That said, this has something most of the Japanese versions lack. Japan’s wish fantasy books tend to have the ex-fiance/boyfriend by rather pathetic, shouty but completely ineffectual and easily humiliated. We do not remotely get that here. Brodrick is terrifying, and it is clear from Page 1 why Rhiannon wants to be as far away from him as possible and it’s clear on page 194 that he’s gotten even worse. I spent the entire book worrying he would show up again. He does, indeed, show up again. Still, there is a sweet romance at the core of the book.

Princess Rhiannon is not having a great birthday party, mostly as she’s horrified to find that she’s been engaged to her childhood “friend” Brodrick, who has carefully made sure no one else gets close to her, driven off almost all servants who support her, and is also casually screwing a lot of other maidens around the palace. Clearly it’s time to run away, which she does by the skin of her teeth, but Brodrick finds out and is in hot pursuit. She does have a plan, though. Her father the king made a promise to a witch that she would be engaged to a dragon when she came of age, and she fears what will happen if that promise is broken. So, with the help of a passing handsome, clever, and charismatic bard, she sets off on a journey to go and meet the dragon and escape a horribly marriage.

If you’re familiar with this genre, there are no prizes for guessing who the bard really is. The relationship between him and Rhiannon is the highlight of the book, as she falls for him relatively quickly, while he’s reluctant for some reason we don’t find out till much later. Everyone who meets them on the journey assumes they’re already married, of course. Unfortunately, as I said before, Brodrick keeps showing up looking for Rhiannon, and once he works out that she’s with her promised dragon, he demands her back in exchange for murdering him. This tension between terror and sweet romance is what makes the book work, but can be exhausting. The book also ends very abruptly, as if it were being written to a page count. As with most books in the contest, it could be stand alone but could also have another volume if there is an audience.

If you like fantastic romances but wish the ex were less of a cardboard villain, this is a solid option.

Buying You on the Day You Were to Die

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By Shiki Narito and Yamimaru Enjin. Released in Japan as “Kimi ga Shinitakatta Hi ni, Boku wa Kimi wo Kau Koto ni Shita” by Media Works Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Knight. Translated by Aleksandra Jankowska.

This is the first title I’ve read from J-Novel Club’s new Knight imprint, devoted to BL light novels. Which this technically is, I suppose. There are two men in it, and they are in love with each other. That said, I’d hesitate to call it a romance. More accurately this falls into that subcategory of books that can be summed up as “I am depressed and suicidal and someone gradually helps me cope and move forward”, and that sort of novel is very much up my alley. It’s also relatively short, and complete in one volume. There is, of course, that tricky premise to the book. Can we really root for a couple if one of them is paying the other one a substantial sum of money to hang out with him and be his friend? The answer is eventually yes, but getting there helps us to realize this book is also a mystery.

Sakuta begins the book in a very bad place. His mother has died after a long illness with extensive medical treatment. His father has abandoned them. He’s currently not going to school, working all the odd jobs he can find so that he can earn enough for a funeral for his mother and to pay off the medical debt. Then one day, a handsome young man walks up to him on the job site and says he wants to buy his services. Kadzuki offers Sakuta a large down-payment – enough to pay for the funeral – and a substantial monthly salary if he will be his friend, go to college with him, and stay there for four years. After the five years (high school and college) are up, Sakuta is free. Sakuta regards all this as tremendously suspicious, but he metes Kadzuki’s family and servants, and they all vouch for him. Just what’s going on here?

This book can be roughly divided into two halves. The first is Kadzuki slowly getting Sakuta to actually want to live again. Sakuta never attempts suicide in this volume, but he’s clearly planning it, and it’s only due to the efforts of Kadzuki and his family and staff talking with Sakuta and showing him that there are reasons to go on that makes him avoid it. Then we get the second half, where we learn why Kadzuki is so devoted to Sakuta, why the contract is for only five years, and why he keeps having unavoidable piano lessons. This is a lot sadder, but it tries to avoid becoming mawkish, and mostly succeeds. I also liked the subplot sprinkled throughout of Sakuta’s friend from high school escaping from an abusive situation, and the occasional updates we got. It was a nice reminder that there was a world outside this doomed romance.

If you’re looking for a quick tearjerker, and don’t mind that there isn’t even a kiss in terms of romantic content, this is a very good read about someone touched by tragedy who manages to live on and grow to adulthood with the help of… well, a large influx of cash, so OK, there is still that niggle, as without the cash he would not be able to get out from under. But also the love of friends and family.

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 8

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

I do appreciate Nia Liston really committing to its best running gag, which is that every time Nia watches a fight and is vaguely impressed by its fighters, she has to come in with a variation on the old phrase “I could beat them with one hand tied behind my back”. She’s simply so far over everyone else in this series that even now, as she watches people battle to see who is the strongest among 10,000 different fighters, she’s still not able to find anyone who could truly present a challenge to her. And indeed we see she’s not merely full of it, as at the end of this volume we see her facing off against two “heroes” whose job it is to be the best, and she has to hold back in case she breaks their legendary weapons. She is, frankly, terrifying. Which is why she spends most of this volume doing color commentary for the actual fighters.

The preliminaries are done, and so it’s time for the tournament itself. Well, after the “loser’s round”, which sees those who were knocked out get another chance to win their way back into the fight. Nia and her friends spend the time covering the fight itself, and she also gets to see her brother Neal start his own Junior Wingroad team as an added attraction. That said, most of what we get here are some really good fights… as well as some instant wins, because there’s a new clause: no one is allowed to be magically healed if they win, only bandages. This results in a lot of folks being too injured to go on. And of course some of our main characters are in the underworld, and are suddenly finding themselves on live TV. Some respond by making a deal to cut and run, and others respond by getting TOO famous to quietly murder.

The drawback to this volume is that there’s no suspense whatsoever. I kept wondering if one of Nia’s students would get a surprise loss, but no, she’s simply trained them so well that it doesn’t happen. The toughest fight is between Lynokis, in her Leeno disguise, and Gandolph, and they’re basically exactly who we expected to see there. (Well done to Gandolph for not dying, though he needed Nia’s help to avoid that.) Likewise in the weaponed fights category, it was pretty much going to have to be Anzel, both because the mob was betting on him and made it clear he had to win, and also because if he wants to avoid getting immediately arrested or killed, winning a tournament and making himself famous is a good solution. And a good time was had by all, the tournament is a success. Back to everyday life.

Or not, as we get a surprise cliffhanger ending as Nia is in a pinch! My guess is this is just “I want a change of setting for the new arc”, but I do wonder if any of the other regular cast will appear. In any case, girl punch good.