Category Archives: reviews

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 18

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

There’s no getting around it, this book is punishingly long. Not just because it’s 500 pages, though that is absolutely the case. It’s because it operates on the usual way that Omori writes giant action set pieces, which is to say “always darkest just before the dawn”, where the first part is the darkness, and the second part is the dawn. And because this is about 500 pages, it means we get about 175 pages of “darkest” in this book, which is a whole lot of time spent watching every likable character in the entire series getting the shit beaten out of them by Freya Familia. After a while I was tempted to do a search of the digital text I was reading for “Lyu”, because, not to spoil too much, but she is noticeably absent from the first half of this book. Which… is for the best, as apparently there was a whole Lyu side-story in this book originally, but it would have made it 650 pages, so the publisher said no.

It’s a battle royale between Freya Familiar and Hestia Familia. Unfortunately, Loki’s team has been forbidden from participating, and Ais has been forbidden from even SEEING Bell till this is over. As a result, once again, no one wants to team up with Hestia except her immediate friends and allies, even though the entire city is furious at Freya Familia for the events of the previous book but none of them are furious enough to be part of what is obviously a losing battle. The guild has basically said “this will end with Freya taking Bell, deal with it”. The battle itself is “hide and seek”, where all the involved Gods are wearing flowers and hiding, and the opposing team has to find them and remove the flowers. Of course, Freya Familia being who they are, they figure out a way to turn it into “beat the shit out of everyone” anyway.

Of course, the payoff is worth it. There are so many “punch the air triumphantly” moments in the back half of the book it’s impossible to list them all, with my favorite probably being the complete participation of the waitress staff at Fertility. We’ve been slowly getting everyone’s backstory over the last few books, so it’s wonderful to see it pay off, but the main reason that it works is because of Freya. Or rather, Syr. The issue here is not so much dissociative identity disorder but rather a milder version of what Sayo did in Umineko, and the resolution is that Freya has to accept that she and Syr are in fact both part of the same individual. No one wants to save Freya, frankly, except the misguided ones in her family. But there’s a TON of people who want to save Syr. The best moment in the book is the last scene, featuring a callback I had honestly forgotten about (I mean, it’s been 17 months since the last book) and a giant ball of heartwarming.

The idea that this is going to have a school arc fills me with dread, but at least it should be shorter. Till then, we’re done with this epic arc, and Freya is gone. Sort of. In a good way.

The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 4

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By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

The plot of this book can basically be summarized as “fallout from the previous book”. Octavia wakes up to find herself back in her room at the castle, which is good… but she’s not allowed to leave the room, which is bad. What’s worse, Klifford is also being confined, and not “in his room”. Not only was Octavia wounded while he was guarding her, which is something that normally leads to being punished, but there’s a conspiracy to attack the royal family, and Octavia’s brother Sirius is convinced that Klifford is part of it. There is, to be fair, some evidence, but for the most part the main reason is just “I hate him”. Now Octavia has to talk herself out of her room, talk Klifford out of the dungeons, and go on the city tour that she was supposed to do before the party from the last book went all pear-shaped. And, oh yes, the King has revealed she discovered the True Crown.

This gives us a much closer look at Sirius and what his deal is… is what I’d like to say, but because so much of this is from Octavia’s POV, and she’s still having trouble figuring him out, it’s less than I’d like. This is not helped by the fact that she’s still trying to lay over the characters she knows from the BL series and the actual people that she has met as Octavia. One example is Hugh, Sirius’ guard, who in the series was one of Octavia’s allies in her support for her brother and Sil’s hot romance, but here is a lot more mysterious figure. In fact, he could stand to be a bit less mysterious. There’s a mystery culprit in this book that we don’t find out about, except it’s super obvious. In fact, probably deliberately obvious, given brain teaser questions like “what if your master gives you two opposing orders, which one do you follow”?

There is, of course, also the romance part of this book. We get occasional stabs at Octavia trying to find a “fake boyfriend” to save herself from a terrible life, but her lack of awareness about Klifford and his feelings is starting to seem very familiar to those readers who dread “oblivious” protagonists. I mean, they’re even sharing each other’s dreams! This actually leads to one of the scarier parts of the book, as Octavia dreams of Klifford being beaten nearly to death and then literally tossed in the water in a sack to drown, and it’s harrowing (she wakes up and can’t even hide from her maids the fact that she had a terrible nightmare). As for Klifford, he sees a young Octavia stare at this world’s equivalent of a Sakura tree – except it’s not the Sakura tree she knows, it blooms in autumn. He is despairing seeing her mourn the family that she has lost forever, even though he’s not sure why.

So yeah, still good, and the next book might wrap up this arc? Maybe?

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 10

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

This is one of those books where the color pages spoil… except, of course, they don’t. Anyone reading this series has been waiting for Red to propose to Rit since the first book, and the fact that it’s now happening gets a “finally!” rather that annoyance at the plot being given away. More importantly, that’s not really the focus of the book, it’s more of an epilogue. The focus of the book is wrapping up the Van plotline and going into those Elf ruins one more time. There *is* a big spoiler for that, so I’ll wait till after the cover art to discuss it. I will note that, unfortunately, the author and his Japanese audience are once again at odds with the English speakers I’ve seen. Ruti being a brocon does not interest us. We want Ruti to give up and get married to Tisse. Sadly, that won’t be happening. Expect more incest subtext in future books.

In the aftermath of the battle with Van, he’s at a loss for what to do next. And Red and company also want to investigate those Elven ruins again, though Ruti and Tisse are not allowed to come along given that last time they went there Ruti tried to kill everyone. So instead we get a team of eight: Red, Rit, Yarandrala and Danan as Party A, and Van, Lavender, Esta, and Albert as Party B. Together they will try to figure out what the hell is actually going on in those ruins, what it’s meant to do for the hero, and once again try to figure out exactly who benefits from a war between humanity and demons, and what the Blessings are supposed to do. Unfortunately, in order to do that, they may have to fight God.

Which I was expecting, honestly, but not this soon. Honestly, light novels that have the Church or God as the villains are as common as muck, and this series has not shied away from the concept. That said, there is a bit more nuance here, at least in regards to the Church and those in it. (The God of this book can go jump in a lake. He sucks.) We see a push and pull throughout the book of trying to work with your blessing even if it means going against what you believe, and that there has to be a balance in order to have someone be happy. Van isn’t sure what that will be, which is why he heads off at the end of this book to find out what being a hero is for him. Red and Rit’s is getting married, with children being brought up several times as the next step after that. And then there’s those who get a blessing like “Cardinal” or “Priest”. Are they required to side with God and oppose folks like Red and Ruti?

We may find that out next volume (hi, cliffhanger!). Will we get a wedding next time? Probably not. But I suspect it will be a BIT more of the “Quiet Life”.