Shannon Wants to Die!, Vol. 1

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By Ao Satsuki and falmaro. Released in Japan as “Shinitagari no Shannon” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Olivia Plowman.

This book screams out to a certain kind of reader. And yes, I was that sort of reader. Did you read Wandering Witch? Did you want to read the story of a mage going from city to city and meeting various people in an anthology format? And did you stop reading it because the protagonist was a hideously insufferable little shit? Of course. We all did. This book is the antidote for that. I won’t say that Shannon is not occasionally a bit full of herself, but it’s about 1/10 the attitude Eliana has. For the most part she’s nice, wants to help people, and is pleasant to be around. We want to see her daily life. That said… this book is not for everyone. As the title may have hinted. The premise of this book is about an immortal mage trying to find a way that, after centuries, she can actually die, as she is tired of what she has now. If this would bother you, move on.

Shannon looks like a buxom 20-year-old in a mage’s outfit. In fact, she’s immortal, and has spent years and years wandering the world looking for her master, the man who caused this to happen to her. She’s also trying to see if anything will kill her. In this volume, she a) stays at a quiet village, talks with a cute young man, and tries to get eaten and digested by a dragon; 2) she meets a man trying to save a dying girl from a disease with no cure, and volunteers to drink poison antidotes till they find one that’s not poison; 3) She and an old adventurer go to a dungeon no one has ever come back from, to try to find the remains of his son; 4) she meets another young mage, who is trying to help her dying mother, and whose mentor may be the man who cursed Shannon with immortality in the first place.

I’m going to get the big negative out of the way first, as it’s just my personal preference, because the writing is fine. This artist has featured in a lot of series that come out over here in English, and I can’t stand their work every time. They have a heavy fanservice style, and tend to use the same poses. Basically, skip the art. Other than that, I enjoyed this a great deal. As I said, Shannon is very likeable. If she’d actually acted morose and depressed, the way the title suggests, this book would be unbearable. Instead, she’s well aware of the near-impossibility of her task, and is perfectly fine, while she’s searching, with helping people out every now and then… provided, of course, that helping them out might lead to a new way for her to be killed. Not to spoil the premise, but at the end of this volume, Shannon does not, in fact, die. The search continues.

Unfortunately for Shannon, it’s been two years since her last volume. Still, if she ever does come back, I’ll happily keep her company on her wandering journey. (not you, Eliana.)

Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 14

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By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette.

One thing I appreciate about Tearmoon Empire is that, unlike a lot of other current light novel series, it’s not really trying to be a mystery – or at least, not a mystery where the reader is supposed to figure things out. All of the things that are going to be happening a hundred pages from now are helpfully signposted before we get there, and even when Mia doesn’t really figure something out someone else does (Rina has been a godsend for this series, as she’s allowed to be the bitter cynic Mia can’t be). And, most importantly, the answer to every “how on earth could this happen” is always the same answer: it’s those Chaos Serpents again. Indeed, this time we get a woman who’s been a Chaos Serpent for a very long time as the main villain of this volume, and she’s not only out to destroy Mia’s alliance but she has a grudge against Mia personally… as well as the girl who looks a LOT like Mia’s grandmother.

We pick up with the plot we started in the last book, as Mia has created a horsemanship tournament to try to help Ruby get our of her arranged marriage… and possibly to get Vanos some glory so that Ruby’s crush is more likely to actually appeal to her father. Naturally things don’t quite go the way Mia planned… but honestly, they mostly do, and while Ruby still can’t quite work up the nerve to confess, for the most part it’s a happy ending. Unfortunately, there’s no happy ending in Tearmoon Empire that can’t be erased by the next arc, as Bel comes by with shocking news… Ludwig’s future diary says that Mia is going to be betrayed by… Sapphias! This is baffling, as any reader who remembers Sapphias… which may not be many, to be fair… will recall he’s firmly in Mia’s corner. What’s going on here?

Much as I’ve talked about Mia’s character growth in the books as we’ve moved along, I do appreciate that she can sometimes be caught absolutely flat-footed, as she is here with the identity of the latest Chaos Serpent traitor. It’s pure coincidence that Mia’s love of weird mushrooms just happened to vibe with Citrina’s “oh, those are basically used for confessions” knowledge to save the day. Mia’s real skills, which she’s always had but have been honed over these books, are improvisation – the narrative calls it “riding the wave”, but that’s a talent a lot of people just don’t have – and her increased empathy, as honed by the guillotine. Mia may have been ignorant of the Serpent plot here, but her goals for the cooking party – get closer to Sapphias’ fiancee, then try to work things out without accusations or violence – shows she may actually be a very good politician as an adult almost despite herself. It’s no longer “her selfish cowardice was misunderstood by everyone”.

I enjoyed this volume so much I will forgive the one or two mild fat jokes I spotted near the start. Hopefully next time Mia can finally solve the problem of her grandmother, who is desperately sad but can’t show it because of abusive indoctrination. That said, Tearmoon is (mostly) lighthearted, so hopefully the solution won’t be as bad as the end of Book 11.

Meals Made to Order: How to Domesticate Your Dragon with Delicacies!

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By Yoneori and LINO. Released in Japan as “Misuterareta Ikenie Reijou wa Senyou Skill “Otoriyose” de Jaryuu wo Ezukesuru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This is one of those titles that feels like a much better read when you realize it’s complete in one volume. Admittedly, I’ve said that before and then been startled with a Vol. 2 popping up a year or so later, but there’s no ‘1’ on the cover or the copyright, so I feel I can treat it as a standalone. Which is good, as the main issue with this volume is that it had a tendency to get a bit boring. If I was supposed to want to read more of this story, I’m not sure that I’d want to get the next book in the series. But as a stand-alone, it does its job. Abused child who slowly realizes how abused she is and overcomes it. Found family out the wazoo. No real romance per se (notice it’s not a J-Novel Heart imprint book), instead concentrating purely on our heroine escaping a bad situation and finding herself in a much better one.

Francheska is in a very familiar position at the start of this book. Her father hates her, her mother is dead, her stepmother loathes her, and her sister has seduced her fiancee (the prince) and is now pregnant with his child. So, after years of training to be royalty, she is instead going to be sacrificed to a dragon, something that happens every fifty years or so. And she’s better be grateful, the little bitch. A VERY familiar position, especially if you read this genre on the regular, as I do. See, she (groan) doesn’t have a good skill. She has mana off the charts, can teleport, do fire and water magic, etc… but who cares, she doesn’t have a special whosis. Or rather, she does but no one knows what it is. Then the shock of all this awakens (groan) her memories from Japan… and it turns out her skill is ordering food online with free delivery.

Which, I have news for you, we’ve ALSO seen in another light novel before this. Except he at least had access to an Amazon expy, Francheska is limited to food. In any case, once she gets past the murderous monsters that have been killing every sacrifice (by using her magic), things look up. The dragon turns out not to eat anyone, and while he’s a bit grumpy, he’s mostly pretty nice, and handsome once he turns sort-of human for her. She meets various mythical spirits, who turn out to not be so mythical. The job of everyone else in the cast is to reassure Francheska that she has value and that it’s OK to value herself. The goal of the book is to tell us about what the cast are eating, in long, lingering detail. It’s pretty good at both of those.

If you didn’t order this already, I’m not sure I’d tell you to get it, unless you’re a disgraced noble completist. If you got it and read it, though, I don’t think anyone will regret it. It’s decent. And she lives happily ever after eating lots of food with her incredibly powerful friends on their remote island nowhere near her abusive family. (Except granddad. Sorry, granddad.)