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.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 29

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I had heard, when I began the 7th arc in this series, that I would not enjoy it as much as the previous ones, as I’ve said in previous reviews. And yet I was unprepared for how much of an absolute grind this book was, especially in the first half. I suppose the reason that everything comes to a grinding halt is to show how important an ally Yoruna is going to be, and how it should be fairly easy to get her on their side, which a lot of people don’t want. But man, this really felt like a lot of running around to pad a word count. There’s also the latest change to Subaru, which also takes in Medium and Al. I get the sense the author is happy that Subaru has grown as a person but also finds it really inconvenient as a storyteller, so finds any excuse to reset things back to “oh no, flail flail”. That said, not without some good things, see below.

Abel’s group has been invited for an audience with Yoruna… unfortunately, Subaru wakes up looking like a ten-year-old child! And he’s not alone, as Medium and Al (who takes it VERY badly) are also trapped in kid bodies… and, it becomes increasingly clear, more immature mindsets as well. This turns out to be the work of the first divine general, Orbart, who offers to turn them back to normal… if they can defeat him in hide and seek. (Tag was suggested, but it may be too difficult.) They manage to find him once, but the second time proves much harder. What’s worse, Subaru has been lulled into a false sense of security, possibly not helped by Rem, and reveals who Louis is to everyone. This goes VERY badly.

The highlight of the book, written to BE a highlight of the book, is Subaru’s nightmarish ten-second loop of death, one where he actually thinks it’s different that Return by Death because he’s just not getting ANYWHERE, it goes on forever, and he’s just constantly being brutally murdered over and over. It’s the shortest loop we’ve ever seen in the series to date, and it fits with his childish regression that he’s going through, which may also be affecting his memory. The reaction of everyone to Louis, meanwhile, is a great worldbuilding way of showing that Subaru does not ALWAYS have to tell everyone everything in order to move on with life, and that in fact hiding an archbishop is usually punishable by death. Lest we forget, the Gluttonies were terrifying, and just because Louis seems to have gotten a brain wipe doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Also unfortunately for Subaru, he may not be able to return to adulthood anytime soon, as something goes wrong with his body and this world again, which leads to hideous cliffhanger, and I am hoping a bit more forward progress in the next book. Halfway there.