Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 3

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

It can sometimes be difficult, when a series is told entirely from one person’s point of view, to remind ourselves that they may not necessarily be the best narrator for the job. Sara tells the entire story in these books, and for the most part that’s fine, but there is a good deal of snark, apathy and general grouchiness to her entire character that makes the narration fun but also reminds us that everyone else doesn’t necessarily adore her. That said, the people she’s grouchiest to (Ted, the knights) generally deserve it. As the series goes on, I’m hoping that we get more of her joyful delight at seeing the ocean, which we get at the end of this book, and a bit less of her “whatever, I don’t care” attitude when people try to railroad her into annoying things. Though she’s right, she really should settle on figuring out what to do with her life soon.

Sara and Nelly head back to Rosa to do some shopping for clothes, but end up getting sidelined by a ton of plot. The other Invited we met in the capital last time, Haruto, has arrived in the town, and is acting like a 10-year-old kid – which, to be fair, is about when he died in Japan, so Sara has a big leg up on him. More dangerously, the knights are returning to get Sara and forcibly have a noble adopt her and get her working for the state. She really does not want to do that, so after letting Haruto and fellow Invited Bradley handle the cottage on the mountain, she, Allen and Nelly join Chris is a trip to a town two weeks away that is trying to train new apothecaries. Unfortunately, when they get there it turns out almost every single apothecary has in fact left the town. Oh yes, also frogs. LOTS of frogs.

Because Sara has for the most part been living on a mountain with a mentor who does not really care about much of anything, or else in a town that is very clearly the “last dungeon” town in this fantasy world, she has not really had a normal isekai reincarnation like everyone else in this series. That’s clearly for the good, as it turns out that while reincarnates are coddled, they’re also pretty much used as government-sponsored slaves, with a name change. You can see why – Sara is really, REALLY powerful, and we see more of that here, though at last we seem to have finally hit a magic thing that makes her feel tired rather than just being easy as pie. The next book is set up by Nelly suggesting they go to her hometown to get her family (who are nobility) to adopt Sara, which should stop the knights from trying to abduct her. I’m fairly certain it will not be that simple.

So yeah, Sara’s not sure what she wants to do with her life here yet, but till she’s safe and can relax, I don’t really blame her. Also, the gimmick is that Sara attracts monsters, right? I think we all get that by now, even if the cast don’t yet. She’s a Monster Magnet.

A Young Lady Finds Her True Calling Living with the Enemy, Vol. 1

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By Syuu and Fujigasaki. Released in Japan as “Oguni no Kōshaku Reijō wa Tekikoku nite Kakusei Suru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

As we have advanced into the 21st century, we have thankfully moved on from one of the more egregious fan terms (and one I used myself back when I was younger), the “Mary Sue”. Originally used as an example of a character created by a writer purely to be the “perfect” love interest for her favorite character, it then morphed into, supposedly, any woman who lacked flaws and was seen as too perfect. Which, naturally, meant any woman protagonist, if you’re a guy reading it. Meanwhile, male protagonists who kill all the monster, gets all the babes, and wind up leading the nation are a dime a dozen, and despite the attempt to use “Gary Stu” to describe them they never got any flak. And of course let’s not get into the “Strong Female Character”, as best seen by Kate Beaton’s wonderful comics. I mention all this because Bertine, the protagonist of this new series, starts her own business, unites warring tribes, shoots burglars with her rifle, and has such innate economic skills that she was raised by her father to be his successor. And you know what? It’s amazing.

Bertine du Jeanne, daughter of the Chancellor of San Luenne, an independent nation and financial powerhouse, is preparing for her upcoming wedding when she is told that the Empire, which their nation has been giving financial support to, has lost its war with the Federation. The Federation has demanded 1000 large gold coins in reparations. The royal family have decided instead to send them Bertine, as the new bride to the leader of the Federation, Cecilio. She is barely given time to hear this before she and her lady maid are bundled off to Ybit, one of the major cities in the Federation. There they are told Cecilio is away, that he never accepted the bride deal in the first place, and to go home. She can’t go home, though, as it would disgrace her country. So instead the staff at Cecilio’s estate decide to slowly starve Bertina and her attendants to death, and passively abuse them. Having had enough of this, Bertine chooses to leave the estate and make her own way in this new country.

I always enjoy novels that give greater depth to the main character as the book goes on. At first Bertine just seems like a basic “stiff upper lip” noble, though she does seem very exhausted by everything near the start of the book. We then learn that everything has been terrible for her since her mother died over a decade ago, her stepmother tried to kill her and is actively trying to prevent her returning to her own country, that she had *two* marriages called off before this, and that even when her sickly mother was alive, her father, recognizing her economic talent but being unable to properly express love, gave her hellish training that made her think he hated her. She tells Cecilio flat out that when she got to his estate and the staff abused her, she was near suicidal. Fortunately, the book wants us to know that but not dwell on it. What it does want us to dwell on is Bertine empowering herself, then empowering other women around her. There isn’t even any romance in this first novel, though I’m pretty sure she’s gonna end up with Cecilio by the second (he’s nicer than his staff). It’s just Bertine being badass. Oh, and the Candy Ma’am pun is hilarious, well done translator.

I had an absolute ball reading this. Is Bertine too perfect? Damn straight.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 18

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

The Realist Hero books have struggled since the start with having to deal with two types of audiences. The first one has been well-served by all of the Machiavelli stuff, the political worldbuilding and military strategy, and they’re really looking forward to the upcoming major war against Fuuga Haan. And then there’s the regular old light novel audience, who are delighted with Souma having eight wives and seemingly everyone in the entire cast of well over 200 people all having weddings. It can be hard to reconcile the first and second groups, especially since the second group does not really want the logical outcome of a war, which is that many named characters who are married with children will die. In an effort to compromise, this book mostly tries to avoid the war, but does feature two minor characters tragically sacrificing themselves. It’s OK, they’re old men and also single. The marriages are safe.

After all the conflicts of the previous books, along with reluctant alliances, there’s no putting it off any longer: Fuuga wants to conquer the world, and Souma is the one standing in his way, so war it is, despite Yuriga’s best attempts to convince him. Of course, Souma is not going to simply roll out there with troops for an old fashioned Mongol Horde battle. He has schemes. Schemes that involve people like that old guy who warned them about the monster from the sea over a dozen books ago, or utilizing Trill and her bonkers impractical ideas that are nevertheless a bit more practical now that it’s a war. Or breaking the faith of the holy church through the power of evangelical broadcasting. That said… can he actually sacrifice people he cares about?

The book is, for the most part, a tense military thriller, where the question is “what’s the big plan that Souma is getting together?”. It’s supposedly something that would stop the reason for the war existing in the first place, or at least stop those following Fuuga. The answer proves to be pretty clever, and utilizes everything we’ve seen in the last couple of books, as well as the initial conflict that Souma was first isekai’d in order to solve. I ha to laugh when I saw Juno and company at the climax – I knew the adventuring party had to be part of the big final battle, but they weren’t in any of the war parties, and honestly don’t seem like the type, so they had to be part of Souma’s solution. He’s hearts-and-minding Fuuga’s army, and it works really well.

How well we’ll have to wait and see. But at least we have an end volume now – the author says 20 will be the last. I’m sure he can marry off one or two more single people by then, and probably not kill off anyone that would make us sad.