Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Saint’s Guidance and the Battle for the North

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

This book internally takes itself seriously, and there’s no sense that it’s winking at the audience or anything. That said, if you, the reader, take this series seriously at all, you must absolutely hate it, because every volume gets more and more ridiculous. Allen is not so much a character as a Macguffin at this point, though he does get one chapter to himself. But his purpose in the series is to help everyone else find THEIR purpose in the series, and here it turns out that his legacy means that he can do that even with 200-year-old elves and dragons. And of course there’s Stella, who gets the cover and the focus of this book and ends up delivering so well that everyone starts to call her The Saint. Honestly, the only one still doing badly is Lydia, who gets one scene in the volume, but also gets Allen reflecting how she must be running wild and he worries about that little scamp, contrasted with The Hero and Lydia’s own mother coming up with contingency plans to murder her.

The rebellion continues, even though it’s rapidly becoming apparent the rebels don’t have anyone who can really see the big picture or due long-term planning. They still may end up getting control of the Great Tree, though, as the beastmen are near their limit, and they have to rely on Caren and Lydia’s brother Richard to scream and yell at the old, conservative leaders until they finally allow a “Gondor Calls For Aid” moment. In the South, the Leinsters have cleaned up easily, and are headed towards the capitol, but Lydia is still unapproachable and dangerous. And in the North, the Howards are waiting patiently for the enemy army to think they’ve won before they spring one final trap. At first Stella’s father insists she cannot join the battle, but later events will prove that it’s a good thing she didn’t listen to him.

This is not the first series to have “battle maids”, as fandom tends to term them, and it won’t be the last, but this volume really manages to sell exactly what we love about them, which is being insanely powerful and sadistic while also keeping that “ara, ara” feel you get from a maid character. Well, one type of maid character. Don’t worry, we get all types here. In any case, Anna saving the day is probably the highlight of the book, with apologies to Stella, and I would love to see more. (As always, this series has backstory that it’s constantly implying is more interesting than the actual story being told.) As for Allen himself, he’s picked up a new girl who worships him, this one apparently a little girl version of a great spirit/spell/something, but again, this volume isn’t about anything Allen does, it’s about what Allen represents. He improves literally everyone who’s ever come into contact with him and makes them their best. (Well, except that gang of Beastmen teens. Sorry, gang, you suck.)

The next volume should end the arc, and also has Tina on the cover, so I assume she’ll get the focus she didn’t get here… assuming she’s not overtaken by Lydia. Again. A good series to read if you enjoy ridiculous bullshit.

Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 6

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By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka and Andria McKnight.

It’s been over two years since the last volume of this series was translated. In the interim, we have had the Bibliophile Princess anime, which was good but mostly served to show everyone that Elianna is a much better character on the printed page when we can hear what she is thinking. We have also had a global pandemic, which probably explains the delay on this volume; the author admits they were uncertain about whether to continue with the ongoing story given the state of the world (they started the arc pre-COVID. But we now have the 6th volume, and you get good value for money, as this is about 130 pages or so longer than most of the other volumes. And we need all that space, because finding a cure for the Ashen Nightmare, trying to avoid getting assassinated, and protect her position as Chris’ fiancee. That last one might actually be the most difficult, as Chris’ uncle really, really wants to be the power behind the throne and has his daughter ready to seduce the Prince.

We pick up where we left off, with the one book that has the cure they’ve been looking for having been burnt by the traitorous Jean. Elianna has to make a difficult decision here, which is not helped by Prince Irwin taking the time to press his own suit. Fortunately, they soon realize they have a loophole that can help with that burnt book, and are soon busily finding just the things that help to prevent and then cure the Ashen Nightmare. All that remains is to try to convince the noble-hating commoners that they’re here to help, figure out who’s the real one betraying them (yes, technically it’s Jean, but you know he’s agonizing about it), and then make it back to the capital in time to stop Chris getting blackmailed into dumping Elianna – fortunately, something he’d rather die than do. Will books be able to protect her this time?

Literally, in fact. The strength and weakness of this book is that it positively revels in its cliches, which can make for a lot of nice fist-pumping moments but also feels very contrived. There are not one but two “wait, I thought you were dead but you are alive” moments here, one of which I can just about buy but the other one made me roll my eyes a bit. This series also suffers heavily from the multiple narrators, which are simply hard to translate without sounding awkward – Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter has the same issue – and so you get a lot of paragraphs that start “I, Elianna Bernstein, was…” That said, I was so happy to get back into her headspace, especially after the anime rarely let us see it. Every tangent she went off on was a delight.

So a bit of a mixed bag, but overall I was quite happy to read it, and we at last get to the end of this arc. The seventh volume came out in Japan last October, so hopefully won’t be another two years.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 3

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. After my attempts to defend him a tiny, tiny bit and his struggling manfully with Rozemyne being, well, Rozemyne, it’s time to throw Wilfried back into the ball pit, as he once again becomes one of the more hated characters in the series thanks solely to one side-story right at the end. Sadly, this boy just can’t help but listen to people he shouldn’t, and poisoned words just flow into his ear so easily. I expect that this will mostly pay off in the next volume, but it leaves a sour taste for this one. With all that said, he still ends up more popular than Detlinde, who is cringe in all the worst ways, a spoiled rotten princess being manipulated and disparaged by everyone in the series, and I’m fairly certain she is going to die at some point in this series. Wilfried won’t die. But he’s not marrying Rozemyne either.

It’s the end of Rozemyne’s third year at the academy, and for once she can actually attend it, even if this means that she’s going to end up attracting even more attention. Not as much as Detlinde, though, whose Whirl ends up being a disaster (she uses too much mana, collapses, and also looks like a fool) but also a political bomb (she triggers a magic circle that it the rumors say declare she is the new ruler, something that appeals to absolutely no one). As for Rozemyne, most of this volume is spent in conversations with others. There’s the fallout of their bridal battle with Dunkenfelger, there’s the research results that they’re pushing (and trying to get credit where it’s due), and there’s a discussion with the royal family that also involves Ferdinand, who is there accompanying his fiance, so actually gets to meet Rozemyne for a day or two.

Rozemyne is getting better at being a noble, but she’s also getting better at knowing when she has to ignore all the social niceties because things actually have to get done. Her bluntness here in front of both Hannelore’s mother and Eglantine is excellent, and shows off her rising star for everyone to see. (Hannelore also briefly shows a spine, though it’s much harder for her, and I compared her on Twitter to Yunyun from KonoSuba.) She also gets Ferdinand better than anyone else in the world… and he’s just as adept at getting what she’s concealing or hiding. Let’s face it – the two of them make a great couple, and even have nobility writing fanfiction about them in their head, even though the kind sweetness of their head bears no resemblance to the pinched cheeks of reality. Rozemyne had better stop looking 8 years old soon, we’re reaching a crisis point.

All this plus Georgine’s ongoing Evil Plans of Evil. You don’t need me to tell you how much of a must-read this remains.