Altina the Sword Princess: Loose Threads

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Yes, as you guessed from the title of the book, it’s time for a short story collection. That said, there’s only three stories in this volume, so they’re pretty long. The first of these stories is essentially an Encyclopedia Brown story with Regis as the title character and Altina as Sally, made all the more impressive by the fact that they haven’t actually met each other yet when it occurs. Altina is at her new command, but no one is taking her seriously yet. Meanwhile, Regis’ commander has just died and he’s busy waiting to be demoted/exiled. And then a crate of expensive wine goes missing in Altina’s camp, and they try to find the culprit. This shows off Regis’ ability to be “the smart one”, although frankly the solution to this problem was not all that hard. More to the point, it establishes the relationship he and Altina will have before they even see each other, and as such it’s rather sweet.

The second story is also a “how they met”, as we get a closer look at Eddie, the erstwhile knight protector and lover of Auguste… or rather of Felicia, the 5th princess who is pretending to be Auguste. There is some cute writing here, mostly in the author trying to have the reader think some sexytimes are happening and then having it be something totally innocent, but for the most part this is a serious story. Eddie is renowned for being a soldier who doesn’t kill, and as such is regarded as a coward and a failure, mostly as his detractors are a bit too rock-headed to see how strong you have to be to do the level of not-killing that Eddie does. The revelation that it was Felicia who started him on this path is a bit on the nose, but nice. I also enjoyed the multiple descriptions, both in this and the following story, of Altina as this monster who can lift cows by herself and is not someone to imitate at all.

The final story is the one specially written for this book (the other two were previously published), and continues the story of Bastian and Eliza from the fourth volume, who if you’ll recall were last seen near death and had a death warrant put on them by the usurper queen. They’ve managed to find refuge with one of the few families not willing to sell them out, but it’s still tough times. This story hammers home something we also saw in Eddie’s story, which is that the best way to have peace is not to fight. Unfortunately, that can be difficult, especially as Bastian’s family has been doing nothing but fighting for four centuries now. He also gets a crash course in democracy from a young student who is also having to lay low while the war is going on, and might be reconsidering the whole “noble/commoner” dichotomy. This is the most serious story in the book, and looks like it might serve as a way to get the third prince back into the main storyline.

Which we will see next time, as Altina the Sword Princess 8 is… already released! But definitely read this volume first. It’s a good collection.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 2

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alex Keller-Nelson.

Much to my surprise, after a humdinger of a reveal towards the end of the first book, the second book in the series does not build on that reveal beyond a few ominous scenes. Instead, this book proves to be 100% magical academy adventures. This is not a flaw, as the author is really excellent at writing magical academy adventures. We get broom lore, epic sword and magic duels, wacky classwork, terrifying classwork, and more of The Labyrinth, which is likely going to take up more and more of the books as the series goes on. Here our group of six decides to make a home base inside it, the better to do all the little things they really don’t want others to find out about. Unfortunately, our kids are all Very Special People, and as such have attracted the attention of others. This means even more battles, more secrets revealed, and more magical sword battles. Unfortunately, it also means a nasty cliffhanger.

While Oliver and Nanao continue to be the “protagonists” part of the group of six, the others are getting development, and in this book it’;s Pete and Chela who get it. While I will try not to spoil too much, Pete’s plotline in particular is quite well done, and I liked the fact that everyone was understanding and that he was immediately introduced to a support group of people with similarities. And if it also feels like a “fuck you” to a certain other magical academy book writer, well, all for the better. As for Chela, her plot is tied into her family history and the way magical families work in particular. In my last review I compared her to Rin Tohsaka, and that comparison holds up very well here, even including a younger sister that she’s unable to publicly acknowledge. She continues to be my favorite of the six.

As for others, I am hoping Guy gets a book of his own soon, as he’s currently “the other one”. Katie builds nicely on the first book, and I appreciate her discovery that even groups that supposedly share the same belief as she does are not the sort of groups she wants to be involved with. This society is complex, and changing ingrown prejudices is not going to be as easy as a well-timed lecture to the head. The minor villains in the book include an arrogant not-Italian kid (in the same way Nanao is not-Japanese) who tries to show Oliver why learning the basics is bad, the aforementioned younger sister and her servant/best friend, and another guy who acts the part of an arrogant asshole because he was essentially traumatized into it. In this book, both good and bad guys have a rich characterization to them. Well, except Guy. Sorry, Guy.

The cliffhanger makes me want to read the next in the series right now, but we’ll have to wait a bit. In the meantime,l please read this, it’s one of the best light novel debuts from 2020, and 2021 proves it was not a fluke.

Reincarnated As the Last of My Kind, Vol. 2

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By Kiri Komori and Yamigo. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shitara Zetsumetsu Sunzen no Kishou Shuzokudeshita” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Roman Lempert.

It’s always fun to see a cute, slow life sort of tale fight against its own narrative, which is trying to make sure that the slow life speeds up in a hurry. This second volume sees Tina and her family continuing to try to make improvements to the inn, better food, and better quality potions over the course of about four years. Indeed, when the call comes to invite her to a school where she can learn to be a better alchemist… she declines, as she’d rather stay where she is right now. Unfortunately, these are Troubled Times, and it’s going to be very hard to escape the pull of the incoming war, especially when you’re a prodigy with mad skills that no one has ever seen in their life. And as if that weren’t enough, there’s also a combination religious/ecological crisis going on, which could mean the literal end of the world unless it finds a savior. Two guesses who that’s supposed to be.

The first chapter in this book is unique to the book, i.e. was not pat of the webnovel, as Tina and her family play host to a scholar with a preference for very hot food, which involves making udon. After this we get two larger chapters, featuring Tina at age 10 and 12 respectively. In the first, Lico and the other knights arrive at the inn searching for a group of demihumans that got lost in the forest. This is a fantasy series, so naturally you get one elf, one dwarf, and one kobold, though the angel is a surprise, to both Tina and the reader. They have to fight off a nasty monster attack that almost kills off Lico – again. The second story sees Tina and her family head into the big city to attend the funeral of Marcus’ former commanding officer. Unfortunately, on their way back they meet some twins under attack by a very nasty zombie. In fact… there have been a LOT more monsters and zombies lately…

A lot of this is very fun. I liked Shida, the elf, who is an arrogant SOB in the elf tradition but also strangely likeable, and I appreciated that he and Tina did not remotely hit it off. Marcus’ pathetic attempts at romance, combined with his daughter Nakona’s sheer obliviousness to the many men in love with her is amusing, and we, as read3ers, empathize with Tina’s frustration, especially when Marcus and Lico are trying to out-selfless each other. (Lico wins, by virtue of being near death.) That said, a lot of this book is pretty ominous and scary. Both the text description and the illustration of the zombie attacking Tina and company is harrowing, and you start to wonder if this really will be the sort of series to kill off its regulars. Then there’s the subplot regarding human religion and prayer literally killing the world, which might upset some readers, but is pretty well done in universe.

So the question at the end of this 2nd volume is, will the 3rd book involve Tina heading off to save the world, or will Tina try to save the world while still doing things like making honey and trying to create supreme potions? Regardless, if you enjoyed the first book in the series (and are perhaps not evangelical Christian), this one is definitely worth your time.