Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! ~A Sign-on-the-Line Wedding Story~, Vol. 2

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By Tsuredurebana and Rin Hagiwara. Released in Japan as “Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai! ~Keiyaku Kara Hajimaru Wedding~” by ArianRose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mattias Hirsch.

Despite everything seemingly being resolved at the end of the last book in terms of their marriage, the title of this series still fits, as Viola continues to not really believe it. A combination of her own low self-worth and the guy who’s now trying to win her love being astonishingly bad at it means that any romantic progression we see here is minimal at best. To Viola’s credit, she does actually blush near the end of the book when Cercis gets in her face and says he wants them to be a real couple. But even then, there’s no real sign that she’s fallen for him, more that she’s taken aback by his actions. In order to win the girl, Cercis is not only going to have to get a lot better at not being a rich playboy type, he’s also going to have to hammer into her again and again that he loves her. Fortunately, he has several more volumes to do this.

We begin where the last book left off, with Cercis’ Mistress moving out after dumping his sorry ass. I appreciated the fact that, although she was clearly the “other woman”, the story treated her with respect anyway, and I wonder if we’ll see her again. After that, there’s various events that Cercis uses to try to get closer to his wife who just wants to hang around the mansion and pretend to be a maid. There’s balls (where Viola completely trashes a stereotypical “princess curl” rich girl by simply using her low self-image as a weapon), there’s dates (where Viola continues to be appalled at how much rich people spend, and Cercis begins to vaguely catch a clue), there’s visits back home (where we see a lot of what made Viola who she is today… her mother certainly didn’t go out of her way to praise her), and in the end there’s yet ANOTHER rumor that Cercis has taken a mistress, showing that it’s hard to reform when everyone already thinks the worst of you. Through all this, Viola blithely glides along, with her inner narration providing the snark and her outer face being mostly the perfect duchess.

I praised the translation on Twitter, as Viola’s narrative voice is the main reason to buy this. There is a caveat, though: if you’re bothered by the use of ‘modern’ language in a series with horse and carriages, you may find some of Viola’s remarks jar – at one point she uses the term “helicopter parent”, for example. But honestly it didn’t really bother me, and I found it gave Viola a snap to her lines that was perfectly in character. I do hope that future books work a bit more on her self-loathing… there’s a point where she (having slept poorly the night before) accidentally breaks a vase and she immediately loses it. She’s sent back to her earldom to recuperate for the day, but is convinced in her sleepiness that Cercis will divorce her now. The fact that this isn’t really panicked or upset but just as matter of fact as her other thoughts makes it hurt all the more. Someone needs to teach this girl confidence.

That said, right now it’s Cercis who needs to be learning lessons more, as he starts to figure out that expensive food and presents is not going to win him jack shit, and he slowly begins to see what Viola actually likes. If he continues to be a better person, and someone kick start’s Viola’s self-image, we could see this couple on paper become a real couple soon. In the meantime, I enjoy Viola’s snark a whole lot.

Oh yes, and the entire book is made even better by Cercis’ trio of drunken lady knights, who are a stitch.

Kobold King, Vol. 2

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By Syousa. and sime. Released in Japan by Legend Novels (Kodansha). Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

First things first: aside from the very start of this book, it is entirely devoted to warfare, with a large group of adventurers, mercenaries and soldiers marching to wipe out the Kobolds and their allies, and our heroes essentially turning into a jungle-based terrorist group to stop them. If this doesn’t interest you, you are not going to get much out of this book, as the brief characterization we had in Book 1 is left behind for the most part in favor of battle scenes. The good news is that the battle scenes are quite well written, and there’s a definite sense of tension to the whole book. Having killed off one of the main characters in the first volume, the reader is under the assumption that no one is safe. Indeed, while I wasn’t expecting the bad guys to win, I did start to suspect it would be a pyrrhic victory where most of the main cast sacrifice themselves. It comes close. That said, this is marked the end of the first “arc”, so presumably more books are coming.

On one side we have the evil obsessed Wyatt and his suit of magical armor, determined to destroy absolutely everyone on the Kobold side, especially Gaius. He’s attracted most of his force by offer of a large reward, but some others (the ones who were there the first time) he has to blackmail. The force itself is quite well divided between men and women, actually, which surprised and pleased me. Of course, this means that both men and women get their skulls caved in, hearts torn out and heads chopped off, because the mercenary force runs into Gaius and Sashalia’s Kobold guerrilla fighters. They have a force far, far smaller than the army’s, but are fighting for both survival and to make the other side give up and say it’s not worth the trouble. To that end, the Kobolds put out endless dangerous traps, use dirty and underhanded fighting tactics, and also have Gaius, who can kill dozens on his own. All this coordinated by Sashalia, who can no longer fight but can still be a tactician.

While I enjoyed this book, there’s not really much to say about it because it’s almost all action. I was thankful that the whole “I want to be the one to take Gaius’ virginity!” plotline was given barely a passing mention, and indeed there’s no love triangle here as was hinted in the last book, mostly as everyone is too busy fighting. Most of the cast ends up coming pretty close to dying – indeed, I was fairly certain that when Darke was hurled against a tree at full speed that she was dead. I was also certain that Emon was dead when Wyatt basically started hacking him to bits. And I certainly expected Gaius and Wyatt to kill each other in the final battle. Instead, the day is saved by a spirit from the dead returning and giving Gaius one final weapon. It’s unrealistic, but hey, we’ve had realism the whole battle, so I was fine with it.

As with other series from this label, we’re not sure when there will be more of it – it’s only two volumes in Japan for now. Still, if you want to know what Vietnam would have been like with kobolds, elves, dwarves and giant lizard creatures, this is a strong read.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Vol. 3

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By Kei Sazane and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan as “Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

Some authors are really good at plotting and worldbuilding. Some succeed at depth of characterization. Some write amazing dialogue. And then there’s Kei Sazane, who does none of those things, but that’s OK, as they have one thing that they do better than most anyone else: crafting cliffhangers that make a reader want to get the next book. I spent most of the second volume of this series thinking I would drop it after I finished, only for a last-minute plot twist that made me want to read more. Unfortunately, little is made of the plot twist here, mostly as the characters are two-dimensional. And once again I got to the end thinking, “yeah, OK, interesting did not happen, dropping this” only to get an epilogue which made me say, “Hrngh, now I want to know what happens next.” It’s a praiseworthy skill, and very well done. Of course, I wish that the skills had been used on a better light novel series.

Last volume ended with the revelation that Iska’s captain and designated dojikko Mismis now had an astral crest after basically falling in a pit of magic. So they have to figure out a way to keep it hidden so that she’s not imprisoned for life at best and executed at worst. I suspect skin-colored bandages, tried here, are not going to work well. It doesn’t help that, aside from one or two flashes of actually being a commander, Mismis is a fluffhead of the first order. (The author loves to write those types – more on this later.) Fortunately, they have a reason for her to be away from the Empire and using an Astral Crest – they have to infiltrate the enemy territory. Unfortunately, everything goes south when, for once, it’s Iska who gets to be the designated idiot, sipping a drugged drink provided by Alice’s maid and now taken prisoner in the hideous… honeymoon suite of a first-class hotel.

Last time Alice and Iska never met up, this time they’re together most of the book. It’s not really a great thing for Alice, as, like Mismis, the author loves to write her as a fluffhead, in this case a girl in love who doesn’t actually realize it. The ‘kidnapping’ wasn’t her idea, and she prefers to settle things on the battlefield in a one-on-one fight, of course. Unfortunately, the Empire is also trying to break out a top security prisoner (who is basically Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night only with magic instead of swords), and so everyone needs to rush off and stop everything ending in fire. Including Iska, who is, of course, also slowly falling for Alice in his own stoic lunkhead sort of way. Both Iska and Alice excel at combat scenes, where they’re both allowed to be ridiculously overpowered and cool, rather than enacting A Child’s Garden of Romeo and Juliet Scenes.

There’s no actual bad scenes or writing here – everything is very competent but empty, and reminds me a lot of Strike the Blood or Asterisk War in that it feels like it was written as a novelization of an anime. The main cast are all pretty likeable, and as I said, there’s a great cliffhanger that will probably make me read the 4th book in the series. I’ll be grumbling as I do, though.