What Light Novel are you reading right now?

[MeguminBlast 13]

I decided to be a degenerate and read the High School DxD light novels and so far red haired girl that I'll call Luci cause I don't know her real name hasn't really appeared yet and MC's girlfriend killed him.

[cro-mag 31]

3 minutes ago, MeguminBlast said:

I decided to be a degenerate and read the High School DxD light novels and so far red haired girl that I'll call Luci cause I don't know her real name hasn't really appeared yet and MC's girlfriend killed him.

You're really reckless)) I have my doubt you'll endure almost 30 volumes of that)

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

Read through the translated part of Kenkyo Kenjitsu. Heh. I was mostly avoiding starting new LNs/WNs for a while, considering that looking for the ones that are actually worth reading is pretty exhausting, but it looks like I finally succeeded.

To be honest, I don't see much sense in describing its story. It's mostly a good for its comedy, and the story, basically, just happens. Its main strong point is that, in spite of the general premise being kind of over the top, the characters actually come off surprisingly normal. The author manages to avoid most annoying tropes from most light novels. Definitely recommend reading if you are okay with slower pace. Even you you've never read a shoujo LN before it's a pretty good place to start.

Actually, I'm surprised this still doesn't have or proper commercial version. It seems to be pretty popular even in Japan, and it's better than many proper LNs. And it definitely deserves it a lot more than most battle harems that get released nowadays.

PS. It's also a surprisingly healing story btw.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[Clockwork Loli 17]

Clockwork Planet.  I needed something fresh that isn't an isekai story for once.  It has clockwork, moe girls, and clockwork moe girls.

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

Was in a mood to read something decent in "reincarnated as a vileness oujousama" genre.

Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen! Has terrible translation at the beginning, but it gets better. Sadly, the translation was dropped right where the war started and the story started to get interesting. Overall, the setting is very intriguing, and, unlike what the cover suggests, it seems to be mostly focused of the warfare. Will read further if I have a chance.

 Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi.  Disclaimer: the translation has some noticeable issues, but overall. I'd say, it's still readable, at least for me. The story, on the other hand, is actually pretty good. At least, I got hooked.

The story consists of the nice mix of some action, fantasy and mystery. Just note that this novel takes a while to get going. I'd say, so far each new volume got progressively better. The first volume is almost entirely dedicated to dungeon exploration, and this might put off some readers. Starting with the second volume a lot of more new characters enter the story, and the main overarching mystery slowly becomes more and more important, and in the third volume we finally get introduced to how the magic works in this world. Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to continuing this novel. Since it's still ongoing in Japan, I hope the author doesn't drop it and we see the ending at some point.

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

Does anyone but me still care about this thread, lol?

So, anyway, since it will soon have an anime adaptation and I've been kind of interested in this series for a while, I decided to read the first two volumes of So I am a spider. So what? Overall, it was pretty good, but some things make me cautious.

Overall, this is more of a dark comedy type of isekai. I noticed that these tend to be hit or miss for me, but this one is pretty entertaining so far, but I feel like I might get bored if there's no major development in the story in the next volume.

The somewhat unique thing about this story is that the entire MC's class got isekaied, and it's pretty entertaining to watch how they cope with their new roles.

At the same time, I'm not really sure how I feel about the plot twist at the end of the second volume. I kind of suspect that it might be a massive red herring, and even if it is that, I feel like it exists only for the sake of there being a plot twist, and I'm not really sure I like where this story is going.

I'm also still following Shini Yasui (which I mentioned in the previous post) and it's actually getting better and better as the story progresses. I really like how the author masterfully foreshadows the story and the mystery, and the character development is pretty neat too. It's actually very hard to find a web novel this well-written. Really a shame this isn't more popular. It would be great to see an anime (or, at least, a manga) adaptation at some point, but the chances are basically zero.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Dreamysyu

[Yuukario 0]

I'm currently reading High School DxD and i'm gonna start soon the KonoSuba Series.

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

Arifureta is such a weeby garbage tbh.

And that's exactly that makes it so enjoyable.

I guess I'm already too far gone...

[FinalChaos 123]

6 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Arifureta is such a weeby garbage tbh.

And that's exactly that makes it so enjoyable.

I guess I'm already too far gone...

Well the first volume is still pretty good (though edgy asf), gets too cliched and boring from there.
Dropped it after the 3rd volume.

 

The novel that's been on my mind recently is Lord of Secrets, which is also the best ln I read in the past year.
Really good novel, the plot and characters are both great. The world background and the mysteries surrounding it are always interesting to follow.
The power setting of 22 routes/sequences that replace the traditional mage/warrior is beautifully made.

Basically I recommend it highly, definitely worth the read.

[Mr Poltroon 2,335]

Right... This thing exists. I'll see to it that I make use of it in the future.

For now I'll see about dumping my backlog in here before it is forever forgotten.

[Mr Poltroon 2,335]

Spice and Wolf (11 Volumes) - The first light novel I ever tried reading. I brought a load of volumes during a holiday a couple of years ago, and it became my sole source of entertainment. Homely entertainment, anyway. As a result, I ate the volumes up in a week, reading 10 or 11 of them. It, uh, exhausted me, to say the least, and also ensured I failed to commit most of them to memory. Especially with the complicated topics that were oft breached and the Yen Press translation that I thought made it harder to parse for a plebeian such as I.
I like the character interactions and am okay with the economics, so I should love this, but I found them rather dense. And now, when I try to restart at volume 12 three years later, I quickly realise that the gap creates issues of both memory and engagement. But every time I see the volume 16 cover I feel compelled to try again...!
I should try and make it daily reading on the train or some such.

In Another World With My Smartphone (5 Volumes) - As the translator, which I follow on twitter, often talked about his work on this series, I felt tempted to try it. Indeed, it tackles a lot of themes I really should enjoy. And I did, as I read it. The main character finds romance and there's actual development on that department; He's overpowered and free to do whatever he feels like; He's a "political player", even though the politics here are more hilarious than anything else. By all means I should love it, and yet there's one big problem: Not enough focus on character interactions. There's loads of characters, and all of them have moments, but with such a large cast a lot of them seem to be lacking a personality, or, more specifically, seem to only display it whenever the author feels it is convenient.

This is a recurring issue I have with Light Novels: The non-reader-perspective characters only speak, interact, or act whenever it is convenient for the plot or if the author has determined this is to be a character interaction moment (such as some slice-of life chapters or group discussions), and they'll be ignored or just be in the background (doing not much in particular) otherwise. How can this be fixed? Well...

Konosuba (9 Volumes) - Unquestionably the best light novel I have read. Characters have character! They do things! They have personalities! They're doing things even when it's not meant to be their moment or required for the plot! Even if characters are "off-screen" you hear about the consequences of their actions or how their mood has been affected or whatever! Konosuba is the king of character interaction, and that is the single aspect I most appreciate, and the reason Visual Novels are (usually) my entertainment medium of choice. Phenomenal. Especially so for the plotpoint that started in volume 5 and came to a head again in volume 9!

@cro-mag - With Volume 6 of Konosuba I definitely felt... odd. It's like it suddenly took a random turn and veered right off-course into the middle of chaos. I initially thought the development to be kind of generic, but quickly found that I love the characters too much to mind. Whatever position they're put in will turn out alright when you consider their ridiculousness, in my eyes. It's also the first moment that I came to realise that they're really all trashy human beings that require a lot of poking and prodding to let their stubbornness go and play nice. I'm glad I still love them all.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom (6 Volumes) - I loved the first two volumes! A whole lot! The themes this tackles are very much to my interest (government, politics, military, development, etc), and there is romance and development in that area! Lovely! However, the more volumes I read the more it came to suffer from the same things as Smartphone. With so many members of the cast, it becomes difficult to give them all life. Those who were interesting and intricate in 2 were by now forgotten or flanderised in 6. I can clearly recall moments created to provide them with personality and all that, but I cannot do anything but file away those attempts as generic, or at least, they failed to elicit a good reaction from my part. I have cause to believe that perhaps large casts on this level are simply unmanageable. I cannot keep an emotional connection with them all. Minatosoft most writers are not.

Hokuou Kizoku to Moukinzuma no Yukiguni Karigurashi (2 Volumes) - A fan translation, which unfortunately isn't very good, on top of the topics already being... slightly uninteresting to me (lots of cooking, butchering, hunting, etc.). The premise of the novel itself, however, is excellent. The characters are excellent. Romance is one of the main topics, and it's really good! I like the personality and design on of the main character and his wife. It's really great. It's just that the existing translation for it is not very good in English.

An Archdemon's Dilemma (3 Volumes) - Volume one was perfection. It feels as if it were made such that the whole thing could've ended there. Wonderfully self-contained and loose ends generally tied. But it continued, and I'm glad it did! Romance is one of the focus areas, so that's already 11/10, but it goes further! I like the personality of the protagonist, and, for once, the battle scenes! The Sorcerers' fashion sense slightly aligns with mine own, and for some of the battles the descriptions try to show the main character as keeping calm and taking care of business with a single arm with the other behind his back. Not every time, but it's enough to make me all happy inside. Second best series I've read to date, aside from Konosuba.

About the Reckless Girl Who Kept Challenging a Reborn Man Like Me  (Completed) - A oneshot. A beautiful, emotional, powerful oneshot. I think this is very much worth reading. As usual for me, Romance.

Marietta-hime no Konrei (Complete) - Something I stumbled upon whilst looking to see if 18+ Light Novels were a thing. This is the fluffiest fluff that hath ever fluffed. It's fantastic, and the princess in this is the most precious thing in existence. Characters are not real people, so it's good to be able to appreciate a character that can be made to be so lovable and... just create happiness.

Lazy Dungeon Master (2 Volumes) - Probably the third best series I've read. Unlike others it's not particularly addictive, but it's always enjoyable while I read it. The character interactions are also fun. The main character's got a strange fetish that gets played up all the time, but at least it clears any illusions of possible romance, so it's way better than those novels that constantly tease something that'll only be resolved in 20 volumes. As a side note... It's also got the most explicit illustrations in a light novel series that I've seen! One of the colour pictures in volume two would not look out of place in my local eroge (and I actually prefer its intimacy to what is typically present in said eroge)! I also like the character design for the main character. It's interesting.

Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! (6 Volumes) - Love a whole bunch of stuff. The main character has traits I really enjoy, the most stand-out of which is being unabashedly (technically not unabashedly, actually) OP and everyone recognising that is the case. I love that it's generally light-hearted and that it's an adventure story. It also does the cast pretty decently. It's not ideal, but the characters in the party have personalities and I do feel attached to them to some extent (though I may be starting to lose that a bit at this point). It's also somewhat of a problem that most of Mile's inner thoughts and jokes very specific weeb references I don't get or puns that scarcely count as puns because they only make sense with a Japanese pronunciation, for example (by Japanese pronunciation I am referring to, for example, the English words that have been incorporated into the Japanese language. Their meaning sometimes even changes and they don't always sound like the English equivalent).

 

 

After all this, I wanted to ask if anyone has any recommendations.
I'd be especially interested in anything that has romance that is actually romance and not just "feelings" that'll get addressed in the centenary volume. I can take waiting 5 volumes or something for there to be a confession or something of the sort after the interest was teased to the reader. But if that's not going to happen, then please have the decency to not tease such a thing!

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

Oh, well, here we go.

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

About the Reckless Girl Who Kept Challenging a Reborn Man Like Me  (Completed) - A oneshot. A beautiful, emotional, powerful oneshot. I think this is very much worth reading. As usual for me, Romance.

I absolutely agree! The story is absolutely beautiful and deep, and there's a very good reason why its rating on NU is so high. I believe, it was something like 4.9? It's probably one of the highest rated novels there.

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

This is a recurring issue I have with Light Novels: The non-reader-perspective characters only speak, interact, or act whenever it is convenient for the plot or if the author has determined this is to be a character interaction moment (such as some slice-of life chapters or group discussions), and they'll be ignored or just be in the background (doing not much in particular) otherwise. How can this be fixed? Well...

You know, this is exactly why I like Ascendance of a Bookworm, which just happens to have a reasonably good anime adaptation this season, as much as I do. While Myne herself plays the central role in the story, she is just a sickly little girl and can't really do anything without other people helping her. The other characters are still there, they are just living their own lives in this realistic fantasy world. They have their own problems which they have to deal with. And the worldbuilding is amazing. Really, this is my second favorite LNs of all time, people who read it in Japanese say that it gets even better later on, so there's a good chance that it will become the first.

There's no romance though. Apparently, there is some romance in the last third of the story, but the story is gigantic. I think, the original WN had something like 700 or 800 chapters, with only ~70 currently translated in the official translation (and the WN fan-translation isn't that far ahead).

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom (6 Volumes) - I loved the first two volumes! A whole lot! The themes this tackles are very much to my interest (government, politics, military, development, etc), and there is romance and development in that area! Lovely! However, the more volumes I read the more it came to suffer from the same things as Smartphone. With so many members of the cast, it becomes difficult to give them all life. Those who were interesting and intricate in 2 were by now forgotten or flanderised in 6. I can clearly recall moments created to provide them with personality and all that, but I cannot do anything but file away those attempts as generic, or at least, they failed to elicit a good reaction from my part. I have cause to believe that perhaps large casts on this level are simply unmanageable. I cannot keep an emotional connection with them all. Minatosoft most writers are not.

To be honest, I dropped it after about half of the first volume. While I'm a big fan of these types of "political" stories, I just didn't like the characters and felt like their interactions exist simply to push the story forward rather than to do anything else.

There's another light novel with a similar premise that I know, Accomplishments of a Duke's Daughter, and I personally enjoyed this one a lot more. Sadly, only the manga adaptation is officially available in English, and I wouldn't really recommend reading the WN fan-translation for various reasons. I had to drop it after the translation got kind of bad, plus the manga version, which seems to be based on the LN, is just a lot better at establishing the characters and making them stand out. So, I decided to wait before, maybe, some company decides to license the LN too. Though, I guess, since I've already been waiting for two years, maybe it's time to just read the manga or the WN...

Overall, judging by the WN version, it seems to have some similar problems as the Realist Hero (like, most secondary characters are just extremely forgettable), but I guess I just like a proud noblewoman for a MC a lot more than some random Japanese guy. There's no real romance in the part of the story that I read, though I can kind of guess who she will end up with.

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! (6 Volumes) - Love a whole bunch of stuff. The main character has traits I really enjoy, the most stand-out of which is being unabashedly (technically not unabashedly, actually) OP and everyone recognising that is the case. I love that it's generally light-hearted and that it's an adventure story. It also does the cast pretty decently. It's not ideal, but the characters in the party have personalities and I do feel attached to them to some extent (though I may be starting to lose that a bit at this point). It's also somewhat of a problem that most of Mile's inner thoughts and jokes very specific weeb references I don't get or puns that scarcely count as puns because they only make sense with a Japanese pronunciation, for example (by Japanese pronunciation I am referring to, for example, the English words that have been incorporated into the Japanese language. Their meaning sometimes even changes and they don't always sound like the English equivalent).

You know, this story is definitely far from ideal. Still, it has so many little things that just happen to appeal to me on a personal level, so I guess this is the main reason why I like it so much. For example, while it's mostly a light-hearted slice-of-life story, it still manages to build a reasonably interesting and unique fantasy world, and I'm very intrigued where the main story will lead in the future volumes. Still, the best thing about this LN is definitely Mile herself. I just love her seemingly contradicting airheaded genius personality.

Actually, there are two other LNs by the same author officially available in English, I Shall Survive Using Potions! and Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement. I read a few WN chapters for both before they were licensed. The translation was absolutely terrible, so I didn't really get very far, but they seemed pretty good, though not really as good as Average Abilities. Saving Gold has the most unique gimmick of the three though.

PS. Oh, and this doesn't really seem like your type of story, but I'm actually surprised how quickly Arifureta established the main couple. I mean, they are actually in a relationship by the end of the first volume! Not sure if I've seen another LN do that. Most I read have either late romance or no romance at all.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Dreamysyu

[Mr Poltroon 2,335]

On 07/11/2019 at 1:19 AM, Dreamysyu said:

PS. Oh, and this doesn't really seem like your type of story,

Why, exactly, would you say so? Genuinely interested in finding out if there are some reasons I might not like it.

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

On 11/9/2019 at 11:59 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

Why, exactly, would you say so? Genuinely interested in finding out if there are some reasons I might not like it.

Well, on second thought, I'm not sure. I suspected this might be a bit dark for your tastes, but you like Grisaia, and it can get a lot darker at some points in the story. Also, I feel like the dark parts are mostly there just to make the MC into a cynical chuuni edgelord, and it actually shifts towards more comedic direction starting with the second volume. Excluding the fact that the MC doesn't particularly hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his path.

I only read the 4 volumes, by the way, so it can make a complete 180 turn later on, of course. I plan to finish it, but I already spent a bit too much money on entertainment this month.

[Mr Poltroon 2,335]

19 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, on second thought, I'm not sure. I suspected this might be a bit dark for your tastes, but you like Grisaia, and it can get a lot darker at some points in the story. Also, I feel like the dark parts are mostly there just to make the MC into a cynical chuuni edgelord, and it actually shifts towards more comedic direction starting with the second volume. Excluding the fact that the MC doesn't particularly hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his path.

I only read the 4 volumes, by the way, so it can make a complete 180 turn later on, of course. I plan to finish it, but I already spent a bit too much money on entertainment this month.

Your new assessment (this one) is correct. I invested into two volumes and found that I quite like it.
I first suspected I wouldn't mind it when I first started seeing comedy pop up frequently. I believe that if you're capable of pulling these hilarious shenanigans frequently with your setting, then surely your edge is not too much for me. As of volume two I'm entirely convinced. If you have a slapstick party member then you can only be a good story in my book.

I dislike stories with pessimistic worldviews, but that isn't the case here. Not really. Enough emotional bonds have been formed that I not longer fear the story.
I dislike stories that tease things and then don't deliver on them. But this one's done a good job so far.
It seems like this story is here for the audience to enjoy, not to torture them or to make them invested to drag the story. That's excellent for me.

[Dreamysyu 1,012]

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Your new assessment (this one) is correct. I invested into two volumes and found that I quite like it.
I first suspected I wouldn't mind it when I first started seeing comedy pop up frequently. I believe that if you're capable of pulling these hilarious shenanigans frequently with your setting, then surely your edge is not too much for me. As of volume two I'm entirely convinced. If you have a slapstick party member then you can only be a good story in my book.

I dislike stories with pessimistic worldviews, but that isn't the case here. Not really. Enough emotional bonds have been formed that I not longer fear the story.
I dislike stories that tease things and then don't deliver on them. But this one's done a good job so far.
It seems like this story is here for the audience to enjoy, not to torture them or to make them invested to drag the story. That's excellent for me.

Well, if you like the comedy, then you'll most likely love the next volume then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I guess, if I'm not the only person posting in this thread anymore, I guess, I'll post about a few other things that I read recently.

So I'm a Spider. So What? I caught up with the localization (currently at volume 6), and the protagonist is still absolutely hilarious, and, moreover, my worries after finishing the second volume were completely unfounded. The plot twists so far were absolutely amazing, Ever17 level of amazing, and I suspect that it will get even better later on. The writing is also surprisingly solid. It definitely has the most complex story structure I've seen in an LN so far. The reader is only shown some parts of the big picture through different perspective, and it slowly starts making more and more sense as the story progresses, and all the little things that the story made you believe so far turn out to be completely false. Which is exactly why you should not look up anything about this series before starting it, since the spoilers are basically everywhere. I managed to avoid spoilers as I was binge-reading it, but after that I accidentally stumbled upon some big reveals that will happen later. And it doesn't help that many people read the WN version (by the way, I looked it up to see how different some scenes were there, but the translation is unreadable, so I'd definitely recommend to follow the official LN translation like I did).

 

Falling In Love With the Villainess. The rating on NU was really high, and even though this WN never had an official LN release, I didn't really consider it a problem since I know a few other great stories that are the same. Sadly, while it was really intriguing in the beginning, it turned into a massive disappointment by the end of the first story arc, and I dropped it by the middle of the second arc.

Starting with the good things. Surprisingly, I liked the romance. While the relationship between Rion and Ariel seemed kind of cancerous at first, it turned really sweet later on! Another thing, not many isekais cover the themes of social equality in the Medieval or early Modern societies, but this one did, and it was pretty interesting to see. Sadly, the plot is just trash. First of all, this is the one type of LN that really didn't need an OP protagonist. It doesn't serve any purpose at all and just makes the experience bland. Secondly, the main "villain",

Spoiler

by which I mean the rules of the world that make it roughly follow the events of game even if it doesn't make much sense,

just happens to be even more ridiculously OP, which is the opposite problem for most isekais. I mean, all fictional stories need good balance. Just as with the protagonist, if you make the villain so OP that nothing the main characters can do will change the flow of the events, the story turns extremely predictable and boring. I mean, in this particular case this is not even necessarily true, as there are some hits how the MC will be able to overcome these complications eventually. But the way the author decides to show it, with constant foreshadowing of doom and gloom and remarks of how powerless the main characters are, just gets extremely annoying after a while.

You know, ironically, this actually could turn into a really good story if it got an official release where the author would have to rewrite these annoying parts. So far, it has potential, but it's just not there.

 

Even Though I’m a Former Noble and a Single Mother, My Daughters Are Too Cute and Working as an Adventurer Isn’t Too Much of a Hassle. Well it's another story with good potential that just doesn't work because the writing sucks. To be brief, the villains are just comically evil and incompetent, while the good guys are just way too OP and just bland. I mean, I'm not to against OP characters if the book follows on comedy and SOL and not on the actual story, but, for some reason, this one decides to actually focus on the story while it would work a lot better as a healing type SOL. Dropped after 3 volumes.

 

Drop!! ～A Tale of the Fragrance Princess～ Well, it's just a very sweet shoujo novel. The story isn't particularly good, but it's an ideal story to relax to after a hard day. Also, the romance is very sweet, even if it's your typical "the girl doesn't realize her feelings, and the boy is too much of a coward to confess".

[FinalChaos 123]

20 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

So I'm a Spider. So What? I caught up with the localization (currently at volume 6), and the protagonist is still absolutely hilarious, and, moreover, my worries after finishing the second volume were completely unfounded. The plot twists so far were absolutely amazing, Ever17 level of amazing, and I suspect that it will get even better later on. The writing is also surprisingly solid. It definitely has the most complex story structure I've seen in an LN so far. The reader is only shown some parts of the big picture through different perspective, and it slowly starts making more and more sense as the story progresses, and all the little things that the story made you believe so far turn out to be completely false. Which is exactly why you should not look up anything about this series before starting it, since the spoilers are basically everywhere. I managed to avoid spoilers as I was binge-reading it, but after that I accidentally stumbled upon some big reveals that will happen later. And it doesn't help that many people read the WN version (by the way, I looked it up to see how different some scenes were there, but the translation is unreadable, so I'd definitely recommend to follow the official LN translation like I did).

Kumo Desu Ka is indeed a good novel. 
I'd read the WN quite a while back, so don't really know how different LN is. The WN did have some issues in the later parts with more perspectives being introduced, but overall wasn't too bad. Not sure till where LN has reached, but I read till the point where 'White' was introduced (not saying more cause spoilers).
Plot twists are indeed great, I especially like that the 'obvious' situations (cliches) are given some background/reasons and not just swept under the rug.
The monologue of Kumoko is a major draw point at the start and remains entertaining throughout.

Also the parallel minds are just hilarious.