Everyone has their own pet things they don’t like in fantasy light novels. Well, pretty sure almost every right thinking person hates “welp, guess I gotta have slaves”, but leaving that as a given, there are others that grate on me, and one of them is front and center at the start of this third book. I’m sure it’s from some JRPG or other, but the whole “you are given a god-given talent at Age 5 and if the common wisdom is that it sucks you are abused, disowned, abandoned, or even straight up attempted murdered”. HATE this. Hate the “lol evil parents/family” that comes from it. Hate that it’s part of the tired “your weak power is actually STRONG it’s just that everyone is an idiot!” subgenre. Hate the idea of your life being defined by your job that you don’t get to pick at all. Banished from the Hero’s Party deals with consequences of this better, here we just get the trope straight up. Kinda sucks.

Daisy is living her best life, along with her family. Sure, her brother and sister have now been chosen as the new Sage and Saint, respectively. Sure, that means that bratty nobles are challenging them to duels. But come on, they’re in this series and related to Daisy, they’ve got it made. Unfortunately, one day Daisy comes across a young girl who’s just gotten her Alchemist job being screamed at and abandoned by her father. (Who is a royal knight, by the way, in case you wondered if he was dumb as well as evil.) Daisy sees a lot of herself in this little girl, who looks, frankly, exactly like her only five years younger (see cover). And so Daisy talks to her family and they end up adopting the girl, Lily. Which is a good thing, as she also has a special God blessing, special alchemy powers, and is also the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I kid because I love, trust me. This series remains ridiculous, and has the characterization of an underweight. Actually, Lily got so good so fast I wondered if there would be an arc where Daisy felt jealous of her younger adopted sister, but no fear, Daisy is still too awesome for words, and also gets ennobled here, at ten years old. Elsewhere, she starts to create all the things she and her party will need to take on the tower she couldn’t take on last book; she invents moisturizer, lip balm, and Montessori schools, and she picks up an apprentice, who I thought might become a second potential toy ship love interest, but the author makes sure to give the 7-year-old kid a 7-year-old sweetheart, so no worries there. Even the King finds everything about Daisy and her family delightful.

There are a few ominous hints at drama in future books (the other elves are not very proactive), but for the most part, again, here is Daisy. Ain’t she grand?

Last time I was worried about what the series was going to do with Liz, but I ended up reading into the setting too much. Just like Alicia, I am far too aware of the otome game origins of this world, so I naturally assumed that Liz’s stubborn hyper-idealism and unconscious charm power were going to be near impossible to get rid of without sterner methods. As it turns out, though, Liz lives in reality like the rest of the cast do, and therefore all it takes is just talking to her and trying to convince her that she’s doing this mostly because she’s jealous of Duke loving Alicia. Which is really easy to do, as if Liz is aware of anything it’s that. While there is a bit of tough love involved, it’s rather startling how easily everything falls into place. Which is good, as we may be seeing a plague soon.

The book alternates POV between Gill, dealing with things back in Durkis, and Alicia, who is still “in disguise” as part of her exile to Laval. As it turns out, the fact that she’s a woman gets revealed pretty fast. She’s now being monitored by second prince Victor, who is intrigued by her and also kind of a massive jerk. And then there’s the first prince, who Alicia tries to get to meet… and when she does discovers a secret that really surprised me. She also meets two young criminals, one of whom seems to have “spot sickness”, a deadly disease which can only be cured by the usual “impossible to get to flower” that you usually see in fantasy books. Hopefully she can get it soon, as Durkis also has someone down with Spot Sickness…

There’s lots of interesting stuff going on, some of which I broke down earlier in my review, i.e. the stuff with Liz. But the big surprise was Vian, the first prince… who it turns out loves makeup and dresses, and wants Alicia to use the name Vivian. I’m not sure how much of a trans narrative I’m supposed to read into this, but the fact that it treats Vian’s desires completely seriously, and forces us to think about the issues that a first prince who will someday take over the kingdom would have with wanting to dress as a woman and use a woman’s name… I really hope that we’re not done with this plot now that Vian has found a confidante in Alicia, and that it may go places. Elsewhere, she’s slowly learning about the kingdom she’s been exiled to, bonding with her grandfather, and also starting to get pain and reactions in her missing eye, which she is 100% in denial about. I am fairly certain the next book is going to kill off one of the cast.

Still good, and it’s surprising me by going places I didn’t expect. This may be the best volume yet.

SEAN: I was pretty charmed by the simple plot of The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen, so the second volume is my pick this week.

KATE: I freely admit that this week’s new arrivals didn’t set my heart (or wallet) aflame, so I’m going off list to recommend Akari, which was nominated in the Best One-Short category for this year’s American Manga Awards. It’s beautifully illustrated and genuinely moving—keep a box of Kleenex handy! You can order copies directly from Glacier Bay Books.

MICHELLE: I’m also down for Smells Like Green Spirit this week.

ANNA: There’s honestly not a lot that appeals to me this week, so I’m just going to highlight the Red River rerelease as my pick. It is such a treat when series that came out some time ago get new editions!

I had heard, when I began the 7th arc in this series, that I would not enjoy it as much as the previous ones, as I’ve said in previous reviews. And yet I was unprepared for how much of an absolute grind this book was, especially in the first half. I suppose the reason that everything comes to a grinding halt is to show how important an ally Yoruna is going to be, and how it should be fairly easy to get her on their side, which a lot of people don’t want. But man, this really felt like a lot of running around to pad a word count. There’s also the latest change to Subaru, which also takes in Medium and Al. I get the sense the author is happy that Subaru has grown as a person but also finds it really inconvenient as a storyteller, so finds any excuse to reset things back to “oh no, flail flail”. That said, not without some good things, see below.

Abel’s group has been invited for an audience with Yoruna… unfortunately, Subaru wakes up looking like a ten-year-old child! And he’s not alone, as Medium and Al (who takes it VERY badly) are also trapped in kid bodies… and, it becomes increasingly clear, more immature mindsets as well. This turns out to be the work of the first divine general, Orbart, who offers to turn them back to normal… if they can defeat him in hide and seek. (Tag was suggested, but it may be too difficult.) They manage to find him once, but the second time proves much harder. What’s worse, Subaru has been lulled into a false sense of security, possibly not helped by Rem, and reveals who Louis is to everyone. This goes VERY badly.

The highlight of the book, written to BE a highlight of the book, is Subaru’s nightmarish ten-second loop of death, one where he actually thinks it’s different that Return by Death because he’s just not getting ANYWHERE, it goes on forever, and he’s just constantly being brutally murdered over and over. It’s the shortest loop we’ve ever seen in the series to date, and it fits with his childish regression that he’s going through, which may also be affecting his memory. The reaction of everyone to Louis, meanwhile, is a great worldbuilding way of showing that Subaru does not ALWAYS have to tell everyone everything in order to move on with life, and that in fact hiding an archbishop is usually punishable by death. Lest we forget, the Gluttonies were terrifying, and just because Louis seems to have gotten a brain wipe doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Also unfortunately for Subaru, he may not be able to return to adulthood anytime soon, as something goes wrong with his body and this world again, which leads to hideous cliffhanger, and I am hoping a bit more forward progress in the next book. Halfway there.

It is something of a shame that the light novels in this series don’t get any love in North America – well, at least the official releases, I’m sure hardcore Index fans are still swearing by the fan TL as they check out Genesis Index’s latest volume. They may be full of gobbledegook, posturing, and sophistry, but they’re very entertaining despite all that. In particular, before I started this review I glanced at my review of the previous book. First I got sad, as I realized we’re down to twice a year, so this gets even further behind the thirteen years it’s already behind Japan. Then I was amused, as I saw all my predictions about what was happening with Touma and what would be happening here, and boy was I wrong. As it turns out, Thor has the right idea, and Touma is not going to be undergoing any character development to become nuanced and realistic. He is a shonen manga hero, and this is a shonen manga series, in prose form. Just punch things righteously, dummy.

We pick up where we left off, with everything in chaos. Touma’s trying to run around and solve everything despite having been shot, and his gunshot wound keeps reopening. Mugino is being confronted with the corpse of her old teammate back from the dead, and … well, it’s Mugino, so you should know that wasn’t really going to work on her. Sorry, Frenda fans, she’s still dead. Accelerator is having to deal with the return of Kakine, who has discovered psychological warfare really works on someone as guilt-ridden as Accelerator is. Kakine’s bug-shaped minions are also chasing after Last Order, Fremea, Hamazura, Takitsubo, and Yoshikawa, an odd little combination. Fräulein Kreutune is going mad because she’s trying not to eat brains and failing. And, most importantly, it’s a cameo from Shokuhou Misaki! She’s in the novels at last! For about a page.

Given that I was very unhappy with Kakine’s return in the last book, I cannot begin to explain how delighted I am with Rhinoceros Beetle 05. Index has already dabbled in “clones of the original gain their own sentience and do different things” with the Misakas, of course, but this is even more old-school shonen, the minion who turns good and risks his very life and soul defending the girls from his former allies. I cheered this whole plotline. I also smiled awkwardly at Touma. His fighting had indeed gotten a lot more clever and analytical, and his idea on how to resolve Fräulein Kreutune’s issue is brilliant. But that has nothing to do with his HEART! It’s all about GUTS! And so yeah, Touma saves the girl, because that is what Touma does. He also has a big shonen “let’s hit each other with fists till we pass out” fight with Thor, who manages to be even MORE shonen. It’s kinda dumb, but you’ll be grinning.

Did I mention there’s a festival? There is! Next time, all the magic folks have gone home for now, so it’s time for an All-Science side book. I’ll keep reading it, even as the ending will likely come out here after I die.

This was well-written, and I enjoyed it, but I have to say that diminishing returns are starting to set in. I am wondering how many times we can go to the well of what it means to be a hero, and how many times we’re going to get a clever identity twist. The bulk of this book is written knowing that the reader will be trying to “work out” what is happening, so there are lots of false clues and real clues scattered throughout. More importantly, though, we’re back with the cast of the first book, and we get to see what they were like as they started out on their journey. Unsurprisingly, the answer is “not great”. They’re abrasive, strong, and somewhat rotten personalities, with the exception of Ares, and he feels like he’s unable to corral them because they’re all so much better than he is. The real plot of this book may be fixing that mindset, which he does thanks to a real swell guy.

In a prologue, we see a princess open a coffin whose contents surprise her. We then cut to Zack, who is walking the city during a memorial festival when he is accosted by the same princess, who asks a very pointed question: Did he kill her brother? We then flash back to Ares and his team setting off to kill the demon lord, passing through Ludonia, where they can get some experience killing monsters and working as a team. Which they need, as they’re horrible at working as a team, mostly as Leon, Maria and Solon dislike each other intensely. Almost wiped out by an ambush, they’re rescued by Carlos, the prince of Ludonia – and the country’s hero, who defends it from demons, and who has an entourage that worships the ground he wanks on. Compared to Carlos, Ares is just this guy, you know? Still, unsurprisingly with this series, there’s more going on than what’s on the surface.

Ares remains the best part of this book. He and the author clearly define hero the same way, but there are others who see “hero” the same way you would define “savior” or “messiah”, and that’s a problem, especially when you have two heroes in the same castle. We also hear about shapeshifters, who can supposedly disguise themselves perfectly as a friend or ally, but who may or may not exist. It should not surprise anyone to learn that we are led to believe a certain thing about the traitorous shapeshifter, then have it go another way, and then have it go a mysterious third way. I felt Carlos’ story was very strong, although not as strong as Ares’. If there’s a weakness in the book it’s Erena, Carlos’ sister and the princess I mentioned earlier. She doesn’t get much to do for plot reasons, and the ending, which is meant to be more ambiguous and less triumphant than the first two books, also reads a bit like the author had hit a word limit.

There’s apparently a fourth book in the series just out in Japan, so apparently we can go to the well at least once more. I did enjoy reading this, but I would like the author to move on to other series, perhaps. Don’t overegg the pudding.

The author indicates, in the afterword, that they are already not a fan of harem series, and now that Carmine has a wife and two concubines they do not plan to add any more to the pile. This is a great shame, because in the same afterword the author talks about how much they love writing strong female characters, and we get another one here who is absolutely magnificent. Last time we introduced fantasy Mei Hatsume, this time we get a successful version of Leeroy Jenkins. She’s a Count, she was raised as a boy (though thinks of herself as a girl), she is fantastic at battle but kinda dumb about everything else, and she thinks Carmine is the best thing since sliced bread. She’s ready to fight and die for him. Which is good, as everyone keeps trying to attack his Empire. Carmine will need Leeroy-chan, as well as Mei Hatsume, even though he finds it really hard to deal with both.

The volume divides neatly into two parts. The first half is all politics and strategy, as Carmine has the weddings for his other two brides while also feeling out all the envoys and representatives from other countries who came to them and seeing what they’re after. He does this even during his wedding night, much to the displeasure of a pouting but underage Nadine, who has to fall asleep on the bed. He meets a foreign prince, who seems difficult to deal with, a creepy mind-controlling noble, who seems VERY difficult to deal with, and also has to deal with the “I’m just a moe blob” merchant we met a few books ago, who is most definitely NOT a moe blob. In the second half of the book, Carmine takes his army out on the road again, to defend the Empire from invaders, and, like a lot of this series, everything goes really well until it doesn’t.

I was a little more interested in the battles this time around, possibly because of the presence of Leeroy – OK, I can’t keep calling her that. Because of the presence of Alumel de Severe, aka Count Ethiac. The chapter describes her as a meathead knight, which is true, but this is not to say she ONLY does “hit with sword”. When Carmine breaks down exactly what’s happening on the battlefield, she’s very quick to pick up on what he means. In fact, a bit more than what he means – she ascribes several things to him that aren’t actually his idea, but he lets it slide as she’s hard to deal with. (I’m sure he won’t regret that horribly later.) As a result, I was able to keep up myself, as I am also not one for endless Axis and Allies scheming back and forth. I also loved the reappearance of Valenriehl, and how in particular not only can Carmine not stand her to the point where he debates just killing her, but everyone else’s reaction is “I can’t believe you’re trying to work with that thing.” The author not only writes strong female characters, but they’re all fun. I actually do want Alumel as a concubine! (Not so much the mad scientist.)

Sadly, due to a nasty cliffhanger – again – all may be lost – again. There’s 11 volumes in Japan, though, so probably not.

MICHELLE: And evil lettuce.

ANNA: Yes, I’m scared of evil lettuce now.

SEAN: Airship has the print debut of The Dangers in My Heart – The Novel (Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu), a light novel spinoff of the hot manga that looks at the main couple through the eyes of the other characters.

Also in print: My Girlfriend Cheated on Me, and Now My Flirty Underclassman Won’t Leave Me Alone 2.

They also have a digital-only debut. Reluctant Space Commander: From Death Wish to Galactic Hero! (“Koko wa Makasete Saki ni Ike!” o Shitai Shinitagari no Nozomanu Uchuu Gekokujou) stars a guy who wants to end it all after his girlfriend dumps him. He’ll join the Space Corps and have a noble death! The trouble is, he’s too good at Space Corps!

ANNA: I hate it when that happens!

ASH: Right?

SEAN: And in early digital we see Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 3, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… 8, and Too Many Losing Heroines! 8.

Ghost Ship has The Elf Sisters Can’t Wait for the Night 5 and Ero Ninja Scrolls 10.

Ize Press have two debuts. Seven Sundays is a BL title about a guy, Taeyang, who sees his ex again, only to find he has a kid… named after Taeyang!

ASH: Not to be confused with the BL title Seven Days.

SEAN: Solo Leveling: Ragnarök is a sequel to Solo Leveling. Further, deponent sayeth not.

ASH: The original, at least, is a popular series.

SEAN: Also from Ize Press: Finding Camellia 8, I Tamed My Ex-Husband’s Mad Dog 7, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 4 (the novel), Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 11 (the manhwa), The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine 8, Tomb Raider King 15, and The World After the Fall 14.

Another light J-Novel Club week. For light novels they have The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons 5, The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place 5, and The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged 7.

And for manga there is Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 8, Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 9, and What’s with the Bag, Kamiyama-san? 3.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut. Smells Like Green Spirit is a BL title from Comic Be, with both volumes being released as one big one-shot. In a rural town, a boy is bullied for being gay. Then he finds a secret love with the school’s soccer star. Can they explore their love in a town like this?

MICHELLE: Sounds potentially interesting.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also in print: Blue Lock 32, Cells at Work! Lady 4, Gachiakuta 11, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 13, Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow 3, and The Magnificent Bastard 3.

Digitally we have A Couple of Cuckoos 29, Fungus and Iron 9, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 22.

One Peace Books has The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible 2.

Seven Seas has a danmei finale, the third and final volume of The Wife Comes First: Qi Wei Shang.

There are no debuts, but we do get Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 3, Grand Metal Organs 3, Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! 5-6, KILLING ME / KILLING YOU 2, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 23, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 22, Perfect Addiction 2, Perfect Buddy 6, Tales of the Hundred Monsters Next Door 3, and The Titan’s Bride 9.

Square Enix Manga has a 2nd volume of A Howl of the Heart.

Tokyopop has a one-shot, 300 New Days With You (Wasureru Kimi to no 300 Nichi). This BL title that ran in Chara. A meteor leaves thousands with memory loss… including one half of the main couple here! Is it worth staying together if your other half suddenly has no interest as he doesn’t remember?

MICHELLE: Sweet and potentially sad BL is appealing.

SEAN: Retailers say Udon Entertainment has More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers 3.

Viz Media debut Alice in Borderland Retry, a spinoff of the manga where Arisu finds himself back at the ol’ death game again. This ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and is complete in one omnibus.

The other debut is Taika’s Reason (Taika no Risei), the latest from the author of BEASTARS. It runs in Weekly Shonen Champion. Pets have been turning into anthros, and our heroine finds her pet dog has murdered her dad… so her mom decides to humanize him! Honestly, the BEASTARS author has gotten a bit too weird for me.

MICHELLE: Yeah…

ANNA: OK, not really into this.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Also from Viz: #DRCL midnight children 6, Boy’s Abyss 14, Bug Ego 2, The Climber 6, Kingdom 9, Moriarty the Patriot 20, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen 2, Record of Ragnarök 19, Red River 3-in-1 8, Rooster Fighter 10, and Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi 2.

ANNA: Still glad Red River is being re-released!

ASH: Ditto! And I really need to get around to starting The Climber.

SEAN: And that’s it? What manga are you rolling around with in the middle of a field?

Yes, that’s right, we finally get a volume dedicated to Irina… well, a bit. She’s still not really getting as much screen time as the main cast, but at least there are events here that rely on her being who she is, which is a step up from “random girl says dialogue X”, her role in the last eight or nine books. Irina is very fortunate in that this is a harem series that we already know is going to end with multiple wives, and therefore she should be fine. Because really, she is the definition of the Unlucky Childhood Friend from these romcoms, the sort who shows up again and the hero doesn’t even remember much about them. Or mistakes them for a boy. Fortunately, Issei’s memory is getting better, and the two of them have possibly the second sweetest relationship in this entire series. (Asia still exists.) Unfortunately, since he’s a demon adn she’s an angel, sex is out of the question, right? Well, surely there are ways around that…

So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun. And looking to the future, of course, because it’s only just begun. Issei and company are getting ready to celebrate the holiday by giving out presents to folks in the town, which has started to get a bit hammered by constant demon vs. demon battles. Helping out in this will be Irina’s father, who is a higher-up in the Church and is very much in favor of Issei x Irina – to the point that he and heaven have developed a separate dimension just for her and Issei to safely get it on. Unfortunately, sex will have to wait, not just because this is the sort of series that only relies on edging the reader, but also because someone is going around killing Church personnel, and it turns out to be connected to a cover-up in the past. One that might impact Issei and Rias in the future.

I’d mentioned in the last couple of reviews that Issei was getting a bit less perverse, and clearly the author noticed this as well, because it’s lampshaded here, with people wondering why he wasn’t busting out the humiliating sexist moves on his female opponents. But it’s because Issei, like the rest of the cast, is getting better at fighting, and can usually skate by with just punching things really hard like a normal shonen battle manga. As for Irina, she’s here to be the shiny innocent one – indeed, that’s ALSO lampshaded, as Michael says the reason that he picked her to head up his angel task force is she’s so kind and pure and etc. And dull, frankly, but they can’t ALL be like Akeno. As for the plot, well, erm, bad guys doing very well, actually. In terms of the fights the good guys win because they coordinate, but in terms of results achieved, not great.

We’re heading closer to the end of the series (I’ll believe Yen has the spinoffs and sequels planned when I see it). Asia’s the new club president. And so now it’s time for Xenovia to see if she can also become president… student council president. That is if the world doesn’t end first. We’ll find out!

We may have finally drained the Avian well dry (or maybe not – I hear there’s another spinoff just started that features them), but that doesn’t mean we’re going back to the main girls for these short stories. In fact, as the cover might suggest, the main girls, with one or two minor exceptions, don’t appear in this story at all. That’s because, despite the formatting, this really isn’t a short story collection at all, it’s a prequel, dealing with Inferno, the spy group Klaus was drafted into years ago, and how they trained him to be what he is today, as well as hinting at their tragic downfall. It honestly may be the best collection to date, and despite the ending being as sad as you’d expect (I am thankful the writer did not go full Se7en on us, but it was close enough that I did not like it), most of this can best be described as heartwarming or funny. Mostly as Inferno have adopted a feral cat. Named Klaus.

In a prologue, we see Guido, who we know well from the start of this series, coming across a terrifying monster who steals food and leaves it with kids. This turns out to be Klaus, who is ten years old and turns out to have been named by Guido. Klaus is feral, and I mean that sincerely. Over the course of the book, we get the other members of Inferno giving their brief opinions of Klaus (they like him, with the exception of the tsundere in the group), we get four stories. 1) Guido takes Klaus on his first mission, taking out a gang, as well as its leader who is busy trying to train his eldest daughter Sybilla to be a murderer; 2) Gerde takes Klaus on a mission to see who is killing a politician’s allies, and Klaus starts to gain empathy; 3) the twins take Klaus to another country to learn how to read people and also the fine art of triple crossing, and 4) Heide and Klaus go to see why their agents keep disappearing, and Klaus learns some unfortunate things. Well, unfortunate for him, Heide seems happy.

Heide was probably my favorite part of this book (and I was highly amused at the author writing it so that it made emotional and storytelling sense that they had sex, while at the same time leaving an out just in case it needs to be taken back later). Heide is an annoying older sister-style brat, but like a lot of those she is annoying out of love. Really, the whole group is great. Unfortunately, as Veronica points out, Klaus has gotten TOO close with them, too involved, and throughout this book we see her and Guido yelling at each other in the background, and we know how that turns out. The final story, written for this book (the other four were in Dragon Magazine) shows us where Klaus was when Inferno were wiped out, and the answer is “in a horror movie” essentially. Still, Klaus ends up taking the right lesson from his time with Inferno, and resolves to build a new family for himself. It’s really sweet, in a tragic spy sort of way.

Also check out the afterword, which has the author’s “stories that will never be written”, some of which are funny, and some of which are kind of creepy. The anime may have tanked this series,l but the books are still great.