LightNovels

The Retired Demon of the Maxed-Out Village: Volume 2 - Managed to finish this volume. I liked the first one well enough but this time it was a drag to read through. The series seems to follow an approach where it revolves around the story of a different visitor to the village in each volume. The visitor in this volume didn't do it for me at all. I really couldn't care less about whether she lived or died and that made it so sluggish to read. The people I wanted to read about were just set dressing with very little screen time (word time? page time?). I'm not sure if I continue this series. - 3/10

Just finish part 2 of Bookworm.

If anyone is thinking of picking it up after watching the anime I cannot think of anything that changed apart from some extra details but I would still recommend reading part 1 and 2. If not at least read the epilogue of part 2 volume 4 and the side stories at the end.

The ending of part 2 hit harder than the anime and the side stories give a lot of extra details and insights into the other characters.

This is more like the list of books I've read in the past two weeks which is why there are so many.

The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time - A revenge isekai + time loop story comparable to "Redo of Healer" without the sexual assault. If its what you're looking for its enjoyable. There is an interesting magic mechanic where characters can vow revenge together and their hatred towards a target is shared. Sometimes I felt it was a bit too convenient. For example the protagonist wants to kill a former party member for betraying him. It then comes out that the person is also a pedophile. To me, I was already on board and adding reasons why revenge is justified brings me out of the story. Finally, I can't say more without spoilers, but the author uses the fact it is an isekai to do some interesting things in the later chapter that I haven't seen done before.

The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices - Surprisingly good. I was not expecting much going in, but enjoyed it a lot. I'd recommend to anyone interested in fantasy political intrigue or romance. It takes place in the world of a BL novel, but is not a BL novel itself. The main character is a straight woman. The story deals with the main character being a fan of BL stories in the "real world" versus being a person being forced to actually live in that situation. The lore of the world is interesting as well. I'm not sure if this should really be marked as spoilers since this is only my speculation and not confirmed, but

speculation

the god of the world might be turning men gay.

The main inciting incident of the plot is the protagonist claiming to have a boyfriend, and then needing to back up that claim by finding a partner in a world where 90% of the available men are gay. Its both funny, but also serious.

Kunon the Sorcerer Can See - One of the least 'trope-y' fantasy light novel's I've read recently. I liked it a lot. The world building and magic system is consistent. There is a cool twist in the book that I would not have thought of. Highly recommended. Its one of those stories I wish I hadn't found so soon so that I could binge more of it at once.

The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend - They can't all be winners. DNF. This is one of the most straightforward, cliche romance stories I have read. Incredibly dense protagonist, childhood friends, forgotten promises, the works. I normally enjoy romance, but there has to be some twist to it. Comparing this to "The Angel Next Door", in that story the protagonist's reluctance is explained by is trust issues due to being betrayed by his friends in middle school. This story has no such justification. Maybe I've gotten to the point where I've read to many of these books, but I really did not like this. If this was your first light novel/anime style romance story you'd probably enjoy it a lot more than I did. The one good thing I got out of this story was it made me re-read the Nagatoro manga to experience a good high school romance story.

Maiden of the Needle - Technically I have not finished this story yet. Its a good rags-to-riches type Cinderella story with a cool magic system where people weave spells into clothes. My biggest complaint is that there is a hard tone shift at about 80% of the way through the story where there is suddenly a lot of action and a lore dump out of no where. It seems like this story needed a better editor.

I'm working my way through the wandering inn, currently on 2. I just really enjoy how the writer does character development and how they balance slice of life VS combat situations. They're doing an interesting thing with timing for this book, they'll often go back in time to show events from other characters perspectives and they do it so well that no single perspective ever feels like it's missing something. Others perspectives only add more instead or filling in the gaps. Halfway through but I'm thoroughly enjoying it and unlike other LitRPGs they don't bog down the story with tons of stats constantly.

I'm listening to the auidbook so I hope that's OK but I can't recommend it enough, the voice actress is amazing. Especially how she does voices for other species.