It's no secret that Bookworm is my favorite series and that I have opinions. No wonder that I have some about Bookworm as well. So here are some unsorted points:
- I like how the last volume cleverly turned into a reprise of Myne's entire journey so far. With the possibility of a sequel series, I'm even okay with the card cut in the story and the unresolved sub-plots (Philine x Damuel for example). It's the end of her life in Ehrenfest and we might get to see how the characters fare in a new series in Alexandria. We know that Miya Kazuki isn't the type that writes as the fancy takes her and instead meticulously plans ahead, so I have faith in the sequel teaser at the end of the book. I might be huffing copium but that's what I roll with.
- One of my least favorite points in the entire story was when the whole Rozemyne x Ferdinand thing started to crystalize. The thought alone made me feel icky. Myne was mentally always an adult and with her induced growth her body mirrored her mental age, but to Ferdinand, she is the little girl he was the guardian of. In the end, I thought it was an "okay for now" solution to simply not have them have romantic love for each other for the moment. That being said, if there is a sequel it will be an uphill battle to bring me around on a romantic relationship.
- Lutz x Tuuli is another pairing I wish I knew more of. It feels like there is an untold story there and I would absolutely love to see a spinoff novel to see their point of view. More so than Hannelore's but ultimately doing a pov from someone of a completely different dutchy might be more interesting.
- I found it strange how Georgine got built up over several years as the big bad antagonist and then got killed off more or less off-screen (off-page?) by a side character. Sure Myne got her fight against Grausam at the same time, but I would have expected the main character to not just fight a minion.
- My favorite smaller moment was during part 4 with Ferdinand being tricked into playing a concert and Myne making a killing by selling collectible idol cards of him. And when Myne reunites with her commoner family right at the end. Might be recency bias but it was such a sweet moment that made me tear up and Kamil's bewilderment made me laugh at the same time.
- Lessy is love, Lessy is life. Down with all the Lessy haters. But Myne is my favorite human character. My second favorite is Justus. My least favorite is unsurprisingly Detlinde.
- I am impressed with how every volume seems better than the last one. There was up to the penultimate volume only a linear ramp-up in both the plot and my enjoyment instead of the usual up and downs other series have. I read a lot and I can't think of any other series that manages to only get better.
- I'm happy that the series managed to snatch such a great illustrator who stuck with it over the entire run. It's also interesting to go back to the first volume and compare how much You Shiina has improved over the past decade.
- I think it's unfortunate that the friendship between Myne and Frieda (granddaughter of Merchant's Guild guildmaster) didn't pan out. I wonder what happened to her.
That's everything that comes to mind right now.