Scarlet Soul volume 1

In which Shoujo is mistaken for Shounen. 

This is something I found in my local library. It sounds like a shouen fighting story given its premise, paraphrased as "girl from a family of exorcists literally takes up her big sister's sword to fight off an invasion of evil demons". It's not.  Maybe this is due to a slow-paced start, but the first three chapters aren't like that at all.  The actual content of the chapters give far more weight to the heroine's relationship with her best friend / love interest, so it's more like shojou. I suppose the cover should have been indicative of that. 

Anyway, the first three chapters establish the situation of the heroine, Rin Shirano. She is an outcast from her household for a number of reasons, and feels directionless in life. Her only supporters are her best friend, Aghyr, and her big sister, Lys, who, incidentally, is the only living member of her family. Then ominous news arrives, and Lys disappears. It is one of the longer uses of Call to Adventure that I have seen. Until the end of chapter 3, there isn't much of the premise to be seen. A lot of smoke but no fire. 

This isn't a bad thing, necessarily, just not what I was expecting. Even the climatic scene of this volume is light on the fighting, and places more emphasis on Rin's emotional growth. That is definitely a good scene. Rin has great character development in this volume. 

The art is beautiful. That is unqualified. The characters look great, the environments looks great, and the scenes of tragedy have this vividly gruesome vibe to underscore the tragedy. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Scarlet Soul volume 1" a C

Click here for my next book review:   Lizzie Newton - Victorian Mysteries V1

Click here for my previous book review: BOFURI - I don't want to get hurt so I'll max out my defense - light novel volume 2

Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

BOFURI - I don't want to get hurt so I'll max out my defense - light novel volume 2

 Welcome back to New World Online! It is surprising how much fun it is to read about someone else playing a VMMORPG. Yuukikan does this very well.  

This volume is different from the first in that its scope is entirely the Second Event. It is a treasure hunt across a massive area, seeded with boss areas, dungeons, and puzzles for the players to find. The rewards are silver medals, which can be exchanged for special skills.  There are other rewards, for those players skilled or lucky enough to find them. 

The main charm of this series, for me, is how it can be exciting and chill at the same time. When you read about Maple and Sally exploring a haunted forest and encountering ghosts, it is like reading about an adventuring team on a mission. The battle with the uber-boss Silver Wings is tough even for broken builds like theirs, and so it is fun to read and relaxing at the same time. This is just a game, not even a high stakes game. It is two girls having fun, which allows the reader to share in their chill fun even when things are challenging or fatiguing for them. Everything about this story is about having fun.

It's not just that. The fact of the game world itself is used to good effect. Part of this is the subplot of the game's admins being driven mad by Maple's antics. Our charming protagonist frustrates them with her unconventional build and out-of-the-box tactics; she breaks their game's balance. A couple interludes are reserved for them and their reactions to what Maple does. Another part of this is Sally.

Sally is a veteran gamer. This volume serves to more fully introduce her, since she was unavailable for much of the first volume. Her build is not so unconventional as Maple's, but her skill is such that she is just as broken. She terrorizes other players to the point that a rumor starts of her being a secret field boss, and she roleplays that for fun, because this is a game. 

This volume is a great follow-up to the first.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "BOFURI -  I don't want to get hurt so I'll max out my defense" light novel volume 2 an A+

Click here for my next book review: Scarlet Soul - volume 1

Click here for my previous book review: No Game No Life - Practical War Game

Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

No Game No Life - Practical War Game (read for fun)

 "Practical War Game" is basically a second a second look at Disboard's Great War era. Volume 6 was about the Human perspective, and this volume includes the Elves and the Flügels. 

For the Elves, the situation is pretty stable. Their high skill with magic enables them to build many great cities and keep them in existence, mostly safe from danger. There's always the possibility of some living weapon flying by and blowing you up, as if they were pouring water down an ant hill, but that is a remote possibility. Battles are won and lost, and any one of them doesn't mean much in the long term; wins are celebrated, and losses are troubling, but it all evens out in the end. The Great War continues much the same. Like with the humans, this is just how the world works. 

It is in this situation that Nina Clive meets Think Nirvalen. The latter believes she can end the war by killing everyone, including the elves, and she is serious about this. She's also crazy. Her reactions with Nina form the bulk of their story, and it is like a Straight-Man and Wise-Guy routine. 

For the Flügels, their situation is the most stable. As a race of living weapons, they delight in the chaos and the bloodshed of the Great War. Yet they live on a floating homeland far from the destruction. Jibril spends her time searching for challenging opponents and couldn't care less about the deeper issues that occupy the minds of humans, elves, dragons and even her own creator. 

As I read this book, it sounded like Yuu Kamiya was using "ways to respond to existential crisis" as a theme for all the stories here. It is the only thing I can think of that links all the stories here. 

Finally, this volume includes raunchier material than previous volumes. The book says, "ages 16 and up", and it is not kidding. Nothing is explicitly sexual. That line isn't crossed. But the bar is higher than in previous volumes. This is hinted at by the book's cover page, which is why I'm not including it here. I'm not factoring this into my overall rating because I don't know how to do so. My rating system was not made with this sort of thing in mind. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "No Game No Life: Practical War Game" an A+

Click here for my next book review: BOFURI - I don't want to get hurt so I'll max out my defense - light novel volume 2

Click here for my previous book review:  Princess Juniper of the Anju (read for fun)

Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.