Vidia and the Fairy Crown

 I like this story for a strange reason. I'm not particularly fond of the Tinkerbell franchise, and I am way outside the target audience for this book, but I still found something fun. This book is like role-playing game's fetch quest. 

No, really! Going from one NPC to the next, talking to them and learning about the next step in the chain, and leading up to a chance-based mini-game, and all the while, one NPC is assisting the player, who is frustrated by this scenario. There's even the chance for Video-Game Cruelty Potential. I can imagine that being in a game with a morality meter. 

I also like this because it is totally an Aesop story but with a reverse angle. That is, it is a story with a moral to teach, but Vidia herself isn't the one who needs to learn anything. She really didn't do anything wrong. It is EVERYONE else who needs to learn the moral about not jumping to conclusions and the like. Furthermore, Prilla recounts a lesson that she already knows as if to remind herself; she didn't need to learn it, but it would be good for a real-life reader to learn it.

Finally, cute art! It is cute, and bright and whimsical; totally fitting the Disney idea of pixies. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Vidia and the Fairy Crown" an A+

Click here for my next book review:   The Princess and the Goblin

Click here for my previous book review:  Jewel Kingdom - the Emerald Princess Plays a Trick

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.

Sword Art Online- Alicization volume 13

I've already watched the anime and I must say I'm enjoying reading the source material. There is so much context and additional material to found, it's like experiencing the story all over again. 

For instance, in the anime, we don't get such a strong sense of the bond between Kirito and Eugeo, and particularly their respective envy and admiration. 

On one side, Euego sees Kirito as this ace warrior: flawlessly confident, highly skilled, possessing the wisdom to know how to act in all situations, and can even toss a witty quip in combat while concentrating on a spell.

On the other side, Kirito sees Euego as this sword prodigy who will definitely surpass him in short order and who possesses the determination that he lacks. It's like he thinks of Euego as the real deal, a real swordsman hero out of a story, while thinking of himself as only a gamer who happens to have lots of experience playing such a role.

Because of this, they both see themselves as less capable facing their respective challenges in this volume than the other. It also underscores the setback each of them faces in the latter parts of the novel. 

I could go on about how much I like this story, such as Euego's cleverness in his duel with Bercouli, or Kirito talking Alice onto his side, and how Alice breaks the Seal of the Right Eye, the fair-folk way that Quinella charms Euego, and how all this is written, and the emotional content added to make it all more than simple exposition, but that would make this review too long. Suffice to say, the source material is well worth a read, even if and especially if you've watched the anime already. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives Sword Art Online- Alicization volume 13 an A+

Click here for my next book review:  She Proclaimed Herself Pupil of the Wiseman - volume 2

Click here for my previous book review:  Magical JxR volume 1

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 volume 3 (read for fun)

The Slice of Life defense build continues, as fun and charming as ever. This volumes focuses on the formation of Maple Tree, the guild that Maple and Sally start with friends they've made in the game. As such, there is a lot of focus on the various members of the guild. This series is not exclusively about Maple anymore.

We get to see Kanade solving another library puzzle and experimenting with his Akashic Records. We see Chrome stumble into a special dungeon and challenge it solo (technically he has Syrup to help). We see Iz tackle a crafter-only area in search of material. There is also a pair of new characters, Mai and Yui, who created extreme builds like Maple, and we see Maple Tree nurture them into the unstoppable force to compliment Maple's unmovable object.

These scenes flesh out the world of the story by showing other players and other play styles. The way Mai and Yui play is completely different from Maple, and so they need different skills and tactics. It is also super cute and heartwarming to see a gamer veteran like Sally take them under her wing, and Maple to take them on speed runs to level grind. 

Of course, Maple herself isn't excluded. She has several solo adventures which see her gain three transformation skills. This provides more fodder for "she's the final boss" jokes.  This also shows her development as a gamer, as she tries to keep them secret in anticipation for the Fourth Event.

Yes, the Fourth Event. Like volume 2, volume 4 is looking to be a volume-long event, a guild war styled like Capture the Flag. The "Plot" of volume 3 can be described as Maple Tree preparing for this event. Naturally, other guilds are making their own preparations, and Maple Tree is on their radar. 

This is another fun and light-hearted adventure. If you liked the first two volumes, then you will like this one. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives " BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense" an A+

Click here for my next book review:  So I'm a Spider, So What? volume 6 (read for fun)

Click here for my previous book review:  Curse of Strahd - D&D 5E module (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.

SAO Spinoff Girls Ops volume 2 (read for fun)

 This is the second volume of the Sword Art Online spinoff, Girls Ops'. I checked this out of my local library at the same time as volume 1 and volume 3. I must say I have mixed feelings about this one.  It is about a contrast of content. 

Spoilers. Yes, lots of spoilers here. I need to spoil in order to make my point. So take heed, ye be warned of the dreaded spoilers!

The quest for this book is a swim suit beauty contest. Yes, really. The whole thing takes place on a beach area in Alfheim Online, and the main cast wears swimsuits for the whole thing. It is basically a Fanservice Episode. However, it is also a Take-That against fanservice episodes, and fanservice in general. Basically, that pandering to fanservice is missing the point as a storyteller, being ultimately a shallow means of grabbing attention that closes the teller off from a broader audience. 

Going off the prior volume's ending, the main cast needs to repair their armor because it was damaged in the prior volume's quest. So they travel to a renowned tailor who was recommended to Lisbeth by Asuna. This tailor, Ashley, tells them a surprisingly high price for the repairs. After explaining the debuffs currently afflicting their armor, Ashley points them towards the swim suit beauty contest. Its first prize will net them enough to pay the repair fee. 

The swim suit beauty contest rules encourage the contestants to "be the hero of the beach". Rankings in the contest are determined by the amount of attention gathered by each contestant, as determined by focused stares. However the rules clearly state that the Ethics Code is still in full effect, and that "unnecessary staring" will be reported to a game master. So right here we see the contrast, which is made explicit by Leafa: are contestants supposed to attract the sort of attention that could violate the Ethics Code?  

Reki Kawahara and the artist Neko Nekobyou cover many different types of fanservice. It is invoked by Lisbeth to attract the sort of attention that she thinks will win her group the contest. However, the more blatantly she goes into fanservice, the more her group's collective rankings drop. While they brainstorm, a crying NPC girl walks by . 

This leads to accepting the little girl's quest, to find her older sister. This ultimately leads to fighting a giant octopus monster, who had captured said older sister. They do this in front of everyone on the beach, thus gathering the most attention and winning the contest. It is implied that those higher in the rankings were completing similar quests this whole time. 

Evidently, the quest designers planned on someone taking the little girl's quest and finding the giant octopus. After realizing that the monster possessed a great advantage in its lair, the players would drive it out to the beach to deny it this advantage. Defeating this monster would earn them a great deal of attention, thus making them more likely to win the contest. 

So Lisbeth was wrong-genre-savy about the contest. The contest was never about sex appeal. It was about helping others in a beach setting. We can see this in the first chapter, where selling yokisoba was more effective in gaining attention than playing volleyball or dressing up in fanservice costumes. That is, fan service costumes other than swimsuits, of course. 

The message is loud and clear, but the volume still has the main cast and the background characters in swim suits for 90% of the story. Then there's the octopus, who engages in Silica's infamous running gag, and is also the villain of the piece. 

There are other pluses to this story that don't fit into my argument. These include Lux's continuing character development. A lot of foreshadowing is dropped regarding the history of Hiyori's "Lux" avatar, and it becomes the center piece of the next volume. Winning this beauty contest also sets up the plot for the next volume, and it happens in a very smooth way. 

So I have mixed feelings about this piece. 

I don't want to dock points for personal distaste, but I also sincerely don't think this volume is worthy of an A. I know this because volume three is worthy of an A, and volume two isn't as good as volume three. So I will settle in the middle. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "SAO Spinoff Girls Ops volume 2" a B

SAO Spinoff Girls' Ops volume 3 (read for fun)

Click here for my previous book review: Sword Art Online Girls' Ops volume one

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor 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.

MLP: Friendship is Magic Season 5

I finished watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 5 recently. I immensely enjoyed it.

The idea of Cutie-Map-Adventures is a good one because it enables different kinds of episodes. It's a Quest narrative like adventurers from another genre, but instead of something like "defeat the evil overlord" it is "solve a friendship problem". This means that the Mane Six can help someone else with their problem, in a new setting, without having to argue with each other to provide an episode's conflict.

I also like it because it shows that the writers/directors etc. aren't afraid to change the status quo. The core of the show remains the same but the nature of some of the episodes changes, there is a change to the cast (addition rather than subtraction, which I think goes better) and progress is made on another front. I'm excited to see where this is going.

Some of the episodes have a lot of songs (so many they're practically a musical), but they're good songs so I enjoy them.

Starlight Glimmer is another example of this series finding new ways to express the same core. She is a villain with a warped idea of friendship that tries to enforce this idea on others. That is not something that has been done in the series before. Nor is she some evil eldritch monster like previous Big Bads (such as Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, or Tirek). She's just a unicorn with power, talent, and a lot of motivation to fulfill her evil plan.

Some episodes were weaker than others. "What about Discord", for instance, is one that I think tried too hard pushing its central conflict. I still like but not as much as others, such as "Rarity Investigates". Being a novelist, "Canterlot Boutique" struck a special cord with me.

Trickster Eric Novels gives My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic Season 5 an A+

To read my review of "The Journal of the Two Sisters" click here

P.S. I ordered the sixth season soon after this and it arrived two days ago. I watched the opening two-parter and I'd say the season is off to great start.

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

Read for Fun: The Journal of the Two Sisters

The Journal of the Two Sisters is a companion piece to the Friendship is Magic main series. I bought it for the glimpse into the show's backstory. It definitely delivered on that.

This is backstory specifically for Celestia and Luna. It starts when they were first crowned princesses of Equestria, shortly after its founding. Their half of the book records their activities from that day through officially taking up their duty of raising the sun and moon. It fills the gap between the Unicorn Tribe doing it in the origin story, "Heartwarming Eve", and Celestia and Luna doing it in the story recounted in "Mare in the Moon". (Small note: The journal ends before Discord's reign of terror).

It is a fun read. The journal is written in-universe (what the human reader holds is a defictionalization) and so the personalities of the two princesses show in the first person narration. As it turns out, Pinkie used the Organ-to-the-outside exactly as Luna designed it. Fans rarely get to see Celestia and Luna interact as sisters and this has a lot of that. They fit the mold of the Foolish Sibling-Responsible Sibling dynamic; Celestia is a polite princess and a book nerd while Luna likes adventure and pranks.

There are lots of adventures within this tory. They range from befriending a manticore in the Everfree Forest to negotiating peace with the griffin kingdom. Also, there's something with the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE that is too awesome to spoil here.

It's not just the royal sisters. Starswirl the Bearded is also an important character here. He was basically Merlin to Celestia and Luna's King Arthur. No wonder Luna could recognize Twilight's Nightmare Night costume and praise it for accuracy. 

The second half of this book is the full version of the Mane Six's journal entries from Season 4 of the main show. It was fun to read those too but there was nothing new there.

POLISH
　
Celestia and Luna have alternating motifs of sun and moon and warm and dark colors for their pages. The art style is similar to fairy-tale recounting in "The Mare of The Moon". The Mane Six (and others) also have distinct backgrounds. This adds to the emotion of the book.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Journal of the Royal Sisters" an A+

Click here to read the next book review (a request): Tethered World Blue Star Setting

Click here to reach the previous book review (a request): Light of the Radiant


I reviewed season five of the main series as well.

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