Spice and Wolf volume 9 Town of Strife part 2 (Read for Fun)

Spice and Wolf volume 9  Town of Strife part 2. The second part of the first two-part adventure in the series.

I must say upfront that I did not enjoy this volume as I did the others. Despite being two volumes long, not as much appeared to happen in comparison to previous volumes. If there were many events and commotion going on I certainly didn't follow them. Lawrence acts as though he is in terrible danger right from the start, and that Kieman is a direct and immediate threat. This is before Lawrence does anything that could upset him. In fact, in the previous volume, he had affirmed his loyalty to Kieman and the Rowen Trade Guild, as though it were a matter of course. That is one of the things that confused me.

I got the feeling that there was a lot more going on between the lines and off the page than what the reader was presented with. Lawrence had a greater understanding of the situation, but did not share this information with the reader even though he shared his thoughts and feelings.  So I didn't understand why he was so nervous the whole time, and why he was so afraid of his guild's sub-leader asking him to be a messenger. Eventually, I got an inkling that Kieman was plotting a coup to usurp the leader of the Rowen Trade Guild, and that he would make life difficult for Lawrence if Lawrence refused to cooperate, but I don't think that this was ever made explicit.

What I saw was all about how intimidated he was by Kieman and Eve being administrative merchants, heads of their own companies, in comparison to the traveling merchant who makes all his deals on the spot and with immediate goals. So I guess keeping the reader in the dark was supposed to help them emphasize with how out-of-his-depth Lawrence feels in this situation. I get that. It worked. However, I didn't understand the danger he or Eve were in, and that really deflated the tension of the story for me.

Another thing that I didn't understand was all the fuss about Eve. I was under the impression that she was a traveling merchant like Lawrence back in her introduction a couple volumes back. I understand that she has a lot of connections, and that the "Bolan Company" is basically just her and these connections, but what's the deal with her in this town, and why is knowing her such a big deal. Kieman acted as though only Lawrence or a local trading company head could serve as intermediaries in his shady deal with her. 

There are other things that I didn't get about this particular story, but that would make this review longer than it already is.

I still enjoyed this book. The out-of-his-depth experience Lawrence feels is well executed, and shows a different side of him than in previous stories, so it is good character development. His banter with Holo was as good as usual, and she seems to have become comfortable enough to express her jealousy more openly. I just didn't understand the economic angle this time.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Spice and Wolf volume 9  Town of Strife part 2" a C

Click here for my next book review: Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D 5E (Read for Utility, and fun)

Click here for my previous book review (for fun) : The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts

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.