English is not my first langue and the lack of finely polished prose when crafting my reviews is the sole thing holding this community back. In order to not further subject you fine people to my peasant words, I decided to employ the help of an artificial ghostwriter to spruce up my works for this week’s Midweek Discussion. At least that was my initial course of action, but as hillarious as the results were it doesn’t leave much space open for discussion. So I decided to do start a little quiz instead. I spruce up light novel titles instead for you all to guess:

1. "I have ascended to unparalleled strength, wielding diminutive incantations to obliterate all opposition."
2. "The leisurely adventures of a seasoned herder, who has embarked upon her journey at an unconventional juncture in time."
3. "Culinary Adventures: Preparing Delectable Dishes from Exotic Game Ingredients"
4. "A Symphonic Odyssey through the Land of the Afterlife: A Tale of Perilous Travel to an Altered Universe."
5. "Tired of this languid existence? Having been reborn as a preeminent Elven being, my current state is one of profound ennui."

This should be enough to get the guessing going. Feel free to add your own so that I get to guess as well. (prompt was simply "Rewirte the following to make it sound more eloquent: [TITLE]”)

edit: Answers:

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

If anyone wants to help with placing pixels then feel free.

I'm running out of ideas, so this week it's a free4all.

Want to tell me how retarded your sister is? Have at it! Need to convince me that Saiki is the best Band Maid member? Already sold! Gawr Gura: gremlin or genius? Why not both! Have something cool to show off? I love seeing pictures of cool stuff.

You get the drift. Have something you always want to get off your soul, this is your chance.

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

Another week, another episode of the crowd pleaser Midweek Discussion. This time let's discuss the other half of what makes a light novel a light novel.

Most of the time I have to say that I don't really give much thought to the illustrator. I might read an LN and think, oh "That art style looks good" or "That design is interesting", but most of the time I won't even remember the name of the artist even in those cases, and if they were silently replaced I would be oblivious to it. That doesn't mean that the illustrations are irrelevant though. The art style alone has a big influence of how I perceive a text. The artwork on the cover will set the tone with which I read that novel. I will interpret a scene differently if there is a derpy artwork on the cover versus a grimdark one for example. Sure the prose can overcome the

But there are exceptions. Illustrators that I find absolutely essential to a series. You Shiina (no, not you! the illustrator /sigh) is one such example, but that's too on the nose. So I would like to point out so-bin instead. The illustrator of the Overlord series. His artwork stands out so much amongst the mass of LN illustrations. You could just get a glimpse of an Overlord illustration and immediately recognize from which series it comes.

This does not only apply to the cover illustrations but also the in-chapter illustrations as well (one more because I couldn't choose just the two examples).

TL;DR: so-bin good.

So, my questions for this week are:

• do you have favorite illustrators and who are they?
• how important are the illustrations to you?
• what are good examples (I admit that's just an excuse of a question for me just wanting to see pretty pictures)
• what would you like to see more in LN illustrations? For example, I would like to see more establishing shots instead of just key moments or character introductions.

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

No books are allowed here this week. Tell me how you spend your free time when you're not reading.

When I'm not reading or watching anime I'm usually playing games. This used to be my main hobby but for the last several years I kinda lost interest and are now just playing in bursts whenever something catches my fancy. I'm finishing up the last bits and bobs of Shadow of the Erdtree right now and I might start Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance next. Just like the non-remake version, I played it for about 30 minutes and then something else caught my eye. This time I want to pick it back up and not just forget it again, but my backlog is insane and it feels more like an obligation than something I actually want to do (which takes a lot out of the fun of the whole thing).

I also started to get into cooking for the past 5 years or so and are currently in my creative phase where I try to come up with new stuff instead of following recipes. It's not good honestly...

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

Reading through D-Genesis which is an extreme example of a LN written from multiple POVs got me thinking about this. I can't think of a single instance where I like the multiple POV type of writing. I enjoy a bonus chapter from a fresh POV well enough, but in the main body I want to follow a single protagonist and I find it tiresome to emotionally adjust to a new protagonist in short order.

What do you all think about this? Are there any LN with multiple POVs that are good?

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

Which LN has the best ad?

My pick would be Re:Zero. The first season is so well done that I had to pick up the LN to see how it continues.

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

I had a day off on Monday so my wetware got confused and thought it's only Tuesday. That's why I don't have anything prepared for the Midweek-Discussion. I call a lazy day and just ask y'all what your favorite "normie book" is. We've seen a few already on April 1st but where they your favorite?

I would start with my favorite but I cannot in good conscience tell you about it because it will never get to the last book in the trilogy and letting readers hang is probably somewhere listed in the Geneva Conventions as a war crime. It's been over a decade and I still made myself depressed again just thinking about it right now, so go on and tell me about your favorites to cheer me up.

Digital Releases

Physical Releases

Audio Releases

Last week I read a book where the protagonist did the usual Hollywood good-guy thing where he refused to kill the antagonist because that would be bad, I guess. All while watching how the baddie killed hundreds and possibly thousands of innocents all around him. Not to mention all the suffering and death he caused leading up to that confrontation. But no, watching hundreds of civilians get slaughtered while trying to talk the villain down is okay as long as MC doesn't tarnish his fickle morality by killing someone. I mean, at which point can a hero say "you know what, you deserve to die"?

And while seething in a lot more anger about stupid MCs than is justified, I was thinking about MCs that are realist enough to actually pull the figurative trigger on a villain. There aren't that many that I can think of. Even those who are supposedly "villains" are villains in title alone. It's like finding a unicorn when you stumble upon a MC who actually kills a named character. After all, we already established that an infinite number of unnamed civillians/henchmen doesn't count when it comes to hero morality. Cutting through 100 nameless hired guards who are only doing their jobs is okay as long as MC realizes that he isn't that guy just when he towers over the defeated mega villain.

What's your stance on those heroes? Do you have good examples? Bad ones?

For everyone who is like me dreading the end of Ascendance of a Bookworm, here is the cover of the first Spin-off series.