LightNovels

With 349g this 383 page novel is clearly overweight but still worth being carried around even if it might hurt a little girls arms a bit after a while. This book is about a group of students getting recruited into another world (I refuse to use that newfangled “isekai” word!!) in order to save it from certain doom.

This book uses very cheap paper so even with around 300 pages it still weighs just under 150g which is great for even the daintiest of bookworms. The subject matter might just fly over a little girl’s head but at least she can carry it.

How does crossposting work on lemmy?

Anyway, "isekai" is now a official part of the Oxford English Dictionary. I actually don't know if that means that this means that it is now officially part of the Englisch language or not, but I think it's cool.

But more importantly, "battle shounen" is not in the OED. Which means that isekai is clearly the better genre!

Good news everyone!

This week's midweek discussion question is a simple one:

What is your favorite genre?

My favorite are fantasy novels. Bonus points for everything that has a leg in the Slice of Life genre as well. Even more bonus points for everything that has little to no drama. I read to relax I can only read so many books that don't let me relax at a given time. Reading the current arc of Bookworm is exhilarating and bad for my finger nails, but I really need something comfy in between.

Yahallo,

back in ye olde place I posted my pet peeves as one of the early posts but it didn't really spark any ~~joy~~ discussions, so I thought I give it another try here in the shiny new home. Maybe we could make a weekly "Midweek discussions" thread until I run out of ides ;)

So for this week, I ressurect an old post about my pet peeves with LN writing in particular. I am averaging at about 150-200 per year and after all this time I often see some things that are starting to bother me. Here's an unordered list of the most annoying in my opinion:

• Extremely oblivious main characters: There are so many main characters, especially in isekai stories, that are ridiculously overpowered but somehow still behave like timid little lambs that are scared of every random trash mob. I have no idea why this is something I see so often. My working theory is that it is something related to Japanese culture where assertive personalities are generally disliked. Especially by the default target audience of those types of power fantasies. This would also explain my second pet peeve…
• Extremely passive main characters: I hate the terms “alpha and beta males” with a passion, but why oh why are so many light novel protagonists such hopeless omega males? Are authors really so scared to lose their audience if their main character doesn’t let everyone trample all over them? I don’t mind it if a character has a timid disposition but the extremes in which some characters are portrayed in this regard are just beyond the pale. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can enjoy reading from such a character’s point of view. To me, it’s just infuriating.
• Isekai element not used as a plot device but a narrative crutch: A.k.a. “Isekai for isekai’s sake”. Let me explain what I mean. Every now and then I read a isekai light novel and wonder why the hell it is an isekai in the first place. The only way they use the isekai element is as a crutch for newbie authors to help explain the world to the reader. Writing good exposition prose seems to be a hard problem to tackle. But instead of trying to write some good exposition I often get the feeling many authors just go the isekai route instead. After all, if the protagonist doesn’t know anything about the world it’s normal to have him question even the most mundane (mundane to the inhabitants of the isekai world) things. It’s also easier to say “The monster was as large as a bus” than to explain it in fantasy-appropriate terms. Compare this to something where being from another world is used as a major plot device instead. For example, Myne used her knowledge to create printing presses in Bookworm. But this is also something that can backfire, which would bring me to my last point…
• Protagonists somehow having extensive knowledge about things outside their sphere of expertise: One example would be a isekai lightnovel (was so utterly forgettable that I can’t even remember its name anymore) where some high schooler (obviously) could recreate modern weaponry and car engines from memory. Authors often think having a general knowledge of how something works is enough to recreate it with no problem. Using Bookworm again as a positive example I’d like to point out how much time is spent by her and the other characters in this story on R&D to turn her general knowledge into something actually actionable. But no, some protagonists can apparently just recreate a pump action shotgun because they’ve seen in movies how they are used. Who cares about the workings of the mechanical parts of the loading mechanism, the chemical compounds of the black powder (and how to get those in the first place) or how to create a firing cap? I mean, this is a fantasy story, why not come up with some random shit about why it works? Like in Average abilities for example with the magic system built on sentient nanobots that figure out the pesky details for the protagonist instead of trying to sell me that a high schooler would have the knowledge to create something from scratch.
• Fantasy World building that mimic Japanese cultural behaviour: With that I mean stuff like making a huge deal out of using the first name. Or fantasy languages having a distinct casual and polite variant. Stuff that is ingrained into the Japanese authors as "normal", but would be nice if they could come up with some more fantasy-esque world building.

So those were my usual offenders. Do you agree? Disagree? Am I too nitpicky? What are yours? Have at it!

I haven't read this series, but have seen some discussion about it in this community, so I thought I would share.

When I first saw this was a prequel, I thought it was going to be about the original journey with Himmel and Co. However, it seems like it will instead be a series of short stories about different characters prior to their joining the main Frieren narrative (Frieren, Fern, Stark, Lawine, Kanne, Aura are ones I found listed).

Title: Sword Art Online Alternative Clover's Regret Creators: Soitiro Watase (story), Ginta (illustrations), Reki Kawahara (supervision) Summary: Sword Art Online, as reimagined by famed fantasy author Soitiro Watase! Asuka Empire. A Japanese-style VRMMO created by Akihiko Kayaba from a VR engine entitled “The Seed”—a game once played by Yuuki, Ran, and Merida of the Sleeping Knights that hides many stories. Two young women—warrior priestess Nayuta and ninja Koyomi, who became friends in-game—come across a mysterious priest named Yanagi. The elderly man tells them that he's looking for a detective to solve a riddle with a one-million-yen reward. The girls are shocked by the outlandish sum for this peculiar request, and then they meet an equally peculiar young man, who claims to be able to do this job as well as any other detective. With all his stat points invested in Luck, the man is useless in battle, but he does still seem to have some tricks up his sleeve, like that unbeatable drop rate for rare items... The mystery unfolds as two young girls and their dubious detective partner try to solve the case in this cutting-edge VRMMO world!

Title: Hell Is Dark with No Flowers light novels Creator: Yoru Michio (story), Ruka Todo (art) Summary: Seiji Tohno sometimes sees the people around him as monsters. It is a curse that had driven him to a life of despair, living out of internet cafés with nowhere to call home...but all that changes one twilit evening when he stumbles across a huge European mansion. There, Seiji meets a bewitchingly beautiful boy dressed in a kimono with a white peony motif on the shoulder, who introduces himself as Shiroshi Saijou. This mysterious young man seems to know more about Seiji than he does himself, and before he knows it, Seiji has agreed to become Shiroshi's assistant in exchange for room and board. Little does he know, however, this “proxy service,”' as Shiroshi puts it, is none other than outsourced death! Sending monster-possessed sinners to Hell, will bring Seiji face-to-face with terrifying new creatures each and every day!

Title: My First Love's Kiss light novels Creators: Hitoma Iruma (story), Fly (illustrations) Summary: Takasora Hoshi's life is upended when a girl from her class named Umi Mizuike and her mother temporarily move into her family's cramped apartment. From the outset of this arrangement, Takasora finds herself annoyed by Umi's behavior...and her good looks. And though the two girls initially agree to avoid interfering with each other's lives, Takasora can't help but start to wonder where Umi keeps wandering off to at night… From the author of Adachi and Shimamura comes the bittersweet tale of two high school girls whose lives are thrust together under the same roof.

Plain, boring, and friendless Nukumizu Kazuhiko has witnessed something completely baffling: popular girl Yanami Anna was friend-zoned by her childhood friend and crush! In fact, all the popular girls around him are getting similarly rejected by the boys they like. Without realizing it, Kazuhiko becomes entangled in the relationship drama where all the leading heroines are losing out on love! Can he keep their spirits up and help them find happiness?

Genre: Comedy Romance School Life Slice of Life

6 Volumes (Ongoing) in JP

The popular Summer 2022 original anime Lycoris Recoil is getting a second spin-off light novel. The new book, titled Lycoris Recoil: Recovery Days, will launch in Japan on March 8.

As far as I can tell, the previous novel doesn't have an English translation either released or announced unfortunately. So, I am not sure how good the prospects are of the series getting a translation in the future. It seems like a missed opportunity considering the popularity of the anime.

Hello everyone, both old and new!

It has become very quickly clear to me that the ani.social instance is a better fit for this community. Comparing the engagement alone over at .ml after 8 months and here after only 3 days is hardly something to dispute. And that isn't even counting the support from mods of "adjacent" communities. Special thanks to @[email protected]!

So I decided, with both a heavy heart and anticipatory elation, to go along with the migration and make it permanent. I closed down the .ml community and going forward I'll post my weekly updates only here.

There is also good news (more good news?)! Honestly, it has been a struggle to keep it up over the last few months, and actually seeing some engagement here right off the bat did wonders for my (renewed) motivation. So yesterday I channeled my inner motivational demon lord and set up 3 things for the community:

1. a Light Novel Wiki (reachable at https://lnwiki.bitkata.de/)
2. a Discord Server (Invite Link: https://discord.gg/VJ7yrfq2ex)
3. a clean Minecraft Server (add "yurgenschmidt.bitkata.de" to your server list)

Necessary (for currently 17 users)? No, but let's start the new home for the community with a bang ;)

I hope the community will thrive here and we can enrich our reading hobby with additional discussions.

Fantasia Bunko's website is listing the first volume of a new light novel by The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess author Piero Karasu titled Seijо̄-sensei no Mahо̄ wa Sunderu! (The Saint Teacher's Witchcraft is Progressive!) for release on February 20 (ed. note: in Japan).

The novel follows a powerful saint Tia as she becomes a teacher to three saint candidates after being banished from the royal capital due to accusations of heresy.