This is a discussion-based community based around translated Light Novels, Novels, and Web Novels which originate from Japan.
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Ascendance of a Bookworm Community
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Death's Daughter and the Ebony Blade vol 7: Exordium was super good. It ended up hitting so many emotional points and it set up the finale wonderfully.
I also started on Apothecary Diaries vol 10 but didn't get as far into it as I was planning. Enjoyable as always, though. Chue's a goof.
Hell Mode: Volume 7 - I find myself skipping entire pages whenever the book goes on and on about skill/summon composition of the cast. It has become feeling stale even though the story itself is progressing steadily. I also cannot really connect with any of the characters. In one of the last chapters, there is a side story from the POV of a side character and in those few pages, I already care more about that character than the 8 from the main cast. - 4/10
Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World: Volume 8 - There are portions of beautiful prose and great world-building whenever the author isn't beating the TTRPG schtick to death. I hope the series will develop like Overlord where the gimmick gets used less and less as the story takes more center stage. Also Margit. Extra points for Margit. The two new party members could be annoying since they are trope-y but the book and MC acknowledge that they are literal walking tropes and that makes all the difference. - Great volume 8/10
This week I had some time off work so I have taken Mynes example and locked my self away with books.
I have just finished Part 3 of Bookworm.
He only been around a little but Bonifatious has quickly become a favourite character.
I have really enjoyed the series so far.
so I have taken Mynes example
That should be our motto here: WWMD - What Would Myne Do? And the answer is always “read”.
I've been reading mushoku tensei but ultimately dropped it once I reached a point where the protagonist engaged in polygamy. The protagonist has lots of flaws but polygamy is where I personally draw the line. Too bad, was actually a very compelling story up until then.
Don’t get me started on MT. I hate it with a passion. Maybe it would be better if I only watched the anime, but I started with the WN as one of my very first LN/WN experiences and the fact that MC starts off as a pedo who spies on his nice with a spy cam almost made me drop Light novels entirely. Just think about it. That’s just the status quo of that character. Later I picked up the LN version since everyone was hyping this series up. So I thought maybe give it a chance and everyone was saying that it’s a redemption story… So I really tried. Read 4 or 5 volumes waiting for him to change but that never happened. Another while later I did see a later volume in a bookstore and I thought I just skim the first few pages and he was just hating the most misogynistic shit I’ve ever seen on a printed page and then started to pray at a pair of panties he stole from the mage teacher girl. I was done with the series at the point and I don’t care anymore how people try to convince me otherwise. The only other point of contact was the first 2 or 3 episodes of the anime out of curiosity.
Anyway, yeah I wrote entire dissertations on reddit about how terrible that story is, pointing out all the instances where the fucking meta is the most incel bait ever and how this should be dropped by the publishers, but that’s like talking to a wall. My favourite was when I argued that bad actions don’t get negative reactions and are played down as “haha just Rudders shenanigans haha”. I gave the example of Rudeus groping a sleeping girl and the girl with no real punishment other than a slap or something. The guy on reddit then argued that the book did in fact portrait sexual assault with a negative reaction because Rudeus was denied what he wanted. That was his argument. Not getting to further grope the girl was what he thought was punishment. At that point I also stopped arguing about it. There is just no point anymore after that.
MT has two planes of the plot. One is Rudeus being most lustful being in the world and gathering a harem of wives just because. And second was Rudeus being powerful mage and saving the world. As I saw recommendations on reddit it was always that if you can't stomach Rudy as a bastard then you won't enjoy the adventure aspect.
It was clear from the start that Rudeus will be a deranged morally character. If you can't stomach polygamy then that's ok. But for me the most important moment in the whole series was end of Volume 14. So just after second marriage.
Firstly, I just want to express that I feel sympathy for you having to post across both instances. I did that with the weekly discussion threads for the anime community for ~2 months before the admins came in and wiped away all the posts to the ml community (so I stopped posting over there). Having to juggle active conversations across instances like that isn't fun and takes more time out of your day.
I just wrote over in the manga community about how getting that community up and running has seriously cut into my light novel reading time (as did a new job). So, with this community joining the instance, I went back to check what it was I was reading last. Turns out I was reading volume 3 of Konosuba. I was pretty early on, so I will probably just start at the beginning again, but I will try to finish at least volume 3 before this post next week!
Otherwise, I have been dabbling in a WN or two. The one I am going to mention here is "I Got a Cheat and Moved to Another World, so I Want to Live as I Like". First of all, this series is NSFW. Like, explicitly so. So, be warned. I had started reading this series on and off a long time ago. I had originally come across the manga adaptation for it. The artwork and visual metaphors were super creative. For example, this page is a depiction of our MC having sex (this page is sfw, but don't stray too far). When the manga stopped getting updates to mangadex, I started in on the WN. The thing is that I think there is a really good story buried underneath all the smut in this story. It is a really interesting and deep world, but for every one chapter it spends on world events, it spends 2-3 on Tauro's exploits in the red light district. I have dropped it a couple times over the years, but kept coming back to it (and often found myself skipping the raunchy chapters). I can't say I recommend it generally, but if you don't mind smut (almost every fetish has at least one chapter), I think there is an interesting world in this story and maybe an audience out there for it.
For example, this page is a depiction of our MC having sex
Okay, from that page alone I wouldn't have made the sex connection :). Sounds interesting, but I guess I would start to skip the red light parts after a while as well. I do this with everything where one "thing" takes over too much. Like the constant back-to-back fighting in the latest 2 Isekai Tensei volumes. Or the cooking recipes in Campfire Cooking with my Absurd Skill. Constant sex scenes would probably lose their shine quite quickly if they're not wrapped into a creative package like the manga page you linked.
Having to juggle active conversations across instances like that isn’t fun and takes more time out of your day.
It's not that bad right now. I do this first thing at work and use those Monday mornings to get back into work mode. But like I said, I don't want this to be a more than a temporary solution to see where more engagement is happening and to give ample notice for people to migrate. But at times like my recent move or when I'm on vacation it's a hassle.
Couple of last weeks was hard for me so I didn't pick up any novels other than a pre-pub chapters of bookworm.
The villainess is an ss+ rank adventurer vol 1 this isn't japanese but definietely a Light Novel. Most similar thing I would say is Tearmoon Empire where MC is a princess that is oblivious about how the world works but with sheer dumb luck she overcomes all obstacles. The prose is a delight to read and at least a dozen words I had to look up the meaning of. Characters and worldbuilding are avarge in my opinion but the comedy shines through the pages. 7/10
P.S. not an isekai