Light Novel Recommendations

[Hemisphere]

My apologies if this comes off as rather odd, but has anyone here read Rakuin no Monshou enough to be able to share their impressions on the author's writing style? My inquiry is due to finding out that 聖剣の姫と神盟騎士団 is by the same author behind the aforementioned series. I'm interested enough to probably purchase Rakuin no Inshou 1-12 sometime soon, but I'm also just as curious as to the author's approach to writing so that I can have some idea of what to expect with the new series, as well as whether or not it'll fit with my preferences.

[kuroishinigami]

I've read them all, but what exactly do you want to know? I like Rakuin, but it's a very serious story. There's barely any comedy moment in it. The story is great though, and Olba is a great protagonist IMO.

[Hemisphere]

Originally Posted by kuroishinigami

I've read them all, but what exactly do you want to know? I like Rakuin, but it's a very serious story. There's barely any comedy moment in it. The story is great though, and Olba is a great protagonist IMO.

That's actually a relief for me.

I'm not asking for much, just these few things:
- How does the author approach world-building, and how much detail does he put into it?
- Does he integrate social, political and economical aspects of the world in his writing? How involved and interrelated are they with one another?
- How does he present the characters? Do they adhere to particular archetypes? How involved are their character growth with regards to the plot they follow?
- Does the story have its own logic regarding certain elements, and does it follow them faithfully?
- Does the author have a certain quirk in his writing?

I apologize if these come off as vague, or bizarre even. And thank you for taking the time to respond, both to my previous post as well as to this one.

[apr]

Don't buy 12 books in a series in one go. Don't even buy 2 books in a series. So painful to stare at a shelf full of books you don't want to read.

[Hemisphere]

Originally Posted by apr

Don't buy 12 books in a series in one go. Don't even buy 2 books in a series. So painful to stare at a shelf full of books you don't want to read.

I...know how this feels. I stupidly bought eight volumes of 機巧少女は傷つかない (Unbreakable Machine Doll) in one go, back when I was starting out, because the premise interested me so much that I suddenly suffered an aneurysm and decided to splurge my money on those eight volumes in one go.

Now, every time I look at the space they're occupying, I die inside a little.

On the flip side though, if it's a series that goes in line with my preferences, I wouldn't mind buying up to its latest volume so I have something to look forward to reading. It's a bit motivating for me, in a sense. That's why I tend to ask around, rather than buying blind, because I value personal opinions from people who have read over synopsis and brief chapter previews.

[whsie]

Haven't been on this forum for a while so I'll chime in on some of the works mentioned in the last two pages.

Strike the Blood is decent, but not great. The closest comparison I can give is Campione without the mythology. Rather than 7 Campiones, we essentially have 4 Vampire Lords. And like Campione, each have their own territory. One owns Europe, one owns USA, one owns South America... (I may have gotten the regions wrong). Our protagonist is the latest of the 4 and he inherited his powers from the previous lord. Unlike Campione where Gudou unlocks the majority of his powers quickly, the protagonist is slowly unlocking one beast/power per book. He has 12 total and he has unlocked 4 (with a 5th appearing), so he has a while to go.

Divine's Blade Successor (剣神の継承者) is a decent read, but like someone said before, not great. It's somewhat cliched, but at least the story is pretty well written. There's still plenty of intrigue with the main character as his master was the legendary Sword Saint or probably the strongest of the 7 Sword Masters. There's also the hint of an incredibly powerful alien race in the latest volumes.

Rising Rydeen or 学戦都市アスタリスク first and foremost reminded me of Infinite Stratos. Not only is the setting (battle city) and artwork similar, both protagonist also have a elder sister formerly at the school.

All 3 are decent enough reads for me to give a green light. None of them are truly unique like High School DxD or as deep as Rakuin no Monsho, but they're enjoyable reads.

^ I had high expectations for Unbreakable Machine Dolls only to be greatly disappointed in it. I dropped it completely (whereas the 3 I listed above are enjoyable).

[n0m@n]

If we talking about LN that hasn't been mentioned, then Altina is quite good(覇剣の皇姫アルティーナ). Its similar to Madan no Ou, except there are no ecchi, magic, and overpowered characters. Its pretty refreshing to read and you can read it smoothly. Having a princess who is trying to overthrow her brother(the second prince who is trying to be the next king) to get the throne is epic. And the main character is a bookworm who uses his knowledge from reading books to make tactics and lead the princess to victory.

[Hemisphere]

I've heard of Altina, but from the reviews of Vols. 1 and 2 so far, they've given me the impression that it's somewhat...lacking, or something of the sort (?) with regards to how the story addresses its politics. As to what extent is it lacking, I'm afraid I'm unsure. That's the impression I got from the reviews, at least. Been keeping my eye on it since Vol 1 was announced (and at the time I was watching out for 黒鋼の魔紋修復士 pre-order when I came across the series - this is also part of my almost-obsessive interest in 聖剣の姫と神盟騎士団, as the synopsis made me think of 黒鋼の魔紋修復士 which I love so much).

It's only two volumes in, though, so it might steadily improve with further releases.

EDIT: I don't know if it's a trend, but it seems that more and more of these kinds of titles are coming out (war stories with tactics and politics in them) recently. I hope this keeps up!

[n0m@n]

Yeah there are some people that doesn't like it because it lacks a strong character and also because of the lack of ecchi/moe. Well, there is two character who is really strong, but its not exaggerated like they can take down an army basically by themselves(Vanadis).

But that was the reason I liked this instead. Sometime not having those elements is good.
Also about the politics, the story hasn't progressed far enough where the main character and princess goes to the empire. Volume 1 and 2 was basically about the battle at the border they are assigned to, trying to achieve trust from their own army, making an alliance with a enemy group, and taking one of the fortress which was said to be impossible.

In volume 3, the princess will be heading to meet her family(royal family), so we may see more of the political side of the story. Sales wise and amazon review wise its doing pretty well.

[Hemisphere]

I see. Those two reasons don't really bother me at all (though to be fair to your analogy, Vanadis can't take down an army by themselves, I'm sorry I'm just OCD like this ;w; but I get what you mean so don't worry it's all cool), and I'm quite fond of stories like that. 黒鋼の魔紋修復士 for example, even though it has magic, has no superhax OP character nor ecchi harem fanservice abundance, but I like it so very much.

Color me interested with Altina then...curses, more to add to the list.

I'm surprised though, that the author for Altina's already working on a new series for MF Bunko J! It's title is 銀弾の銃剣姫(ガンソーディア).

[kuroishinigami]

Originally Posted by Hemisphere

That's actually a relief for me.

I'm not asking for much, just these few things:
- How does the author approach world-building, and how much detail does he put into it?
- Does he integrate social, political and economical aspects of the world in his writing? How involved and interrelated are they with one another?
- How does he present the characters? Do they adhere to particular archetypes? How involved are their character growth with regards to the plot they follow?
- Does the story have its own logic regarding certain elements, and does it follow them faithfully?
- Does the author have a certain quirk in his writing?

I apologize if these come off as vague, or bizarre even. And thank you for taking the time to respond, both to my previous post as well as to this one.

- World building is decent, but is not the strong point of the series. The author wrote the geographical position of each country, but don't expect world building as detailed as say.... Mahouka or index.
- Social and political? Definitely. Political intrict is the bread and butter of the series. Economic on the other hand, not so much. The author did mention the situation once in a while, but it's not the focus of the story.
- I'm not sure the question here. IMO, all characters in fiction adhere to a certain archetype. Olba and Vilian is a well written character though. Growth wise, we mostly see the growth of the main character, Olba. There's also some development for the other characters, but Olba's definitely the main focus.
- There's barely any fantasy element in the story(some dragon appear, but IIRC, that's it), so I guess the logic of real world medieval era work in the story.
- nothing that stands out to me. The work itself is monologue and narrative heavy though, unlike the dialogue heavy lighter light novel.

Hope this helps.

[Hemisphere]

Originally Posted by kuroishinigami

- World building is decent, but is not the strong point of the series. The author wrote the geographical position of each country, but don't expect world building as detailed as say.... Mahouka or index.
- Social and political? Definitely. Political intrict is the bread and butter of the series. Economic on the other hand, not so much. The author did mention the situation once in a while, but it's not the focus of the story.
- I'm not sure the question here. IMO, all characters in fiction adhere to a certain archetype. Olba and Vilian is a well written character though. Growth wise, we mostly see the growth of the main character, Olba. There's also some development for the other characters, but Olba's definitely the main focus.
- There's barely any fantasy element in the story(some dragon appear, but IIRC, that's it), so I guess the logic of real world medieval era work in the story.
- nothing that stands out to me. The work itself is monologue and narrative heavy though, unlike the dialogue heavy lighter light novel.

Hope this helps.

It does, very much so. Thanks for taking the time and bother to answer my inquiries, they've definitely helped out a lot. From the looks of things, I'll have to pick Rakuin no Monshou and 聖剣の姫と神盟騎士団 as well once it comes out, cause the author's writing style hits some if not most of my strike zones.

Oh, by the archetype thing, I meant to inquire as to how closely the author lets the characters stick to their archetypes as the story goes on and develops further. Some authors are content with letting their characters remain close to their archetypal origins for the vast majority of their story, but others use those archetypal origins as bouncing off points for when their characters undergo character development and become characters in their own rights. My apologies for not phrasing the question fully and properly as it should have been.

[kuroishinigami]

Ooh ic now. You don't have to worry then. Reading Rakuin is like reading less epic version of fusion between Kagemusha and Spartacus adventure. The story is about the journey and growth of our main character, Olba. The only complain I have with the story is that the ending is underwhelming compared to the buildup toward the climax.

[Hemisphere]

Just finished reading 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱〈ワールドブレイク〉's volume 1, by GA Bunko!

Spoiler:

It's an 俺ＴＵＥＥＥＥ shounen fantasy story, with a premise that's identical to Hagure Yuusha, by the same author behind あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史 (my guilty pleasure series, after moving on from Date A Live). Only it's not about people who have traveled from other worlds, but people who were powerful in their past lives. They're being gathered in a school to prepare them to fight strange monsters (and of course they spend just as much time with in-fighting as per the norm) against which their only advantage is their sheer numbers, and they are called Savers ＜救世者＞ (talk about humility). There are two types of classes and powers that exist. Fighter classes are known as Shirogane and use Prana, while magic-users are called Kuroma and utilize Mana. Haimura Moroha, the protagonist, is the current incarnation of both the strongest swordsman AND sorcerer, in a world where people can only exist as one or the other.

The sequence of events as we follow Moroha's school life even follows Hagure Yuusha's almost identically, except that I liked the writing in this one more. For starters, the lead isn't obscenely overpowered; he's just given an initiative over the rest, but he still has to train to make full use of himself. Putting it in RPG terms, it's not like starting a new game with a max-levelled character right off the bat; he already has the skills unlocked (or can easily unlock them later on), but he still has to level up in order to actually make full use of them. Personally speaking, I like that the lead actually has to expend effort, because I'm just not very fond of stories where the leads are obscenely overpowered but refuse to show some degree of effort while fighting because of silly arbitrary reasons (LOOK HOW COOL I AM BY NOT FIGHTING WITH FULL POWER). That and I find him more sympathetic than the other male leads in 俺ＴＵＥＥＥＥ stories, who come off as insufferable (at the least). He's not a try-hard lone wolf character who never has to exert any effort to be good (I'm not kidding, some 俺ＴＵＥＥＥＥ stories are exactly like this), and he's not exactly the kind of 正義の味方/ally of justice person as well. He's got a more down-to-earth feel to him, with his only priority being the repayment of his gratitude to the people who raised him after his parents died by sending them money in return.

While the story's premise is interesting (past lives being the key to providing power for your current self), the story at its core is nothing entirely original or hasn't seen before. But I do like the author's writing style, especially the touch of restraint with which he crafts this story with its 俺ＴＵＥＥＥＥ theme. There are only two main heroines vying for his affection (which is a nice break from all the dime-a-dozen harem series out there, seriously) coming from his past lives, and I'm thankful that there are two, because CHRIST I HATE THE (supposed) IMOUTO HEROINE. She is just insufferable. Shizuno, the other heroine is by far the best choice, and I hope she gets more focus later on (especially since she was his wife in one of his past lives). The story also has a chuuni feel to it with its chants, name of skills, and description of skills, but coming from the author of あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史, this comes as no surprise. It's more amusing (and invigorating in certain scenes) than it is frustrating, as the story doesn't play the chuuniness extremely straight in hand with the shounen elements. I find the balance of chuuni and shounen nicely done.

The mystery surrounding the Metaphysicals ＜異端者＞ (the unknown monsters), the nature of the school itself, and the characters are what this title has to try and lure in readers for its future installments. For me, I can say that it worked quite well, even though I wasn't too pleased when Moroha broke the balance of the story on its back in the last chapter. But considering the story's theme and genre, I was resigned to seeing deus ex machina in the form of powerlevels saving the day - at least it was the "idk wtf I just did but yay I saved the day" kind of deus ex machina, and not the "HA I WAS HOLDING BACK MY POWERLEVELS THE ENTIRE TIME NOW BEHOLD IS MY REAL POWER" kind.

Similar to あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史 (considering that it's the same author), the level of kanji proficiency needed to read through this isn't that demanding. He does throw in some unorthodox ones every now and then, but nothing that comes with furigana so they can be understood easier. He also likes to use some slangs around, but none that are too unheard of. The author likes to repeat certain lines as well as parallel certain scenes to build up the dramatic tension for that moment or event, and in most cases it works.

Also, don't be too surprised if you realize that applying RPG logic makes the story more entertaining. In a sense, this title and 千の魔剣と盾の乙女 have that in common; I find it adds to the enjoyment, however.

I'd say it's worth a look if you're into an 俺ＴＵＥＥＥＥ story that's not too cookie-cutter, but still follows the formula. Me, I want to read more about Shizuno. Thankfully, I have Volume 2 sitting right here.

[apr]

Because you can never have enough!

Spoiler for big:

[Hemisphere]

That's awesome. I'm still stuck waiting for preorders of the ones I'm following before I can splurge like that (that and arbitrary customs regulations allows for only up to 6 books per shipment in my country).

I also kind of hate myself for being able to recognize a select titles from that pic, too.

[apr]

Originally Posted by Hemisphere

That's awesome. I'm still stuck waiting for preorders of the ones I'm following before I can splurge like that (that and arbitrary customs regulations allows for only up to 6 books per shipment in my country).

I also kind of hate myself for being able to recognize a select titles from that pic, too.

It's been surprisingly cheap, because of how much the yen has fallen lately (at least in relation to my currency). It's dropped 20% in a few months.

[Hemisphere]

Yeah, with the yen this low, I am so very much tempted to buy a ton of titles right now, but I don't just want to needlessly add to my backlog. And like you mentioned before, there's nothing worse than staring at books occupying shelf space that you don't want to read.

Unfortunately, impulse buying is my biggest problem...gotta curb it and wait for preorders to open, orz.

[Cosmic Eagle]

That reminds I still have yet to get Rokka 3 and Schwarzesmarken 4,5

[whsie]

I also read 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱〈ワールドブレイク〉

I would say Hemisphere's review is pretty spot on. It's a decent read, but nothing ground breaking. Volume 1 sets up volume 2 and thus far it looks promising.