Official Light Novel Thread

[Aix]

Post your recommendations for light novels and webnovels. Work of Korean or Chinese origin is allowed. Sort by main genre and add secondary genre tags. Other light novel discussion or questions are allowed.

 

[spoiler=Romance]

Spice and Wolf

#fantasy #slice of life #economics

I recommend watching the anime first to see if you like it. It's very sweet. About a merchant travelling with a wolf goddess as they slowly develop feelings for one another. There are 17 volumes, and after a long break the author is continuing the series. It's licensed by Yen Press.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Thriller]

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria

#mystery #supernatural

A great thriller mystery about these supernatural occurrences. Features a rather bland male and a genius girl and varied supernatural happenings that occur from time loops to death games. Very intense and well done.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Wish Fulfilment Fantasy]A genre of sorts that's all the rage in Japan, consisting of people going to fantasy worlds or games to leave their boring or shitty life behind. Often poorly written by critical standards and sometimes morally degenerate by Western values, but is very popular and appealing. Aix enjoys them as long as they don't wear at his tolerance too much.

 

Mushoku Tensei

#romance #action #adventure #harem

Considered by many as the best of the genre. About a 30 yo hikikomori who dies and reincarnates to become a magical prodigy in a generic fantasy world and has adventures. Standard Japanese flavored fantasy fare with harem wish fulfilment and power fantasy. Fine if you can stomach how perverted it is, especially with lolicon and polygamy. Full series is translated and easy to find.

 

Overlord

#action #adventure #dark

Highly popular series about a salaryman who ended up becoming a godlike Lich residing in a huge dungeon of his creation with tons of subordinates who worship him. A power fantasy; he does all sorts of amazing things in the fantasy world around his dungeon with disdainful ease. Fun, but can be dissatisfying as he is way too cautious and ends up doing very little until later volumes. The guy's morals and emotions are suppressed by his transformation into an evil overlord so he does some brutal stuff without a second thought. Was translated up to volume 10, but was licensed by Yen Press and got taken down.

 

Youjo Senki

#Action #GenderBender

Story about a pragmatic, logistical, and slightly evil salaryman(?) that died, and proceeds to anger "god" (MC calls him "X") by being a jabroni, so he got sent to a world with (scientific) magic and flying mages and apparently becomes one, but "he" becomes a "she". Not your standard typical Gender Bender stuffs though, since there is ZERO ecchi stuff in it. It's fun, if you can stand a sheet ton of philosophical and scientificall information. Also, MC is overpowered.

 

There's more but I'm lazy. Ask if you want more. ~Aix

 

[towitori]

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar: includes everything needed to know

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hai_to_Gensou_no_Grimgar

 

#action #fantasy #drama

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is a fantasy light novel where a group of people were transported to a fantasy world. Heard of this plot before? Yes, its one of those SAO/Horizon kinds. But the main focus of this title is the emotional aspect, emphasizing on their survival in a fantasy world. I really liked the anime. After reading what the anime covered on the light novel (which is only up to Vol 2), the anime is more intense and more emotional (just a bit in this area). Although there are some scenes were missing in the anime. 

 

tl;dr Watch anime first, come back and read for more cause s2 is unlikely.

 

My listlessness gets the better of me again. Hopefully someone else talks about ReZero.

[Bellringer Angel]

http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/352806-light-novel-youjo-senki-%E5%B9%BC%E5%A5%B3%E6%88%A6%E8%A8%98/

Youjo Senki

#Action #GenderBender

Story about a pragmatic, logistical, and slightly evil salaryman(?) that died, and proceeds to anger "god" (MC calls him "X") by being a jabroni, so he got sent to a world with (scientific) magic and flying mages and apparently becomes one, but "he" becomes a "she". Not your standard typical Gender Bender stuffs though, since there is ZERO ecchi stuff in it. It's fun, if you can stand a sheet ton of philosophical and scientifical information.

 

Also, MC is overpowered.

[Aix]

I recommend ReZero and Grimgar. Especially Grimgar.

please give description and concise review.

http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/352806-light-novel-youjo-senki-幼女戦記/

Main: Mature, Military, Gender Bender

Side: Action, Fantasy

You know this is coming.

see above

[Bellringer Angel]

please give description and concise review. see above

Edited.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Gonna plug in yet another time for my second favorite LN.

 

Juuni Kokuki (The Twelve Kingdoms)

#Drama #Action #Fantasy

This old-ish story, at its core is about a girl named Youko that was spirited away into a new world, where a heavenly spirit named Keiki chose her to rule a kingdom as its empress, and that is the start of the problem. While the basis of the story has a lot of similarity to the current-day genre of wish-fulfillment fantasy, the execution is far from it, featuring a main character with a very strong, yet dynamic personality and characterization, and a cast that develops really well in a natural way (and the later novels focuses more on some of these characters instead of only Youko) in a very intricate, detailed fantasy world with Daoist/Buddhist thematics as the main color of the land. Political drama, action, character developments, and thrilling plots those are what can be found here, although the novels kind of ended on a cliffhanger. The writer said that she'll continue the series this year though, so that might be a thing to look up to.

[mitchermitcher]

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

#macroeconomics #PLOT #fantasy

Often cited as the macro to Spice and Wolf's microeconomics, Maoyuu really holds a special place in my heart. It's about a war between the human world and the demon world, with the 'Demon King' wanting to find the best economic solution for both sides. The 'Hero', after journeying to reach the Demon King's castle, is promptly told that slaying the Demon King and ending the war would lead to a disaster(war generates profit, after all). They team up and do...economic stuff, like helping humans to farm better, or potatoes. With every character ever being referred to by their role('Demon King', 'Hero', 'Head Maid', 'Young Merchant', etc.) it reads somewhat like a fairy tale and I don't dislike that. It doesn't quite have the same mood and atmosphere as S&W, but it has its emotional and memorable moments, and the character interactions are charming. There's an anime adaptation which I enjoyed a lot and it's not a bad way to start.

[Shradow]

Copypastaing descriptions cuz lazy.

 

Zero no Tsukaima/The Familiar of Zero

#fantasy #action #romance

In Zero no Tsukaima, a world filled with mythical creatures like elves and dragons, nobles are born with the ability to use magic. One of these nobles is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, who attends the Tristain Academy of Magic, the most prestigious magical academy in her home country. The only problem is that every spell she casts ends up in an explosion, leaving her to be mocked as "Louise the Zero" by her peers. So, when the time comes to perform the Familiar Summoning Ritual, which can never be repeated, she wishes for a powerful familiar to prove herself.

In a different world, Hiraga Saito is walking home after having his laptop repaired when a green portal opens up in front of him. He stumbles into it, and is dragged into Louise's world with no way back. Disgruntled and embarrassed, Louise has no choice but to take him as familiar, and he has no choice but to accept. Will this simple human boy be able to prove himself to be the powerful familiar Louise wished for?

 

This is without a doubt my favorite LN. After originally watching the anime, I went back and read the books and it's really interesting how different they are in a lot of ways, and in ways that make it much better than the anime. The action and comedy are great, I love fantasy, it's even heart-wrenching at times, and I'm an absolute sucker for romance, this series having my OTP in Saito and Louise (and Louise being the one and only fictional character I've legit fallen in love with). I was absolutely heartbroken when the original author died in 2013 a couple volumes before the end, but recently its been continued by the publisher and a new writer, based on the remaining plot and ending that had been dictated by the original author from his sickbed.

 

Kino no Tabi/Kino's Journey

#adventure #psychological #sci-fantasy

Destination is a state of mind. A tale of one girl and her bike and the road ahead. Kino wanders around the world on the back of Hermes, her unusual, anthropomorphic motorcycle, only staying in each country for three days. During their adventures, they find happiness, sadness, pain, decadence, violence, beauty, and wisdom. But through it all, they never lose their sense of freedom. They discover that because of the world's imperfections, it is actually a thing of beauty. "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is."

 

Gonna be honest, never read the LN. But I've seen all of the anime, and each episode/special is named exactly after chapters in the LN and I assume it's adapted well enough. It's just such a calm, thought-provoking series that's really awesome.