Fun fact, the main character made a reference to that (I had to look up what TUEEE could possibly be, and then I just facepalmed)
It’s NOt aN adDiCtioN i sWeAr.
Fun fact, the main character made a reference to that (I had to look up what TUEEE could possibly be, and then I just facepalmed)
It’s NOt aN adDiCtioN i sWeAr.
The numbers are getting TUEEE
Aw, I really like the manga version of that - but I can definitely see how it could be more tedious in light novel form. I have to admit that I barely have any desire to read the light novel version of it.
There are a few light novels that I’m really looking forward to reading after liking the anime version though, and after hearing so much about badly written light novels… I hope it won’t be a let-down when I’m finally be able to do it.
I’ve heard 蜘蛛ですが、なにか has pretty awful writing but Spice and Wolf I’ve heard is quite good. Haven’t read either.
I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of 蜘蛛 in English so far, for what it’s worth. No high literature or anything like that, but it seemed like a better put-together LN than others I’ve read. I honestly don’t read many LNs, though, so my standards may be a bit off.
I guess a manga (or anime) form would indeed match better. Also, that gives the manga artist a way to improve the pacing and reduce repetitions (saving the author from themself )
I read that one and, like @eefara, I don’t think it’s that bad (for a light novel), especially now that I have much worse points of comparison.
Kino was also fine in terms of writing (in general, not just for a light novel).
I don’t know anything about the writing of the other three.
Can’t speak to 蜘蛛, but 狼と香辛料 1 | L35 has very solid writing. It doesn’t feel like a light novel from the prose. As someone who’s spent far too much time thinking about the series as a whole, I feel like Hasekura didn’t fully understand his own characters for the first couple volumes, but the page-to-page writing is still fun and the latter 2/3 of the series does a great job painting larger themes and showing character growth.
I only read like 1/3 of the first volume of Spice and Wolf, but I felt the writing was pretty good overall, yeah. Would you say the writing quality it improves further, or just that it’s consistent throughout the series?
I dropped the first volume because it was slightly too difficult to justify the time investment in a long series, as I wasn’t sure I wanted to read so much about economics and trade (and related schemes) at my current reading pace. If I could reach the point where I could read a volume per week I’d consider giving it another shot, as I do generally like economics and finance.
I have to admit I’ve only read the first 2 volumes in JP so far, and so my knowledge comes from the EN translation (that even changed translators a few times during publication). So I don’t know how the prose changes, but it’s clear the large-scale ideas get better later on. The first volume was published on its own, and only got a continuation because of its popularity. The rest are still largely self-contained stories in each volume but they also have the bigger picture in mind, especially after a major turning point in Vol. 5.
If I remember correctly, the anime adaption ended with adapting volume 5 (though a volume might have been skipped). I wonder if the new anime adaption will continue after volume 5 long enough to demonstrate said bigger picture. It’s been so so long since I watched the anime that I don’t remotely remember what that turning point might have been though.
Yes, the anime ends right at volume 5 (skipping volume 4, which would have caused them problems if they’d continued to adapt the series), and changes a few details of that volume’s ending in strange ways. It makes for a famously awkward conclusion that’s prompted many people like me to go read the books instead. I hope the new series gets into the later stuff too!
THE WHAT NOW
Man, I gotta rewatch the anime again to get ready for this! It’s been 10 years or what and I remember almost nothing.
Nearly 8 years for me.
There’s still no date for the new adaption. It’s not even clear yet if it’s a readaption from the beginning or a continuation or something else entirely. But here’s a link:
“Holo the Wisewolf and Lawrence the Merchant’s story continues.” would be a pretty misleading tagline for a readapation, but… yeah, you never know.
I have been keeping up with the bookclub read which is finally getting a bit more interesting. At least, I am learning about my taste in Japanese mystery literature.
I have also made good progress with 彼女が好きなものはホモであって僕ではない | L30??. (Listening to the audiobook) This was a huge surprise. I did not expect this book to go where it does. I actually wrote a premature review just so I can note down all the content warnings for this book. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s really good, at least I am invested in the story, but it includes difficult topics that I did not expect at all. I mean, the cover did not suggest any of that to me.
I also started a re-read of わたしの幸せな結婚 二 | L32. I have been meaning to continue with the series for a while, but I kinda forgot what happened in the second volume. I have all volumes up to 5, so I might pick up vol. 6 when I am in Japan in April - if I can find a cheap copy in BookOff.
I’ve read the whole series, in a slightly odd order that started at volume 3, went to the end, and then finished with volumes 2 and 1 (I’d already seen the anime and didn’t want to start by reading lots of plot I already knew). I don’t feel like there was a major writing quality change that I noticed reading volumes 2 and 1 after 19. It’s more that the characterisation in the early volumes felt a bit odd, which as @Athakaspen says is partly the author not yet having quite figured them out, and partly that they do grow and change over the course of the series.
You called?
Turns out there are outliers either way. E.g. コーヒーが冷めないうちに (which I don’t think qualifies as LN) has such poor writing that I dropped it in the first chapter. The author used not very eloquent and on top of that quite repetitive language, which I hate with a passion, and after using 姿を消した (or whatever it was) about five times in two pages, I could not stand it any more. Sad, as I liked the movie quite a lot.
On the other hand, Flesh&Blood (a LN) is written pretty well in my opinion. The author has a bit of a faible for に違いない but it’s within limits so I notice it and chuckle about it, but nothing more. (Contents-wise, on the other hand, it has its phases where it dives deep into teenager literature, of course. )
I still think it holds up as an audiobook. Going for walks listening to it was the best because I didn’t have to focus very tightly to hold on.
I also have low standards.
I can imagine that it’s easier to listen to, agreed. My reading speed is still far from a Japanese person’s read-aloud speed, so I suffer much longer from bad writing and such
Language-wise I’ve always been very picky, in any language. I generally proof-read everything automatically, and when I e.g. bump into a typo while I’m very focused on the contents, it often throws me off pretty badly. It’s sad to see that over the years even the renowned publishers (e.g. Addison-Wesley) have dropped their standards considerably when it comes to proofreading. That’s one (small) additional reason why I’m happy to read Japanese books as the proofreading standards are amazingly high.
For contents, I’ve read quite a bit of trash when I was younger, and now I actively try to raise the bar regarding what I read. Doesn’t work all the time, of course. But even with trash, there are different levels to it , I think…