I agree, I zoomed through it and I also had the paperback. Wish I could say it was the author but reading 闇祓 I had to stop because it was just exhausting to read. Some of that was the subject matter though. Intensely socially uncomfortable scenes. Don’t know how else to explain it. 
I still haven’t finished it despite starting back in… March or something.
3 Likes
That’s interesting. 闇祓 is on my list, but not particularly high. The two books by this author that I really have my eyes on are 島はぼくらと and ツナグ. The former was read by someone on the WaniKani forums who said it wasn’t as good as かがみの孤城, but liked it overall. The latter is a short story collection, which I need to be in a particular mood for, so I may not get to that one for quite a while.
1 Like
Right now I’m reading 本好きの下剋上 book 16, a bit slower than usual since I’m pretty busy right now. A little over a third done that. Once I finish that I’ll need to go back to the first book of 薬屋のひとりごと, which I’m about 70% done. No intentions of reading more of that series (don’t really like the writing style or the episodic nature), but I like it enough to finish the first book.
After that I have absolutely no idea what to read. The books that I’m remotely interested in reading right now are:
- 本好きの下剋上 (already own 17-22)
- 魔法少女育成計画 (already own 5-6)
- 島はぼくらと
- 忘れえぬ魔女の物語
- 博士の愛した数式
- RDGレッドデータガール
- 裏世界ピクニック
I was told 本好きの下剋上 had a reasonably good break point after book 16, so I’d like to read a few other books before reading more. But from all those other options, I have no idea what to pick… Any suggestions?
2 Likes
The episodic nature generally stops halfway through volume 2. You still get chapters like that once in a while, but there’s a stronger plot line.
Well, if we ignore my obvious default answer, I would not go with 裏世界ピクニック, since that series has a very episodic style and you just said you don’t like that. (That sounds a bit weird, but that’s because I was about to recommend it and then realized it was a bad pick for you)
Maybe レッドデータガール? It’s also on my wishlist 
1 Like
Fair enough, but I don’t think I like the writing style or setting enough to continue regardless.
Episodic within a volume or between volumes. If it has some kind of story for each volume, even if it’s mostly unrelated from one to the next, that would be fine.
Also to be clear, I don’t always hate episodic stuff. I liked volume 4 of 魔法少女育成計画 which was just random unconnected short stories. I also liked Aria (as you know) which is pretty episodic. That’s probably it though since I’m not counting comedies as episodic.
Go read it first and tell me if you liked it.
2 Likes
Episodic within volume up to volume 6. Volume 6 and 7 are both one episode each.
That being said, there is some (very slow) character development (and they pick up gear/resources), so it’s not like there’s no progress at all.
That’s a good point, but I feel you’ll be done with your current book before that happens. *eyes pile of unread books*
1 Like
Hmm, well I still feel like I want to read the first volume at some point. It’s really short anyway, so it’s worth giving it a shot.
At my current pace… I’ll pick up a new book in 3-4 weeks I’d guess. How long is your pile of unread books? 
2 Likes
Today I finally started reading 世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 1 インスタント死神・友だちクジ他 | L24! I’ve been really looking forward to that since putting it on my wishlist over 3 months ago after reading glowing praises by @Megumin for it over on the Bunpro forums.
And I finished up chapter 12 of 夜カフェ 1 | L24. I’ve been reading that together with the Wanikani beginner book club the past months.
3 Likes
Apart from the unexpected difficulty it was a good read 
I was rather happy to find a mystery/detective based LN that actually is a bunch of small mystery cases rather than a romcom with some mystery/detective elements.
Not sure if the series will continue (it’s been a year since it was published) but I’d continue with the series if it does.
2 Likes
It is down to 23 light novels and 1 novel (獣の奏者 3), but that doesn’t include extra volumes I might buy (or get from the library). Also, I will probably read 獣の奏者 4 once I get back to volume 3 and finish it.
1 Like
人狼サバイバル 1 絶体絶命! 伯爵の人狼ゲーム is kind of like the game Danganronpa, especially the 2nd and 3rd books. If you like a convoluted back and forth “trial-like” discussion with twists, it is fairly interesting for a kids book.
絶体絶命ゲーム Is actually pretty good and has a lot of variety with the games. I guess like the movie Saw but less gorey for kids. I will read book 2 eventually.
金の月のマヤ 1 黒のエルマニオ Feels to me like they wanted to make a Harry Potter like book (the main character goes to magic school with her intended to be the hero that saves everyone). It has a lot of art and big text so it makes it easy to read. I will finish the 2nd and 3rd books eventually.
6 Likes
Oooh, so based on the other review, this is like the party/card game werewolf?? That’s super nostalgic, I’m gonna have to check this out 
2 Likes
Yea, it’s based on the villager, werewolf game. The first book is a bit more of a mystery and they spend a lot of time looking for clues.
At the end of the first book the author said she wanted to do a more proper villager, werewolf game in the next book, so books 2 and 3 focus more on having long discussions and trying to figure out who is lying, what strategies to use, etc.
5 Likes
Let me know what you think about it! I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts.
2 Likes
That was the first book I read 
The series is rather popular, I found it on one of the Amazon best sellers pages and I’ve seen displays for the series in book stores.
At the moment the ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 series seems most prominent in book stores.
2 Likes
Will do! It’ll take a while though - it’s easily the highest difficulty book I’ve ever read without a book club.
2 Likes
You’re really selling me on this book I need to hurry up and get through the other one lol. Would you say that it actually kind of reads like a mystery novel or is it more like a slice-of-life that has made it clear that there is a riddle/mystery that needs solving but that it’s not truly the main focus?
1 Like
I haven’t participated in a book club yet, and while I’m not the best to seek help as I don’t consider myself that advanced, if there’s anything you have a question with that series, shoot it away.
Maybe one of these days, if there’s enough people over here, we can also have learnnatively book clubs!
5 Likes
The latter, though I am not sure if SOL is the right genre, either. It’s very character focused. The mystery is kind of an afterthought. It’s interesting but - unless something major happens in book 2 - it’s just used as a setting, so there is a reason for the characters to meet.
btw. the audiobook of かがみ is really good. I started listening to the parts I already read, on my commute. Can recommend.
7 Likes
I’m almost finishing 六人の嘘つきな大学生 and honestly can’t wait for it to be done since I don’t really care about the story anymore after knowing the true culprit’s motivation 
This is the second mystery novel I’ve read and I’m not a big fan of both of them, maybe this genre is not for me even though I have a few of the more popular ones on my backlog (殺人十角館 and カラスの親指 to name a few).
4 Likes
