Books

I read Victoria of Many Faces largely because I enjoyed one of the author’s other books, Soup Forest, and decided to pre-order the moment that Amazon notified me about the coming title. It turned out to be an excellent choice, and I almost binge read the book in about two or three sittings. In fact, the only reason it took three days is because I decided on the second, that I really did need to sleep 😅.

Victoria is perhaps one of the more interesting light novel characters that I’ve encountered. Fleeing the organization, she ends up settling in another country and becomes embroiled in various antics–which eventually lead to her efforts to lie low becoming more complicated as time goes on. But we see a character who’s done some not-so-great things choosing to deviate from what they were trained to do because they choose to follow their heart. Even from the very beginning, Victoria recognizes that her course of action would be ill-advised and if she were still an operative would have to avoid the risks that it incurs. Faced with that, Victoria makes her own choice about what is right and that moral compass sets her on a beautiful course.

I love that the actions Victoria takes are her choice, and often bring about the major shifts in the plot. As a light novel, Victoria of Many Faces is often amusing and intriguing, and honestly I laughed so hard during the pub scene with the cat….I love so much that it’s even captured by one of the illustrations. The follow up in the bakery was superb, with there “Don’t you want to ask me something? / Do you want me to ask? / No” moment ending with the two laughing like loons. It’s very much like a shared story over cake, and plays off the incident with such comedic beauty.

Throughout the story, Victoria’s interactions with other people define what becomes the new “Normal” for her. By making it a slice of life tale, I think the story captures well why such shifts in Victoria’s life lead her towards finding happiness in such unlikely actions.

The ending in particular was rather beautiful, and after having seen several of the character’s aliases and efforts at concealing her true identity, Victoria’s exchange with the captain is especially poignant at the end. I’m glad that when all is said and done, she is able to reveal both her true self and the name hidden behind it all.

Overall, I would say that the protagonist is more realistic than most LN characters tend to be while remaining a vehicle for the story, and that makes her a wonderful counter-point to the various antics she gets wrapped up in. Victoria of Many Faces becomes a fairly warm slice of life / action comedy with a bit of romance here and there as the volume progresses, and it works really well IMHO.

I’m rather looking forward to the second volume, and hope that it proves as entertaining as the first was.

Of late, I’ve found myself in that odd spot of reading a series where I think, maybe I should switch series or nah, give it a few weeks and I’ll be caught up 😄. Last night as I started volume 8 of Dahlia in Bloom, and I’m reminded that it’s going to be a while. Based on Wikipedia, I believe that volume 9 was released in Japan back in December, so it will probably be summer time by the time an English translation lands.

I’ve really enjoyed the series so far, perhaps because in many ways: it’s protagonist and I have similar natures. Dahlia’s antics as a craftswoman and a certain joy in cooking, are things I’m rather able to relate to and the series makes for a good slice of life. The side thoughts of both Dahlia and Volf also remind me of the experience of first love, which sprinkles a nice touch on the romance side-plot that just makes you want to root for the lead characters, and sigh with the supporting cast.

In volume 1, the story begins with Dahlia Rossetti about to move into a new house the day before her wedding. Only, as it turns out her fiancé, Tobias, has suddenly found “True love” with another woman and leaves Dahlia holding the bag as it were. The out pouring of friendship and support from those around Dahlia is wonderful, and quickly snowballs into the craftswoman forming her own trading company to support both herself and the development of new magical tools. It’s a big leap, but she resolves to hold her head up high and follow her dreams as a magical toolmaker even if that means becoming chairwoman of the Rossetti Trading Company.

When she encounters Sir Volfied, crawling out of the forest battered and bloody from being carried off by a wyvern it isn’t long before the chance encounter with Volf and Dahlia’s own nature, brings her into doing business with knights of the Order of Beast Hunters at the castle. At first, Dahlia is merely trying to use her talents to make Volf’s expeditions with the beast hunters easier. But of course between Dahlia’s ingenious crafting and Volf’s unexpected salesmenship, business is soon booming. Dahlia’s desire to bring people happiness through her magical toolmaking, soon finds her products in demand with both the knights at the castle, and with commoners and nobles alike.

Along the way, there are many bits of amusement and slice of life joy. Volf becomes a frequent dinner guest at the tower that Dahlia calls home and workshop, soon coining the name, “Green Tower Diner” and wishing she would open a restaurant — good food and drink abound. Not to mention the experiments in trying to produce a magical sword, which range from the mildly terrifying Sword of the Dark Lord’s Minion and the unnerving “Creeping Sword” all the way to the Galeforce Blades when you combine the insanity of a knight and a magical toolmaker 😅.

The story takes itself mostly seriously, but like any good series: isn’t afraid to take itself humorously either. I especially enjoyed that when Dahlia is called to the castle to advise the knights on stamping out athlete’s foot amongst the order of beast hunters, she finally looses her cool when the senior knights are about ready to chop off their legs and have the temple regrow them and she’s just trying to convince them to properly clean their bath mats. And of course there’s what happens when Volf implies that if her father had the condition and she knows so much about controlling the infection, surely she must have shared the knight’s plight as a young woman. The reaction of the senior knights is awesome, and quite frankly the artist’s rendition of the look on Dahlia’s face is kind of priceless! The issue of course tends to pop up from time to time, with one of the nick names chairwoman Rossetti has received being “The goddess of athletes foot” once youngsters shorten out the part about eliminating it, lolololololol.

For bonus points, each volume ends with an epilogue about Dahlia and her late father, Carlo. Often relating to some magical tool they worked on in her youth and revealing aspects behind the curtain that are flashed back from the old man’s point of view. Ranging from great amusements like Dahlia trying to create a hair dryer as a child and accidentally creating a flamethrower, or having to dismantle a prototype kotatsu because her father was treating it like a turtle carrying its shell around. Likewise, plot points beyond that abound. See, Carlo Rossetti had a plan to support his daughter Dahlia even after he was gone to his early grave. In part of this, we have the running gag of sorts first brought up by the vice-guild master of the merchant’s guild in volume 1, and well, you’ll just have to read the book if you want to know more 😝

Following up from 2023 in books, where I focused on what the changes to my reading habits did to the statistics, this journal entry is more about what I’ve been reading. In particular, those I consider most worth mentioning 😁.

Best books I’ve read in 2023

The number one best book I’ve read this year, is definitely part one of the Dark Lord of the Farmstead. It’s a relatively wholesome and romantic story that tugs at the ol’ heartstrings while making you laugh. I literally binge read it in like two nights or something. I laughed a lot, smiled a lot, and it almost made me cry. It was great.

The next best book that I’ve read is arguably Holdouts, or part two of The Vixen War Bride Series. In part two, we see the paths of our hero and heroine cross and intersect wonderfully as “Maybe it’ll be peaceful” turns into the opportunity for a tragedy. What made this the best in the series for me, is Ramirez and Alzoria. These are both supporting characters whose capture kicks the story into gear for the main characters, and quite frankly I love that Ramirez is very much true to himself no matter the situation they find themselves in. Part two is his moment to shine.

Honorable mention also goes to Dead Tired, which made me laugh so much that if I would include it under “Best books …” if I had the inclination to pick a third best book and somehow didn’t pick another from The Vixen War Bride series. Dead Tired isn’t likely to be the most memorable book ever, but I laughed a lot and I appreciate the main character’s sense of humor. Therefore, it was one of the best books I’ve read this year because I rolled on the floor laughing my ass off (^_^).

Best series I’ve read in 2023

Definitely The Vixen War Bride series. When I came across the series in search of fresh books to read, I figured it could be an interesting read. Well, I ended up binge reading most of the books in the series. The author seems to be more well versed in American military history than most, with nods both to occupied Japan and Afghanistan. I found the characters most often the best part of the entire story. I absolutely loved the comedy caused by cultural misunderstandings and that the Va’Shen world isn’t quite like ours. As a story, there are plenty of opportunities for the plot to go in different ways and above all, I think how it plays out is based on the notion that we can indeed get along if we try to understand each other rather than fear the differences or feed our hate.

Plus, if my spirit animal was an alien fox woman: it would definitely be Sho’Nan — my favorite character. The sassy chef is one of the heroines closest friends and a rather unique personality, one that we don’t tend to see often enough in literature IMHO. Now, go read the series, shoo, shoo 😛

Most binged series I’ve started in 2023

I’ve ended up reading quite a few light novels, between my existing taste in isekai anime and fantasy I suppose that was natural. But the series that I binged the hardest on this year was The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary.

After his mercenary outfit is wiped out, Lorin finds himself becoming an adventurer and, as a side effect of being a decent guy placed in a horrible situation when his temporary party is wiped out by goblins, ends up indebted to the demonic priest Lapis. The misadventures of Lorin and Lapis are so entertaining that I basically binge read every volume I could get my hands on, and I quite enjoyed the colorful characters as well as the antics they get involved in.

The print version of volume 9 is expected in June, which means I’ll likely be groaning until at least then, wanting the Kindle version to receive a release target date.

Series I’m most looking forward to continue in 2024

There are plenty of series that I’ve been reading over the past couple years as new volumes are released or as I cycle back and return to reading the next volume. But aside from the most binged series above 😁, there’s a few that I’ve started this year and look forward to continuing in the new year. But one of these stands out a bit higher than the rest.

The Calamitous Bob was a book that I had bought, started the first few chapters, and drifted off for some months. When I came back to it again and actually started to read it, I found its whacky sense of humor grew on me. Viviane ends up in an undead holocaust zone after her soul is transmuted into another world, thanks to a deity who cheated on his goddess and needed to find another world to hide in until the rage passes.

So we end up with poor Viv, stuck in the relic of a long dead empire with barely the hair on her head and undead horrors lumbering all about the destroyed imperial city. If she doesn’t find water, she’ll die. If she doesn’t find a way out of the dead zone, she’ll die. There’s a lot of problems to overcome. Combine this with an experimental strike Golem who christens her the last heir to the empire to subvert his programming to save them both, and the pronunciation problems of a language that doesn’t have sounds for “Vivienne”, she becomes the Princess Bob and sets out across the dead lands in search of survival and a means to heal her injured soul.

Did I mention that she tames a young dragon and becomes a mage specializing in black mana? Yep. From a French combat medic to the unexpected leader of a city state bordering the dead lands, it’s a wild, whacky, and amusing adventure well suited to the long form serial. I’m also pretty sure the author is a little crazy, but the story makes me go squeee.

Most likely, I’ll be starting both part 3 of Dark Lord of the Farmstead and book 4 of The Calamitous Bob before the year is out, but may not finish them until January. Perhaps also Dead Tired II, which was just released. Hmm.

The real problem with reading at night, is sometimes you read for a few minutes and fall asleep and sometimes you read a 235 page book in one sitting and realize you forgot to sleep 😅

Remind me, to never go looking at the suggested reading. Especially when I’ve worked through most of my immediate reading set :-/.

Perhaps it’s actually worse with the Kindle Rewards Beta program. In the sense, that I had enough rewards that one of the books I’ve added to my queue was almost free, and the others, well, just half refilled my rewards points ^_^.

One of my little side projects, has been building a spreadsheet of books that I’ve bought, read, or started this year. Reading Insights shows I’m about 25 pages away from having read 60 books this year, which is one off from my spreadsheet. Somewhat scarier may be how fast my queue drains, especially when stumbling onto a series that I enjoy, since books are rarely one off.

I’m not sure how much detail I’ll add to my journal when I get to the year end version of my spreadsheet. But so far, I find it interesting. For every 3 books that I’ve bought this year (including pre-orders from last year that released this year), on average I’ve read 2 of them. Of those I haven’t finished, half I started to read. Most of those unfinished books are entries in long-running series that I will likely cycle back to between now and this coming summer, and a few are more specialized; epics you don’t read quickly and informational books you read most of but don’t always care to finish.

In the long run though, I want to take a year end review of my reading for 2023. Both to see how my goals of reading something every day has affected my habits, and because I’m curious to see how the higher influx of serialized fiction has had an effect. The thing that I refuse to put in the spreadsheet however, is how much I’ve spent on books this year…lol

Last night, I almost finished reading The Dark Ones and was very tempted to just skip sleeping in order to finish it in one sitting. This afternoon/evening, I managed to finish it.

The conclusion to The Vixen War Bride series is a very satisfying one, and I almost busted a gut laughing my ass off in the middle of the finale’s finale. Coincidentally, book two in the series is one of the best books I’ve read all year, but that’s the subject of a later journal entry.

During the series, it’s suggestively hinted more and more that the humans are not the “Dark Ones” that the Va’Shen believed them to be, and in the final entry, of course the dark ones actually show up! The prologue with the Neil Armstrong was superb, but much of novel deals with the resulting fall out as the Dark Ones make landfall. As human forces gather to counter an unknown enemy that’s been making like a hot knife through butter, our hero Ben is effectively left with his finger in the dam when his Rangers are tasked with channeling the ancient Spartans at Thermopylae to buy the combined joint task force the hours needed to gather their forces.

But far, far better than this is the aftermath of it all. See, our poor hero, Ben was supposed to be separating from the army as part of Reduction In Force, i.e., too many bodies, war is over, you’re done pal. When the Dark Ones show up and refugees start streaming into the village, that goes out the window, since no one is going anywhere until the Over the Rainbow arrives. After waking up in the hospital, Ben finds himself in the unique position of having somehow survived but still getting crapped on by red tape. The situation was so dire that Rangers and Va’Shen commando ended up fighting side by side, and our hero may have managed to experience what it’s like to be fed through an alien nutcracker and bombed off the map but there is always red tape.

Fortuitously, Alacea his native wife and our heroine, has her own role in the finale. Seriously, part of the woman’s job is to argue her community’s case before the Va’shen’s gods — the Va’Sh imperial court and the CJTF’s general ain’t gonna win that argument (^_^).

The imperial official’s internal thoughts, are especially hilarious during the meeting between the emperor’s representative and the human general, and it is a beautiful twisting of Va’Shen honor and their saving face that has caused the emperor to declare Ben a Va’Sh citizen and other virtues for having Just Saved All Their Asses. Which leads to Ben also having to export a certain general officer who May Have Fucked Up Big Time ™ into letting him be out processed there on Va’Sh, saving the U.S. government the few billion dollars it would take too ship him home for the rubber stamping only for Ben to have to fight his way back to Va’Sh and Alacea.

Sho’Nan, the sassy chef, “The one who feeds,” continues to be her awesome self when Ben Gibson returns the village and needs to speak to the chieftain Kasshas and the Na’Sha Alacea about joining the community, and Sho’Nan introduces him to the whole council as some vagrant who can’t even speak properly 🤣. Without a doubt, Sho’Nan is my favorite character throughout the series along with John Ramirez, perhaps the two single most entertaining goons, I mean, supporting characters, in the entire series!

Needless to say, things get crazy when Ben comes before the council and Alacea looses her shit in excitement at her husband’s return, but we are treated to a superb finish as the two are finally reunited. It’s one of the more satisfying endings I’ve read to a sci-fi series.

Well, it looks like at 10% off on the most expensive of my short term projects, means I’ll be experimenting with a planned lifestyle shift: having a dedicated reading spot. That, or a chair that proves suitably uncomfortable enough to be repurposed elsewhere, lol.

I’ve done well with my goal to read a little bit every day. Typically, this works out as being before bed. Working off the same concept as why you shouldn’t use a laptop in bed because of its effects on your sleep, I’ve for a while now, thought about having a dedicated place to read. My vision for the next phase of bedroom development is a pair of bookshelves, a chair, and maybe a comfortable rug to help zone it off from the rest of the room. The dogs bequeathed me enough blankets not to have to worry about details, and a place to rest a book and a drink is easily solved.

My theory is that it would be better to sit and read, put up my kindle for the night, and then cross the room and crash into bed than it is to toss and turn alight with a kindle in hand. How well this works in practice, I think will depend on a suitably cozy place. It’s also a better incentive to read earlier and not stay up so late.

And of course there’s the issue of shelving. Most of my books are still in the garage, as I opted to convert my old shelves (about 15 and 25 years old, respectively, or older) into storage shelving in the garage, leaving me with know place to store them other than how I packed them. Bookshelves are cheap though, so that’s less a concern. The downside of sorts is that Really Cheap shelves are now better than my old shelves for weight capacity without falling apart, and are almost cheap enough to turn the spare room into a library by papering the walls with bookshelves. I must resist this temptation.

“Damn it, Kindle, stop giving me interesting ideas to read!” — how I spent my rewards points.