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Whoever Steals This Book #2
Whoever Steals This Book (Manga), Vol. 2
The “Books’ Curse”―an ancient hex that activates when a book is stolen from the massive library, Mikura Hall, turning the entire town into the setting of a story. To break this curse, high schooler Mifuyu is tasked with journeying through these story worlds to track down the thief. This time, she’ll be navigating the dangerous streets of a hard-boiled noir novel, as well as a fantasy adventure surrounding the large and mysterious “Silver Beast”!! And will the book thief reveal themselves at last?!
196 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2024
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 6, 2025
There is a lot going on in this manga, but for some reason, as a whole, it's not very interesting. The individual book worlds are barely incidental, so explanations of the worlds are just fluff.The main characters are moderately interesting, but that's about it.
May 2, 2025
This series continues to be interesting but not spectacular. I keep expecting Haruta (the boy from the bookshop) to play a larger role, but he never does. (Most of the townsfolk don't have large roles at all.) Mifuyu has figured out who the book (fox) thief is in human form, or shall I say that the thief randomly decided to reveal themselves to Mifuyu and then immediately steal another book.
The gangster story in the beginning of this volume fell kind of flat for me. It was trying to solve its core inner mystery while Mifuyu and Mashiro were running around and there just wasn't enough space for all that plot. The Silver Beast arc is a little more interesting, if only because I like seeing Mifuyu have to stand on her own two feet. Again, not sure entirely what the point is of Keiko stealing this book when she knows she's not going to be able to get out without Mifuyu and Mashiro finding it. (Plus, it's a dangerous world!)
There are a lot of unanswered questions hanging around. Like why does the thief turn into a fox? Why do all the inhabitants of the story start turning into foxes as it goes on? Why does Mifuyu turn into a fox but Mashiro gets to keep her human and dog forms? What is the point of these curses anyway? Hopefully, we'll get answers in the final volume. 3/5
The gangster story in the beginning of this volume fell kind of flat for me. It was trying to solve its core inner mystery while Mifuyu and Mashiro were running around and there just wasn't enough space for all that plot. The Silver Beast arc is a little more interesting, if only because I like seeing Mifuyu have to stand on her own two feet. Again, not sure entirely what the point is of Keiko stealing this book when she knows she's not going to be able to get out without Mifuyu and Mashiro finding it. (Plus, it's a dangerous world!)
There are a lot of unanswered questions hanging around. Like why does the thief turn into a fox? Why do all the inhabitants of the story start turning into foxes as it goes on? Why does Mifuyu turn into a fox but Mashiro gets to keep her human and dog forms? What is the point of these curses anyway? Hopefully, we'll get answers in the final volume. 3/5
December 2, 2024
guys they are so gay if. the twist isnt what i think it might be. they are so gay. like this is so whimsical and fun you cannot be serious
February 25, 2025
Best book in the series. I loved the fun action and how quickly everything happened. It felt like you went on an adventure with them.
June 9, 2025
3.5
Still interesting. However it still feels messy in the storyline with all the jumping in and out of stories/books.
Still interesting. However it still feels messy in the storyline with all the jumping in and out of stories/books.
December 31, 2025
This book was fine. Not as good as the first one, and I’m glad that there are only 3 in the series, but it was still enjoyable.
June 13, 2025
I think the one-star deduction is (still) from the weirdness of a main character who H-A-T-E-S books. Like, one of the absolute worst characters for me to try to identify with, am I right??
Also, this volume feels like it gives away some of the mystery quite suddenly—though, I suppose, dragging out the mystery would be worse, since there's really not a lot of room for character development as far as the, "I HATE BOOKS → well, they're ok... → fine, I found books I tolerate → I LOVE BOOKS" route. Rather, as interesting of a concept this is, there's not too much room to convincingly stretch it out for like 100+ volumes like Naruto or whatever.
Which is fine! Some stories are best when they're short! Like, any of the "worlds" they enter when the thief steals a book, if the worlds lasted too long, they runs the risk of just filling time and wearing out their welcome, besides risking the reader forgetting what the "main" story actually is. In that respect, the weird "Everybody slowly turns into foxes but doesn't notice except Mifuyu and Mashiro (and the thief, maybe?)" thing makes sense, from a narrative point of view (regardless of how it appears in-universe).
I don't know if I like the stories in this volume as much, though. They seemed less interesting compared to the first volume. I'll still keep reading, though, since I'm interested in seeing endings (and beginnings!) more than middles. Probably the reason I like collections of short stories so much, that they're (USUALLY) complete stories, and a variety of them! It is, of course, easy to make them TOO short, leaving no time to connect with the characters or follow what's going on, though.
Recommended for fans of the first book! Newcomers will definitely be lost.
(re-read)
I don't have a lot to add after a re-read, other than I don't think I was as excited as I was reading this as I was the first time. Still interesting, but I guess because I already know how it ends, it's not as mysterious or captivating. Tends to happen with "thriller"-type stories.
Also, this volume feels like it gives away some of the mystery quite suddenly—though, I suppose, dragging out the mystery would be worse, since there's really not a lot of room for character development as far as the, "I HATE BOOKS → well, they're ok... → fine, I found books I tolerate → I LOVE BOOKS" route. Rather, as interesting of a concept this is, there's not too much room to convincingly stretch it out for like 100+ volumes like Naruto or whatever.
Which is fine! Some stories are best when they're short! Like, any of the "worlds" they enter when the thief steals a book, if the worlds lasted too long, they runs the risk of just filling time and wearing out their welcome, besides risking the reader forgetting what the "main" story actually is. In that respect, the weird "Everybody slowly turns into foxes but doesn't notice except Mifuyu and Mashiro (and the thief, maybe?)" thing makes sense, from a narrative point of view (regardless of how it appears in-universe).
I don't know if I like the stories in this volume as much, though. They seemed less interesting compared to the first volume. I'll still keep reading, though, since I'm interested in seeing endings (and beginnings!) more than middles. Probably the reason I like collections of short stories so much, that they're (USUALLY) complete stories, and a variety of them! It is, of course, easy to make them TOO short, leaving no time to connect with the characters or follow what's going on, though.
Recommended for fans of the first book! Newcomers will definitely be lost.
(re-read)
I don't have a lot to add after a re-read, other than I don't think I was as excited as I was reading this as I was the first time. Still interesting, but I guess because I already know how it ends, it's not as mysterious or captivating. Tends to happen with "thriller"-type stories.
January 1, 2026
I got this and the third volume together, so the cliffhanger wasn't too perilous! Intrigued to find out more about the curse, the books and Mashiro!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews