Hell Is Dark with No Flowers, Vol. 3 (light novel)

Hell Is Dark with No Flowers #3

by Yoru Michio, Taylor Engel (translator)

Detective Shiroshi and his pet assistant Seiji venture to Okuhida to investigate a baffling old case involving people being attacked in the streets. At their ryokan in the mountains, which burn with all the colors of fall, the pair are greeted by a serpent writhing in darkness and the corpse of the landlady, who died suddenly the previous night. Time passes, and another mysterious death occurs alluding to the so-called "serpent’s curse.” Yet Shiroshi seems to know the true culprit behind the murders, as well as their tragic motives...

Genres: Light Novel, Horror, Mystery, Fantasy, Manga, Supernatural

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2019

About the author

路生よる

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outline of the story: An unemployed, homeless young man stumbled upon a strange estate with a strange young man and his female assistant living inside. The pair agreed to allow the young man to stay and help out since the young man possessed a rare ability to see people's crime: sinners who had escaped justice would appear to the young man as yokai or monsters.

The half-human mysterious young man and this Detective Who Brings Death have locked themselves in a contest to win the position of the next Lord of the Underworld ever since vol. 1; and in this vol. 3 the game seems to be changing, now the Detective's supposedly dead twin brother may not be so dead after all... and the guy is out to get revenge? Excitement ensured.

4.7 stars. Overall I do like the story, but there is one thing I don't like is how the murder mystery that took place in the hotel resort which is supposedly haunted by the snake demon is totally shoved to the background in the later part of the story, in order to make way for the 'contest to be the next Lord of the Underworld' thingy...but I have to wonder, the MC being the son of an infamous demon lord and a mad woman who demanded her husband to kill the rest of his children after the MC was born in order to make way for the MC to become the only heir, why would this MC grew up to be compassionate, so unlike his parents?

PS: The relationship between the two male MCs is getting increasingly Boy's Love, I am amazed. LOL

[Asuka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. The second story in this third volume was heartbreaking. And the Mai plot is getting really interesting. Looking forward to reading the volume 4.

[Lanie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saori Toribeno, a writer from an occult magazine reaches out to Shiroshi but sending him an interesting journal and a request to interview Seiji. Saori has apparently stumbled upon a woman by the name of Mayuka Asaka who appears to have with a shard of The Mirror of Illumination in her eye as well and she had sent her to story to Saori's magazine, however, when Saori attempted to do an interview she was completely dismissed and decided to reach out to Shiroshi, where she also relates a strange tale of the murder of Mayuka's own father. Shiroshi immediately books a trip to the Asaka family's Inn, hoping to get to the bottom of both Mayuka's father's murder and to find out more about Mayuka's shard. Unfortunately for Shiroshi and Seiji there is a far greater conspiracy here and it may cost Shiroshi his life.

Since its only volume 3 I feel like saying best one yet, is a little premature, but I don't care because it is the best one yet! The first story honestly seems a bit boring, but thats because its laying the groundwork for the second story and a conspiracy of, well Hellish proportions! Not to mention that the entirety of the yokai's story in vol. 2 is absolutely off the wall. I'm not going to go into it because I dont want to spoil it but as far as Im concerned the second story solidifies Michio's place among all of the great Japanese mystery writers.

I also love how close Seiji and Shiroshi are now, regardless of how old Shiroshi actually is he truly is just a lonely little boy at his core and Im so glad he found Seiji. And Seiji needed someone just as much as Shiroshi did so to see them interact as almost brothers by volume three is wonderful.

I can't wait to read volume 4! With that cliffhanger ending everything is up in the air especially since a character has emerged from hell that is actually evil!

[Tyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alright, things get more interesting, both as a continuation of the conflict brewing in Hell and as individual cases brought to the attention of Seiji and Shiroshi. I genuinely felt sorry for Odoro after what transpired in this volume, but I wonder whether it all would swing his loyalty towards some other way! And my, I learn new youkais with each volume of this series!

[MyDoRyS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not liked that part of the story is told without the MC, but still a very entertaining read.

[Munch · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Hel Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in one go and now Im needing to read the next volume to see the conclusion of the rivalry.

Really kept me hooked until the end.