Ascendance of a Bookworm: Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy Volume 1

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Hannelore’s Fifth Year at the Royal Academy Light Novel #1

by Miya Kazuki, Quof (translator), You Shiina (illustrator)

Half a year has passed since Yurgenschmidt inaugurated its first underage aub. Hannelore, now an archduke candidate for the country’s top-ranked duchy, is in the midst of a crisis. Despite her natural indecisiveness, she finds herself pressed to choose from a growing list of marriage candidates. Her father suggests Kenntrips and Rasantark—her childhood friends—but then her half-brother Raufereg throws his hat into the ring. And what about Wilfried, the apple of her eye? Convinced that Liebeskhilfe the Goddess of Binding is toying with the threads of her fate, Hannelore turns to her dear friend Rozemyne for guidance.

In the debut volume of this battle fantasy, the divine avatar fights to settle an engagement! Features two original short stories and four-panel manga by You Shiina.

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Romance

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 10, 2024

About the author

Japanese author (香月美夜)

Kazuki started writing novels when she was in her second year of junior high school. After taking an entrance exam, she entered into a national university before graduating and becoming busy with work, stopping her from writing. Once she was married and her child entered kindergarten, Kazuki had more free time, which she used to start writing again. From 2013 onwards, she started publishing her novel Ascendance of a Bookworm on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō which saw success. In 2015, she officially debuted with said series under the T.O. Books imprint.

Reviews

[Mistborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing sequel to one of the best isekai series ever written! I can't believe I missed the release date, but I finally read it. Hannelore is my favorite character, so I'm really glad we got to know more about her.
Seeing my girl accept her flaws and strive to do better made me feel so proud. Also, I really like the way the author talks about procrastination and indecisiveness, which are issues I deal with every day. It sort of hurt when one of the characters pointed these problems out to Hannelore; I felt a strong connection to her when I read that part. And Myne, still such a gremlin even though she's an Archduchess, was hilarious.
Overall, a solid book. I can't wait to see more of this duo and their shenanigans."

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a point off because Hannelore can’t see Rosemyne everyday but really I loved this book. Hannelore is almost as baffled by the world as Rosemyne, and she lived there all her life. But this book shows her making some giant realizations and I’m here for it.

[Pieter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written characters in a well crafted world, just as expected, and Hannelore is a solid choice for a main character. It is just that the main genre, romantic drama, is not really for me. The involvement of the gods also is a bit too much for my tastes. So while I enjoyed it well enough, it just did not click. I will keep continue reading though because I am curious were things are going for our poor Hannelore.

[Galateea · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK peeps, we're BACK with the sequel to our favorite LN. Unfortunately this one does not have Rozemyne as the MC, but she does appear in order to solve some problems in the past.

Here's hoping that we will somehow convince Kazuki sensei to give us some more books from her perspective as well. I mean, the LN devouring horde needs its tales of building Alexandria into a library city.

Also babies.

NOT NOW tho. The Supreme Bookworm needs to grow some more...

Mentally.

OK, a bit more physically and a LOOTTTT more mentally.



This LN - and the next one for sure, according to Kazuki sensei - focuses instead on Hannelore, the Dunkelfelger Aub candidate and the poor girl's awful bad timing (Dregarnuhr, I know you gave her your protection early on, but the poor little thing is suffering more often than not) as well as her perpetual non-decisive nature. And just to make everything better, we have some recent web novel updates on syosetu a.k.a. a staggering 6 chapters in the past 2 months so yey to us until we get this LN in English and I will not have to kill my brain with the mtl from Japanese.

Ahem.

Now, what were we saying?

Ah, yes. Hannelore and her terrible timing even with Dregarnuhr's protection.

To mention just a few of these instances, let us not forget that in her first year at the academy, her impeccably bad timing made it possible for one of her brother's guards, Rasantark, to hear her mumble that she found the library shumils cute. Which Lestilaut then heard which then made the entire situation degenerate into a full blown ditter match - to the delight of the entire Dunkelfelger student body who breathe, eat and sleep ditter, except for Hannelore obviously.

Or shall we talk about her frequent visits to the academy's library just for a glimpse of - and a chat with- Rozemyne, which of course led to them not intersecting even once and instead gave birth to various rumours that Hannelore was also a dedicated bookworm. Which at that time ranked somewhere between hellish and more hellish since Hannelore used to severely dislike reading.

And for once I can't blame her for that, because Dunkelfelger books are notoriously heavy and difficult to read because of the complicated vocabulary and archaic language. She does eventually develop a passion for reading after becoming friends with Rozemyne and exchanging books written in modern language and that focused more on romance rather than battles, ditter, more battles and some ditter.

Oh, or that moment when her tea party invitation to Ehrenfest doesn't explicitly specify Rozemyne as the recipient - which normally would have been fine and all - but in this case, the non-specific invitation combined with her renown bad timing means that Wilfried is forced to go in Rozemyne's place since he was Ehrenfest's only remaining archduke candidate left at the academy at that time (Rozemyne was forced to go back to Ehrenfest for the Dedication Ritual).

So yea, it kinda makes sense for Hannelore to be the MC this time. If we take into account all these various hints combined with some pretty telling personality traits, she is the most similar to Myne and possibly one of the reasons why they became best friends.

For instance, they both started as archduke candidates so the status was the same (with the difference between higher and lesser duchies, ofc), they both love books (Hannelore took a while tho),, none like fighting or ditter that much (they actively avoid it),, both happen to be short and cute (which they're not happy about),, both are utterly oblivious to even the simplest word in the definition of the concept known as "Love" (which makes their poor attendants work overtime), and eventually they both end up being treated as goddess avatar (Mestionare and Dregarnuhr respectively),.

Combine all this with her much acclaimed participation in real ditter against Ahrensbach and her duchy's rise to the very top in rankings after the Lanzenave invasion and subsequent defeat and you basically have the perfect marriage prospect.

Aside from Myne who belongs to Ferdinand, naturally. And let's be real here. No one wants to open that can of worms. Drewanchel tried with Ortwin as Rozemyne's second husband and that didn't go well.

Now, the issue with Hannelore being the perfect marriage prospect?

My girl is still as shy, oblivious and indecisive as ever and absolutely hates the options she had been given in regards to her future husband.

Her parents knew that she will be swamped with proposals from other duchies, and politically it was better for her to remain in Dunkelfelger and support her older brother as the future Aub. Which is why they gave her an ultimatum to chose her future husband between Kenntrips, the son of Aub Dunkelfelger's older brother and his half-brother, Rasantark.



Both happened to be Lestilaut's retainers and also childhood friends to both of them and before any of you start, in Yurgenschmidt, mana is largely dependent on the mother's - which means that women with a lot of mana like Rozemyne are in top of the list as far as marriage prospects are concerned. This basically means that getting married and having babies is all fine and dandy as long as the people involved don't share a mother.

Let's take Ferdinand for example.

His father was Adelbert, the former Aub Ehrenfest and his mother was Seradina, a Lanzenave princess, but in order for him to be recognised as a legitimate son, he had to be adopted by Adelbert's wife, which at that point was the trash known as Veronica, who obviously refused. This is why it was decided that Adelbert paternal half-sister, Irmhilde, will adopt Ferdinand as soon as she became his second wife. As Adelbert and Irmhilde shared a father but had different mothers, this meant that mana-wise there were no issues. Just replace mana with genetics to make it easier to understand the world building.

So now that this is out of our way, we still have calm and collected Kenntrips and the rash and fiery Rasantark.

Here is where I have a clear favorite.

Kenntrips is a sweetheart and he deserves a hug and the very best and a long, happy life with our oblivious shumil-like Hannelore. Mah boy has loved her ever since they were kids and used to call her Crybaby Princess and look after her all the time. And it's very obvious how much he still loves her when you see how he genuinely cares about all of her wishes and wants at the expense of his own feelings.

For example, when he saw that Hannelore was still fixated on Wilfried for some reason (I know, I know, she's blind sometimes) he actively supports her choice and even goes as far as helping her attempt to propose to Wilfried even though this means he will sabotage his own chances.

For Kenntrips, Hannlore's happiness is more important than his own and she slowly kinda finally starts to realise this...



Maybe...

To be fair, during the infamous dietter match with Ehrenfest when Hannelore decided to accept Wilfried's hand and forfeit the match instead of using the fire-type magic tool Kenntrips made for her, she totally hurt my poor boy's feelings.

Fortunately for everyone, the Wilfriend thing doesn't work out too well. Hannelore tries several times to get Wilfried to propose to her using the traditional horizontal kabedon method popular with Dunkelfelger women, but he is majestically oblivious to her intentions and when he does figure out what the poor girl is trying to do, he brutally rejects her as he gave up being an Aub and instead decided to become a giebe.



Also, Kenntrips is the only one who realises that something is different about Hannelore when Dregarnuhr grants her wish and allows her to travel back in time so she can properly propose to Wilfried before the events of the last year make it too late.

Fortunately for everyone yet again, the latest syosetu chapters have shown us some progress and our adorable Crybaby Princess bravely - albeit half disastrously - managed to reach a decision (Rasantark is way too dietter crazy for him to even be considered an option) and do a Dunkelfelger horizontal kabedon to Kenntrips and demand some tasks for her fulfil.

Gosh, my brain needs the proper English version for this because it's been over a decade since I studied Japanese at uni and I made a conscious, profound effort to forget everything but a total of 10 kanji at best.

So far, 23rd May 2025 is the official publishing date for the English LN.

Fingers crossed.

[s. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This side volume is quite different from the main story. Of course, that should be a given since this side volume focuses on Hannelore, Rozemyne's dear friend. But one thing I notice the most is the difference on how this was written.

The main story always shows Rozemyne's daily life and it's quite evident how busy she is. Thus, her attention is always divided into so many things. She rarely sits on something for a very long time. She jumps from one responsibility to another and even if the problem will persist for her, it would eventually be relegated to the back of her mind in favor of another responsibility that requires more of her attention at the time. It goes to show how special our little bookworm MC really is.

Hannelore, on the other hand, was written in a way that shows what is considered to be more 'normal' as a noble among her peers, especially among her age. (Though, as per her peers, she is quite special too, and stubborn to boot). There is this single-mindedness on romance all throughout the book. Something that was within expectations since she was known to be especially taken with Elvira's works before. Of course, at her age, marriage, engagement, and especially romance, are of grave importance especially since she is about to come of age. But nonetheless, with the topic being singularly about romance and marriage—for someone who had just read about Rozemyne's especially hectic schedule, it was new and even a bit tiring at times, especially with how indecisive Hannelore is. But nonetheless, that is within expectations. Hannelore is young and is a timid girl who has the tendency to shrink down and keep her feelings to herself. In this side volume though, we finally get a glimpse of how she thinks and how she will slowly gain confidence and change to be the strong woman that she is. Yes, despite the utterly chaotic environment she is forced in.

I am so very eager to read more of this side story. I can't help but be very curious (and deeply yearn) about Rozemyne too. Hopefully, the next book comes soon! I can't wait to read the next!

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

In one word: Disappointing.

AoaB is not only literally the story of (Roze)Myne, but also the world she creates. So, when the author takes the bold move to completely switch the focus to another character, they should have done so with aplomb. Instead, we get a half-baked story where the main character doesn't even feel like a main character; as a reader, it feels like the only thing to care for are the few glimpses we get of Rozemyne, while having to trudge through the dumb, sloppy mess that are Hannelore's inner thoughts.

In some sense, part of the reason AoaB works is that Rozemyne always has the perspective of a smart adult. Hannelore is a 14-year-old, and not a particularly bright one, crushing on another 14-year-old that has shown time and time again to be even stupider. I understand that Hannelore is a fan-favorite and that's likely why her perspective is being shown, but I cannot fathom the decision to not take the chance to increase the complexity and intelligence of her inner thoughts.

**Spoilers**
The Gods and Goddesses start to take part of the stage, and frankly, it was a complete let-down. I'm told time and time again that 'their perspective is completely different to humans', but they behave just like normal humans, but in the sky. They don't even talk differently.

[R.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannelore is starting her fifth year at the royal academy, since she is approaching adulthood she needs to secure an engagement soon. Aub Dunkelfelger and his wife, knowing about Hannelore's indecisiveness, present her with a few candidates within their duchy.

I'm rooting for Kenntrips, but Hannelore wants to leave her ditter obsessed home duchy and there doesn't seem to be a way besides marrying someone from another duchy. Maybe Rozemyne could arrange them to get into Alexandria?
It turned out the reason Hannelore was left alone during the bride stealing ditter match was because Kenntrips gave her powerful magic tools, so she wasn't actually in any danger.

Hannelore is still infatuated with Wilfried, but the way she compares him to Rozemyne shows she doesn't actually know him. He's sure to be a disappointment if she expects him to be as amazing as Rozemyne. Ortwin seem to be trying to help them, he is nice and smart and I've always thought he could be a good match for Charlotte.

Apparently to outsiders it's obvious how possessive Ferdinand is, it was already shown in a previous short story where Cornelius mentioned it's not normal to accept accessories when not engaged or engaged to someone else. Rozemyne isn't a reliable narrator.

[Parrot joseph ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madness

I thought the lovely Lady Hannalore would be the safest from the interference of the gods...Well I was deeply mistaken. This book was a crazy ride of missteps and incorrectly worded and timed proposals. Such a fantastic read filled with chaos emotional backlash and the struggles of understanding in a world where speaking your heart should not be this complicated. For every small platitude there is a prayer to the gods or reference to them on one of their many varying attributes that is often mistaken. It's perfectly laughable that the most direct form of proposal in this series is slamming the man you like on the ground and asking them to give you a proposal task or tasks. I would definitely love to see how Hannalore fares after this and also deeply hops that the former prince now Aub get physically hurt during the ditter match. His incessant need to overstep is so beyond me that it hurts. The stupid adult thinks he can run his people on pride rather than leadership. He will kill those people or get his foundation taken from him.

[SHANE KLINKENBERG · Rating 5 out of 5]

thrillingly enjoyable

This has to be the best volume Miya kazuki has written in a while. She must have had so much fun tormenting hannelore.

This has all the best elements from the main series, distilled. Pacing was great.

You even get myne popping in now and then.

I wish there were more illustrations, but a few of them are absolute gold.

[slugbiscuit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice. A spin-off in which we get to continue Myne’s story, at least from an outside perspective. Centering on Hannelore, I was initially disappointed as she historically is not my favorite, but it got much better as she eventually finds her resolve. Unfortunately, now we have to wait for the next volume.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannalore

For every fan waiting to get a closer look at Dunklefelger, we finally got our chance. The straight-forward, militaristic approach that duchy is run by is so fun to read about when it clashes with the other duchies because common sense is not shared between them. Join Hannalore on her journey to marry as she wishes as much as duty and circumstances allow.

[Dave Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed seeing the series continue. A little disheartening that it feels so removed from where the book ended in a lot of ways and it's weird seeing the world exclusively from another character/duchies perspective. I will be reading volume 2. Hopefully Kazuki wants to release more short story collections as the series is a lot of fun.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful continuation of my families most favorite series. We were so happy that Miya Kazuki continued with the series by writing about Hannelore and her romantic struggles.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved coming back to this world, but I was also so sad for Hannelore with how everything worked out. I really hope she moves on, finds her strength, and finds her own brand of happiness

[Faiqaslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

hannelore my baby take yo rose colored glasses off, i beg you sweetie...

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyable

Like seeing the ascendance of a bookworm continue with a new person perspective. Can not wait for more book in the ascendance of a bookworm series

[Breno Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que saudades que eu estava dessa serie. Muito bom ver os personagens de volta e a coitada da Hannelore.

[Dunderwild · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lady Hannlelore is growing

I liked how Lady Hannlelore developed during this volume. She went from dragging her heels to digging in her heels. The gods of yurgenshmit seem cruel.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you finish reading the whole Ascendance of a Bookworm, what stopping you from picking this up?? Anyways, story is amazing as ever. Can't wait for volume 2

[Ivette Olave · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it!!!

Poor Hannelore trying to decide on a new suitors and trying to make a decision is hard! I can’t wait for the next book!! Oh please come out soon!

[Eline Lemaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I expected, I look forward to the next volume