Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
For the first time since being summoned to another world, Kazuma faces his very first winter. Genuinely living in a stable during winter is too miserable to bear. Securing a better quality of life is now the top priority. Soon, he's visited by a chance he never even thought to ask for when he comes upon a request to exorcise some evil spirits haunting a mansion. While she's normally a no-good goddess, Aqua actually seems to be an expert on exorcism so Kazuma replies immediately that he will take on this quest and rare opportunity but what's actually in store for them at this creepy estate...?!

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2013

148 people are currently reading
700 people want to read

About the author

Natsume Akatsuki

156 books112 followers
AKATSUKI Natsume
Name (in native language): 暁なつめ
Associated Names:
自宅警備兵
Jitaku-keibihei

Zodiac: Libra

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
607 (43%)
4 stars
560 (39%)
3 stars
210 (14%)
2 stars
21 (1%)
1 star
6 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
Profile Image for Jeremiah.
89 reviews5 followers
July 3, 2023
I’ve already watched Konosuba past this point, but there is always a different vibe to reading it compared to watching it. This light novel was enjoyable and more entertaining then the first volume. I enjoyed the first one, but this one really had better comedic moments compared to the first one. Also the way they express emotion is unlike any other book I’ve read. There were some cases were they expressed emotions without using words! Kazuma and the others never fail to make me laugh with their wild personalities.

This novel had a few short stories where we got to meet new characters including the goddess Eris. I really enjoyed the action in the final chapter where they were dealing with the Mobile Fortress Destroyer. Almost everybody did a fantastic job. I can’t wait to read the next one to see what happens next with this crazy group.
Profile Image for Thibault Busschots.
Author 6 books207 followers
August 16, 2022
More of a collection of short stories than one solid adventure like the previous one. It’s a bit of hit or miss as you might like one story more than another. But overall, it’s not bad.
Profile Image for Tarl.
Author 25 books81 followers
August 10, 2018
I have to say that out of all the light novels I have read, Konosuba continues to be one of my favorite. There is a nice mix of fantasy and humour, enough to keep me chuckling and reading along.

The writing is what you'd expect for a light novel, though with the way that Konosuba is done, the simpler language actually works extremely well and fits the protagonist perfectly. But what really stands out for me is the sheer lack of the usual giant boob, etc stuff you find in other light novels. There's still the odd joke, but not to the extent in other light novels. (which is quite nice, as it doesn't seem to be pandering to lower humour)

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I already knew what was going on because of the anime, but the light novel brings with it a lot more detail and better characterization. If you are looking for a light hearted novel to read, Konosuba is the series for you!
Profile Image for Jorge Rosas.
525 reviews32 followers
October 5, 2017
We have three different main stories within this book, each independent, all of them funny, one with an erotic touch and another one with an epic touch, I had fun reading it, although I wasn’t laughing as often in comparison with the first one.
Profile Image for Brandon.
1,339 reviews
June 7, 2018
Less focused than volume one, this one seems to be more a collection of mostly-unrelated short stories. The humor's still there, and Kazuma seems to make a better effort to become a more appropriate Adventurer, so it's all okay, I guess. As is somewhat typical for light novels, the characters introduced in the initial volume barely get much more development in this sequel, despite having more time to flesh them out, with the introductions being out of the way. Megumin and Darkness are barely relevant in this novel, with Wiz getting a bit more spotlight, but we still pretend everyone has a moment to shine. At the very least, Megumin gets to use Explosion twice in one day, and Darkness seems to tease some big secret concerning her background, but I suppose it will be saved for volume three.

The novel begins with Kazuma having died again, getting sent to the goddess Eris, an acquaintance of Aqua, with the only real purpose seeming to be the introduction of that other goddess. There is an encounter with a monster known as "General Winter," a nature spirit taking corporeal form based on the cognition of human minds, particularly that of the Japanese Kazuma, so that's a somewhat neat little piece of world-building, but it seems to be mostly irrelevant. Kazuma considers Eris a potential love interest, but we later seem him show some possible affection for Darkness, with Eris not making any other appearance throughout the novel.

Most interestingly, this first story introduces a couple new male characters, to balance the cast away from falling too deeply into the trappings of the harem genre. Believing Kazuma to be a worthless leech for his otherwise apparently powerful party of cute girls, a fellow adventurer named Dust challenges Kazuma to switch parties for a day, mostly just as a bit of drunken banter. Bothered by his annoying friends, Kazuma meets Dust's challenge head-on, freaking him out, but not really to Dust's absolute displeasure; after all, Dust thinks he gets to get close to some qts. Kazuma then teams up with the Wizard Rin, the Archer Keith, and the Crusader Taylor, on a small quest to kill some goblins. Kazuma proves his lowly Adventurer class (a jack-of-all-trades seen to be as vaguely worthless as the beginning "Freelancer" class in Final Fantasy III, or the basic "Hero" class throughout the Dragon Quest series) to be increasingly useful, what with his mastery of simple Thief skills and Basic Magic spells, allowing the party to bypass the dreadful "Beginner's Bane" monster and incapacitate a horde of goblins. In contrast, it appears Dust and the girls get fucked over by the "Bane."

Aqua gets plenty of "screen-time" during the story of Kazuma's first dungeon crawl. Attempting to put his Thief skills to the test, Kazuma tries to burglarize a dungeon without encountering any monsters, but Aqua forces herself in with the excuse that dungeons are host to many undead enemies, weak to Aqua's powers as a goddess and Arch-priest. Aqua proves to be extremely useful in the dungeon crawl, impressing Kazuma to great extent, until he realizes the undead are all drawn to the magnificent holy energy of Aqua's spirit, making her a magnet for zombie and ghost swarms. This thus ties into the next story, where Kazuma and co. are tasked with exorcising the evil spirits dwelling within a great mansion, when it seems many evil spirits have been plaguing abandoned buildings throughout town. The mission is given when Kazuma goes to visit Wiz's magic shop in order to learn a Lich skill that could be of better offensive use for his party, having long since decided he's gonna have to carry the entire party on his own. Having learned the "Drain Touch" skill, the crew set out to live in the mansion, and after Aqua hunts down all the ghosts, we find out the town's problem was actually originally caused by Aqua shirking the duties bestowed on her by Wiz, back in the first volume, with Aqua having been too lazy to actually exorcise the spirits of the recently-deceased in the city's graveyard. Wiz, by the way, is still cute as fuck.

The best story in this book concerns a group of Kazuma, Dust, and Keith going to visit a cafe run by succubi. As it happens, many adventurers are forced to sleep in horse stables, gathered in groups, unable to find solitude in which they might masturbate (though, of course, the novel isn't so explicit) (there was a joke earlier in the novel about how Aqua, with her ability to naturally see in the dark, simply faces the other way to sleep when she hears a rustling coming from Kazuma's side of the stable, obviously tugging his pud). Succubi, of course, feed off the energy of men's sexual vitality, bluntly stated here as "horniness," only needing the barest minimal of funds in order to make ends meet. Therefore, the succubi have a small shop, known only to male adventurers, where they offer sexy dreams for low prices. The succubi provide men with a questionnaire, from which they construct dreams based on their clients' sexual interests, then later sneak into their rooms at night to feed them these dreams, gaining strength from their climax - though it isn't quite sure whether the men are actually cumming in their pants, or if the succubi are somehow absorbing the power of the orgasm before it realizes itself. Anyway, the most important part is that the shop's hostess succubus as seen in the color illustrations at this volume's beginning seems to resemble Jibril from No Game No Life, quite a positive comparison, and a quick Google Images search of the DEEN anime adaptation shows that the newbie succubus who intends to visit Kazuma has got some ass. Truly, this is God's blessing in this wonderful world.

Eh, anyway, the novel concludes with a big battle, as one should expect from any light novel, regardless of how much this series focuses on comedy (hell, even Hataraku Maou-sama has fight scenes). Unlike with the previous volume, this battle isn't set up quite so nicely, but at the very least there are a few references to the eventual boss enemy throughout earlier chapters. The monster in question is the "Mobile Fortress Destroyer," a giant Metal Gear of a spider robot. Despite the commotion during the Guild members' planning session, the actual fight doesn't last too long at all. But then, you can tell by the page count that the fight isn't going to be nearly as big as the fight against Beldia. Basically, Aqua destroys the Destroyer's magic barrier, then Wiz and Megumin use Explosion to destroy its legs, then every adventurer rushes the robot to take care of its core, which threatens to self-destruct and cause significant damage to the town. At the end, it seems Wiz accidentally teleports the Destroyer's core to the home of a nobleman, blowing it up, and getting Kazuma arrested, setting up the third novel. Google Image searching the Destroyer's appearance in the anime suggests that Wiz's tits look great when she uses Explosion, which is obviously important. Why do we hate DEEN again?

In short, this volume is alright, but it suffers some of the same issues as The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, relying too much on being a collection of short stories with no great consequence, not really encouraging the reader to read on. But the girls are qt, and that's kind of all that really matters. Kurone Mishima really knows what she's doing when she draws, I tell you what.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nia Kenji.
2 reviews
November 24, 2025
This novel was genuinely excellent. Its been awhile since I had the chance to read the first volume and I genuinely forgot how much I enjoyed this author. Their comedy obviously shines here but what can't be understated is the power system in place.
To not get into to much detail in dear of spoiling there is a scene where there is a monster named the "newbie killer" or something similar and I think a weaker author would of made them defeat the novel with some hidden ability or some way the world hadn't thought to use it yet but no. This author respected that these are new adventurers and made a good story not overcoming an obstacle but surviving one.
I echo the opinion that must of been everywhere when this novel first came out but it still rings true. This is a beyond excellent break from your standard isekai. Though to run through some negatives to be fair. Problems are very chapter length, aside from the debt that the party has accumulated there is no over arching issue. Even larger than life ones just kinda spawn in. But if you want a good, funny, well thought out power system than I would honestly come to this novel ten times over.
Profile Image for Caleb.
297 reviews39 followers
April 7, 2024
I'm at a bit of an impasse here. On one hand, there's nothing here that isn't done much better in the anime. On the other hand, I still had a lot of fun reading this book in one sitting. The jokes don't always land the way they do in the show, but the general atmosphere is just a lot of ridiculous fun.

There's a short chapter in here about Kazuma joining another party for a day, which I don't remember being in the show. The punchline was completely predictable, but it was still a lot of fun getting there.

So now I don't know what to do. Should I keep reading the series when it is the inferior way to experience these characters and jokes? Or do I keep reading for the little bit of unadapted extra in some of the books, and the whole lot of unadapted later in the series? Well, I'm publishing this review on April 7, 2024. 3 days before the release of episode one of the long-awaited Season 3. Maybe I'll see how this new Studio Drive does with the adaptation and decide from there. Fingers crossed.
Profile Image for Terrence.
393 reviews52 followers
April 17, 2018
Hit or miss joke wise, this volume is just a lot of smaller zany interactions between our cast and their world. No major new characters introduced, just more development for Wiz, Megumin, and Darkness. Megumin's sections in particular weren't too eye opening, while Darkness's hint at a bigger picture for her. Wiz is just Wiz, and we get to see her show off both her skills and her kind heart.

I was a little upset that Kazuma

This one ends a bit suddenly, so I guess they want you to get volume 3 to find out what happens next.
Profile Image for Jake.
758 reviews6 followers
August 13, 2018
Similar to the first volume, this was a guilty pleasure read for me. I really enjoy some of the humor and funny observations on fantasy worlds/RPG tropes. The characters I also think are pretty funny, especially since the cast largely stays the same from the first volume.

Perhaps my favorite moment is when the main character escapes from his normal group to join a functional one temporarily.

The ending, similar to the last volume, culminates in a big showdown between the group and a big enemy. It was a little predictable, but still fun

I have no illusions that this is an amazing book, but it was funny, quick, and enjoyable. If you are looking for a quick laugh and don't mind sexual humor this series is worth trying.
Profile Image for Casey.
678 reviews12 followers
May 1, 2019
I actually liked this more than Volume 1. That being said it is still the same light-hearted, humorous fantasy that you probably have come to know and expect. If you're familiar with the manga/anime you'll probably not find anything new here, but if you're a fan it is fun to revisit Kasuma and friends. So why not a higher star rating -- because I liked it, but I didn't have any problems putting it down when something else needed to be done; because I liked it, but doubt I'll ever read it again (other volumes probably yes, just not repeated reads); because I liked it, but did not love it.

Verdict -- maybe worth a read if you're starting out, or such a big fan you just can't get enough.
Profile Image for Ricardo Matos.
471 reviews4 followers
May 28, 2017
Expands on first book and keeps it as funny as the first, but with some hints to some serious stories like Darkness' background.
Konosuba is all about the dialogues and the ridiculous situations the characters get themselve in. There is a rule to these books: if you're OP, you're an idiot in some way :D.

There are 2 short stories that didn't make it to the first anime season, one on dungeon exploring with Aqua and another about Kazuma swapping places with an adventurer and going questing with a normal party!
Profile Image for Robert.
295 reviews
August 2, 2017
So much fun in just 200ish pages is something you'd think of as impossible to write, but it is right here, right under your nose.

Even if you have watched the Anime, reading this volume is totally worth it, since there is a whole chapter that didn't make it into the anime. I can kinda understand why the animators didn't include it, because it breaks up the standart group of Aqua &co and lets Kazuma have adventures with another group, which really gives him time to shine and kinda lets all his talk about he is the only valueable person in his group go from shit talk to real talk.
Profile Image for Carol.
1,372 reviews
December 29, 2017
Not as fun as the first, given that I know now what kind of company Kazuma has. But it was still very amusing, the succubi incident was the most fun of all. Darkness was certainly interesting, and we git to see a little bit more of Wiz. The part I liked most though was Azuma inside the dungeon, se was a completely different person, even a good one for her standards, I wouldn't have recognised her. Kazuma is growing nicely too as a character, acquiring more skills as he levels up, and becoming better at them, he is the only one in the party growing, but then again, the others are very weird.
Profile Image for Scott Belisle.
115 reviews2 followers
April 14, 2020
A little bit better than the first novel, This one has some un-adapted material that is nice to read. It gives a little more depth to Kazuma as a character who is essentially competent, but (despite his self image) is easily led astray by his emotions and is no less crazy than the people around him. The destroyer chapter is pretty fun, but unfortunately there's no illustration showing what the novel version looks like which I found disappointing. I'm basically reading these as breaks from heavier novels, so in that sense they're doing the job.
Profile Image for Andy Pham.
3 reviews2 followers
January 23, 2018
Kazuma and the gang are having a harsh time during the winter. With no money and food, the rate they are going will lead them to their death. In order to make some money, They go questing, but what will they do when trouble arises? This is but another masterpiece by none other than Natsume Akatsuki. I would recommend this for people who are into the fantasy RPG genre, as the series is about a boy and the mishaps his group causes.
Profile Image for Sean Newgent.
165 reviews6 followers
January 23, 2021
KonoSuba continues with a book that is a lot of fun but also lacks the direction of the first. The villain is pretty lame and most of the book is just Kazuma and his party doing little odd-jobs or engaging in the typically hilarious dialogue the series is known for. A few significant things happen and Wiz becomes a pretty integral part of the story, which is great since she's so cute, but for the most part I wasn't as engaged with this book as I was the first. But still a good read.
Profile Image for Xardan.
5 reviews
December 13, 2024
The second book did get better, in fact I couldn't stop reading it. So much has happened during this book. Characters had grown as well as their relationships. Although are you sure this books is for kids? Chapter 4 didn't strike me as something kids would read. Basically, I found it quite enjoyable. The only issue was the ending. It was the most obvious plot twist ever! Now I know what's gonna happen in the next book. It wasn't breath taking! it was disappointing!
Profile Image for Rindis.
526 reviews75 followers
September 7, 2025
This covers the second half of the initial anime season. (Or, much more properly, the anime covers this.)

It retains the format of being smaller stories stitched together. The book gives them as chapters, but they are separate stories, connected by a fairly short amount of time passing.

We start with the main pair, Kazuma and Aqua, still sleeping in a stable and winter is coming on. This is a powerful motivator. And then Kazuma ends up temping with a different party. You know, with regular adventurers who aren't useless. And Kazuma ends up showing how tactics and smarts can overcome a lack of overall power.

The next story is good, but less overall relevant. The third story deals with getting a real place to stay. This one is decidedly better in the anime, thanks to some superb comedic timing. The fourth story also is a bit better in the anime for much the same reasons. Like with anything in this genre, it has a sexy side, and this one leans on that more than usual for the jokes. That said, this is comedy, not ero, so everything falls apart in the face of mistaken identity and bad timing.

And then the fifth story suddenly turns back to adventuring and another climatic encounter. This doesn't really flow out of the previous stories, so it feels abrupt, even though things did get name-dropped ahead of time. Kazuma gets to be competent again, echoing the first story, but there's a big cast of other people being competent as well. It works, but does feel a bit light for what's going on.

Overall, the second half of the first book is better than this is overall, though it's a lot of fun. The anime definitely took was was here, didn't really change anything, and still punched up the humor a bunch. Very impressive.
Profile Image for Daniel.
22 reviews
November 2, 2023
Already familiar with what happens in this novel due to the anime, but still thoroughly enjoyed it regardless, and it was fun to try to remember what happens beforehand. More of a collection of short stories instead of a longer story, but was still very funny and I enjoyed it, so will be continuing to read this series!
Profile Image for Michael.
2 reviews
August 26, 2018
A comedic masterpiece

This book has given me many great laughs till my stomach hurt. It's like reading a bad D&D campaign where most the players have terrible rolls but high level characters.
21 reviews
July 21, 2021
Fun sequel, with a harsh cliffhanger. Unless I am mistaken, this closes season 1 of the anime. More characters are fleshed out, and more debt is accumulated. Kazuma has more than just his hands full as he deals with his useless harem in more adventures. Looking forward to buying book 3.
Profile Image for Ren.
798 reviews9 followers
June 29, 2024
I'm weirdly endeared to this series, I have no idea why. It might be its history in the genre, and the take on a lot of the trips, but it's been an interesting ride so far. Again, there's nothing necessarily special here, but it's oddly nostalgic even though I never watched the anime.
Profile Image for Summer.
90 reviews1 follower
May 21, 2017
This book is cute if you like manga, anime, and/or video games. I loved the illustrations and character profile.
Profile Image for Kevin Peake.
Author 3 books36 followers
September 22, 2017
As with the first book in this series, it is a great laugh and has a lot of fun within the story itself.
Profile Image for Rolaka Pisarka.
721 reviews4 followers
November 14, 2017
Fajne, zaskakujące, śmieszne, ale mimo wszystko nie za bardzo podoba mi się akcja w tym tomie i podjęte wątki. Kolejny tom pewnie bardziej mi się spodoba!
Profile Image for Cassie blossom .
34 reviews2 followers
June 5, 2018
4.5 stars, the last chapter was pretty boring but I didn’t care for that story line in the anime either
55 reviews6 followers
March 5, 2020
More hilarious interactions between our four dumb party members - all of whom I would gladly protect with my life. Except maybe Aqua - she can get a plastic shield or something. ^_^
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.