Walking My Second Path in Life: Volume 1

Walking My Second Path in Life #1

by Otaku de Neet, Kurodeko (Illustrator), Shirley Yeung (Translator)

Fie, first princess of Daeman, finds herself isolated and stranded in the foreign Kingdom of Orstoll all by her lonesome - effectively having been wed off as a dowry gift in accessory to her sister, Princess Fielle's marriage.

Trapped and isolated in a small back garden that once used to be a storehouse, Fie lives her days without purpose, and eventually without food - after the only member of her entourage, the chef, resigns.

Just as Fie was about to give in to despair, she finds a pamphlet advertising a squire's test for the Royal Knights of Orstoll - beginning her journey of friendship, hard work, and guts, along with masquerading as a boy to walk her second path in life.

What will Fie find along the way?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Romance, Historical, Young Adult, Slice Of Life, Shojo

270 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2017

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what you're going to get from this just from reading the summary.

Sickeningly sweet and about as deep as a puddle in the desert; but didn't quite hit the spot with me. Maybe just felt too much like a "young adult" or children's book for me. Probably won't pick up book 2.

[Niquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing could be better, but there's just something about this story that makes me want to keep reading it. And Fie is so easy to root for.

One difference I noticed from the web novel is the inclusion of Crow's journal entries. There are also two previously unpublished short stories. Personally, I didn't like Biffe's, it didn't seem necessary.

I wish vol 2 was already out.

[Lilly Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable

I loved the main character, she is not the damsel in distress type, on the contrary, she is a strong-willed character who does whatever it takes to become a knight. The other characters are quite charismatic as well, so the story becomes a fun read. I think it’s a type of story that anyone can enjoy.

[Aelvana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fie was an unwanted princess---her twin sister, Fielle, is the beautiful, kind, perfect princess, but Fie was ignored and left to her own devices. When Fielle is married off to a famous king, Fie is tacked on, but her new country isn't much different than her old country. Determined to take her life into her own hands, Fie dresses as a boy, calls herself Heath, and joins the kingdom's squires.

This was decent, although I felt so bad for Queen at the end. Fie is easy to root for, as she's driven, talented but not unreasonably skilled, and creative. Despite the rather grim backstory, she's also mostly cheerful. And she can be a bit of a terror when she's in the mood for it.

That said, Cain was by far my favorite character in this book. His attempts to rationalize his missions with what's actually happening in front of him make for some great comedy. The whole 18th division is filled with quirky characters, but poor Cain's competence combined with his determination not to overthink things leads to a mountain of stress.

Overall this is a pretty good read. I rate this book Recommended.

[Jennifer]

Picked up on a whim, but it’s pretty cute. Fei doesn’t wallow in her misfortune or become bitter at her circumstances, but goes out to change herself and enjoys her life. I love how she handled the situation with queen, since it wasn’t the stereotypical “oh no, my secret is out!” Instead she cleverly turned the situation so he was embarrassed and beholden to her. Of course, I see an inevitable crush coming.

King Roy…sigh. He sounds like a good king, at least. Not sure about his relationship with Fielle, but supposedly it’s a love match, so I assume he’s not going to be a love interest for Fie.

My favorite part was actually Cain, who is having such cognitive dissonance between his orders and his conscience. It’s hilarious to have a character who sees it all and can’t say anything to correct the obvious misconception of the king. I also like that he concluded for himself that the king was totally wrong about Fie’s character (not clear how Roy got such a bad impression of her…I suppose her greedy dad didn’t help).

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea, not very well executed.

Things go far too well for the MC, it makes more sense if you think of this as the first handful of episodes of an anime. It was aggravating because The MC's childhood of abuse is, just for the sake of a sad backstory! You could easily change it to the fact that the prettier, smarter, more mild mild mannered sister got most of the resources of the tiny, poor kingdom because the parents knew it was a better investment and she'd be easily married off to a richer kingdom, bringing much needed money.

I'm not sure I'll continue with this series.

[DJay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hidden gem that I'm looking forward to seeing the next installment of. This is about a princess that's been pretty much overshadowed and forgotten about and takes her life to the next level. It's not one of those boo-hoo stories, it's one of a girl who puts on her big girl panties and then goes out and makes something for herself. It's interesting to see the interactions between her and the people around her. It's also fun to see how she grows during the duration of the story. I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series as well.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun read, and thankfully the heroine didn't just be a victim and wait for someone to save her. Instead she found a way to save herself.

The only reason I'm giving this a 3 instead of a 4 is that the other characters are almost completely flat. Weirdly, a character that only shows up in one chapter gets more characterization than the people the protagonist interacts with every day.

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. I liked Fie, and am quite interested in how the story will progress. Unfortunately, only 2 volumes are released in English (and the second one was released in 2018, two years ago). So not sure if I'll be able to continue the series that much further. That said, definitely worth checking out if you like princesses, crossdressing, knights, and a fun plot. 4 stars.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Reminds me of "A Crown of Shards" even though they have nothing to do with each other.
No action scenes in the book even when they could have it didn't happen. Probably cut out or something. Not a fun of how the Fie character treated the character named "Queen" at the end but he was not a good guy to begin with anyways.

It was worth free not sure if it would be worth the $10 it usually is.

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a 3.5. I love the concept. Like with all light novels the prose can take some getting used to. It's a fun read that plays with gender. Not ground breaking, more harking back to Shakespeare than anything else. If you're into light novels and female led shonen, this is worth checking out.

[Currin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the Price

This story was cute and funny while also keeping me interested. I cannot wait for more and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy books with fun plots.

[Andrea D. McCarthage · Rating 1 out of 5]

A pile of wasted potential and nothing else.

[RealityGod · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice book I truly love it

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fie is a 16-year old princess who has been more or less ignored her whole life in favor of her twin sister Fielle. Things turned worse when she became the second wife of the king next to her sister in an attempt by her father to get more money. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, she takes her life in her own hands and decides to become a squire disguised as the boy Heath. She is accepted and what follows are her first steps into the knight academy and together we get to know her new friends and platoon members.

The story is told mostly from Fie’s point of view with the occasional switch to others, the later all to provide more detail on Fie’s personality and above all why she was ignored to the extreme that she was. It was an entertaining story that is more about characters and their interaction than action. Fie is a strong likeable protagonist, no romance (not even a hint), although there certainly is the possibility with a certain role reversal with the woman protagonist and several potential male romantic interest. I hope it stays more or less romance free though considering I am not a particular fan of the romantic comedy acts common in the genre (neither with a male or a female protagonist).

Of course, it still is a light novel even if it seems to avoid some of the more extreme personality quirks. You need to ignore some oddness, the biggest thing being that Fie is ignored to the extend she was and not just by a king but also by her friends and sister. The first part is also not particularly focused, the prime story is short and more of an introduction to the situation and the characters with no overarching plot, and includes a couple of side stories so it can feel a bit disjointed at times.

All in all, entertaining light novel and looking forward to the next part, hopefully a bit more focused and less slice-of-life.

[Haidar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book as soon as I reached the early parts about the revelation of captain yore true identity, being king and all and felt that crow( his best friend) would actually fall for our main character once he knew she was only cross dressing, and has to fight his true feelings since she's the king's second wife, which i thought would make excellent story material but instead the story turns into this childish and stupid romance between our main character and 'Queen'. I have to say, such a letdown. Not to mention the plot holes, such as why her "beyond her years" wise sister never helped our MC, and the fact that things were so conveniently set up for this story to exist, any struggles which the mc should have faced have been cleared by her luck, it's like the author was just too lazy and thought, "hey, I'm just gonna leave it to the readers to turn a blind eye to all these issues". While I don't want to be harsh to the author and since this is only the first book in this series, I just hope he puts more thought to his story next time. Maybe taking a more realistic approach to the story would amend a lot in the future books. Good luck author and work hard, may your next book bloom a flower in the hearts of whoever reads it!