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.
Lady Rozemynne is studiously devoted to work on her printing press so she can share the love of books in this new medieval world. She prays to the elemental goddesses to advance printing technology. Her friends have adventures making goods to sell in the market, gathering feystones, fighting feybeasts and parasitic trees, and starting to talk about the future of the kingdom--which desperately needs more books!
The scenes were cute and there are more magical elements in the plot. This is a warm cozy blanket for my inner child.
When books are involved, you would need the power of Mestionora, the Goddess of Wisdom, to keep Lady Rozemyne contained. Do you have such power at your disposal,
Aaah, there’s nothing quite so pristinely beautiful as a complete set of books. How splendid. Shall we pray to the gods in honor and appreciation of my Gutenbergs? Praise be to Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom and Kunstzeal the Goddess of Art!”
Interesting. Captivating. Slow start but with a hint of unrest.
The start until about 60%-70% is all fun and peace and all that until the end whips a plot turning point on your face. A conflict so huge it will match Part 2's very engaging storytelling of how Myne had her life turned upside down as she was suddenly thrusted into the noble society and thus transformed into Rozemyne. This conflict now is largely connected to it although with much more powerful people involved. And that's what makes it very interesting! Sinister, scheme-y but also very captivating that I am nothing short of enticed.
If only sleep isn't needed, I would've finished this book sooner. It's simply that good! Reading it just makes me want to set the right mood to read it because I know I want to soak in each plot point in the story.
The start was reasonably slow. It showed the rather peaceful days of Rozemyne. But perhaps it was written that way to show the contrast of it with the unrest that was set near the end. It all felt like Rozemyne's (and basically the whole archduke's castle) days have been shaken beyond belief that they all don't know how to face it anymore.
The previous books may have focused on Rozemyne's personal endeavors but this book built the world in this universe again. The politics, the environment, the people and the customs were yet again explored and explained. It was definitely a fun read. Rozemyne's personal endeavors are a fun read and definitely the world building in this book is a fun read too.
I especially like to note the epilogue chapters. It really went from antagonistic to sweet to curious. It is always fun to read the povs of the others and the set of povs for the epilogue in this book are really good! I can't wait to read more of this.
This is really good. My hands and brain are itching already to jump to the next!
The plot seems to be progressing at a comfortable pace and the voice is very entertaining. I really enjoy this series and find the characters relatable and the setting well thought out. I haven't noticed any huge plot holes (not that I would, I can't claim to be a very critical reader). I like discovering the world as the protagonist does and there is none of that first-whole-chapter-is-a-summary-of-what-we've- learned nonsense. (Which is sometimes fine or used as a literary device rather than a cop-out.)
This volume has a bit more romance involved. We like to see it. The characters are certainly not stagnating here. Character development all around!
it's... complicated. i love this volume, as always. but on the other hand, i hate it, too.
i hate that veronica faction, specifically. they just don't know anything! (but that's what makes this volume a success. a mix of emotions)
i know i'm not suitable to enjoy kingdom-like stories, as the stories with factions and hierarchy and throne and power and so on are... such pressuring matters.
i love this series just because i love rozemyne and her obsession with books.
but, that statement! florencia's statement! i was— i know that day might actually come, but with florencia herself stating it like that, oh goddesses...
I feel like my reviews of this series are getting repetitive, but... This was another great book in the series.
The prologue is told from Tuuli's POV, and it's nice to see a bit more of Myne's old family as well as see Tuuli's life and goals from her perspective.
As for the main story, things are going fairly well for Rozemyne as she continues to find plenty of successes with her various projects, though there's still a lot of minor setbacks and things she must learn along the way.
The next ingredient for her potion also needs gathered, and learning about the lore there was quite interesting.
Then a new foe appears, and I'm really not sure what to make of her. It's hard to decide how much of a problem she is versus her followers. It makes me both nervous and excited for what is to come (especially with the epilogue). This book is the last one before the final book of the arc, so it makes sense to set things up for something big. Or, she could possibly be a problem for down the road.
Oh, and Dirk finally makes another appearance. It kind of surprised me when he showed back up, and I realized I had kind of forgotten about him. I kind of wonder if the author did too, as there's so much going on in the story and so many new challenges for Rozemyne, but it still felt natural enough considering Rozemyne almost never goes to the orphanage anymore.
Then there's the epilogue. I won't say much about it other than things do not look well for Rozemyne's future.
Bonus story time! (I still really wish it let you know the POV from the get-go.) The first one is told from Florencia's POV, and it's her dealing with her husband's older sister, and some of what went on during that visit. It's nice to see some of what's going on in her mind, as I don't think she's been in the story much so far (at least, not enough I could immediately place her).
The second story is from Brigitte's POV from her dress debut, and it's nice to see what happened there. I'm really cheering for Damuel. :P
The last story is from Gil's POV of his time in Illgner. Again, it's nice to see some of what Rozemyne missed out on, and to go back to old times of making paper. I also enjoyed the bit of culture clash, as that always helps to expand the world.
As for the bonus comics, I loved them all. The last one in particular surprised me, but Tuuli looked so cute! Rozemyne looked super cute too, just having her be less dignified and in a slightly sillier art style. It really changes how the hairpins come across.
Overall, this is another great volume in the series. The art style is beautiful and adorable, as always. As for the story, the humor is still there, and there's plenty of fun to be had in Rozemyne's hard work paying off. Her constant blunders always make me smile, and it helps keep the tension even when most things go right. With the last chunk of this book, things seem to be moving towards a big climax for the arc, or maybe it will simply be future problems, but I'm excited either way.
Myne is as busy a force of chaos as ever. She's determined to reward her guard knights for their hard work, which means creating a new fashion, enhancing a manablade, and overseeing the expansion of her printing company into Illgner. But the political situation takes a turn for the worse when Sylvester's older sister Georgine comes to visit . . .
This book had yet another point where I had to stop reading because I was laughing too hard---the manablade "enhancement." And Ferdinand's PRICELESS reaction to it. That alone would be worth buying the book. Myne's ADHD strikes again . . .
Other things are continuing on, like the dress for Brigitte and collecting more ingredients for her mana potion. It's an interesting look at some different parts of the world, and the fun lifeforms mana has created.
I really didn't like Georgine, though. I just despise villains like her, who are cruel and manipulative (give me villains you can solve by punching them in the face). And given the setup, she's likely to be the next major baddie.
Overall if you've been enjoying the series so far, this one continues to deliver. I rate this book Highly Recommended.
Lady Rozemyne is a prosperous girl. In ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM v11, she encounters less misfortune, engages fewer villains, and invents more practical wares for the people of Ehrenfest. Sounds good. Except, less misfortune doesn't mean none, fewer villains shouldn't imply harmlessness, and the prospect of more practical wares is hardly a fair predicament for her blessed Gutenbergs, the craftsmen the young noble has charged with remaking the duchy through industry and guile. This volume steers clear of drama, by and large, but offers readers plenty on which to ruminate when it comes to foreshadowing.
Summer is nearing its end, and as is often the case, with the shifting of seasons comes a shifting of priorities. The success of the printing industry forces Benno into a few tough decisions concerning the future of the Gilberta Company (purportedly, a clothing business). If books and literacy really do take off the way Rozemyne thinks they will, then it's time Benno took a long view of his professional partnership with the girl.
Speaking of the print business, what about Illgner, the region to the south? What trees and plants grow upon the mountainous land that could contribute to Rozemyne's papermaking empire? Time for an expedition.
And what about Rozemyne's quest to gather ingredients for her jureve, the elixir said to help her control her Devouring disease? The summertime ingredient is the egg of a massive predatory bird, the riesfalke, which nests inside Mount Lohenberg, an active volcano. Fun.
ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM v11 has a lot going on, and yet it's one of the novel series' more easygoing volumes. The book's numerous splinter plots all flow steadfastly from the three beforementioned tributaries. Readers could be forgiven for having grown used to the more random and chaotic arrangement of side stories that pepper the previous half-dozen novels, but it's honestly neither better nor worse for each chapter to hew so closely and cleverly to the novel's central themes.
For this volume, this revitalized story structure works out quite nicely. For example, the journey to Illgner comes about by way of Rozemyne learning of its active lumber industry from Brigitte, a knight and mednoble. From there, the river of stories branches further: journeying to Illgner, learning of its people and its land; querying a potential romance between Brigitte and Damuel, a knight and laynoble with a good heart; and upon snazzily redesigning a dress for Brigitte during the nobility's Starbind Ceremony, expanding the duchy's high-fashion industry.
The author finesses every subplot the same way, threading minor characters and their goals (or schemes) into one of the three primary story paths, which in turn, pull insight from the greater narrative arc. Previous volumes attempted this structure with less acuity and rhythm, but with higher dramatic effect. ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM v11 removes the action and drama and focuses on character relationships. Brigitte now trusts Rozemyne wholeheartedly, for example, for investing in her rural land.
The volume's lack of action and drama doesn't make for an entirely boring adventure, though. Rozemyne's journey to snare the egg of a massive, volcano-nesting bird is energizing (if dull, compared to her previous jureve exploits). If one were to lodge a continued complaint for this novel series, it would be the author's lack of interest in crafting further compelling magical action based on the series' thorough worldbuilding.
Also, readers should focus on the awkward political developments in the south of the duchy, which could make for a bigger-than-expected climax in the next volume. Sylvester's older sister, Georgine, who was bumped from the position of the aub in favor of a male heir (i.e., Sylvester), has wheedled her way into position as the first wife of the Aub of Arhrensbach. Georgine is a clever, spiteful woman. She can and will do harm. And there's no shortage of supporters, and foes of the Aub of Ehrenfest, willing to see her work done.
Aconteceram algumas coisas realmente importantes aqui em e mesmo as mais triviais foram divertidas. Roubou meu coração mesmo foram os capítulos do Damuel buscando fazer de tudo pra conquistar a atenção de Brigitte e conseguir ela em casamento, apesar de ser de um ranking inferior em mana o que torna a situação quase impossível. Enquanto isso a própria Brigitte se encontra em meio a outras propostas e preparando um evento com direito a vestidos exclusivos de Rosemyne. Outro evento importante é a entrada verdadeira de Ferdinand a alta nobreza, excluído de muitos direitos por ser um filho bastardo, até mesmo não podendo comparecer ao velório de seu pai em decorrência das proibições da esposa de seu pai, que até mesmo fazia com que Willfried o tratasse sem o respeito de tio, precisando Sylvester dizer que agora deve ser diferente. Algumas aventuras aconteceram de Rosemyne e outros acompanhados da guarda para as tarefas de High Bishop e outras pessoais. Um novo tipo de papel foi criado para novas ilustrações, assim como Rosemyne recria um extrator de água para facilitar o trabalho de busca de água em poços. O último grande evento foi a aparição de Georgine, irmã mais velha de Sylvestre e que impõe medo em todos, principalmente Myne por estar vendo ela pela primeira vez. Georgine questiona a origem de Rosemyne, quem são seus tutores e o gato que Sylvester abriu mão de seu filho para High Bishop escolhendo a filha adotiva, supostamente filha de Kardtedt. No epílogo há conversas sobre quais seriam os planos dos que foram prejudicadas pelas ações de Rosemyne, Sylvester e Ferdinand referente ao antigo High Bishop, propondo realizar até mesmo sequestro de Wilfried, além de que retomam o questionando das origens de Myne.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
4.25/5 (or maybe 4.5?) Now that's what I'm talking about! Finally enjoying a volume of Part 3 much more!
Hasse politics is out of the way and there's no more repetitive focus on travelling from one ceremony to another over and over again (for now- but forever hopefully) Top it off with some great things I'm personally more interested in: -So happy to open up with Lutz (considering I was begging for more screentime from him last volume), -Brigitte's dress!!, -Damuel & Brigitte's whole debacle, -As always, some hilarious Ferdinand & Myne arguing, -The Riesefalk Egg jokes revolving around Myne wanting to eat things she shouldn't be thinking of eating, -Some excellent building of future villains & antagonism (i.e. Georgine, Dirk's ordeal, faction vs faction - I mean we really gotta applaud the new benefit of this tea party [tea party chapters were always peaks in this series, but this is an interesting turn], etc), -Also loved Gil's POV story, 'Staying in Illgner' because him & Lutz making paper gave me *Lutz & Myne making paper in Part 1* vibes - When everything was so simple and focused on the paper-making processes alone. It was nice, relaxing & almost nostalgic for me somehow!
I guess now that the repetitive stuff is out of the way & there's both a build up of villainous tension and a return to the good old stuff that made the series work, I'm finally hyped again! One more light novel till I reach my Part 4 goal!
As usual Rozenmyne have lots of things to do. She meets up with her lady knight, Bridgette's brother who will help her in providing his trees to make paper. And also the printing of books are in progress and so do additional stuff like music sheets for people to learn to play on their Harspiel.
Other than that, she is still doing her duties as a High Bishop. Going to places gathering ingredients to make potions and turn into feystones. And she is still learning on handling what nobles are doing. Love the part where they are in Illgner because the grey priest were all shocked by the culture there because there were the people don't care about status and they treat each other equally. So, they don't really know what to do because they are so used to serve the nobles and speak politely or else they will be punished or even executed. Rozenmyne asked Lutz to teach them how to behave.
And because Rozenmyne wants to bring out Bridgette's beauty so she decided to design her a dress that it is suitable for her which was overheard by her adoptive mother Elvira. So, because of that she had to show the nobles her work. Can't spoil the story too much. You will have to read it to know it.
And it seemed that Damuel fell in love with Bridgette . Awww...you can see how she feels about the whole situation.
This was a fantastic volume! I enjoyed the mix of slice of life elements with politics and world building. I'm glad to finally be learning more about the world beyond the territory of Eirenfest. Overall, it was a nice balance of ramping up tension but keeping the tone light and funny where it needed to be. 5 stars.
Cela faisait un petit moment que je n'avais pas lus de livre dans cette série et quel plaisir de retrouver Rozemyne, Ferdinand, Lutz, Fran, Benno et toute la clique ! Comme d'habitude, le rythme est très satisfaisant et l'évolution rapide mais détaillée est toujours au top. L'arrivée du nouveau personnage de la famille de Sylvester n'est pas ce que j'ai préféré j'avoue, d'habitude je trouve les intrigues politiques intéressantes dans ma fantasy, mais là j'en ai un peu rien à faire haha. Pareil, Wilfried n'est toujours pas un personnage que j'apprécie beaucoup, mais je pense que c'est aussi un peu voulu. J'ai été très mal à l'aise à un moment d'une proposition de mariage entre un enfant et un adulte bien plus âgé, ça m'as fait grincer des dents. Ces deux trois points font perdre la cinquième étoile que je réserve d'habitude à cette série.
Reading these books a chapter at a time, with a pause (even if it's only an hour) between them, seems to improve my understanding.
Rozemyne is doing well with her printing press and the products it makes. She's trying to start a trend among women of wearing what looks best on them, not just the latest fashion. She's learning how politics work. Just when things seem to be going well, the Aub's older sister drops in and stirs up factions in the nobility.
The whole tale is such a weird mishmash of modern Japan meeting medieval Europe. Some of the character's opinions and ideas are very old fashioned, surprising when Rozemyne also espouses a few. It is an interesting series, though.
This book introduces new characters, new products, and another ingredient mission. There’s a side love story that I’m rooting for. The ongoing Noble politics gets more and more complex and it’s no longer about just Rosemyne survival anymore. I know story building has to happen but this book was on the boring side for me. I hope the next book has more growth for Rosemyne, like going to the Academy or something that’s more than the day to day life. I’m guessing there’s a new villainess on the horizon and it will be interesting to have a foe that’s possibly on equal footing with Ferdinand.
The ingredients gathering continues framed with miscellaneous events, the manablade creation was quite funny.
Rozemayne is starting to unwillingly get involved in interduchy politics, when her adoptive aunt decides to come back for a visit, the volume ends with an extra chapter about Georgine plotting against Ehrenfest.
Safe to say I'm pretty invested in this series and will continue to read future releases. This book was the usual hijinks with some foreshadowing of some more difficult obstacles to come for Myne and the gang in the world of politics. Overall, nothing much happened in this book and i found myself rushing through it because I wasn't really interested. Also, ive been following along with the story for years and am starting to forget plot points.
Siguiendo con la saga de Myne, este libro fue un poco más lento y menos interesante. Apuntando más a la trama política, con la presentación de todavía más personajes y la ampliación del universo a pueblos lejanos y ducados con más poder comenzando a meter las manos.
Posiblemente la parte más memorable es la historia romántica, que se explica mejor en los capítulos adicionales al final del libro.
Another great book by Miya Kazuki. Loved the art and the new comics at the end. Highly recommended this series to anyone at almost any age who enjoys intelligent, funny, inspiring, and creative fiction.
There are elements of reincarnation and pantheism. There are also allusions to inappropriate relationships between adults and children. These types of relationships are frowned upon in the story.
This felt a bit like a transitional piece of the story. Not as much humor as some of the previous books nor drama. Lots of great stuff regarding magic and her printing press. The end has me so anxious about the next book. The last time they described her having life changing event she lost her whole family TT
Myne continues to adjust to Nobel life and political strife. Meanwhile she continues her duties as high Bishop, and grows the printing industry by establishing shops in other areas. She is also busy setting trends of Rimham, hair sticks and even new dress designs. She still needs to prepare for another gathering trip for ingredients for a magical healing juvre potion to regain her health.
This felt a little bit like going through the motions. Still nice and interesting, but not quite as compelling as previous volumes. A lot of that is the political machinations which are not nearly as interesting as the more invention aimed plots. And the characters really don't seem to have all that much depth. Still a pleasant read, though I wish for more.
My favorite thing about this serious is I have no idea what’s coming up next. I mean we are going to have a little bit of a villain in the case of Georgina… But after we finish that arc assuming we’re gonna have a school arc… And then what’s gonna happen? Still no more books to go! very exciting
I'm continuing to really enjoy Part 3. I really liked the portrayal of Illger and how different it is from the central district. I am also getting extremely concerned by what Georgine and the former Veronica Faction are up to...having that many of the short stories at the end relate to them is definitely disturbing...
Hmm, kinda meh this time. There wasn't any real long arcs or important climax. It feels like 2nd book syndrome lol. There were some important scenes but they were all small. It feels like the next book will be the exciting one.
Yet again, more politics and great worldbuilding. I'm seriously amazed at how rich and detailed the story is up until now - even a volume probably intended to build up to another arc is fun to read (as frustrated as I am with some of the developments).
How oh how I wish that Goodreads had a "Select all that apply" option for adding books to your shelf, especially books in a series, especially when there are more than 20 books in that series and you binge-read all of them, not quite in one sitting, but close enough.
Myne continues to please me very much. She's trying to pull up Wilfried by his socks, continuing to reinvent society to aid her plan of increasing book production across society, and making me smile while I read.