Ascendance of a Bookworm (Light Novel), Part 3 Volume 1

本好きの下剋上 ～司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません～ [Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho Ni Naru Tame Ni Shudan wo Erande iraremasen] (Novel) #8

by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina (Illustrator), Quof (Translator)

Following a disastrous encounter with a noble, Myne finally resolves to say goodbye to her family and friends in the lower city, changing her name to "Rozemyne" and beginning her new life as the adopted daughter of Ehrenfest's archduke. However, her days as an archnoble in noble society are brutal, as she is put through rigorous etiquette and magic training on top of her duties as High Bishop and forewoman. It all proves too much for a weak little seven-year-old girl... Or it would have, had the High Priest not offered her the keys to the temple's book room as a reward. If she could get her hands on those, she'd be able to read all sorts of precious books! Her name may have changed, but Rozemyne's passion for books remains the same as she charges into a whole new world!

The detailed setting expands as the printing industry grows in size. Here begins Part 3 of this bibliofantasy for book lovers everywhere!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Fiction, Manga, Magic, Young Adult, Slice Of Life

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2016

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

[Shu Wei Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This extremely long light novel series is always worth it for moments (and illustrations) like this:

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here I am once more. I read this one in what it felt like an instant. I thought that, as I am sleep deprived and have nothing better to do, I would review this more extensively than previous volumes. This volume marks the beginnings of the now called Rozemyne in her role of becoming the adopted daughter of the archduke, though it is still early to predict all the implications of her new status, whoever has read to this point knows that one of the main themes of this series is challenging the class system. We started with Myne waking up in that small and dirty room that she had to share with her family and now she is conducting tea parties attended by all the ladies in the duchy. She came a long way, in a way, yeah (and we attended to every step she made, even the most tearful ones...). But the most interesting of this “Ascendance” are not that kind of frivolities, but the fact that now she has real power to put all upside down. Noble society has strict rules and I am sure she will eventually have to face the political enemies of Sylvester’s faction, but in this little lapsus proceeding Veronica’s fall, she is absorbing so much knowledge and growing immensely as a character. Also, due to this new acquired power, she is being more creative than ever with her inventions and more eager to keep following her dream. Now, past two amazing arcs, we can see where all her effort to keep fighting is leading. It all started with the simple desire, actually a burning passion, to read books. Now, three years later, she is finally setting up the printing industry and is likely to bring about a cultural revolution, all the while learning to manage her mysterious powers in order to part in search of the potion that will enable her to become a strong noblewoman. Bit by bit, we are being presented a detailed and restricting magic system along with the already astonishing worldbuilding that gets being rediscovered as we meet characters from different professions and conditions. We knew mana determines rank in a way but here we learned that there are actual magical ingredients that you have to fetch or buy and, knowing how the plot has gone so far, we can expect those to be involved in political struggles in the future. We also ended up learning more about feystones, useful to grant blessings and create golem-like creatures (feybeasts) as well as about family-bound magics. I can only expect for the best for next volume. Let us see if Wilfried will overcomes that elementary schooler of a dad he has. 😉

[Blank · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels kinda sad when you open the character page and see Lutz, Benno, Mark and Myne's family introduction is relegated only as a text without photos as what we used to be. But alas, every good things must come to an end, and Rosemyne (along with me it seems..), need to move on to the new world, that is the world of the nobility.

As this is a new arc, I don't know what to expect. So far, I like how the author giving Myne new goals for her life and at the same time widen the scope of the series. And for the first time ever, there is another goals in this series rather than making books, although making books is still the main focus of this bibliography series.

All the new characters, while there is a lot of them is still easy enough to recognize once you familiarize with them. Oh, and now High Priest is written using his real name, which is Ferdinand, while this is a minor thing but for those that is not gotten used to it (like me) it will confuse you for a bit.

Aside from the new and shiny things, let's focus onto the old and well-known thing. Personally, this series is always a page turner for me. I don't know why someone that generally prefer actions and fantasy genre, gotten head over heels over a slice of life story like this.

[TG Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

本作中偶爾會談到，平民需要經過努力地練習，才能流暢地在貴族前用對詞彙。雖然我讀的是中譯本並不太能肯定，不過這應該是作者身為日語的使用者，表達出在各種場景下所使用正確「敬語」的囉哩叭嗦方式吧。
——突然覺得身為中文使用者的幸福……

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The number of times I burst out laughing while reading this gem was wholly unexpected. Rozemyne is integrated into noble society so quickly that she's still making faux pas left and right... but her interactions with her new families are fun. But it is absolutely her interaction with Ferdinand in this book that was an absolute joy to read.

We've got a lot of new characters, and yes, that means some of the old ones, especially her birth family and Lutz aren't seen as much, there are a lot of new names to learn, relationships to sort out (and build). All of which are going to get the classic Myne touch whether they want to or not. Nobody's life in the Noble World is going to remain the same. Hurricane Rozemyne has arrived and is going to shake things up.

Definitely looking forward to more Ascendance of a Bookworm!

[Book Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kazuki read my mind!

This was probably the most fast paced book in the series to date. We hit on all the stuff I wanted to see or internally thought about. The restaurant, Uncle Ferdinand, the cat bus! I swear I really did think the cat bus would be best for safety and additional seating. I will have to absorb all the new characters. At first I thought we would have to deal with more heavy emotions but this lighter theme was what we all needed. I'm sure the next one will be the start of the uphill climb of part three. Can't wait!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got into this from having watched the anime. They weren’t done with the anime and I couldn’t wait to find out what happens next so I bought the next part where the anime left off.

Being a Japanese light novel, I read the English version. I have to say the translation was pretty good. I’m probably missing the nuances from the original language, but this was still a pretty fun read. It’s the first Japanese light novel I’ve read and I’m impressed. Maybe because I really like the story. The plot isn’t anything revolutionary. But the relationships among the characters, world building, and character development were good. It wasn’t too much or too little. Been a while since I couldn’t put a book down. Really very happy to have discovered this. I bought it from J Novel.

[Coral Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funniest book of this series!

I thought Myne moving to the nobles' quarters would be a scary and foreboding ordeal but boy I could not have been more wrong! Her adventures and personal interactions with her noble family were absolutely funny and her relationship with Ferdinand was hilariously heartwarming. I think this is my new favorite in the entire series. 5Stars!!!

[Benjamin Valimont · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great entry

This is another great entry in the series. To those wondering if the characters from the lower city were being written out, you have nothing to fear. It is just a problem that Myne has to solve in this volume and the ones to come.

[MasterSal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming read, which really expanded in Myne’s world. There was an explosion of characters who I am looking forward to getting to know better as we continue our tale. I miss the old central cast but let’s see where this tale heads. Being a reset volume, this was a little slow in the beginning but we did get back to Myne’s shenanigans a third of the way through. Yay!!

Now I can’t wait to see this in the anime.

[Faith Troupe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good and I can’t wait for the next one. I just wish the translations wold come a little faster the 1 book every two or 3 months but I know things like this take time.

[Santiago Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everytime I read myself some Bookworm I regain some hope for the isekai franchise which has become saturayed with bad overpowered characters. If you are here it means you have gone through 7 of these books and by now you know that they are more about the growth of characters and world building rather than a big OP character. In this one we keep seei g how myne needs to adapt to a whole new world for the 3rd time and how she uses her creativity rather than her overpowerdness to get over challenges.

PS. Everytime I read a novel with an isekaid overpowered character or someone born in nobility I have in my head a little Myne saying: That's bullshit wtf, that is so unfair.

[ELs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Least favorite. I'm not sure if it's because I like Myrne, when she's bumbling into trouble, or as a commoner with a commoner family, but this was was a major disappointment . I skipped through most of the chapters.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the ruckus at the end of the previous volume, one would hope Lady Rozemyne would have earned respite of some sort. Not so much. Within weeks of the spectacle that saw the little girl fight for her life against a nefarious assortment of greedy nobles and selfish zealots, Rozemyne is thrown back into the spotlight. It's comical to fathom all the twists and turns the author must have gone through in planning ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM #8. It is, in a word, impressive, the reinvention of Myne a noble, to hide her commoner roots, the elevation of her position in the temple, and her further integration into the family of the Archduke of Ehrenfest, and all without carelessly invoking retroactive continuity. All in all, it's fun to see how many characters are as bewildered at these glitzy shenanigans as the readers are.

The land of the nobility contains therein an intriguing and strangely complementary grouping of traits to which Rozemyne is perfectly suited: profound work ethic, valuing of knowledge and education, establishing of trends. Rozemyne is a bit snake-bitten at realizing how many hours she must dedicate to the craft of social graces (e.g., tea parties, cultural rites), but the girl adapts quickly and knows how to put her knowledge where it fits best (e.g., convincing rich women to purchase rinsham). The girl already earns high marks for her intelligence; now she's turning heads with her clever perspective on how to engage others with that intelligence in hand.

And it's just as well, since it's time to officially open the Italian restaurant, it's time to officially scout land for a satellite office of the workshop, and it's time to officially boost Rozemyne's knowledge of her illness on a granular level. ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM #8 turns and glances down a number of side streets and alleyways. For example, when the high priest, Ferdinand, deigns to teach Rozemyne about mana use, the result provides a unique glimpse into how magic is taught and learned in this fantasy realm. The girl is a natural. And even though her ability to attenuate the strength of her mana requires further training, it's great to see the characters are taking seriously the many different ways she can apply her incredible power. (Also, the author's not-so-subtle shout-out to My neighbor Totoro is devilishly funny.)

Another funny example occurs when it becomes abundantly clear Rozemyne's knowledge of food and cooking is, well, otherworldly. The restaurant launch is a huge success. So much so that Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester all vie to hire (steal away) Rozemyne's chefs. The resulting bickering pits the sly and straightforward high priest against the warm but stern knights commander against the archduke himself, and no matter how tasty the bread, soup, salad, or roasted duck, all anyone can do is sigh. Ferdinand's extravagant rhetorical elucidation on the restaurant's consommé is at once heartrendingly beautiful and outrageously comical ("Now, now, Ferdinand. Don't try to sneak her out from under our noses here.").

Readers may have initially feared the next arc of the novel series would pit Rozemyne against all sorts of snooty royal types, but the truth, thankfully, is quite different. The girl is welcomed warmly by most of the book's several new characters. A few are haughty and a few are silver-tongued, but that's to be expected. As for the unexpected, there is a clever note about Wilfried, Sylvester's eldest son, who is a few years older than Rozemyne, being somewhat illiterate. And then there's Brigitte, a bodyguard who eschews most feminine articles and tropes, who slowly warms to the weird proclivities of her young new charge.

ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM #8 leans heavily on character dynamics and acclimation to a new social environment, and as such, doesn't overly emphasize the printmaking facet of the novel series. Rozemyne makes progress on her work with wax stencils and advances the quality of letterpress printing in general. The fruits of her labor are impressive and she earns a great deal of respect for it. Funnily enough, almost too much respect. And while it looks like this bookworm is well on track to becoming a librarian in another world, if she's not careful, she'll be more than a book otaku, she'll become a saint.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea where the story was going to go come this volume, both because this part of the story is new to me, but it's also the biggest change in status quo thus far.

It actually wasn't as hard to adjust as I expected, though I think it's both because the story is told in first person, and because the focus of the story hasn't changed too much. There's a lot of new things Rozemyne has to learn, and a lot of new characters to be introduced, which certainly adds a layer of complexity. Oh, and an explanation for Myne's sickness is finally given.

It's funny, reading this book, it didn't feel like much happened (and there was one point it felt just a little slow), but, looking back on it, so much happens. Rozemyne just takes it all in stride in order to reach her larger goals.

It's nice seeing more of the noble society, and I love the interactions with Rozemyne's new family--especially her brothers. I'm excited for even more come the future. It's also nice to see the small ways she stays connected to her old family (I'm still not over it).

Overall, this book covers a lot of ground in both introducing the new status quo and in Rozemyne continuing to move forward in her quest for books.

It was nice to have the Epilogue written in Lutz' POV, as I do miss how big of a part he used to play in the story, and it's nice to have some of his thoughts on Rozemyne and all that.

Then Cornelius gets a bonus story, which was quite a nice perspective. This story takes place early on in the book, and it helps explain some of the setup for a certain incident, plus Cornelius' misunderstandings about Rozemyne is quite funny.

The second bonus story is from Hugo's POV. I can't say I really care that much about him, though the bits about Kirke were cute and helped endear me to him a bit more.

As for the bonus comics, the first comic was alright, but the two others both made me laugh.

Overall, this is a slower go at the new status quo than I was expecting, but that doesn't mean it wasn't just as enjoyable as the prior books. The world is expanded more, an important thing is learned about Rozemyne, and her quest for books continues to move forward. There's still the same great humor as before, and most of the new characters are enjoyable, and I wish some of them got more focus (which I'm eager for in future books).

Not to say I don't miss old characters (I need more Lutz and Benno), but it's a promising start to this next chapter of Rozemyne's life.

Oh, and the artwork is beautiful as always.

[Ene Sepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raamatusarja kolmas osa ja aina paremaks läheb. Ja vahepeal ikka kurvemaks ka. Ma ei kujuta isegi ette, kui südantmurdev on Myne otsus (mitte et tal muud valikut oleks olnud...) oma sünniperest lahkuda. Ja mitte lihtsalt lahkuda, oo ei, Myne kui lihtkodanik sureb, ning sünnib Rozemyne, aadlineiu keda on erinevatel põhjustel seni lihtsalt templis kasvatatud. Ta pole ka lihtsalt aadlik, vaid temast saab ertshertsogi adopteeritud tütar ja piiskop.

Ta ei tohi oma perele enam viidata kui pere ning oma vanemate ja õega õnnestub tal kohtuda vaid ametlikes olukordades, südantsoojendavate kallistuste asemel on üks peidetud tähendusega sõna siin ja juukseklambri juustesse kinnitamine seal. Ja Rozemyne peab nüüd hakkama elama täielikult aadlimaailmas, kus mina küll toime ei tuleks! Nii palju eufemisme ja planeerimist ja traageldamist, et ei saa mitte midagi aru! Ja üha selgemaks saab ka Benno märkimisväärne roll ja oskused Myne elu kindlustamisel ja maksimaalse ohu tagamisel.

Rozemyne maailm laieneb ja kasvab! Mis on ka äärmiselt huvitav kogeda ja lugeda. Algul ma arvasin, et Ehrenfest ongi omaette riik, aga ei.... see on vaid üks väike ja küllaltki tähelepandamatu hertsogkond. Rozemyne ei piirdu enam vaid ka templis ja kodus elamisega, vaid lisandub loss ning õukond, reisimine hertsogkonna teistesse osadesse, ilma lõputa religioossete riituste läbiviimine. Ja endiselt on kogu tema motivatsiooniks see, et ta tahaks lihtsalt ühte nurka istuda ja raamatuid lugeda! Õnneks ta tasapisi liigub sinnapoole. Tema Gutenbergide hulka kuuluvad juba Lutz, Benno, sepad Johann ja Zack, puusepameister Ingo, tinditegijad Heidi ja Josef, Rozemyne töökoja ametlikud esindajad Gil ja Fritz ning neid ainult järjest tuleb juurde! Seejuures enamik ei taibanud, millesse nad end mässivad, kui hakkavad Rozemynega koostööd tegema.

Ahh! Ma võiksin sellest raamatusarjast veel nii pikalt padrata! Sest see on lihtsalt nii hea ja nii kaasahaarav. Kui ma ükskord järjele jõuan (st kõik avaldatud teosed läbi loetud ja uut pole veel tulnud), siis võtan vist uuesti otsast peale ette! Või... magan. Ma ei taha isegi teada, kui palju undetunde mul kaotsi on läinud, sest "üks peatükk veel!"

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume bem morno, apenas uma transição pra nova vida de RoseMyne, agora como filha de Karstedt e sua terceira esposa, Rosemary, já falecida.

Ponto fraco foi que a inclusão de Myne na nova família não gerou nenhum atrito, deixando bem monótona a situação, seus novos irmãos e a primeira esposa de seu novo pai a aceitaram facilmente, além de logo planejar um evento junto a sua mãe adotiva para interação com as demais mulheres e moças nobres.

Tuuli e Lutz ainda fazem o possível para poderem ver Rosemyne em sua nova posição, treinando etiqueta para trabalharem para Myne. Pai e mãe de Myne, assim como seu novo irmãozinho aparecem para visitá-la dentro das possibilidades, já que Rosemyne além de querer ler os livros que tem agora disponível precisa praticar seu controle de mana e se preparar para a academia assim como se tornar "Hight Bishop" no futuro.

O momento mais interessante foi a perspectiva do novo irmão mais velho de Rosemyne no momento da chegada na mesma na casa, sua impressão de que era uma garotinha perdida em meio as conversas dos adultos mas logo percebe que ela é diferente. Sendo responsável por ser guarda particular na irmã observa o modo recluso dela junto aos livros mas se propõe a mostrar novos locais para ela, com pouco sucesso, além de se preocupar com desmaio da sua protegida irmã.

Esses capítulos focados em outros personagens analisando Myne deveriam ser mais frequentes, como já ocorreu com Ferdinand no 2-2, pois ajuda a perceber como as pessoas ao redor enxergam aquela criança singular, que apesar de frágil fisicamente tem interesses e um conhecimento diferenciado para sua idade e suposta criação.

Não há muito a acrescentar, de resto são situações plenamente esquecíveis e pouco relevantes, algumas mudanças na fabricação das tintas e novos tipos de comida que Myne ensinou, além de Ferdinand ser o mais popular entre as moças nobres e entre os leitores. Esse foi o maior problema do volume, não acrescentou algo novo para ser trabalhado ou criou momentos marcantes, grande parte um tanto como repetido de outros volumes.

[Julie Ditton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urano was a modern day Japanese book lover who as the series subtitle says “Would Do Anything to Become a Librarian”. At the beginning of the series she literally dies in an avalanche of books, only to awaken in another world. She discovers herself in the body of a sickly little girl. In the first story arc, “Daughter of a soldier” trilogy she struggles to regain her health and to somehow gain access to books in a world where only rich novels would behave to afford hand scribed parchment books. Her knowledge from her previous life helps her create many products including paper, and together with her best friend Lutz and the merchant Benno, she makes progress to her goal. Unfortunately, she is informed that her illness, the Devouring, will cause her to die unless she signs a contract with a Nobel who can provide life saving tools. But children in this world are baptized at the age of seven, and while in the church she stumbles into a book room and begs to join the church so that she may read all the books.

In the multi volume second arc ‘Apprentice Blue Shrine Priestess” Myne must adjust from the poor lower city to the life in the temple. Ferdinand the high Priest, has taken her under his wing. Her Devouring which is caused by excess mana is under control with the Devine instruments that in turn, provide mana to keep the land fertile. In fact, she has so much mana that the Duchy cannot afford for anyone else to gain access to her. By the end of that arc, she leaves to be adopted by the archduke.

In this story arc, “Adopted Daughter of an Archduke”. Myne once again must struggle to adapt to another completely different society. Now known as. Rozeamyne, she is posing as the daughter of an arch Nobel who has been adopted by the archduke for her high mana content and her acts as the Saint of Everest.in the meantime, her new inventions of plant paper, special ink and the printing press have fallen under the rages of her new fatherSylvester the archduke as a state sponsored industry.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still obsessed with this series!

I've been impatiently waiting for this one. It deals with the changes in mynes life now that she's Rozemyne. The temple was a transition but this is even more crazy changes!

Also a lot of things we've been waiting for happen in this book. Like the Italian restaurant, getting her magic mount (i adored the picture of her mount, soo cute!) and how they are going to expand printing.
My fav parts were probably the restaurant and the concert. I have to say the dynamic between the brothers and their cousin (Ferdinand, Sylvester, and Kurdstadt) is so great and pretty much any scene with all three had me laughing. Ferdinands fans were also cracking me up so hard. Bennoo is still my favorite but these books have such great characters i love a ton of them.

There was a scene near the beginning i saw other reviews complain about. It was uncomfortable but definitely had no sexual connotations. It was also very important world building because it establishes the science of how Mynes mana works and how bodies in this world biologically do differ from ours. I really don't know how they'll include it in the anime because they litterally talk about another important scene from an earlier book that the anime completely left out. Hopefully they find a way to include the mana info without the scene.

[Reichis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe the author decided to treat us with some slice of life since we had a really depressing volume before. This one was a lot lighter in tone. A lot of repeated text (?) stuff we already know, I'm not a fan of handholding when it comes to remembering what was in other books.
Maybe I would feel different if I hadn't read the books one after the other and had the time to forget these details.

Really liked the Idol moment Ferdinand had, hope we see other similar shenanigans like that. Not to mention the money Rozemyne makes from this plot, really learning from the best lol.

It's a bit sad that lower city residents have to treat her this differently even in private now, but the reason is understandable and the risk of failure is high.
A lot about food and the eatery in this volume as well, which I liked but it felt a bit long.
I would have liked to learn more about the magic of this world although what we saw was pretty cool, especially the random mini temple building "expedition".

Overall Rozmyne didn't have a lot of obstacles or difficulties in this volume or more like they were resolved very quickly. I feel like all the stress was left for other people which would have been great for other POV chapters - like Gustav or maybe Gil or Lutz when they went to the other city.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun introduction to Rozemyne's new life as a noble. The first half was full of ceremonies, in addition to the important health checkup results and Ferdinand's exceptionally hilarious charity concert. I almost died laughing at Ferdinand and Myne's interactions as they tried to get revenge on one another! Their magic lessons were also very fun. Ferdinand's old nanny is my new favorite character. I also enjoyed getting to know Myne's new parents and siblings; they all seem nice and interesting.

We briefly see Tuuli, which was nice but sad. The epilogue from Lutz's POV and the illustration in that part really illuminated how hard Myne has worked to become a noble (which I appreciated seeing, since her lessons at the start of the book were largely glossed over). The epilogue also made me feel the distance between the old Myne and her new life as Rosemyne.

Overall, this was a fun start to the new arc. It felt more on the slice of life side to me, maybe since the previous book was quite action packed. I look forward to reading the next one. 4.5 stars.

[R.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read overall. I think Ferdinand is becoming my favorite character, I didn't think he could be so petty but he and Rozemayne are certainly a good match. I'll consider Karstedt comment about Rozemayne being a good marriage partner for Ferdinand as foreshadowing, having already found the spoilers, they do seem like a good team even though the context of that scene wasn't the best.

I'm starting to read from this volume because that's where the anime left off, the events don't seem to fully align though and I'm particularly confused about Veronica. I also read the manga adaptation, but beside the less than ideal auto translation used for it it's like seeing another interpretation of the story. I read up to the beginning of part 4 of the manga, the magic academy arc looks so interesting, but the manga is still ongoing so I guess I'll read the novel first.

By using her modern knowledge to improve their lives she's probably failing to fully realize how much of a difference it makes to them, while she did it for selfish reasons she came to be respected for her intelligence that is clearly above average in their world.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the funniest book out of the series so far. I laughed so hard. Almost every chapter had me laughing out loud. The previous book was slightly difficult with all of the rapid world building needed, but it was worth it.

The only critique I have is that the money issues don't quite make sense. It's suggested that the commoners have significantly less money than the nobles... But the arch nobles (4 working together) PLUS Benno need to fundraise to build a basic orphanage/temple, while Benno a commoner merchant was able to make a high end restaurant AND hire/train new staff within a year by himself? Even with a little help from the commoner guild master... The money gaps don't quite add up. But I found the fundraising event to be the most hysterical so I can't complain. If anyone can justify this please do because it's just one detail I can't quite understand.

[Pinky N.A · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can say around 80% of this volume contains of food, food, and food alone, that I'm sure those three — Sylvester, Karstedt, Ferdinand — will no doubt fighting over those again.

Rozemyne's new inventions for this world are always impressive. I couldn't say more. I know, those are things from her previous life, but still, remembering all of those are just wow for me.

And her highbeast! How cute! Looks like the type of highbeast she would invent.

And, I love the last 2 side stories, especially the one from Cornelius' perspective. Now you know it, Cornelius! Hahaha. Plus, that little bit of comic panel about him panicking over Rozemyne's excitement are hilarious.

[Leah Nugent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book picks up directly after where the current anime has ended. I love the series for its realistic worldbuilding. The scope of the story also increased exponentially in this book, with very satisfying results. The writing is unfortunately rather weak and the main character's knowledge about real-world inventions is a bit too convenient, even if it makes for an entertaining read. Regardless, the series is not just fluff and is primarily about the lived realities of class disparities and I can't help but eat it up.

[Christina Blank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series…

I have no idea where the series is going all I know is I want to go with them! The characters just get better, I feel like they’re friends now. Because there’s not an obvious bad guy I’m loving this series more… The struggle to print and two be successful and read is the bad guy… And the fact that you can’t do what you really wanna do because necessity gets in the way is the bad guy. And I love that so much because it’s so much closer to reality than having some big villain. Onto the next one!

[Jason Haynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am continuing with this book, which is where the anime left off. This is fine for a light novel, and I've bought the next in the series. The anime is delightful.

In the anime, it's unclear just how much child vs college student she is. In this novel, she very much has the maturity of a child, and we know this because it's her first person point of view (vs the 3rd person anime).

There's one point in particular which felt out of character for Myne (aka Main), which I point out in my highlights. Basically, she thought something calculating instead of being warm & friendly.

[Anny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again the setting shifted from the Temple to the Noble Quarters and Myne sadly got further and further away from her commoner family. Thankfully Lutz and Gilberta company still managed to keep their relationship and Myne can get her doses of 'hugs' from Lutz lol.

Now with her newfound title and status, Myne was going all out for expanding the printing industry and her restaurant business. But as usual, Myne being a bull in a china shop meant that there would be casualties and this one won't be pretty.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little more easy-going after the last one.  It was a little weird not having Myne's family be a significant part of the book, but the plot keeps moving forward and we meet her new family.  If you've gotten this far in the series, there won't be any major surprises in terms of the way the plot moves forward or the kinds of characters that are introduced.  One point that was kind of annoying is it felt like a quarter of the book was spent describing how the female characters were mooning over Ferdinand.  It was especially weird since it left me concerned it was setting the stage for a potential romance between Myne and Ferdinand, which would be problematic for a variety of reasons, but hopefully the sequels don't move things in that direction.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was enjoyable, but it also felt like there was a lot of set up for the next volume. I burst out laughing at quite a number of moments throughout the book, and I am glad that some of my favourite characters were able to make appearances throughout the book. It is just that with the increase in scale, my favourite characters do not always appear and have their chances to shine in the book. As always, I cannot wait for the next volume!