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I'm in Love with the Villainess Light Novel #1
Me Apaixonei pela Vilã (Light Novel), Vol. 1
Um dia Rei Oohashi acorda no corpo da protagonista do seu jogo de romance favorito: Revolution. E para sua felicidade, a primeira pessoa que ela vê é sua personagem favorita: Claire François, a principal antagonista do jogo. Agora, Rei está determinada a ter um romance com Claire em vez dos vários rapazes que o jogo oferece. Mas como a vilã irá reagir a esse acontecimento imprevisível?
328 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 352 reviews
March 10, 2021
In her previous life, Rae worked for a company that sucked all the hope and joy out of her life. The only thing she looked forward to was her favorite otome game, Revolution, which she loved enough to write fanfic for. However, rather than being a fan of one of the various romanceable prince characters, Rae's most beloved character was Claire, the villainess. When Rae finds herself suddenly part of the world of Revolution, in the body of the heroine, her top goal becomes to stay by Claire's side, support her, and help her achieve as good of a life as possible. Since Claire's fate in the game is either bankruptcy or death, Rae has her work cut out for her.
I looked forward to this book enough to pre-order it. I went into it expecting it to be f/f romance in which the heroine's reaction to being transported into her favorite game was to create a new "route" in which she romanced the villainess instead of one of the original romanceable heroes. I'd also have been happy with a romance in which the heroine supported the villainess from the sidelines and didn't realize that her favorite character was falling in love with her.
What I got instead was a main character who immediately loudly declared her love for Claire despite ample evidence that this made her uncomfortable. It didn't matter how much Claire bullied her - her response was always a smile and a request for Claire to punish her some more, adding an odd masochistic element to their interactions. She wormed her way into Claire's life by becoming one of her maids, over Claire's objections, and frequently sexually harassed her. At one point, Rae discussed her sexuality with Claire and several other students and thought about how damaging it was that Japanese media often portrayed lesbians as being sexually aggressive towards any and all women. The lack of self-awareness was painful - true, Rae didn't aggressively flirt with all women, just Claire...but Claire was plenty. No matter how many times Claire turned her down or acted uncomfortable about the way Rae acted, Rae refused to stop.
It wasn't even that Rae thought she had a chance with Claire - she figured her love was doomed to be unrequited, and the best she could hope for was that Claire might end up with Thane (in Thane's route, Claire and the heroine are romantic rivals) and allow Rae to stay by her side to witness her happiness. There were ways Inori could have written Rae that might have worked and wouldn't have involved changing the rest of the story much, if at all. Rae could have kept her feelings to herself in order to focus on her top goal, supporting Claire as best a possible. Rae could also have derailed Claire's bullying, become friends with her, and worked in some light flirting that could eventually have taken on more weight - we've seen this type of character before in m/f anime romances, the big flirt the heroine doesn't initially take seriously because they're like that with everyone. Thinking about it now, Inori might have actually been aiming for something like the second option but 1) went overboard, 2) added that weirdly masochistic element by having Rae enjoy Claire's bullying, and 3) didn't choose the right POV for maximum effectiveness.
When Rae wasn't heavy-handedly hitting on Claire, she was watching events around her follow the same general course as the original game and trying to tweak things so that Claire might have a better outcome. Readers didn't know the exact details, but it was clear that Rae had pretty much everything memorized, right down to the different strategies the character AIs used in their chess games. I found myself wishing that the characters had thrown some surprises at Rae, something to indicate that they were now real and more complicated people rather than otome game characters with predictable behavior patterns.
There were a few magical battles, and Rae acquired a magical familiar that weirdly never came up again. Eventually the original game's serious storyline came to the forefront: conflict between the commoners, who didn't like the country's class system, and the nobility, who were perfectly fine with maintaining the status quo. It wasn't handled in a particularly interesting way, and I disliked the completely unnecessary that Inori threw into the climax.
The translation was smooth and readable - if the story had been more along the lines of what I'd expected, I'd probably continue on with this. I'm so disappointed with the way Inori wrote Rae and her relationship with Claire, and the rest of it (characters, world, larger story) wasn't interesting enough to make up for that.
(Ugh, I just checked, and it sounds like this series may only be two volumes long, possibly with an additional volume featuring side stories. The "but you just have one more volume, and maybe it gets better" part of me may prompt me to finish this up, despite my issues with this first volume.)
Extras:
One full-color illustration (same as the cover), and several black and white illustrations throughout. Also, a brief afterword by the author, plus a bonus chapter from the POV of Claire's maid, showing how they first met.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
I looked forward to this book enough to pre-order it. I went into it expecting it to be f/f romance in which the heroine's reaction to being transported into her favorite game was to create a new "route" in which she romanced the villainess instead of one of the original romanceable heroes. I'd also have been happy with a romance in which the heroine supported the villainess from the sidelines and didn't realize that her favorite character was falling in love with her.
What I got instead was a main character who immediately loudly declared her love for Claire despite ample evidence that this made her uncomfortable. It didn't matter how much Claire bullied her - her response was always a smile and a request for Claire to punish her some more, adding an odd masochistic element to their interactions. She wormed her way into Claire's life by becoming one of her maids, over Claire's objections, and frequently sexually harassed her. At one point, Rae discussed her sexuality with Claire and several other students and thought about how damaging it was that Japanese media often portrayed lesbians as being sexually aggressive towards any and all women. The lack of self-awareness was painful - true, Rae didn't aggressively flirt with all women, just Claire...but Claire was plenty. No matter how many times Claire turned her down or acted uncomfortable about the way Rae acted, Rae refused to stop.
It wasn't even that Rae thought she had a chance with Claire - she figured her love was doomed to be unrequited, and the best she could hope for was that Claire might end up with Thane (in Thane's route, Claire and the heroine are romantic rivals) and allow Rae to stay by her side to witness her happiness. There were ways Inori could have written Rae that might have worked and wouldn't have involved changing the rest of the story much, if at all. Rae could have kept her feelings to herself in order to focus on her top goal, supporting Claire as best a possible. Rae could also have derailed Claire's bullying, become friends with her, and worked in some light flirting that could eventually have taken on more weight - we've seen this type of character before in m/f anime romances, the big flirt the heroine doesn't initially take seriously because they're like that with everyone. Thinking about it now, Inori might have actually been aiming for something like the second option but 1) went overboard, 2) added that weirdly masochistic element by having Rae enjoy Claire's bullying, and 3) didn't choose the right POV for maximum effectiveness.
When Rae wasn't heavy-handedly hitting on Claire, she was watching events around her follow the same general course as the original game and trying to tweak things so that Claire might have a better outcome. Readers didn't know the exact details, but it was clear that Rae had pretty much everything memorized, right down to the different strategies the character AIs used in their chess games. I found myself wishing that the characters had thrown some surprises at Rae, something to indicate that they were now real and more complicated people rather than otome game characters with predictable behavior patterns.
There were a few magical battles, and Rae acquired a magical familiar that weirdly never came up again. Eventually the original game's serious storyline came to the forefront: conflict between the commoners, who didn't like the country's class system, and the nobility, who were perfectly fine with maintaining the status quo. It wasn't handled in a particularly interesting way, and I disliked the completely unnecessary that Inori threw into the climax.
The translation was smooth and readable - if the story had been more along the lines of what I'd expected, I'd probably continue on with this. I'm so disappointed with the way Inori wrote Rae and her relationship with Claire, and the rest of it (characters, world, larger story) wasn't interesting enough to make up for that.
(Ugh, I just checked, and it sounds like this series may only be two volumes long, possibly with an additional volume featuring side stories. The "but you just have one more volume, and maybe it gets better" part of me may prompt me to finish this up, despite my issues with this first volume.)
Extras:
One full-color illustration (same as the cover), and several black and white illustrations throughout. Also, a brief afterword by the author, plus a bonus chapter from the POV of Claire's maid, showing how they first met.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
December 5, 2020
Are you kidding me?
(I only read the first book and have absolutely no desire to read the following volumes, so I don't know how things change in them. This review is just for Volume 1.)
First of all, this isn't a lesbian novel. It's a novel about a lesbian named Rae transported into an otome game, and she spends her days following around and teasingly flirting with (e.g., repeatedly confessing her love for) a girl who as far as we can tell is straight. The straight girl, Claire, is depicted as humorously uncomfortable with Rae's behavior. I do not find Rae's behavior to be funny nor endearing. If anyone, let alone someone I wasn't even attracted to, acted like this in real life, I would call it borderline sexual harassment. People have discussed why this behavior isn't morally right when it comes to boys pursuing girls with no regard for consent or mutual affection. I'm here to tell you it isn't cute when it's a girl pursuing another girl either.
The main character, Rae, was an adult working for a company before she's transported into this world, where she attends high school and flirts with a high school girl. I'll leave it to you to decide if Rae should be considered an adult or a minor, and if this is creepy.
You may say, "These are just characters coming to life in an otome game, so it's fine that Rae practically spends the entire book sexually harassing one of them since they aren't real sentient human beings." The light novel doesn't go into detail about the... worldbuilding. I'll leave it up to you to decide if the people in this world are sentient people or just a form of... advanced AI, but I don't think the average teenager reading this will consider this aspect. They'll think following someone around and continually confessing their love for that person is alright.
Is anyone going to talk about the incestuous relationship that is revealed between two siblings? They're side characters, although one appears quite frequently. This isn't okay for a book meant for teenagers in my opinion, especially because it isn't really addressed that incestuous relationships are wrong. Again, this is a book meant for teenagers. There are possibly young people reading this, and this random relationship that really didn't need to be there is normalized incestuous relationships.
Finally, there is some diction in this novel that is very... modern American. The book is written by a Japanese person with a Japanese main character in a world that resembles medieval Europe. This makes me suspect the translator has taken some liberties in translating the novel, though I could be wrong. It certainly took me out of the novel.
(I only read the first book and have absolutely no desire to read the following volumes, so I don't know how things change in them. This review is just for Volume 1.)
First of all, this isn't a lesbian novel. It's a novel about a lesbian named Rae transported into an otome game, and she spends her days following around and teasingly flirting with (e.g., repeatedly confessing her love for) a girl who as far as we can tell is straight. The straight girl, Claire, is depicted as humorously uncomfortable with Rae's behavior. I do not find Rae's behavior to be funny nor endearing. If anyone, let alone someone I wasn't even attracted to, acted like this in real life, I would call it borderline sexual harassment. People have discussed why this behavior isn't morally right when it comes to boys pursuing girls with no regard for consent or mutual affection. I'm here to tell you it isn't cute when it's a girl pursuing another girl either.
The main character, Rae, was an adult working for a company before she's transported into this world, where she attends high school and flirts with a high school girl. I'll leave it to you to decide if Rae should be considered an adult or a minor, and if this is creepy.
You may say, "These are just characters coming to life in an otome game, so it's fine that Rae practically spends the entire book sexually harassing one of them since they aren't real sentient human beings." The light novel doesn't go into detail about the... worldbuilding. I'll leave it up to you to decide if the people in this world are sentient people or just a form of... advanced AI, but I don't think the average teenager reading this will consider this aspect. They'll think following someone around and continually confessing their love for that person is alright.
Is anyone going to talk about the incestuous relationship that is revealed between two siblings? They're side characters, although one appears quite frequently. This isn't okay for a book meant for teenagers in my opinion, especially because it isn't really addressed that incestuous relationships are wrong. Again, this is a book meant for teenagers. There are possibly young people reading this, and this random relationship that really didn't need to be there is normalized incestuous relationships.
Finally, there is some diction in this novel that is very... modern American. The book is written by a Japanese person with a Japanese main character in a world that resembles medieval Europe. This makes me suspect the translator has taken some liberties in translating the novel, though I could be wrong. It certainly took me out of the novel.
April 26, 2021
I feel that how much you like this book will rely mostly on the scale of how you feel about the protagonist's incessant harassment of her unrequited love interest.
The protagonist's harassment keeps getting played throughout the book as a mix of masochistic egging on of her bully, "playful" sexual harassment, and actual confessions of love. Sadly neither myself nor the deuteragonist can really tell how the protagonist mentally justifies the levels that this harassment goes to. Towards the end of the book, the banter does feel a bit more consensual and playful, but by then, I still had an icky taste in my mouth about it.
I found the rest of the book to be a delight, but it is hard to downplay how jarring this constant behavior is. If it doesn't bother you, or you can handwave such things away, this could be a five-star slow burn romance book for you.
I appreciated how the author made direct callouts to LGBTQ issues and made the protagonist directly and openly lesbian. No room is made for the often overused "But is she really just playing?" tropes. However, it didn't help that while the protagonist is actively making overbearing confession and harassing the deuteragonist, she also argues that "just because I am a lesbian does not mean I am hitting on you/want to sleep with you." I think that could have been more impactful if the protagonist was trying to teach this lesson to any person other than the one she has dedicated her entire life to hitting on and sexually harassing.
I really want the rest of the story, so I will keep reading the next volume in hopes that the protagonist's behavior comes around as much as their love interest does for them.
The protagonist's harassment keeps getting played throughout the book as a mix of masochistic egging on of her bully, "playful" sexual harassment, and actual confessions of love. Sadly neither myself nor the deuteragonist can really tell how the protagonist mentally justifies the levels that this harassment goes to. Towards the end of the book, the banter does feel a bit more consensual and playful, but by then, I still had an icky taste in my mouth about it.
I found the rest of the book to be a delight, but it is hard to downplay how jarring this constant behavior is. If it doesn't bother you, or you can handwave such things away, this could be a five-star slow burn romance book for you.
I appreciated how the author made direct callouts to LGBTQ issues and made the protagonist directly and openly lesbian. No room is made for the often overused "But is she really just playing?" tropes. However, it didn't help that while the protagonist is actively making overbearing confession and harassing the deuteragonist, she also argues that "just because I am a lesbian does not mean I am hitting on you/want to sleep with you." I think that could have been more impactful if the protagonist was trying to teach this lesson to any person other than the one she has dedicated her entire life to hitting on and sexually harassing.
I really want the rest of the story, so I will keep reading the next volume in hopes that the protagonist's behavior comes around as much as their love interest does for them.
February 24, 2021
3.5 stars
This is my first light novel I’ve read in a long while, I liked it a lot! Rae has chaotic energy I enjoyed. But I can see how it’s a “light” novel, the writing is simplistic, but I liked the story so I don’t mind. What I do mind is a thrown-in-your-face sibling incest sub plot/reveal, we didn’t need it, but at least it wasn’t a queer couple, if it’s any consolation.
This is my first light novel I’ve read in a long while, I liked it a lot! Rae has chaotic energy I enjoyed. But I can see how it’s a “light” novel, the writing is simplistic, but I liked the story so I don’t mind. What I do mind is a thrown-in-your-face sibling incest sub plot/reveal, we didn’t need it, but at least it wasn’t a queer couple, if it’s any consolation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2021
ngl fam, if i applied even the slightest hint of critical thinking to my light novel experiences i would probably have to point out that rae's behavior borders on sexual harassment, the surprise incest storyline was pointless and unnecessary and in general both the world and characters would benefit from development. luckily i don't use my brain for jackshit; if i wanted to think i wouldn't be out here devouring the trashiest webnovels i can find 😌
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
August 11, 2023
"How would you feel if a boy told you, 'Don't hit on me'?" Misha continued.
"How dare he think me so desperate!"
"Exactly. But that's exactly how you're treating Rae."
i'm in love with the villainess is a unique take on the villainess genre that manages to be both self-aware and not. it's full of rich lore coupled with a cool magic system. if you don't like "fade to black" storytelling and isekai-style of writing where things are often explained away with "i know this because i'm from modern-day japan", this isn't for you. for all the right steps this book takes, it veers in other weird directions taking it a couple of steps back.
i'm gonna start with things i hated about this book: incest. it came out of nowhere, it was an unnecessary development, and it wasn't written to be a bad thing. in fact, most of the characters were okay with it even though there were weird power dynamics involved. luckily, it wasn't around for long so i just dealt with it but i almost dnf'd. the second thing is that the writer is very aware of social politics like lgbt+ stereotypes and the way power dynamics work with wealth gaps. in fact, these themes and politics become integral to the story. however, a lot of it are only spoken about in conversations that never really lead to anything. the protagonist is complicit in class politics and the way the working class was just placated in the end...it defeated the purpose of bringing up class inequality like what was the point.
another thing was that i didn't like how much was explained away with "i'm a fan of the game therefore i knew this before it happened" because i would have liked to read the scenes play out instead of fading to black as often as it did. the last thing i despised was the possible age gap. i say "possible" because the protagonist who gets isekai'd into her otome game is reborn as a teenager so she's technically a teenage girl. however, her mind is still hers and she was a working adult in modern-day japan before she got isekai'd. the few times she brought it up, it gave me the ick. when you stop to think about it, it boils down to her technically being an adult with an obsession with the villainess (a teen girl) of her video game. this was the only time i wished the character that got isekai'd was an actual teenage girl.
things i loved: the banter. i have a love-hate relationship with this. it was a lot of the same and sometimes that was all i needed. the protagonist was unconditionally in love with the bratty, aristocratic villainess and took every opportunity to tell her. if you're not familiar with anime/manga culture, it's 100% sexual harassment and not okay. but if you don't think about it and just wanna see an anime sapphic girl playing a role with bad anime tropes in your fiction, it's a good time. the magic system had more depth than i expected and the history and lore of the world was well built considering all of the fade to black moments. another thing was how they brought up and addressed some of the politics and identity. the way sexual orientation was handled was surprising. a character was like "ya but she just happens to like girls so gender doesn't matter" and the protagonist was like "no, gender DOES matter. i only like girls." it was really satisfying and surprising to read, especially because japan still has a long ways to go when it comes to lgbt+ equality which was also addressed. not to mention, this series got its own manga and pv (maybe soon an anime?) and, while i heard they were more shallow versions, i hope they at least get talked about. as much as i railed on how the author handled the caste system, i did like how it was at least aware of itself. they talked about the horrible discrepancies with a commoner who is madly in love with her mistress while working as her maid. not only that, but they also tried to get her to understand why it would be best to distribute that wealth so that the commoners can be educated and have the same opportunities and how that would benefit the country. it didn't really work and it was swept under the rug which i hated but at least it was brought up and hopefully the topic will be revisited. lastly, if you've ever felt joy for life again because of a movie, show, and/or video game, then you can understand how the protagonist feels about the game and claire. i felt that with her. this is anecdotal but i was also pulled out of my depression because of fandom-related things and it was the greatest feeling in the world to feel anything positive again after years of feeling pain and nothing. the character going through that herself—i felt it.
overall, this was fun to turn my brain off to and i had a good time. i'm in love with the villainess has a lot of heart and went deeper than i thought it would. it wasn't as deep as i wanted and i hope it will go further in the future while maintaining the same fun. it's a guilty pleasure and i loved it.
"How dare he think me so desperate!"
"Exactly. But that's exactly how you're treating Rae."
i'm in love with the villainess is a unique take on the villainess genre that manages to be both self-aware and not. it's full of rich lore coupled with a cool magic system. if you don't like "fade to black" storytelling and isekai-style of writing where things are often explained away with "i know this because i'm from modern-day japan", this isn't for you. for all the right steps this book takes, it veers in other weird directions taking it a couple of steps back.
i'm gonna start with things i hated about this book: incest. it came out of nowhere, it was an unnecessary development, and it wasn't written to be a bad thing. in fact, most of the characters were okay with it even though there were weird power dynamics involved. luckily, it wasn't around for long so i just dealt with it but i almost dnf'd. the second thing is that the writer is very aware of social politics like lgbt+ stereotypes and the way power dynamics work with wealth gaps. in fact, these themes and politics become integral to the story. however, a lot of it are only spoken about in conversations that never really lead to anything. the protagonist is complicit in class politics and the way the working class was just placated in the end...it defeated the purpose of bringing up class inequality like what was the point.
another thing was that i didn't like how much was explained away with "i'm a fan of the game therefore i knew this before it happened" because i would have liked to read the scenes play out instead of fading to black as often as it did. the last thing i despised was the possible age gap. i say "possible" because the protagonist who gets isekai'd into her otome game is reborn as a teenager so she's technically a teenage girl. however, her mind is still hers and she was a working adult in modern-day japan before she got isekai'd. the few times she brought it up, it gave me the ick. when you stop to think about it, it boils down to her technically being an adult with an obsession with the villainess (a teen girl) of her video game. this was the only time i wished the character that got isekai'd was an actual teenage girl.
things i loved: the banter. i have a love-hate relationship with this. it was a lot of the same and sometimes that was all i needed. the protagonist was unconditionally in love with the bratty, aristocratic villainess and took every opportunity to tell her. if you're not familiar with anime/manga culture, it's 100% sexual harassment and not okay. but if you don't think about it and just wanna see an anime sapphic girl playing a role with bad anime tropes in your fiction, it's a good time. the magic system had more depth than i expected and the history and lore of the world was well built considering all of the fade to black moments. another thing was how they brought up and addressed some of the politics and identity. the way sexual orientation was handled was surprising. a character was like "ya but she just happens to like girls so gender doesn't matter" and the protagonist was like "no, gender DOES matter. i only like girls." it was really satisfying and surprising to read, especially because japan still has a long ways to go when it comes to lgbt+ equality which was also addressed. not to mention, this series got its own manga and pv (maybe soon an anime?) and, while i heard they were more shallow versions, i hope they at least get talked about. as much as i railed on how the author handled the caste system, i did like how it was at least aware of itself. they talked about the horrible discrepancies with a commoner who is madly in love with her mistress while working as her maid. not only that, but they also tried to get her to understand why it would be best to distribute that wealth so that the commoners can be educated and have the same opportunities and how that would benefit the country. it didn't really work and it was swept under the rug which i hated but at least it was brought up and hopefully the topic will be revisited. lastly, if you've ever felt joy for life again because of a movie, show, and/or video game, then you can understand how the protagonist feels about the game and claire. i felt that with her. this is anecdotal but i was also pulled out of my depression because of fandom-related things and it was the greatest feeling in the world to feel anything positive again after years of feeling pain and nothing. the character going through that herself—i felt it.
overall, this was fun to turn my brain off to and i had a good time. i'm in love with the villainess has a lot of heart and went deeper than i thought it would. it wasn't as deep as i wanted and i hope it will go further in the future while maintaining the same fun. it's a guilty pleasure and i loved it.
January 4, 2022
There is so much wrong with that book that I'm not even going to say anything so I don't sound mean.
I will say that though: just like the protagonist, I too got to experience what is like to be isekaied. Unfortunately, I was sent to a world where there are real human beings who read this book and thought it was worth five stars.
I will say that though: just like the protagonist, I too got to experience what is like to be isekaied. Unfortunately, I was sent to a world where there are real human beings who read this book and thought it was worth five stars.
July 14, 2021
First things first, it's a light novel so going into it you know you're not getting much more than a vague script with a high concept. And yet I was still disappointed by this book.
This is a book that takes a pause to remind the audience and characters that gay people are not predators while featuring a main, openly gay character who will not stop professing her love for the villainess to the point of blackmailing her father so the lead can get a job as her maid and spend all her time around the villainess. It is unquestionably, frustratingly harassment that we're supposed to forgive cause the protagonist claims to be doing it as a bit.
There are interesting nuggets hidden between boring anime antics but they're pretty much blown past because Class Traitor Rae has better things to do I guess. Ugh. Do not recomend.
This is a book that takes a pause to remind the audience and characters that gay people are not predators while featuring a main, openly gay character who will not stop professing her love for the villainess to the point of blackmailing her father so the lead can get a job as her maid and spend all her time around the villainess. It is unquestionably, frustratingly harassment that we're supposed to forgive cause the protagonist claims to be doing it as a bit.
There are interesting nuggets hidden between boring anime antics but they're pretty much blown past because Class Traitor Rae has better things to do I guess. Ugh. Do not recomend.
November 7, 2020
3.5, mostly because I liked how A Lily Blooms in Another World handled the same premise better. Still, it's hard to deny that this is well written and very enjoyable. Both heroines can be a bit grating for the first half of the novel, until things truly get going with their relationship as mutual, but once things start, they keep on. I also am very pleased that Rae firmly identifies as queer and is clear about that from the start. I'm not entirely sure that Inori fully understands the difference between lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual (there are a few odd turns of phrase), but this is still a good entry into both yuri light novels and the isekai villainess subgenre.
December 17, 2023
A soft-yandere (or sadodere, if one wishes to split hairs) figure finagles her way into the inner circle of a school bully of noble heritage. Rae Taylor isn't a particularly bright girl, but she has, for one thing, an imperturbable affection for the infamously recalcitrant Claire Francois. The high-bred Claire's gruff and annoying exterior often engenders distrust, but for Rae Taylor, such dour characteristics are simply more reasons for her to proclaim her love.
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS doesn't pivot too far from this premise and refuses to offer readers any serviceable distractions that might, in any other isekai tale, be rightfully termed plot points. Readers accompany Rae as she discovers herself to be one of several peasants populating the Bauer Kingdom, central to a noted dating sim. Except, there are no serious or valid threats to the Kingdom's stability, there is little stated evidence of the quality of life of the average laborer or craftsperson, and the diversity of character and personality available to enliven Rae's domestic exploits are dreadfully scarce.
This novel, in brief, reeks of overly simplistic storytelling. It altogether lacks competent characterization, purposeful worldbuilding, and narrative direction.
To begin, the characters are one-dimensional, their problems are shallow and irrelevant, and the tired and redundant nature of Rae's aggressively perverse affection for Claire yields little new or interesting dynamics such that one becomes bored with the odd shtick of romantic harassment.
No characters, for example, possess any unique or identifiable qualities beyond the abbreviated dating-sim schematic provided by the narrator (e.g., the male leads are known archetypes, but they diverge very little from these archetypes). No characters, as a consequence, come forward with a problem that cannot be solved with modest critical thinking and another dozen pages of exposition (e.g., the main character has foreknowledge of the dating sim's orientation but her disruption of the status quo has zero knock-on effects). Further, the novel's over-reliance on Rae as a female character obsessed with another female character, to the point of desiring (begging for) verbal and physical abuse, grows old fast. Rae and Claire's squabbling is played for laughs, and yet the writing, consistently, is far too weak to coerce readers into caring about their eventual relationship beyond that of bickering children.
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS picks the lock of aged tropes of high-school comedies: culture festivals, student council shenanigans, and opaque rival scenarios with no true bearing on the trajectory of the overall story. Combined with an unoriginal magic system and an exhaustive emphasis on social hierarchy, one quickly finds there's no real juice to this story. The only notable narrative turn of substance occurs a distant 220 pages into the book, and even then, the matrix of confusion and expectation surrounding the abrupt and clumsy integration of a failed commoner rebellion feels overwrought well before the situation turns critical.
There's plenty of room for a novel of this type to counter reader expectations to its advantage. The male leads, three princes with obvious (shallow) personality variations, would have proved more fascinating were they more than mouthpieces. Usually, isekai protagonists learn more about otherwise conventional characters by interacting with them in the flesh; but in I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS, it's the opposite. Readers know as little of these secondary personalities at the end of the book as they did at the start.
Similarly, the author fails to wield dramatic irony in any meaningful or descriptive way. The result is a sinkhole of horribly inept storytelling that makes the grave mistake of putting off critical information that would undoubtedly enlighten and engage readers. Early in the novel, for example, Rae shares a sidebar with Claire's father, the contents of which the reader is never made privy ("And that was how I landed the job of Claire's maid. Just don't expect me to tell you what I said to Dole -- that stays secret," p. 49). This is an unquestionably odd, fourth-wall aside that brazenly subsumes any semblance of a practical, narrative structure. It harms the story.
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS may appear as well-written fluff, but even for fluff, the title isn't particularly satisfying. (And for that matter, the choice of the word "villainess," for what amounts to a spoiled bully, is a bit disheartening. Indeed, what if an adult Claire was an actual, seated noble with legitimately violent, villainous tendencies? That would be quite the novel.)
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS doesn't pivot too far from this premise and refuses to offer readers any serviceable distractions that might, in any other isekai tale, be rightfully termed plot points. Readers accompany Rae as she discovers herself to be one of several peasants populating the Bauer Kingdom, central to a noted dating sim. Except, there are no serious or valid threats to the Kingdom's stability, there is little stated evidence of the quality of life of the average laborer or craftsperson, and the diversity of character and personality available to enliven Rae's domestic exploits are dreadfully scarce.
This novel, in brief, reeks of overly simplistic storytelling. It altogether lacks competent characterization, purposeful worldbuilding, and narrative direction.
To begin, the characters are one-dimensional, their problems are shallow and irrelevant, and the tired and redundant nature of Rae's aggressively perverse affection for Claire yields little new or interesting dynamics such that one becomes bored with the odd shtick of romantic harassment.
No characters, for example, possess any unique or identifiable qualities beyond the abbreviated dating-sim schematic provided by the narrator (e.g., the male leads are known archetypes, but they diverge very little from these archetypes). No characters, as a consequence, come forward with a problem that cannot be solved with modest critical thinking and another dozen pages of exposition (e.g., the main character has foreknowledge of the dating sim's orientation but her disruption of the status quo has zero knock-on effects). Further, the novel's over-reliance on Rae as a female character obsessed with another female character, to the point of desiring (begging for) verbal and physical abuse, grows old fast. Rae and Claire's squabbling is played for laughs, and yet the writing, consistently, is far too weak to coerce readers into caring about their eventual relationship beyond that of bickering children.
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS picks the lock of aged tropes of high-school comedies: culture festivals, student council shenanigans, and opaque rival scenarios with no true bearing on the trajectory of the overall story. Combined with an unoriginal magic system and an exhaustive emphasis on social hierarchy, one quickly finds there's no real juice to this story. The only notable narrative turn of substance occurs a distant 220 pages into the book, and even then, the matrix of confusion and expectation surrounding the abrupt and clumsy integration of a failed commoner rebellion feels overwrought well before the situation turns critical.
There's plenty of room for a novel of this type to counter reader expectations to its advantage. The male leads, three princes with obvious (shallow) personality variations, would have proved more fascinating were they more than mouthpieces. Usually, isekai protagonists learn more about otherwise conventional characters by interacting with them in the flesh; but in I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS, it's the opposite. Readers know as little of these secondary personalities at the end of the book as they did at the start.
Similarly, the author fails to wield dramatic irony in any meaningful or descriptive way. The result is a sinkhole of horribly inept storytelling that makes the grave mistake of putting off critical information that would undoubtedly enlighten and engage readers. Early in the novel, for example, Rae shares a sidebar with Claire's father, the contents of which the reader is never made privy ("And that was how I landed the job of Claire's maid. Just don't expect me to tell you what I said to Dole -- that stays secret," p. 49). This is an unquestionably odd, fourth-wall aside that brazenly subsumes any semblance of a practical, narrative structure. It harms the story.
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAINESS may appear as well-written fluff, but even for fluff, the title isn't particularly satisfying. (And for that matter, the choice of the word "villainess," for what amounts to a spoiled bully, is a bit disheartening. Indeed, what if an adult Claire was an actual, seated noble with legitimately violent, villainous tendencies? That would be quite the novel.)
September 4, 2021
I really enjoy a good LitRPG I've read a lot that are based on MMORPG's a few that were based on Civ type games but this one was the most unique that I've read so far. A LitRPG based on a dating sim, add to that the even the dating sim is turned on it's head as the player Rei isn't interested in the princes that the game offers up to her. I'll be reading more books in this series as soon as I can obtain them.
September 28, 2020
Rae has been reborn as a commoner in the world of her favorite otome game, Revolution. She’s overpowered (naturally), knows all the tricks, and could have any of the male love interests she wants. However, she’s only got eyes for her supposed nemesis, snobby aristocrat Claire Francois. If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a lot of knowledge might be even worse...
This is one heck of a swerve on your typical isekai. Rae knows the ins and outs of the story in Revolution, but she has no interest in heroism or using that knowledge to elevate her status. If you’ve ever wanted to see somebody weaponize fan fiction... run, don’t walk, to your book procurement outlet of choice.
Her relationship with Claire is the heart of all this and the book’s got a very touching view that even an unconditional love, accepting somebody exactly as they are, can change the recipient into something better (and make no mistake, Rae is not blind to Claire’s faults).
These two are complex leads and so worthy of the book - there’s a change in the game’s story directly related to Claire (more than once) that is not commented upon, but says everything about the effect of having Rae in her life.
A lot of yuri can be a little coy about the whole gay thing, so it’s really nice to see a story that leans as hard as it can in the opposite direction. There’s what essentially amounts to a coming out moment mid-way and it is the best part of this book.
Up to this point, Rae has been largely portrayed as a playfully manipulative, but loving, pest. In this moment she really grows into a protagonist worth rooting for - she knows she’s facing an uphill battle and her genuinely sad recognition of the unrequited nature of her love is touching.
All the writing in this book is a cut above the typical light novel and it moves nice and quick, with crisp dialogue. It’s funny how something that starts annoying grows on you so fast, but Claire and Rae’s back and forth does exactly that - by the end of the book I adored it. The plot is also quite excellent, with some unexpectedly enjoyable action beats to boot.
My problems are small. I wish things had developed further than they did, I will say that, but there are worse things than anticipating the next book. They definitely could have used more art interspersed throughout - the number of interstitial pictures they have is paltry.
Additionally, while you’re waiting for things to develop, both Rae and Claire can be a bit much (Claire is... very complicated). Rae is on full blast from the first moment and she can be a lot until you start to get a handle on why.
Uh, and in one sense, there is a certain squick typically reserved for nobility that the book uses in the plot, which I guess illustrates that commoners and the aristocracy are not so far apart in their taboos. I don’t want to get into spoiler space, but know that it exists (it’s not as played up as it could be, mercifully).
4 stars, easy, probably 4.5 if I thought about it further. This wasn’t as compelling as Roll Over and Die, but it’s a touch more mature and the writing is certainly better. It also has one of the only light novel bonus chapters that I’ve felt added to the main story. It’s going to be a long, impatient wait for the next volume.
This is one heck of a swerve on your typical isekai. Rae knows the ins and outs of the story in Revolution, but she has no interest in heroism or using that knowledge to elevate her status. If you’ve ever wanted to see somebody weaponize fan fiction... run, don’t walk, to your book procurement outlet of choice.
Her relationship with Claire is the heart of all this and the book’s got a very touching view that even an unconditional love, accepting somebody exactly as they are, can change the recipient into something better (and make no mistake, Rae is not blind to Claire’s faults).
These two are complex leads and so worthy of the book - there’s a change in the game’s story directly related to Claire (more than once) that is not commented upon, but says everything about the effect of having Rae in her life.
A lot of yuri can be a little coy about the whole gay thing, so it’s really nice to see a story that leans as hard as it can in the opposite direction. There’s what essentially amounts to a coming out moment mid-way and it is the best part of this book.
Up to this point, Rae has been largely portrayed as a playfully manipulative, but loving, pest. In this moment she really grows into a protagonist worth rooting for - she knows she’s facing an uphill battle and her genuinely sad recognition of the unrequited nature of her love is touching.
All the writing in this book is a cut above the typical light novel and it moves nice and quick, with crisp dialogue. It’s funny how something that starts annoying grows on you so fast, but Claire and Rae’s back and forth does exactly that - by the end of the book I adored it. The plot is also quite excellent, with some unexpectedly enjoyable action beats to boot.
My problems are small. I wish things had developed further than they did, I will say that, but there are worse things than anticipating the next book. They definitely could have used more art interspersed throughout - the number of interstitial pictures they have is paltry.
Additionally, while you’re waiting for things to develop, both Rae and Claire can be a bit much (Claire is... very complicated). Rae is on full blast from the first moment and she can be a lot until you start to get a handle on why.
Uh, and in one sense, there is a certain squick typically reserved for nobility that the book uses in the plot, which I guess illustrates that commoners and the aristocracy are not so far apart in their taboos. I don’t want to get into spoiler space, but know that it exists (it’s not as played up as it could be, mercifully).
4 stars, easy, probably 4.5 if I thought about it further. This wasn’t as compelling as Roll Over and Die, but it’s a touch more mature and the writing is certainly better. It also has one of the only light novel bonus chapters that I’ve felt added to the main story. It’s going to be a long, impatient wait for the next volume.
July 26, 2021
My strongest feeling about this book? Disappointment. It’s been so hyped up in yuri communities. And so, I was caught off-guard by the main character’s constant boundary-crossing when it comes to the person she likes. Almost every conversation they have is her love interest setting a clear boundary and our main character knowingly overstepping and ignoring it. It reminds me of why I’ve largely stopped reading BL - because of the predatory characters and rapeyness. In this book, we do get an explanation for why the main character behaves this way. But it’s not an excuse, and it caused me to feel sick in my stomach every time they had an interaction. This ”chase her until she succumbs to your affections” trope is getting really fucking tired. Thank goodness there was no rape, at least.
Another thing that really left a bad taste is this: The main character is transported to another world, specifically the world of her favorite game. The issue with this? These people are REAL people she had interactions with, yet she continues to treat them as game characters - including her love interest. She keeps scheming and using people as pawns, and then it’s brushed off with a giggle. It sickens me.
I’ve heard that it gets better in later books. Better representation and more character development and so on. Question is if I ever want to read them. There are so many other books out there that I’d rather spend my money and time on.
Another thing that really left a bad taste is this: The main character is transported to another world, specifically the world of her favorite game. The issue with this? These people are REAL people she had interactions with, yet she continues to treat them as game characters - including her love interest. She keeps scheming and using people as pawns, and then it’s brushed off with a giggle. It sickens me.
I’ve heard that it gets better in later books. Better representation and more character development and so on. Question is if I ever want to read them. There are so many other books out there that I’d rather spend my money and time on.
December 21, 2021
Gratamente sorprendido
Me ha gustado mucho este primer tomo de Me enamoré de la villana. Supe de esta obra y de Inori Sensei cuando la comunidad contó que ella estaba muy contenta de que hubiera traducciones fan de su obra. Ese comentario desencadenó al final que su obra fuera publicada oficialmente en español.
El título de gratamente sorprendido es porque la verdad esperaba otra cosa, otra mecánica. La que he encontrado me ha gustado mucho, la personalidad de Rei me parece genial y esa actitud que ha decidido para llevar su complicado amor hacia Claire. No voy a decir que estoy de acuerdo al 100% con su forma de ser, pero entiendo y respeto porque es como es.
Ha sido un buen capítulo introductorio de la historia. El universo está introducido y también nos han dejado varios misterios o puntos para un desarrollo posterior.
La lectura de esta obra ha sido muy amena y desde ya estoy esperando el siguiente volumen.
Me ha gustado mucho este primer tomo de Me enamoré de la villana. Supe de esta obra y de Inori Sensei cuando la comunidad contó que ella estaba muy contenta de que hubiera traducciones fan de su obra. Ese comentario desencadenó al final que su obra fuera publicada oficialmente en español.
El título de gratamente sorprendido es porque la verdad esperaba otra cosa, otra mecánica. La que he encontrado me ha gustado mucho, la personalidad de Rei me parece genial y esa actitud que ha decidido para llevar su complicado amor hacia Claire. No voy a decir que estoy de acuerdo al 100% con su forma de ser, pero entiendo y respeto porque es como es.
Ha sido un buen capítulo introductorio de la historia. El universo está introducido y también nos han dejado varios misterios o puntos para un desarrollo posterior.
La lectura de esta obra ha sido muy amena y desde ya estoy esperando el siguiente volumen.
December 31, 2020
(c/p from my review on TheStoryGraph) This is an incredibly fun, trope filled light novel. In fact it is my first light novel and I can totally get the appeal. Very much like reading some classic ff.net fanfic. It is not the best written story , not even close, but it is a fun book to take you away from the real world. The world building was fun, the romance was fun, I love falling in love with the villainess right alongside Rae because at first I Did Not Get It but by the end I was also In Love TM. Can't wait to read book two and, hopefully, watch these two smooch!
TW for this book include: incest (light on this, not even kissing, but yeah some brother/sister romance is plopped in there towards the end), classism, minor homophobia
TW for this book include: incest (light on this, not even kissing, but yeah some brother/sister romance is plopped in there towards the end), classism, minor homophobia
May 24, 2021
Very cute, very gay. It's a shame there aren't more illustrations, but it doesn't stop the story from being highly enjoyable.
December 11, 2023
I read the manga and watched the show but I just knew that I needed to read the light novel to get a better idea and feel for the characters, especially Rae.
The Good
Rae's "coming out" conversation was WAY better in this novel. I loved how it explained that she acts this way as a self-defense mechanism and she understands that it plays into the "predator hyper-homosexual" stereotype but it's how she protects herself from rejection by her peers. This is kinda explained by the manga but it's more apparent in her thoughts.
The Bad
While I understand Rae as a character and that her focus is only on her feelings for Claire, it's a bit annoying in the third act of this book as we get into actual plot and politics. I wanted Claire to show some character development in how she saw commoners but it was lacking. It's hard to really care for her character sometimes when we get her saying such elitist things and slapping her servant. And you could argue that her forgiving Lene at the end was supposed to show her growth in this department but it wasn't because she suddenly felt that commoners were people, it was because Lene had served her loyally for so long. I just want some character development from her and I don't know if we'll get it until she's literally forced to change by plot events I think are coming.
It is also annoying how much Rae doesn't treat Claire like a human being with equal worth to her sometimes. It felt like through her idolization she could never really be real with Claire or challenge her in a real way. This prevented the relationship from developing in any meaningful way and though it improved a little.
Tropes:
— Transmigration
— Obsessive FMC
— Rich girl x Poor Girl
Format: Physical Book
The Rating
I give this book a 3/5🌟 rating. While the light novel gives more insight than it's other adaptations, it also highlights its many flaws. I plan to read the sequel since I bought both of them, but I need a LOT of character development from both Rae and Claire before I can root for them to be together.
Check out my socials here for more reviews!
The Good
Rae's "coming out" conversation was WAY better in this novel. I loved how it explained that she acts this way as a self-defense mechanism and she understands that it plays into the "predator hyper-homosexual" stereotype but it's how she protects herself from rejection by her peers. This is kinda explained by the manga but it's more apparent in her thoughts.
The Bad
While I understand Rae as a character and that her focus is only on her feelings for Claire, it's a bit annoying in the third act of this book as we get into actual plot and politics. I wanted Claire to show some character development in how she saw commoners but it was lacking. It's hard to really care for her character sometimes when we get her saying such elitist things and slapping her servant. And you could argue that her forgiving Lene at the end was supposed to show her growth in this department but it wasn't because she suddenly felt that commoners were people, it was because Lene had served her loyally for so long. I just want some character development from her and I don't know if we'll get it until she's literally forced to change by plot events I think are coming.
It is also annoying how much Rae doesn't treat Claire like a human being with equal worth to her sometimes. It felt like through her idolization she could never really be real with Claire or challenge her in a real way. This prevented the relationship from developing in any meaningful way and though it improved a little.
Tropes:
— Transmigration
— Obsessive FMC
— Rich girl x Poor Girl
Format: Physical Book
The Rating
I give this book a 3/5🌟 rating. While the light novel gives more insight than it's other adaptations, it also highlights its many flaws. I plan to read the sequel since I bought both of them, but I need a LOT of character development from both Rae and Claire before I can root for them to be together.
Check out my socials here for more reviews!
January 24, 2024
She would torment me, and I would dote on her. It was a win-win situation.
2.5 stars. This was very silly, but enjoyable if you're willing to turn your brain off and sink into the genre conventions and make your peace with the paucity of the world-building. Rei is transported into her favourite dating sim, (how? none of our business I guess) a game that she loves mostly because of the main villainess, Claire. What follows is a romp full of unrequited love (?), comedy (?) and class politics, sorta. Unless there's something that I've forgotten, this is the first light novel that I've read, and the writing style took me a while to get used to. Lots of dialogue interspersed with lots of exposition. It felt like reading a manga without the visual aid of illustrations. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have finished this without the audiobook. And the content is kind of obnoxious; Rei is content to be Claire's verbal punching bag, and meanwhile confesses her love every two seconds. The overall plot could have been more interesting, because I'm always up for revolution and questions of class, but Rei is genuinely like, "I guess the commoners have a point... but I'm more interested in my love interest, sorry!" There's a very unnecessary surprise incest plot with side characters that made me ???
Listened to the audiobook as read by Courtney Shaw, which helped get me through this and did make the humour stand out more. Got to admit, this did make me chuckle, particularly with Rei's blitheness in the face of... everything. I did have enough fun with this that I'm willing to continue the series, especially since it ended in a place where I feel like, idk, maybe there'll be some positive development soon.
dnf
December 25, 2025huh. i was enjoying this book until i did more research on it and realized rae is supposed to have died as a 20-30 y/o before she is transported into this game in the body of a 15 y/o yearning after another 15 y/o. rae very clearly remembers being this adult person as she recalls her memories of her “past life” many times. i know people seem to have mixed opinions over this but considering rae’s character was attracted to this 15 y/o character in her “past life” as an adult as well, and is now pursuing her given the chance…idk i don’t think i can comfortably continue this.
December 8, 2025
3.5/5 ★’s ‧₊˚ ⋅
I love how the real world experiences of being queer were talked about in this story! I <3 claire
“She wouldn’t believe me if I told her about my previous life or being transported into this world. “Well then, save me now. Specifically by hugging or kissing me.” So I just teased her, like I always did. That was all I could do. Nothing more.”
I love how the real world experiences of being queer were talked about in this story! I <3 claire
“She wouldn’t believe me if I told her about my previous life or being transported into this world. “Well then, save me now. Specifically by hugging or kissing me.” So I just teased her, like I always did. That was all I could do. Nothing more.”
June 29, 2024
The incest bit was... something. Also the conversations between Claire and Rae were a bit repetitive, I'll continue reading the series but I sure hope there will be more character development.
January 25, 2025
This really wasn't a good book. There was just too much going on and didn't really have a clear story line. It contained random acts of voilence, action scenes, politics and even incest?! What??? Will i read the second book? Absolutely. I need to know how this trash ends.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2020
Have you ever been completely obsessed with the latest videogame of the moment? Have you ever written fanfiction to give your favourite characters the story you believe they deserve? Have you ever dreamed of being a part of your favourite fictional universe? If the answer is yes, then I'm in Love with the Villainess is the light novel you should read!
In this fantastic romantic comedy an office worker called Oohashi Rae wakes up in Rae Taylor’s body, the heroine of Revolution, her favourite otome game. The first person that welcomes her into the game is Claire Françoise, the villainess of this story and the character she loves the most. In this moment Rae will decide that she’s got a good opportunity to change her character’s storyline and make Claire fall in love with her. Rae is willing to change Claire’s future, making the character stand out in the story and getting the importance she deserves. However, this action will not only alter the stories of these two characters but of all the other characters in the game.
Rae is a fangirl who now has the opportunity to earn the love of her favourite character if she plays her cards right.
Revolution’s universe focuses on a small village where social classes are very differentiated. Most of the characters are part of the nobility but Rae and Misha, her best friend, are part of the working class (the commoners). This division among social classes will be one of the main themes of the novel and it will lead to clashes between the two groups, which will eventually culminate in a social revolution that might change the lives of all the characters in the story.
I’m in Love with the Villainess is the first light novel I’ve ever read but I have enjoyed it so much that I’m already thinking about which light novel to read next.
One of the things I liked the most about the light novel was the character development. Not only Rae’s, who is an empowered heroine who lives her sexuality freely; or Claire’s, who in spite of being a classical villainess has a strong personality and a past that justifies her actions and behaviour. But also the side characters’. All of these characters have their own personalities and features, all of them contribute to the story in the end. The story is filled with funny situations where these secondary characters will bring a touch of realism, even if they’re all inside a world of magic and fantasy.
On the other hand, it also stood out to me how sure Rae is of her sexuality. When at first the rest of the characters find out about it, Claire doesn’t seem too happy about it but Misha explains the situation and everyone starts to feel more comfortable. In the novel, it doesn’t specify if Rae is a lesbian, bisexual or pansexual but being in the queer spectrum gives her character a depth that we don’t often find in manga.
I also liked Rae and Claire’s relationship very much. Even if there’s nothing other than friendship between them in this first novel, we can see how they start getting closer. Claire doesn’t trust people easily but Rae won’t let go of this opportunity of getting to know her better. Unlike in other manga, Rae wants Claire’s happiness and wellbeing above all things, even if that means that they won’t be together. I think it is very important how this shows a healthy sapphic relationship that we can relate to and doesn’t utilize any of those toxic patterns that we have seen multiple times in other stories.
Overall, this yuri, despite of having some classics tropes and plots from the genre, has really surprised me. This is the story of a feudal world filled with magic, monsters and spells (and a lot of fun!). Rae and Claire’s slow burn romance starts in this first volume and I personally can’t wait to read the second one and find out what happens.
If you enjoy fantasy stories that are easy to read and have lovable characters, this one is for you.
5/5
Rep: LGBT(Q) – Main character
In this fantastic romantic comedy an office worker called Oohashi Rae wakes up in Rae Taylor’s body, the heroine of Revolution, her favourite otome game. The first person that welcomes her into the game is Claire Françoise, the villainess of this story and the character she loves the most. In this moment Rae will decide that she’s got a good opportunity to change her character’s storyline and make Claire fall in love with her. Rae is willing to change Claire’s future, making the character stand out in the story and getting the importance she deserves. However, this action will not only alter the stories of these two characters but of all the other characters in the game.
Rae is a fangirl who now has the opportunity to earn the love of her favourite character if she plays her cards right.
Revolution’s universe focuses on a small village where social classes are very differentiated. Most of the characters are part of the nobility but Rae and Misha, her best friend, are part of the working class (the commoners). This division among social classes will be one of the main themes of the novel and it will lead to clashes between the two groups, which will eventually culminate in a social revolution that might change the lives of all the characters in the story.
I’m in Love with the Villainess is the first light novel I’ve ever read but I have enjoyed it so much that I’m already thinking about which light novel to read next.
One of the things I liked the most about the light novel was the character development. Not only Rae’s, who is an empowered heroine who lives her sexuality freely; or Claire’s, who in spite of being a classical villainess has a strong personality and a past that justifies her actions and behaviour. But also the side characters’. All of these characters have their own personalities and features, all of them contribute to the story in the end. The story is filled with funny situations where these secondary characters will bring a touch of realism, even if they’re all inside a world of magic and fantasy.
On the other hand, it also stood out to me how sure Rae is of her sexuality. When at first the rest of the characters find out about it, Claire doesn’t seem too happy about it but Misha explains the situation and everyone starts to feel more comfortable. In the novel, it doesn’t specify if Rae is a lesbian, bisexual or pansexual but being in the queer spectrum gives her character a depth that we don’t often find in manga.
I also liked Rae and Claire’s relationship very much. Even if there’s nothing other than friendship between them in this first novel, we can see how they start getting closer. Claire doesn’t trust people easily but Rae won’t let go of this opportunity of getting to know her better. Unlike in other manga, Rae wants Claire’s happiness and wellbeing above all things, even if that means that they won’t be together. I think it is very important how this shows a healthy sapphic relationship that we can relate to and doesn’t utilize any of those toxic patterns that we have seen multiple times in other stories.
Overall, this yuri, despite of having some classics tropes and plots from the genre, has really surprised me. This is the story of a feudal world filled with magic, monsters and spells (and a lot of fun!). Rae and Claire’s slow burn romance starts in this first volume and I personally can’t wait to read the second one and find out what happens.
If you enjoy fantasy stories that are easy to read and have lovable characters, this one is for you.
5/5
Rep: LGBT(Q) – Main character
April 9, 2021
I’ve long been a big fan of the villainess trope. Luckily for me, this eventually led me to the I'm in Love with the Villainess light novel!
I first discovered the I’m in love with the villainess manga. For whatever reason, it just didn’t click for me. The concept however did! Willing to stick with it, I tried the sample for the light novel…
As a single woman in her 20’s, paying for her own home, I’m sure you can imagine my trepidation about buying an £8 eBook. Despite this, I was hooked.
Suffice to say I bought the book.
The story is adorably sweet, and yet it’s not a completely shallow read. Rei is a lovable yet relatable protagonist, and it’s through her eyes and thoughts that I too started to care for love interest Claire. Rei’s feelings for Claire felt to me pure, yet bittersweet. She loved completely and unselfishly – without expectations but with hope! Even as a bit of a cynic, I won’t deny my heart clenched reading lines such as ‘“I care more about your happiness, Miss Claire, than having my love returned.”
I also adored the books brief discussion on Rei’s sexuality, and the way that the matter is handled. Neither brushed under the rug, nor overly sexualised. She just is who she is, without apologies.
I also really appreciated the handling of the secondary characters. It would have been easy to demonise the male love interests, and yet they were presented in a very neutral light. They felt human; with both their positive aspects and flaws being highlighted. In fact, all of the supporting characters were interesting, if not a little tropish (intentionally).
I read the first volume in one sitting, and have definite plans to purchase the second volume once I’ve finished my current reading list.
If you’re a big fan of WLW stories, transmigration stories, or just adorable romances I highly recommend giving this a go!
I first discovered the I’m in love with the villainess manga. For whatever reason, it just didn’t click for me. The concept however did! Willing to stick with it, I tried the sample for the light novel…
As a single woman in her 20’s, paying for her own home, I’m sure you can imagine my trepidation about buying an £8 eBook. Despite this, I was hooked.
Suffice to say I bought the book.
The story is adorably sweet, and yet it’s not a completely shallow read. Rei is a lovable yet relatable protagonist, and it’s through her eyes and thoughts that I too started to care for love interest Claire. Rei’s feelings for Claire felt to me pure, yet bittersweet. She loved completely and unselfishly – without expectations but with hope! Even as a bit of a cynic, I won’t deny my heart clenched reading lines such as ‘“I care more about your happiness, Miss Claire, than having my love returned.”
I also adored the books brief discussion on Rei’s sexuality, and the way that the matter is handled. Neither brushed under the rug, nor overly sexualised. She just is who she is, without apologies.
I also really appreciated the handling of the secondary characters. It would have been easy to demonise the male love interests, and yet they were presented in a very neutral light. They felt human; with both their positive aspects and flaws being highlighted. In fact, all of the supporting characters were interesting, if not a little tropish (intentionally).
I read the first volume in one sitting, and have definite plans to purchase the second volume once I’ve finished my current reading list.
If you’re a big fan of WLW stories, transmigration stories, or just adorable romances I highly recommend giving this a go!
February 13, 2021
6/10
Lesbian isekai, what more can I say.
This was a much-welcomed shift from the usual plots and settings as most 'I transported into a dating sim/game". Our main character is an unabashed lesbian and the novel even takes the time to talk about sexuality and stereotypes. As it's a novel aimed at teens, I really appreciated the fact that they addressed some of the character's misconceptions of queer people.
However, that does not mean this book is some great piece of literature. There is a lot, in way of descriptions and atmosphere, that leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn't be able to describe how the school looks or how most of anything looks at all. I could describe the MC, her love interest, and one other side character's appearance, but that's cause there are pictures of them in the book. There isn't really any setup and payoff, and so scenes that want you to feel tense and fear for the characters' lives, are saved by the MC explaining after how she had it all work in their favour.
Really the most enjoyment to get out of the book is just having the story revolve around a lesbian trying to court a wealthy aristocrat girl. Also, I did not appreciate how much of a class traitor our MC is, this girl feels no solidarity to her commoner roots >:[ Vive la révolution!!
Lesbian isekai, what more can I say.
This was a much-welcomed shift from the usual plots and settings as most 'I transported into a dating sim/game". Our main character is an unabashed lesbian and the novel even takes the time to talk about sexuality and stereotypes. As it's a novel aimed at teens, I really appreciated the fact that they addressed some of the character's misconceptions of queer people.
However, that does not mean this book is some great piece of literature. There is a lot, in way of descriptions and atmosphere, that leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn't be able to describe how the school looks or how most of anything looks at all. I could describe the MC, her love interest, and one other side character's appearance, but that's cause there are pictures of them in the book. There isn't really any setup and payoff, and so scenes that want you to feel tense and fear for the characters' lives, are saved by the MC explaining after how she had it all work in their favour.
Really the most enjoyment to get out of the book is just having the story revolve around a lesbian trying to court a wealthy aristocrat girl. Also, I did not appreciate how much of a class traitor our MC is, this girl feels no solidarity to her commoner roots >:[ Vive la révolution!!
December 14, 2023
This crazy romcom had a super fun premise but never quite managed to deliver a story that lived up to its full potential!
The idea behind this story was fun. Ordinary office worker Ohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. It is a dating sim! The main character is supposed to choose between three of the realms princes as her romance. Rei had no interest in doing that. Instead she had her heart set on romancing the games main villainess Claire Francois. Claire, the school bully and scion of a high noble family in a medieval magical European type world, is understandably aghast by this turn of events!
The should have been crazy fun but while there was a very heavy focus on the humour it never quite landed in a way that worked for me. The same was true of the world building which was very simplistic and of the story itself. Even the very slow burn romance between Rei and Claire never quite clicked for me. Pity as the building blocks of a crazy fun romcom were present here.
Rating: 2.5 stars. I’ll round up to 3 stars here on Goodreads.
Audio Note: I felt like Courtney Shaw did a decent job with the narration. She really leaned into the anime style and tone of the story and dialogue.
The idea behind this story was fun. Ordinary office worker Ohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. It is a dating sim! The main character is supposed to choose between three of the realms princes as her romance. Rei had no interest in doing that. Instead she had her heart set on romancing the games main villainess Claire Francois. Claire, the school bully and scion of a high noble family in a medieval magical European type world, is understandably aghast by this turn of events!
The should have been crazy fun but while there was a very heavy focus on the humour it never quite landed in a way that worked for me. The same was true of the world building which was very simplistic and of the story itself. Even the very slow burn romance between Rei and Claire never quite clicked for me. Pity as the building blocks of a crazy fun romcom were present here.
Rating: 2.5 stars. I’ll round up to 3 stars here on Goodreads.
Audio Note: I felt like Courtney Shaw did a decent job with the narration. She really leaned into the anime style and tone of the story and dialogue.
April 6, 2021
This book starts simple (characters, dialog, plot) but at the end builds to somewhat deeper characters & plot.
This book is FUN! Although I’m told it’s premise is not unique, I thought it was very fun to read and also touching in several places.
If you’re in the mood for deeper literature, and you have a stack of same at hand, read that instead of this. But if you want a distracting, laughable, fun romp, you’ve found the right place.
This book is FUN! Although I’m told it’s premise is not unique, I thought it was very fun to read and also touching in several places.
If you’re in the mood for deeper literature, and you have a stack of same at hand, read that instead of this. But if you want a distracting, laughable, fun romp, you’ve found the right place.
December 6, 2020
Very easy to binge read and enjoyable. I grew interested in all of the characters and for me it got the best in the last chapter. It does make me want to keep reading about these characters in the future. It also got me out of my reading slump so :)
December 21, 2024
Ya quiero comprarme los otros tomos ^^
November 28, 2021
1.5 stars
Well, certainly not what I expected going in. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily. So, the review:
For starters, the sheer weirdness of the protagonist surprised me at first.
She's a "devil-may-care" type: those chill protagonists usually have some layers to their laid back nature - always great to explore. Besides, they have a tendency to dial back dramatic events. Great trope overall in my opinion.
But, in this particular case.... The layers are….
.... Well, her tastes were quite peculiar. There's no slow development here - Rei starts out loving Claire and her bullying and wants more of it from the get go.... Because it's amusing... I guess. Rei just likes to be bullied and overreacts lovingly to anything Claire does, no matter how basic. It's a little grating. There's meaning behind it, but still over the top.
I guess If you like a fictional villain character, you did like to see their "evil" antics live, but I didn't see the appeal to the relationship at all. Not much chemistry or nuance, I guess (and I use "evil" really generously here, Claire's just plain old annoying, nothing much beyond that). Their dynamic as a "couple" made no sense to me.
The protag has some (very mild) yandere tendencies (as in, obsessive love that ends up hurting the target of that love). She likes when Claire bullies her AND when Claire despairs over her responses to it. An unintentional mind game, almost. No, actually it's pretty intentional: Rei had a shitty life and now gets to treat It like a game she can manipulate for better results (It was a literal game for her, after all). Also, It's interesting to note how she uses this as a clutch, of course. Like I said, layers.
Honestly, props for the fact that she's so freaky, I could pretend I was reading a novel with the rom/thriller tag, If that aspect got really amped up - that'd be a better premise, btw. I wish the story focused on that dark and intellectual side of hers. IS sadistic masochism a thing? Because that's the character in a nutshell and I'd like to have seen It go a bit further, even better if Claire had an actual villainous and complex personality (not the case).
*I have to point out that the book comments very wisely how queer people are seen as perversive due to prejudice and how some act out those stereotypes as a cooping mechanism, but I still needed to comment on Rei’s questionable personality, regardless. She's surprisingly self aware about it, too.
In relation to the cast, not a whole lot of character depth there, everything dealt with is pretty surface level and ALL the characters behave exactly as one dimensional dating sim tropes, with exceptions during certain situations here and there (that made the usual cardboard personalities even more incongruent).
Other things i wanted to point out:
- The beginning was too abrupt for me. Granted, 99% of people who will pick this up know it's an isekai LN - still, some effort to establish the environment could have been done (Rei shows close to no reaction to being alive in her fave game, for instance). No world-building whatsoever, except for ill-timed infodumps. [LOTS] of telling, almost no showing.
- The writing needs some getting used to. At least, I always do when It comes to LNs.
- I liked Rei's perspective as an adult, despite her quirks, her voice was mature enough (mostly). Her preference for the least popular characters made sense to me. Perfect people aren't appealing when you're old, tired and cynical of the world.
- The magic bathroom scene was a choice.
- Rei's politics bit was also a choice: her wit flew through the window in those moments. But the political intrigue itself was pretty good, the plot gained actual substance with It.... Until some very out of place reveals.
So, the book honestly reads more like a series of prompt drafts than anything else. Just enough to fulfill a desired scenario and that's that. It wasn't for me, but I'm not the target audience. Also, it distracted me from abysmal study sessions, major props for that.
Well, certainly not what I expected going in. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily. So, the review:
For starters, the sheer weirdness of the protagonist surprised me at first.
She's a "devil-may-care" type: those chill protagonists usually have some layers to their laid back nature - always great to explore. Besides, they have a tendency to dial back dramatic events. Great trope overall in my opinion.
But, in this particular case.... The layers are….
.... Well, her tastes were quite peculiar. There's no slow development here - Rei starts out loving Claire and her bullying and wants more of it from the get go.... Because it's amusing... I guess. Rei just likes to be bullied and overreacts lovingly to anything Claire does, no matter how basic. It's a little grating. There's meaning behind it, but still over the top.
I guess If you like a fictional villain character, you did like to see their "evil" antics live, but I didn't see the appeal to the relationship at all. Not much chemistry or nuance, I guess (and I use "evil" really generously here, Claire's just plain old annoying, nothing much beyond that). Their dynamic as a "couple" made no sense to me.
The protag has some (very mild) yandere tendencies (as in, obsessive love that ends up hurting the target of that love). She likes when Claire bullies her AND when Claire despairs over her responses to it. An unintentional mind game, almost. No, actually it's pretty intentional: Rei had a shitty life and now gets to treat It like a game she can manipulate for better results (It was a literal game for her, after all). Also, It's interesting to note how she uses this as a clutch, of course. Like I said, layers.
Honestly, props for the fact that she's so freaky, I could pretend I was reading a novel with the rom/thriller tag, If that aspect got really amped up - that'd be a better premise, btw. I wish the story focused on that dark and intellectual side of hers. IS sadistic masochism a thing? Because that's the character in a nutshell and I'd like to have seen It go a bit further, even better if Claire had an actual villainous and complex personality (not the case).
*I have to point out that the book comments very wisely how queer people are seen as perversive due to prejudice and how some act out those stereotypes as a cooping mechanism, but I still needed to comment on Rei’s questionable personality, regardless. She's surprisingly self aware about it, too.
In relation to the cast, not a whole lot of character depth there, everything dealt with is pretty surface level and ALL the characters behave exactly as one dimensional dating sim tropes, with exceptions during certain situations here and there (that made the usual cardboard personalities even more incongruent).
Other things i wanted to point out:
- The beginning was too abrupt for me. Granted, 99% of people who will pick this up know it's an isekai LN - still, some effort to establish the environment could have been done (Rei shows close to no reaction to being alive in her fave game, for instance). No world-building whatsoever, except for ill-timed infodumps. [LOTS] of telling, almost no showing.
- The writing needs some getting used to. At least, I always do when It comes to LNs.
- I liked Rei's perspective as an adult, despite her quirks, her voice was mature enough (mostly). Her preference for the least popular characters made sense to me. Perfect people aren't appealing when you're old, tired and cynical of the world.
- The magic bathroom scene was a choice.
- Rei's politics bit was also a choice: her wit flew through the window in those moments. But the political intrigue itself was pretty good, the plot gained actual substance with It.... Until some very out of place reveals.
So, the book honestly reads more like a series of prompt drafts than anything else. Just enough to fulfill a desired scenario and that's that. It wasn't for me, but I'm not the target audience. Also, it distracted me from abysmal study sessions, major props for that.
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