This is a discussion topic for Light Novels. You can talk about the Light Novels you have read and ask for, and make, recommendations.
Make sure to [spoiler] tag all information that is not meant to be revealed before reading the Light Novel in order to not ruin the fun for potential readers. This also applies to works that have been adapted as (or are an adaption of an existing) Anime, Manga or VN.
Feel free to start a new discussion in this topic or join an existing one.
I would like to start with my favorite Light Novel series to this day: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Surely, many of you have seen the anime. But did you read the Light Novels as well?
Realizing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist is only one out of many disappointments you, as a child, encounter as you grow up. Superheroes, organizations of evil, Monsters don’t exist, and neither do any kind of superpowers or aliens. All these things that would make life more exciting and interesting are not part of reality. So how would you, after coming to terms with that harsh truth, react if the supernatural would one day become a part of your everyday life?
Aside from the story and characters (that will make you remember your youthful longing for the supernatural), what I also like so much about this LN series is the comedy. The first volume is just bursting with hilarious lines and Kyon’s cynical comments. Just recalling any of those makes me smile.
Other Light Novel series I have read are:
Bungaku Shoujo (Book Girl)
To Aru Majutsu no Index (which we have a dedicated topic for)
Gekkou
Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (Which is an exteremely well-written, thrilling and witty series that I would recommend anytime. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be very well-known.)
so I’ll gladly discuss any of those ^^
I’m currently reading Mondaiji-tachi ga isekai kara kuru soudesu yo? or Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?. I don’t know how many people have seen the anime, but it adapts it pretty closely. Its good, but its also kinda detailed, and since at this point I already know what happens, it taking me awhile to get through it.
[quote=“Naoki_Saten, post:2, topic:720”]
Gekkou
[/quote]I actually just started this a couple days ago, but then I had some other stuff to do so I didn’t get very far. Is it good?
It certainly is a good read. Nothing world-breaking, but it’s got interesting and charming characters, and decent comedy. The downside of it all would be its length, since the story is over after just one volume. There’s two side stories, one of them is currently being translated. I read through the main volume within two days.
If, at the end, you find the main cast to your liking, I would recommend you a different LN/Anime series (with a similar main cast) that’s one of my favorites: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.
I didn’t bring the series up here since I’ve technically only read one volume of it and watched the anime for the rest (I’m super looking forward to Season 2). So I’m not as up-to-date as a Light Novel reader would be.
Here’re some good light novel resources for those interested.
Baka-Tsuki is pretty much the best site for finding and reading translated light novels. They have a very large library and this is where you should probably look first to find a light novel. As a note, series like Haruhi and SAO have been removed from here due to licensing, so you won’t find 'em here.
Yen Press. This is where you want to look for licensed things, like Sword Art Online, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Spice & Wolf among others. These guys are probably your only bet for actual physical English light novels.
Light Novel Database (LNDB for short) is, well, a database containing pretty much any light novel you can imagine, having cover art, number of volumes, and other basic information. That said, it’s very… bare. Unlike VNDB you can’t make a list of light novels read or anything useful like that, so it’s mostly for finding authors, illustrators, issue numbers, and cover art.
This Light Novel is Amazing! A magazine that lists the best (most popular) light novels and characters (of each gender) based on internet polls. It’s quite a popular magazine, and getting into it is a pretty big deal. Fun to look at, and might give you an idea on what to read.
Finding light novels. It’s rather dated, so some of the links don’t work, but it’s quite a handy resource if you’re interested in actually purchasing light novels.
Translation groups (or just people) such as Nanodesu, Krytyk, Imoutolicious (lol), and others I’m probably forgetting. I left some groups out because a lot just host on Baka-Tsuki.
And, even though it should be a no-brainer, if you can’t find a light novel on any of these sites, use Google. You should be able to find out very quickly if the light novel you’re interested in is translated.
As for a personal list of what I’ve read… I dunno, I’ve read too much stuff and don’t remember it all. I was keeping a list but it somehow got deleted. I’ve read a lot of more obscure stuff. I really enjoy light novels because they’re very easy for me to pick up and put down, plus I like reading books ‘n’ stuff.
There are some big turnoffs to reading light novels in English, though. Most notably the fact that translation quality can vary wildly, and there’s an oddly high amount of simple grammar mistakes strewn about many translations. A lot of stories can also be rather unappealing simply due to Japanese-isms that make them very frustrating (annoying character relationships and archetypes, romance never fucking goes anywhere half the time) but that’s just a part of the medium. My last real gripe is that most series aren’t fully translated, so you’ll only be able to read 5 of your 13 precious Sakurasou novels until the others are eventually translated. As a tip, you can learn Japanese in the time it’ll take a series like that to finish translating.
Overall, light novels are hardly for everybody, and they annoy me very often, but there’s also a lot of great, detailed, and well-written stories out there. They, along with visual novels, comprise a lot of my motivation for learning Japanese. Hope this helps out anyone else interested in reading light novels in English.
I’m reading Fate/Apocrypha right now, it’s iffy at best(The French Jeanne in the body of a French girl talking to the Romanian ‘Seig’ and stressing the usage of ‘-kun’ enough to get a small conversation out of it really stood out as fucking awful writing) but it’s got some pretty cool servants, it’s alright at least.
I did.
The ninth one is my favorite, the late continuation was great also, but the impact was lost with the three years or so it took to happen.
I’d have liked a more closed ending, even back then it was obvious there was never gonna be a continuation, but it was open as balls.
Well, yeah. After watching and reading some amazing stories, including those from Key, the ending of the Haruhi series was a bit lacking in comparison. The grand finale wasn’t as grand as I wished it to be. Many loose ends remained.
Conclusion aside, the last arc was still pretty good. I think the most surprising revelation for me was that Koizumi turned out to be the founder of the ESPer agency. Just goes to show how amazing he is ^^
Read all of Haruhi, and half of Spice and Wolf (to be precise the first five volumes, which I’m told is up to where the anime ends). Haruhi was really great and a very fun series overall, and who knows, maybe we’ll get more of it someday. Spice and Wolf is also super enjoyable, and I’d easily recommend them both. (They’re fairly cheap on bookdepository, and that site has free shipping worldwide too~)
Planning to finish Spice and Wolf and maybe look at getting some manga for Haruhi once money is a thing that exists again.
I haven’t finished many LNs. I read the first volume of Haruhi and the first two volumes of Shana. Only LN series I’ve stuck with is Toaru Majutsu no Index. Frigging awesome series, I’d love to chat about it more in its dedicated topic 
I’m reading Eromanga Sensei, Oregairu, and Oda Nobuna no Yabou. They are really good, especially Oregairu. (Whenever I read it I feel like Hachiman was inspired by me,lol. He’s exactly like me!)
As it turns out I’m not the only one!!! I absolutely loved Utsuro no Hako. The story is so much fun going from volume to volume and trying to figure out the trick behind each box while trying to just survive it at the same time. I loved the latest arc and seeing how much of an effect everything that is happening had on Kazuki and watch how his characters warps as he finally finds a purpose for himself. One of my favorite scenes by far was When they trick Kazuki into “attacking” while Aya was disguised as one of the bag heads.
I do have to say though the one downside is how long it is taking the author to finish the final volume since he picked one heck of a cliff hanger to end on With Daiya getting stabbed by one of his “worshipers” and then being pulled in Aya’s box I’ve tried to get Iotheria and Gigaspy to read it several times now but they are stubborn no matter how good I tell them it is.
If Hachiman was inspired by you, you’d have to be some kind of god xD
[quote=“Bowiie, post:11, topic:720”]
I do have to say though the one downside is how long it is taking the author to finish the final volume since he picked one heck of a cliff hanger to end on[/quote]
Yes, the waiting is killing me. I never expected so many explosive changes to occur in the current arc. The finale is going to be amazing O_O
I’d love to read the author’s other novel that he seems to be currently working on, F-Rank no Boukun, but sadly, there is no translation for it >_<
It is said that the protag of that story is based on Daiya.
I have read the first two Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! light novels, and I can say they are better than the corresponding anime. Less fanservice, better love triangle, different takes on the characters…it’s just handled a lot better in my opinion. :3
I wish I could find a translated copy of the third one. I’m so excited to find out more about these characters!
The perils of being a fan of a lesser known author.
Misread this several times as the protagonist was Daiya and got a little excited. I would love to see all the different ways Daiya could screw with people given his own series.
I moved a post to an existing topic: Toaru Majutsu no Index / Kagaku no Railgun Series (LN Spoilers)
People who read a decent amount of LNs, here’s a question: I was surfing on Wikipedia, when I found this:
“MF Bunko J […] is aimed at young adult males with a focus on Visual Novel style plots and harem romantic comedies.”
What does this mean? I haven’t read any LN by them, so I can’t answer. I don’t get how LNs can be structured like VNs since they have no choices or routes.
Gonna take a guess that they follow an approach of initial character introduction, heavy focus on one heroine and her problems, then move on to the next. A good comparison would be many visual novel to anime adaptations, which often take that approach. Like, imagine taking the Clannad anime and adapting that into a light novel.
Well, that’s just what I think. I’ve certainly read light novels that felt like visual novels before, and that was the general sense I got from 'em. There’s just a pacing and structure inherent to many visual novels, even if you take away the choices.
Are these from MF Bunko J? What are the titles?
I’ve just finished Chapter 5 of vol 8 of Oregairu. I don’t think anyone had this same reaction, but I shed some tears when Hayama tells those two girls those thongs .
It’s not like I pity Hachiman, because I completely understand how he feels. I would be really angry if someone did that for me. I’ve always hated when people go out of their ways to defend others regarding stuff they have nothing to do with. Much less doing it with me. But, really, seeing that someone actually thinks Hachiman is more than just a loner is really… Impressive.
I’m really considering reading the LNs once season 2 finishes. That series has been getting better and better, it’s super good.
