Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll do Anything to Become a Librarian!

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This novel cost me many almost sleepless nights. Each evening, I would plan to read a chapter of so before falling asleep. Each time, I would suddenly come to senses after finishing a volume and realizing it’s around 3 A.M.. I would not learn from this and I would do this mistake again and again. This should already speak tremendously about how catchy Ascendance of a Bookworm is.

Isekai is a genre that at this point feels like an overused old rag that is more likely to dirty the floor more than to clean it. Yet still, once in a while there is a gem that ... makes it worth trying out all the various titles to find it. However, Honzuki excels not above the isekai genre alone, but above the light novel medium in general. Truly, reading through it made me realize again just how much the usual LN lacks in writing department – having only the barebones content, barren dialogue and not much to lead the reader’s imagination through. Honzuki is the direct opposite to that, the scenes and situations are so vividly and colourfully written I was simply lost in the fantasy world in portrayed, as if I was actually watching in, perhaps even as if I was actually there. This really is one of those amazing books that just transport you inside them. It’s quite fitting that a book about bookworm offers such genuinely nice feelings towards bookworms, offering them exactly one the ideal fantasy book should do.

At the core of Honzuki is its protagonist Myne, and she serves as a good example how well the characters of the novel work out. Being isekai’d is not just a plot device to transform a relatable protagonist into a fantasy world, no, it’s a major plotpoint thanks to which Myne is able to function in the new world as more than just commoner. She doesn’t get some superpower or cheat items handed out though, no. She doesn’t even get an explanation about what is going on and has to put it all together herself. On the contrary of getting a cheat item, she straight out receives a debuff, being reborn into a weakly body. So while she can use her knowledge of our world to gather profit and status in the new world, she’s definitely unable to do it on their own, and has to depend on others to do the work. Of course, others won’t do what she says simply because they sense out her being a protagonist, she actually has to earn the trust, loyalty and resources. This works so much better than an universally likeable MC by anyone else than the obvious villain, which is the usual case. It also gives the secondary characters a chance to shine, as they have their own goals and motivations and stand out as actual people, not just background cardboard cut-out.

Even Myne’s ability to be able to actually recreate items from our world is explained (as a reminder, average person from our world wouldn’t know how to make everyday items despite using them), and this serves not just as an excuse for the plot to work, but also as a writing tool to deepen and showcase her relationship to others. Later in the story some might claim that Myne Is turning into an overpowered Mary Sue, but I’d have to heavily disagree with that. Firstly, her abilities were once again not simply handed out to her, but mostly earned through her actions and decisions, even is sometimes unintended by Myne. Secondly, considering the situations she finds herself in and her already existing debuffs (or perhaps at this point one could call them well written character flaws) makes it that the current Myne isn’t OP – it’s more that she has the bare minimum resources to be able to survive, both socially and literally.

This ties in to the main themes of the novel, as some might be surprised this is mainly about business and politics. Again though Honzuki stands out by doing things differently – the protagonist isn’t a genius ‘I’m already 500 moves ahead of you fool” protagonist. She simply has her goal and being involved in business and politics was a by-product of trying to achieve it (thanks to which the inclusion of these elements feel completely natural) and has to take literal lessons to be able to navigate through those unfamiliar systems. Honzuki isn’t the type of novel where you see clever schemes and plans and execute them to the reader’s satisfaction, although you might observe the other characters doing exactly that. No, rather than that, Myne is an oblivious but resourceful girl that serves as ball of unintended chaos wrecking plans of others and not even noticing it many times, to reader’s great amusement. So while Honzuki might not be so great for readers who seek mainly action based series, I would suggest it even to those usually not fond of politics-based series as it has quite unusual approach to it. And fear not, there are action scenes here too, and when one comes, it gives some really nice thrill. Both the politics and the battles are written in exciting way that really describes the tension well and you are celebrating the victory or mourning the losses together with the characters.

Regarding other characters, I’ve already mentioned how they actually have their, well, characters. This I can prove by me actually remembering the names even of minor ones despite Honzuki having a huge character cast and despite me usually struggling with remembering names – though that usually being caused by the non-main characters being boring, and this isn’t the case here. Honzuki is even the rare occasion for which I would absolutely recommend reading the side stories too (which are thankfully included in the English licensed volumes), as they delve even more into the side character side of thins and actually complement the main plotline greatly. I’m usually inclined to skip side stories, but those here are delightful to read, and it’s also fascinating how much more can you learn about characters when told through non-protagonist point of view and how much depth that can add to both the characters, the story and the worldbuilding. As an additional note about characters, Honzuki also has amazing villains, the type that you just love to hate, trust me.

And yes, finally the worlbuilding, the other biggest strength of Honzuki next to the characters. I’ve already mentioned how you can imagine the world really well while reading this series, and this is thanks to not only to how it’s written, but also thanks to it consistent worldbuilding that just keeps making sense. This isn’t just medieval Europe with magic thrown in like with most fantasy worlds, this truly feels like other world and even makes it a point multiple times how our common sense simply doesn’t apply – point so big you could even call it a plotpoint, considering how this affects Myne’s behaviour and progress. Indeed, Myne has to consciously try to not come off as, using her own words “creepy little girl that knows too much” to others that actually have common sense of the new world, not of our. Also, any “infodumping” is not done through a narrator but through the characters themselves in a way that feel natural (although situations of apprenticeship and scholarship do help with adding a natural infodumping). And it’s not always “this Is what you should known Protagonist”, sometimes we learn things about the world because same as us, the protagonist did not know something, made a mistake do to that and only came to know the information as a way to learn from her mistakes. Again, she is far from being a Mary Sue.

I could point out much more specific scenes that made me love the novels, but this review is already long enough and I would also like for you to discover them themselves. I of course recommend this series without a hesitation, though I should also warn you it might become quite addictive, and you might be even become desperate to seek and wish for new content, especially after you finish reading the series.

(very mild spoilers; no plot reveals)

I wasn't a fan of how messy the MC's 'age-conscience' is. In the beginning, she explicitly leaves her older self (around 18 or so) and has the mind of a younger girl (cant remember the age, around 5?).

She remembers some concepts (like books) from when she was older, which makes sense.

BUT then the author continues to go back and forth on if her 'consciousness' is truly 18 or 5. This makes it a little creepy...the way an 18 year old is interacting with children and describing children. She refers to herself as older, younger, older, younger... which would ... be fine if it was a plot point, but it doesn't get addressed early on enough, and just ends up being distracting.

The story is slow paced, so I think that all details for a slow paced book should matter. How may I be immersed if theres basic info about the MC that isn't rock solid?

I was really excited to read this, but i found it to be messy and boring.

I got my worldbuilding fix reading The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet Life instead.

I have no idea why this has as of this review, a high score. the pros are few and the cons are many.
Pros:
It's like a less boring documentary about paper, I guess.
and that's the pros, let's move on to the con.
Cons:
The protagonist behaves like a child despite being 20 years old. i think child is way to nice because even the other children in the story behave better than her. She doesn't really give a shit about her family despite them taking care of her and being extremely poor. the only thing you'll hear is moaning and complaining. She throws temper tantrums and is ... just all-around unlikeable.

Worldbuilding that's dryer than dry ice.

No motivations for liking books.

No reason to care for the MC.

No direction for the plot

God awful pacing
And much more. I recommend bleaching your eyes instead of reading it.