My (Growing) Light Novel Collection

Excuse the reflection on Volume 2 of Black Bullet

Disclaimer: My collection isn't as much of a collection as it is...well, 6. 6 books. I don't have many but that's because unlike everyone else in the world with a collection, I live in a country where each book costs me a kidney. At least until I start having a steady income. But even then, it's daylight robbery here.

Black Bullet, that's a series I won't be collecting anymore. I watched the Black Bullet anime and while it was lacklustre, I believe I watched it at a point in time when I didn't think light novel adaptations were a thing (not knowing a lot of the stuff I've watched were actually LN adaptations). Anyways, I got Volume 1 on discount and picked up Volume 2 soon after. These two, I acquired from another country so they were comparatively cheaper than my more recent books.

As to why I won't be collecting them anymore, that's because Black Bullet is quite boring and badly written. It isn't even very basic writing. I believe the author tries too hard. I read the first one in its entirety but skimmed through the second half of Volume 2. Suffice to say, I lost interest. Art style is great though, some of the illustrations are better than other well known LNs.

You can also see that I have the first volume of KonoSuba! It recently came out in February of this year and I pre-ordered my copy. Did you expect anything less? The book is written rather simply but it works for KonoSuba. I've reviewed the LNs for KonoSuba before so you guys know my opinion on it. This definitely fits the collection well. Just an FYI, Volumes 2 and 3 come out mid-April I believe.

Beautiful art

Next up is the Monogatari series (or at least the start of). Kizumonogatari which is a single book, not three parts like the movie. And the first two parts of Bakemonogatari. I actually didn't know Bakemonogatari was coming out so soon but I happened upon it in the bookshop one day and bought it on impulse. The original two part book is now broken into three parts, all releasing within only weeks of one another. I have to pick up the third part.

The books, although translated, possess better writing than most well known English novels in my opinion. It's less about the command over the language and more about the way Nisio Isin structures his sentences. The word play on the Japanese characters is just but one of his many talents in the art. Really, I don't think I've ever read a book whereby I want to read it not because of the story or lore but for the dialogue and narration. Of course, that's the appeal of Monogatari but the anime would throw in crazy, artistic imagery to complement the overall story and by extension, drawing from the true potential of the author's written work.

This is my physical book collection. I say that because I have a few others under the digital format; e-books, along with LNs that I've read a little of online. No Game No Life, Danmachi, Grimgar, Log Horizon are just some that come to mind. Others that I want to read would be Oregairu or maybe Hyouka. Whether or not I'll eventually collect every series, I'm not sure. They're expensive as I said so maybe just collecting the ones that really interest me would be a better gamble.

I'd like to talk about the licensing publishers but I believe that's a post for another day. My recommendation for an easy-to-start LN would be something mainstream. Easy reads, essentially. Danmachi, No Game No Life and KonoSuba are some good starters based on my list.

P.S. The Monogatari series may very well be regular novels but at the same time, they fit the LN category rather snug. You can read my comparison between the two types here!