Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Year Release in English: 2017 Source: Physical Copy
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Content warnings: Body horror, blood, animal violence against children, threats of violence
Araragi figured how to get rid of a crab that takes on people’s burdens and uncovered the truth behind the strange young girl with an enormous backpack. But one of Senjogahara’s friends and one of his sisters’ classmates both have aberrations attached to them, and he sees no other option that roping in Senjogahara and Hanekawa into helping him out with it.
This volume does a lot more digging into the world of aberrations and their relationship to what everyday people see, with plenty of deliberate wordplay and theming.
Genre: Transmigration Fantasy Danmei Year Release in English: 2021 Source: BOOK☆WALKER
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Content warnings: Injury, demons, body horror
I forgot why I picked this one up because I’ve seen art, I’ve seen thoughts, and once it finally landed on my to-read list, I started reading and had a hard time keeping myself away.
Shen Yuan is an inappropriately passionate fan of a fictional web novel, Proud Immortal Demon Way. Upset at the ending, his biggest hope would have been to be transmigrated into the body of protagonist, Luo Binghe (LBH). Instead, he’s the scum villain, Shen Qingqiu (SQQ). (For those like me more familiar with Japanese light novels, this is essentially an isekai). And being the scum villain comes with a literal digital assistant making sure he doesn’t do anything out of character else he forfeits his life. While the characters around him function like normal human beings navigating their demon-battle-filled world, SQQ tries to course correct as if he too doesn’t have his own flesh to worry about it.
There’s a reverence for the genre, while pointing out the ways in which SVSS plays with subverts tropes and expectations. I think what kept me reading and in stitches is the fact that SQQ maneuvers the story as if it’s fiction or a video game, strategizing for points rather than taking into account that the people around him might also be human. His own unawareness of the machinations around him makes him a colossal idiot in a way that is just fun to read. He’s committing to fixing his problematic fave instead of being a character. The absurdity of his own obliviousness is incredible.
The world building and big chapter set pieces are so cool, but I do not have the familiarity with danmei or the cultivation fantasy genre to speak to its execution. I enjoyed myself nonetheless. My favorite sequence had to be the literal dream sequence in which Meng Mo tries to trap both LBH and SQQ. The demonstration of the different magic that permeates the realms really worked for me. The way MXTX threads emotional and system-stakes really works for me, and kept me so invested in the story, in addition to SQQ and his various relationships.
Now that the characters have gone off script and the System itself has shut down, I’m so excited to see how SQQ weasels his way through the shenanigans to come.
In this volume, Vampire Hunter D stumbles upon a biker and a family that’s been eliminated by radiation poisoning with only a teenager surviving. Things only get stranger from there when the new trio make their way to a literal wandering village inhabited by several thousand people. The mayor has some specific problems with Nobility, but the poisoned family’s home might have the key to all the goings-on.
The mystery here can literally only happen in the world of the Frontier. There’s science that feels like magic and fantasy that is ripped straight from horror. The architecture and depiction of the moving town is also something really rad. There’s allusions to the mechanisms that are firmly rooted in 90’s-style sci-fi, with a rudimentary understanding of computer and cyberpunk mechanics. It’s present enough to give the genre’s grounding, but not so much that not knowing the specifics will interrupt immersion. The intrigue driving the story is also deeply human, where the reasons behind the town’s ailments perfectly map to “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I won’t go into specifics, but if medical horror is your jam, you’re going to be well-fed.
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Year Release in English: 2016 Source: Physical Copy
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Content warnings: Mention of an attempted rape, death of a child, cults, injuries, blood, threats of violence
This light novel series starts off with a fairly simple premise: a former vampire catches his classmate who slipped on a banana peel, only to find that she weighs literally nothing. And if full of stationery. And haunted by a crab. In the second half of the book, the two of them encounter a little girl haunted by a snail aberration, but there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Full of friendship, interesting exchanges, strange happenings, and explorations of past trauma that don’t get resolved with the resolution of the haunting, there is so much to like and see in this work told almost entirely through dialogue but does not at all feel like reading a script.
Content warnings: Blood, kidnapping, incest, rape (fades to black, but unequivocal), dismemberment, nonconsensual medical experimentation
The mystery in this one is so engaging. We start off finding a young girl who has been selected by her town to go off into the capital as part of a special program that gets her a higher status in human society while the village of Tepes gets more resources. But there’s more to the precocious young woman than meets the eye, and gnarly is just one word for it.
What really shines here is how monstrous the humans are especially juxtaposed to the Nobles. I won’t spoil the mystery, but there is a horrific arc in which we learn more about Lina and the mayor who took her in. Please heed the content warnings for that portion of the story.
The action is incredible, and I really liked how less animalistic the vampires were in this one. The conspiracy is a years’ long literal medical experiment in eugenics. It’s very horror, and highlights Kikuchi’s ability to blend genres and use tropes to great effect. I can’t say too much without spoiling the entire story arc.
Content warnings: Blood, kidnapping, dubious consent, body horror of John Carpenter’s The Thing variety
This entry is absolutely the gnarliest one I’ve read so far, and, yes, I am aware that I am only on volume 3. While Demon Deathchase is the lightest on lore so far, the mesh of science fiction and dark fantasy is at its tightest. There are death cars and possessed carbuncles that grow into fully sentient tumors. It’s disgusting. It’s incredible.
There is no stone Kikuchi will leave unturned when it comes to the horrific scientific possibilities plaguing the world eleven thousand years into the future. We have flesh-possessing carbuncles that are eerie like ghosts and unsettling in the way flesh distorts with science that feels like magic.
The women within this work show a range of strength, from the lovelorn dhampir mechanic Caroline to the gearhead hunter Leila. I love them all, especially how they relate to D. The purple prose really works throughout the series to draw attention to D’s terrific power and ethereal beauty. The interactions and obsessions only highlight it further, and seeing the variety of personalities attracted to him definitely keeps me engaged in the new characters regardless of gender and whether or not they label their attraction love.
The ending to this one is brutal, gross, and eerily beautiful.
We go back to the world of a cute blond girl haunted by a buxom woman executed under mysterious circumstances a decade prior to the events of the book.
This second volume features more of everything. More betrayals, more characters, more intrigue. I really enjoyed the pacing, which is not reflective of how long it takes me to get through. The chapters delve into backstories of characters we’ve heard of before, like Lily Orlamunde, and new players in the political games. There’s also a focus on the struggles of the working class, showing that the chaos has further reach than just petty rich people problems.
While there are villains in the sense of Scarlet’s antagonists, but there are much darker forces afoot. The crime syndicate of Daeg Gallus is a force to be reckoned with, being involved in threats and actual deaths of other nobles. It’s fascinating to see everything unfold, and the daggers and walls close in around on Connie, whose only crime coming into this story is being haunted by Scarlet.
It would introduce so many spoilers to talk more specifically about the title, but we finally figure out what the title refers to, and the conspiracy only thickens.
Genre: Adult Dark Fantasy Science Fiction Western Year Release in English: 2005 Buy Link: Barnes & Noble (Initially received via Humble Bundle)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Content warnings: violence, gore, threats of rape, misogyny
The hardest part of writing this review is figuring out which genre to slot this work into. The ’80’s genre classic, Vampire Hunter D follows the exploits of a dhampir, the eponymous Vampire Hunter D. He rides an electronic horse, has vampire powers, and uses a really cool sword to slay his half-brethren with. In this first volume, he goes to a town ruled by a Count, and a girl named Doris being preyed on by the vampires around. This first entry is fun with some rad world-building, definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of genre blends and vampire classics.
Genre: Slice-of-life comedy josei Year Release in English: 2022 Source: BOOK☆WALKER
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
There’s not much to say about this series aside from like, if you like cute art, cats, and turning your brain off for an hour or so to the bad things in the world, this is a gift.
Genre: Horror Year Release in English: 2006 Source: BOOK☆WALKER
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Content warnings: Gaslighting, violence, blood, gore, murder, dismemberment, kidnapping, threats of sexual assault
I’m back to reading my favorite genderfuck Shinigami, Boogiepop. I was in the mood for something unsettling in its presentation, where the visuals are scary, but as is the fact that the reader has to pay close attention to the narrators of different sections. No one is as they seem in this prequel to the fight with the Manticore, an enemy less overtly violent but worse in terms of how they transform their victims: Imaginator. Perfect for a modern tale, despite having been originally released in the late 90’s.
Genre: Seinen Fantasy Year Release in English: 2019 Source: BOOK☆WALKER
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Content warnings: Fantasy violence, war
One of the greatest pieces of Jo bait are stories in which a technology faction is at war with a magic faction and neither seems to be winning. Throw in, specifically, ice witches and an enemies-to-lovers romance, and I’m hooked.
A mechanical utopia, The Empire, is at war with a paradise for witches, The Sovereignty. Iska is the youngest to rise to the rank of Saint Disciple in the military, on a mission to capture the Ice Calamity Witch, Alice. Epic fights ensue while intrigue and plotting unfold in the quieter moments, culminating in a literally earth-shattering fight against a originator witch possessing multiple elemental powers.
There are some beautiful turns of phrase throughout this novel that makes the prose as exciting to read as seeing the illustrations. The world feels lived in, with one of my favorite details being the culture present within the neutral cities. It’s where main characters Iska and Alice get to know each other, specifically attending an opera and seeing an art exhibition together. They can’t attack, and that forced proximity and peace makes for some charming awkwardness that brings the characters together almost as efficiently as their weapons and magic clashing in battle.
There are more powers that be than just the Empire and the Sovereignty, and I’m eager to keep reading.
Jo Writes Fantasy 