Tag: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part. 4, Vol. 2 (LN)

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee, Vol. 2 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718356139
Rating: 4.25/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Since the moment she set foot in the Royal Academy, Rozemyne has put her absolute all into her studies so that she can finally get into the library! Unfortunately, she behaves so abnormally in the process that her retainers and professors end up concerned…

Then, she clashes with the greater duchy Dunkelfelger over Schartz and Weiss, and a game of treasure-stealing ditter is arranged. In Rozemyne’s quest to do anything to protect the library, she continues to be a constant source of headaches for the leaders of Ehrenfest. She completely ignores diplomatic norms by accepting furtive consultations from other duchies’ archduke candidates, and even gives the prince himself romantic advice!

Personal & Info

The Barnes & Noble and ThriftBooks shop links have the correct titles, but incorrect images. The ebook version has the correct image, so something must just be wrong with the paperback images.

Characters

The cast of characters keeps getting larger and larger. To cut down on space, I’m only going to list the people who actually appear, and leave out the ones who only get mentions.

The Archduke’s Family

Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He is a workaholic who handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order, as well as assist the archduke whenever there is a request.

Sylvester is the archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.

Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.

Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother. They are in the same grade at the Royal Academy.

Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s younger sister. She will be attending the Royal Academy next year.

Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.

Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.

Bonifatius is Sylvester’s uncle, Karstedt’s father, and Rozemyne’s grandfather. He covers for Sylvester while he is away at archduke meetings. Bonifatius absolutely adores Rozemyne and usually stays away from her for her safety. He is a strong man who loves cute things, but will never admit to it.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Rihyarda, Rozemyne’s head attendant, is an archnoble, who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Ottilie is one of Rozemyne’s attendants at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira. Hartmut is her son.

Angelica, a sixth-year apprentice medknight serving as Rozemyne’s guard, hates studying and wants other people to think for her.

Cornelius, a fifth-year apprentice archknight, is Karstedt’s third son and Rozemyne’s noble brother serving as her guard.

Lieseleta, Angelica’s younger sister and a fourth-year apprentice medattendant, tends to like cute things. She is grateful to Rozemyne for not giving up on Angelica.

Brunhilde, a third-year apprentice archattendant, wants to help Rozemyne start new trends, and is in charge of assisting with social situations.

Hartmut, a fifth-year archscholar, is Otttilie’s son. He is dedicated to spreading Rozemyne’s reputation as the Saint of Ehrenfest.

Philine, a first-year apprentice layscholar, is determined to gather stories for Rozemyne.

Leonore, a fourth-year apprentice archknight, serves as Rozemyne’s guard, and helps teach Traugott and Judithe.

Traugott, a third-year apprentice archknight, is Rihyarda and Bonifatius’ grandson serving as Rozemyne’s guard.

Judithe, a second-year apprentice medknight, serves Rozemyne as a guard, and admires Angelica like an idol.

Damuel, a layknight, is Rozemyne’s longest serving guard. He does not accompany her to school, instead spending his time training to better protect her.

Rozemyne’s Personnel

Rosina is Rozemyne’s talented personal musician. She helps write and compose music that Rozemyne hums or sings.

Ella is one of Rozemyne’s personal chefs.

Royal Academy Professors

Hirschur is the Ehrenfest’s dorm supervisor. She previously taught Ferdinand, and they share several mannerisms and personality traits. She teaches and assists with mana control classes.

Rauffen is Dunkelfelger’s dorm supervisor. Rozemyne identifies him as a loud gym teacher stereotype.

Pauline is Frenbeltag’s dorm superviser and one of the music teachers.

Solange is a mednoble and the Royal Academy’s librarian.

Royal Academy Students

Anastasius is the Sovereignty’s second prince. He is a senior, so Rozemyne will only be at risk of dealing with him for one year.

Eglantine is an archduke candidate from Klassenberg. She is very kind despite her territory’s high rank.

Lestilaut is an arrogant archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger.

Roderick is an apprentice medscholar from Ehrenfest. His family is part of the former Veronica faction, and he was involved in getting Wilfried into trouble in Part 3.

Royal Academy Miscellany

Schwartz and Weiss are magic tools for the library in the shape of bipedal shumils, which look like rabbits.

Other Nobles

Eckhart is Ferdinands guard knight and Karstedt’s son.

Temple Attendants

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers.

Zahm helps manage the High Bishop’s chambers. Like Fran, he was trained by Ferdinand.

Monika is a cook who helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

Gil is in charge of the orphanage workshop along with Fritz.

Nicola is a cook who helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. Her real passion is cooking.

Wilma is in charge of running the orphanage. She also draws any art necessary for the workshop projects.

Lower City Merchants

Benno is in charge of the Plantin Company. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.

Mark is Benno’s right hand man. He helps manage the store and train the apprentices, as well as cover anything Benno might miss.

Otto is the new head of the Gilberta Company and Corinna’s husband.

Gustav is the Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild.

Story & Thoughts

Part 4 volume 1 focuses on catching Rozemyne up on events and describing what the Royal Academy is like. With that out of the way, and Rozemyne’s classes complete, this one can focus on more important things. It definitely feels like a larger number of events occur. It’s hard to choose what I like best in the volume, but the first things that come to mind are the ditter game and Rihyarda’s talk.

It’s unlikely any apprentice knights would think to use the types of strategies Rozemyne does without having any actual field experience. Her strategy is completely formulated from things she’s seen the Knight’s Order do in the field and feybeast knowledge gained during her hunt for jureve ingredients. Some might think her actions were malicious, but in a way, they were genius.

As for Rihyarda’s talk, it’s so sweet. The way she calmly speaks to Rozemyne explaining the difference between first, second, and third rate attendants and the importance of communication while they are learning how to best serve her is so heartwarming. Anybody can be a third rate attendant, but it’ll take a lot of work for anyone to become a first rate attendant working for someone as eccentric and unpredictable as Rozemyne.

I’m actually surprised by how many social missteps Rozemyne has apparently done since arriving at the academy. It seems like all she’s done is try to be helpful and stay out of trouble, but pretty much everything she has done has been wrong. Noble politics are so nuanced, she can’t seem to do anything without causing problems for Ehrenfest. I can’t wait to see how all this plays out. Will it all really be a headache for Ehrenfest, or will her actions inadvertently help? It can’t all be bad.

Honest Courting

This is Prince Anastasius’ perspective of the tea party he has with Eglantine after Rozemyne faints. He tries to take Rozemyne’s advice to be more direct to clear up misunderstandings. This requires him to swallow his pride and confess his true feelings and intentions.

I get the feeling that despite his frequent all mighty attitude, Prince Anastasius isn’t a bad guy. He’s haughty and arrogant, but seems to have a good heart. We see from the main story that he tries to be fair and upholds his decisions. This story is a good peek into his head to further verify he isn’t horrible.

Life Without One’s Lady

I think this one can technically be considered part of the epilogue. It’s in Leonore’s perspective and covers a few days of what she is doing to help the Ehrenfest apprentice knights train. Her first objective is to run them all ragged and take note of the results.

That’s not all it covers, though. Apparently, there are some issues with Wilfried. He seems to have some lingering behavioral problems from his time around Veronica. I hope they bring this up to Rozemyne when they see her again. He is being unfair to retainers that are not even his, just because they have been ordered to assist him. Wilfried doesn’t seem to understand what assist means. The lack of growth in this particular area saddens me.

Light Novel & Manga Haul February-March 2025

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About

This haul combines the light novels and manga for February and March. I had enough books to post a small haul for February, but due to various reasons, I ended up unable to post. Five were obtained in February and the other three in March.

In February, I got two fanbooks, one light novel, and two manga. In March, I got two light novels and one manga. Some things are from Amazon, some are gifts, some are from Barnes & Noble, and some are from Thrift Books. I’m planning to start prioritizing Thrift Books as my main source for online orders.

Light Novels

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 4

Initially, I was stocking up on these to be able to binge later. However, I recently did a reread of the manga, and might be itching for more Apothecary Diaries before the next volume comes out in October. I might be reading these sooner rather than later. It’ll be interesting to see how they differ from the manga.

Volume five comes out next month, May 6th, and volume six comes out August 5th, so that’s two more light novel volumes before October.

What is it?

A Chinese inspired historical mystery romance, mostly taking place inside the Inner Palace of the emperor’s consorts.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Vol. 24 & 25

These are Part 5 Volumes 3 & 4. I just started Part 4, so it’ll be a while before I get to these. I’m building a buffer ahead of time, so I don’t run out of volumes, and to try catching up to the current print releases. I’m still a few volumes behind on that.

There are a total of twelve volumes in Part 5, so it’s the longest part in the whole series. At the time I’m typing this, the most recent volume to release is Part 5 Volume 8. Reviews for the volumes I have already read and reviewed can be found in the Index.

What is it?

An isekai about a bookworm who wakes up as a five-year-old girl in a world where books are unobtainable by the general public, so she decides to make her own and strive to make them more accessible.

Manga

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 1 & 13

It should be pretty obvious that I already have volume one of The Apothecary Diaries, since I’ve been actively reviewing the series. This version is a special Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition. It has alternate cover art that stands out more than the standard volume. It costs $4 more than the regular one, but it includes six pages of exclusive color art from an Apothecary Diaries volume 13 special edition booklet, two pages of black and white art from the same booklet, and four pages of color story art from the standard volume 1.

The extra art doesn’t spoil anything as far as I can tell. If you’re just starting the series, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It seems harmless.

I’m pretty sure the volume 13 special edition booklet is something that will not be localized, because otherwise, we probably would not be getting the extra content in this B&N edition.

I couldn’t pass up getting the exclusive edition. Even if it just had an alternate cover, that would have been enough for me to want it for my collection. The regular cover art is fine, but this cover is blatantly more beautiful.

At the time I’m typing this, volume 13 is the most recent volume. I have already read and reviewed it. The next one won’t be out until October, so it’s a pretty long wait compared to the usual three months.

What is it?

A Chinese inspired historical mystery romance, mostly taking place inside the Inner Palace of the emperor’s consorts.

Final Fantasy XIV: Eorzea Academy

This manga was a birthday gift. A friend already has it and wants me to read it with them. It’s a stand alone story that puts the characters from the MMO Final Fantasy XIV into a school setting. I don’t know if you actually have to play the game to enjoy it, but if you want to be familiar with all of the characters, it seems like you would need to complete the story up until about the beginning of the Endwalker expansion.

What is it?

A stand alone manga that puts Final Fantasy XIV heroes and villains in a school setting.

Miscellaneous

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Official Fanbooks 2 &3

Both of these were birthday gifts. They kept going out of stock everywhere and became a real pain in the butt to find. Of course, now that I have them, they’re back in stock pretty much everywhere. That seems to be how things tend to work.

I’m reading these where they indicate. Fanbook 2 says to read it after Part 4 Volume 1 of the light novel, so I did. The review is already available. Fanbook 3 says to read it after Part 4 Volume 4 and Royal Academy Stories: First year, which is a side novel. I’m not quite there, yet, but that is when I intend to read it.

Fanbook 4 is apparently getting a physical release this July. It’s long overdue, considering how far ahead the light novel run is. Fanbook 4 is supposed to be read after reading Part 4 Volume 8, and Part 5 is more than halfway done releasing. I hope the fifth fanbook also gets a physical release soon.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is the first series I’ve cared enough to want the fanbooks for, and I think that says a lot about how wonderful it is.

What is it?

A complication of art, bonus stories, and Q&A’s relevant to Ascendance of a Bookworm.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 2

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Official Fanbook 2 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina, Suzuka
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian!
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718350557
Rating: 3.75/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

A collection of art, short stories, and more that no bookworm should miss! This fanbook covers material up to and including Part 4 Volume 1. Inside, find an abundance of supplementary content like design sheets for new characters, an extensive family tree, and seven short stories not found in the light novels.

This fanbook also includes exclusive behind-the-scenes reports from a Bookworm drama CD recording session and another Q&A with author Miya Kazuki featuring reader questions.

Personal & Info

This fanbook should be read after completing Part 4 Volume 1 in order to avoid any spoilers. Unlike the first fanbook, there are no cover arts or inner flap arts in this one. Those appear to be in the third fanbook, which is intended to be read after Part 4 Volume 4.

Characters

Rozemyne, as we all know by now, is the main character. Some of the stories go back as far as her early Myne days.

Lower City Family

Gunther, Myne’s father, works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate. Earlier in the series, he guards the South gate.

Effa, Myne’s mother, dyes clothes for a living. She is the daughter of a soldier, and met Gunther through assisting at one of the city gates.

Tuuli, Myne’s older sister, is currently an apprentice seamstress, who also specializes in hairpins. She works as a leherl for the Gilberta Company and strives to move up in the industry. In the early days, she would often go to the forest with the other children in the neighborhood to gather food and firewood.

Lutz’s Family

Lutz, currently a leherl apprentice at the Gilberta Company, is Myne’s first friend. In the early days, he would help take care of her. Now, he helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up, as well as participate in spreading the paper industry.

Ralph is one of Lutz’s older brothers. He is the same age as Tuuli and we slowly see less and less of him as the series progresses. While Tuuli and Lutz move on to better paying, more glamorous, careers, Ralph takes an apprenticeship as a carpenter, like the rest of his family.

Zasha is, I think, Lutz’s eldest brother. We don’t see him much in the series, so it’s easy to forget how old he is and how many brothers there are.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Leonore, a fourth-year apprentice archknight, serves as Rozemyne’s guard, and helps teach Traugott and Judithe.

Brunhilde, a third-year apprentice archattendant, loves fashion, and is in charge of assisting Rozemyne with social situations.

Judithe, a second-year apprentice medknight, serves Rozemyne as a guard, and admires Angelica like an idol.

Rihyarda, Rozemyne’s head attendant, is an archnoble, who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Angelica, a sixth-year apprentice medknight serving as Rozemyne’s guard, hates studying and wants other people to think for her.

Philine, a first-year apprentice layscholar, is determined to gather stories for Rozemyne.

Lieseleta, Angelica’s younger sister and a fourth-year apprentice medattendant, tends to like cute things.

Other

Freida, the granddaughter of the Merchant Guild’s Guild Master, has a passion for money. Like Rozemyne, she has the devouring. Her solution to treat it was to make a contract with a laynoble to become his concubine once she comes of age.

Leise, Freida’s personal chef, is enthusiastic about learning new recipes, and often assists with food related projects.

Otto, Gunther’s friend who handles paperwork at the gate, teaches Myne how to read and write in the early days. Now, he helps run the Gilberta Company with his wife, Corinna, so Benno can handle other important matters not pertaining to fabric.

Story & Thoughts

Overall, the content is a little different than the first fanbook. There isn’t any special color art, but there are several more stories. This one is more text heavy than picture heavy. Some of the stories aren’t as lengthy or engaging as I would prefer, but I still love it. My favorite things are probably Brunhilde’s story, The Start of Life as a Retainer, and the noble family tree. It definitely makes me want to just dive into more volumes. There’s just so much to love about the series and the heart put into making it.

One Winter Day

This is the shortest story in the entire book. It’s in Myne’s perspective, and takes place on a winter day when everyone goes out to gather parues. As per usual in the early days, Myne waits for everyone to finish while assisting Otto with paperwork.

The story was inspired by a drawing Suzuka did for New Years Day in 2016. It’s a cute, small event that happens on the way home from the gate. Like the picture, Lutz and Myne end up sharing a scarf. It’s very short, but very cute.

I’m Not Givin’ Up My Daughter

As should be obvious from the title, this one is in Gunther’s perspective. It takes place during Myne’s first summer at the temple. Otto is horribly disappointed that Myne is not around to assist him anymore, and he struggles to find anyone even remotely as capable as her to take her place.

Gunther gets advice from Myne about how they can find someone qualified enough, and reflects on how distant their relationship is starting to feel. It brings to mind the phrase of something being referred to as a gift and a curse, because Myne’s gifts make it feel like she’s drifting father away from her family. Gunther is determined not to let her drift too far, but we all already know what happens. It’s kind of sad to read this already knowing that.

My Handful of a Little Sister

This story is in Tuuli’s perspective. It takes place after Myne finishes her prototype book and brings home the official one that she will be allowed to keep at home. During this time, Myne is still commuting to the temple.

Tuuli pokes at how ridiculous Myne’s behavior is, because she cares more about the safety of a book than herself. A conversation with Lutz shines some light on how generous and amazing Myne actually is. It’s become apparent with several short stories that Myne’s family doesn’t truly understand those things about her. Lutz seems to learn it quicker than them, since he spends more time with her. Compared to Charlotte and Wilfried, her lower city family is slow to realize the value in what she does.

Studying Literature and Picture Books

In this story, Myne is teaching Tuuli how to read and write a short time after the events of the previous story. It’s in Tuuli’s perspective, and it’s another story where she discovers how hard Myne and Lutz work. She is daunted by how difficult and time consuming it will be to catch up to their level of literacy. A few motivational words from Effa, and her determination is renewed.

I think it’s nice that Tuuli can appreciate how hard Lutz and Myne work for what they want. She comes a long way from thinking Myne is just being silly and weird. She’s lucky to have a sister so willing to help her learn to improve her skills for her future.

Effa and Tuuli make a joke about Myne not being able to properly boil water on her own, but at the point in the story that this occurs, Myne has already been cooking. This includes boiling things for stews. I suppose they could be talking about boiling water on its own, since the joke is relevant to making tea. That’s the only way I can see it making sense. I don’t think Myne has actually just boiled water before, at least not “on screen.”

A Tea Party With My Older Sister

This is one of the longer stories. I can’t say I have any particular interest in it, because it stars characters we’ve only seen as background. A noble, Christel, discusses the events of the harspiel concert with her sister, who could not attend.

The sister has no name as far as this story is concerned. She could not attend the concert, because she is part of the Veronica faction by marriage. Because of this, the story is a good way to get an idea of what things are like for the nobles who could not attend. The concert is all anyone can talk about, but they also can’t discuss it, because they can’t easily put it into words, and some details were sworn into secrecy.

Christel explains everything and swears her sister to secrecy. However, the conversation also covers some other interesting, more political details. We get some insight into how nobles feel about Sylvester’s actions and how they upturned the balance of politics and that some of them would have liked to be warned, so they could choose sides to appropriately save face or stay neutral. I feel like this part is the most significant information. The recap of the events of the concert are a little dull, but well written.

Feelings of Panic

This is another Tuuli story. It takes place after the noble Star Festival when Brigitte wears a new dress. At this point, Tuuli’s career consists mostly of making hair pins.

Tuuli feels bogged down by all the hairpin orders and responsibilities associated with them. She’s the best at making them, and is always first to learn new ways to make them, so she has to teach everyone else. What she really wants is to work with fabric and learn etiquette to be able to meet with nobles. Like with her reading and writing, she feels like she’s being left behind by Myne and Lutz.

Tuuli seems to struggle a lot with the unnatural speed Myne and Lutz seem to improve with things. Unlike them, she doesn’t have anyone around to teach her, so learning skills she doesn’t already have is a challenge. That on top of missing her sister, it makes sense for her to be frustrated.

The Start of Life as a Retainer

This one is by far my favorite story in the book. It’s Brunhilde’s perspective on her first day as Rozemyne’s retainer. The story is one of the longest, and it covers everything from Rihyarda asking her if she accepts the position, to Brunhilde discussing the difficulty of the job with Lieseleta after serving for a while.

It’s interesting, but not surprising, that Brunhilde has politics on the mind when accepting the position. She is overly concerned about whether or not Rozemyne has any Leisegang faction retainers. There are also politics going on behind Rozemyne’s back involving many of the leisegang nobles. They have hopes for her that she has no interest in carrying out.

I like this story, because it shows us some behind the curtain things politically, and regarding attendant work, but the thing I’m most excited about is the diagram. There is a map of Rozemyne’s room. It represents both her room at the castle and at the Royal Academy, because they share the same layout and design. I didn’t know I wanted this, and I’m glad it’s included.

Drama CD Recording Report – Suzuka

Suzuka summarizes her experience involving the recording process for the drama CD in manga form. All the voice actors involved appear in the form of the character they are voicing, which I think is cute. I’m not familiar with Suzuka, like, at all, so it’s a little strange to me that she draws herself as a strange looking, possibly elderly, blob. I’m not judging. It’s just not what I would expect someone to use as their self-representation.

Drama CD Recording Report – Miya Kazuki

Miya Kazuki summarizes her experience involving the recording process for the drama CD in text format. I like this lengthy report better than the manga version. I feel like I get more out of it. There’s more detail, even though they basically cover the same content. It sounds like everyone had fun, but the context for the sword joke seems better in this format.

The beginning of the report makes me think Miya Kazuki is a bit like Myne. As things progress and she gets more focused on the script and giving feedback to the voice actors, she seems to become more like Ferdinand.

Character Design Sheets

The designs start specifically from Part 3 Volume 2 and go up to Part 4 Volume 1. The text is in a different perspective than the first fanbook, like someone else wrote it. I miss the text being from Miya Kazuki’s perspective, stating what she wanted for each character and how accurate the designs turned out to what she envisioned. It just feels impersonal, this time.

I like the art itself. All of it is fine and fun to look at, however, I wanted more. There is a two year time gap in the story, and it’s heavily emphasized some people grew a lot over that time. Philine has two pictures to show her before and after the time jump. I would have liked to see that for everybody, or at least the people who grew a lot.

Noble Family Tree

The description describes the family tree as extensive, and that is definitely apt. The tree starts three generations before Sylvester, and shows various lines of nobility, like the Leisegangs. Many people lack names and just have titles or ranks, because they have not come up in the story. I would love to see more pictures attached to this. I like family trees to be more visual heavy than text heavy.

This is just an observation, but there’s a little bit of incest in the Ahrensbach tree. One of Georgine’s children married their half sibling and produced a child. That’s icky.

Q & A with Miya Kazuki

Some of the questions here don’t seem like they need an answer. I’m sure there are some more interesting ones that could replace some of the seemingly obvious ones. I still like this section, because I enjoy learning literally anything new about the series, but some of the questions this time around are lackluster.

Let’s Make a Pound Cake

This is just a manga version of the scene where Myne teaches Freida and Leise how to make pound cake. It’s cute, but seeing it here makes me wonder how the manga itself differs. Was that scene cut?

A Comfy Life with My Family

Like the first fanbook, these end of book comics are on the subject of fanbooks. They are essentially a direct continuation of the comics from the first fanbook. That part is obvious because Otto is wearing a Corinna headband.

My favorite one is “Is This Love?” in which Rozemyne asks Ferdinand about his hobbies. His answer is as I expect and it makes me giggle.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part. 4, Vol. 1 (LN)

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee, Vol. 1 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718356122
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Rozemyne awakens from her slumber to a world not as she remembers it. Unease stirs her heart, but she has no time to rest—she is soon to be enrolled in the Royal Academy as an archduke candidate. There, she’ll need to master controlling her mana, creating magic tools, and performing the magic necessary to rule as an archduke. Rozemyne has to handle eccentric teachers and students from other duchies, all the while aiming to be the best big sister she can be. With a massive library on the premises, however, there is little chance things will go according to plan. She feverishly delves into its collection, forgetting all about the other archduke candidates and even the royal family. She truly will do anything for books! So begin Rozemyne’s student days in this biblio-fantasy! This volume also includes the results of the series’ second popularity poll, two original short stories, and four-panel manga by You Shiina.

Personal & Info

I can’t believe I waited so long to circle back around to this series. It’s been more than two months since I read a volume. This series is a comfort read for me, and it’s currently one of my favorite things to the point I’m already looking forward to a series reread.

Part 4 has a total of nine volumes.

The second fanbook can be read following this volume. If you haven’t checked out the fanbooks and want more Ascendance content, I highly recommend them. A review for the second fanbook should be up soon. Fanbook 1 already has a review available, if you want some insight into the contents.

Characters

The cast of characters keeps getting larger and larger. To cut down on space, I’m only going to list the people who actually appear, and leave out the ones who only get mentions.

The Archduke’s Family

Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He is a workaholic who handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order, as well as assist the archduke whenever there is a request.

Sylvester is the eccentric archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.

Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.

Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother. They are in the same grade at the Royal Academy.

Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s younger sister. She will be attending the Royal Academy next year.

Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.

Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.

Bonifatius is Sylvester’s uncle, Karstedt’s father, and Rozemyne’s grandfather. He covers for Sylvester while he is away at archduke meetings. Bonifatius absolutely adores Rozemyne and usually stays away from her for her safety. He loves cute things, but will never admit to it.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Rihyarda is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the Noble’s Quarter and Royal Academy. She is an archnoble who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Ottilie is one of Rozemyne’s attendants at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira. Hartmut is her son.

Angelica is a sixth-year apprentice medknight serving as Rozemyne’s guard. She hates studying and wants other people to think for her.

Cornelius is Karstedt’s third son and Rozemyne’s noble brother. He is a fifth-year apprentice archknight serving as Rozemyne’s guard while she is in the Noble’s Quarter and the Royal Academy.

Lieseleta is Angelica’s younger sister. She is a fourth-year apprentice medattendant who likes cute things.

Brunhilde is a third-year apprentice archattendant. She loves starting and keeping up with fashion trends.

Hartmut is Otttilie’s son, and an apprentice fifth-year archscholar. He is dedicated to spreading Rozemyne’s reputation as the Saint of Ehrenfest.

Philine is a first-year apprentice layscholar. She is determined to gather stories for Rozemyne.

Leonore is a fourth-year apprentice archknight. Part of her job as Rozemyne’s retainer is to help teach Traugott and Judithe.

Traugott is Rihyarda and Bonifatius’ grandson. He is a third-year apprentice archknight.

Judithe is a second-year apprentice medknight who admires Angelica.

Rozemyne’s Personnel

Rosina is Rozemyne’s personal musician.

Royal Academy Professors

Hirschur is the Ehrenfest’s dorm supervisor. She previously taught Ferdinand, and they share several mannerisms and personality traits. She teaches and assists with mana control classes.

Primevere is the Klassenberg’s dorm supervisor.

Rauffen is Dunkelfelger’s dorm supervisor. Rozemyne identifies him as a loud gym teacher stereotype.

Fraularm is Ahrensbach’s dorm supervisor. She teaches the highbeast class.

Solange is a mednoble and the Royal Academy’s librarian.

Royal Academy Students

Roderick is an apprentice medscholar from Ehrenfest. His family is part of the former Veronica faction, and he was involved in getting Wilfried into trouble in Part 3.

Anastasius is the Sovereignty’s second prince. He is a senior, so Rozemyne will only be at risk of dealing with him for one year.

Detlinde is Georgine’s daughter, Wilfried’s cousin, and an archduke candidate from Ahrensbach.

Rudiger is an archduke candidate from Frenbeltag, and Wilfried’s cousin.

Royal Academy Miscellany

Schwartz and Weiss are magic tools for the library in the shape of bipedal shumils, which look like rabbits.

Other Nobles

Oswald is Wilfried’s head attendant who accompanies him to the Royal Academy.

Moritz is Wilfried’s teacher in the castle and an archnoble. Part of his responsibilities include managing the winter playroom.

Temple Attendants

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers.

Zahm helps manage the High Bishop’s chambers. Like Fran, he was trained by Ferdinand.

Monika is a cook who helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

Gil is in charge of the orphanage workshop along with Fritz.

Nicola is a cook who helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. Her real passion is cooking.

Wilma is in charge of running the orphanage. She also draws any art necessary for the workshop projects.

Lower City Merchants

Benno is in charge of the Plantin Company. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up

Corinna is Benno’s younger sister. She is the head seamstress of the Gilberta Company.

Lower City Family

Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier and guards the city’s East Gate, which gets the most traffic.

Effa is Myne’s mother.

Tuuli is Myne’s older sister, who now works at the Gilberta Company with Corinna.

Kamil is Myne’s younger brother, now almost four years old.

Story & Thoughts

The first hundred pages feels like a recap, because if you read Part 3 Volume 5, you already know everything they are discussing. The previous volume bonus stories cover the important events during the time Rozemyne is asleep. This chunk of content is restated as an explanation to Rozemyne for everything she missed. As a web novel, this would be the first time we learn any of this, but since the bonus stories are new to the light novels, it feels like a recap.

This volume is a little longer than usual, so the recap content doesn’t take away from it too much. Once the plot gets moving, Rozemyne must prepare for, and attend, the Royal Academy. The book focuses on her adjusting to life at the Academy and laying out her goals for the school term. Of course, her main goal is to be able to go to the library. People put conditions in place to restrict her access, so she does what is expected and blazes forward to clear her task list.

It definitely feels like an introductory volume, which makes sense, since it’s the first in Part 4. The start feels a bit slow, but once things get going, it’s interesting to see how the school operates. I suspect there’s something extra special about the room where she finds her Divine Will. I’ll be surprised if nothing else about that comes up later. The library isn’t in this one much, but it probably will be in the others a lot more, since this one focuses on Rozemyne doing everything she is told to get done.

I like seeing the practical classes. The teachers are eccentric, but but the fact she is actually learning magic now makes the story feel more fantasy than it has been.

I wasn’t expecting Georgine’s daughter to be at school. Nothing good could possibly come of that. The impending political drama gives me a feeling of anticipation. Rozemyne is drawing so much attention to herself and she doesn’t even care. As usual, I can’t wait to read more and see what happens. It’s hard to believe I went a few months without reading any volumes. This series is so addicting.

A Productive Earthday

This bonus story is in Lieseleta’s perspective. It takes place on the day Rozemyne must stay in bed to absorb her Divine Will. We learn a bit more about Lieseleta’s relationship with Angelica and her family. In order to affordably be Rozemyne’s retainers, they choose to share a room, and both only have one attendant each.

What I take away from this story is that Rozemyne makes it a difficult job to be one of her retainers. They essentially have to follow her lead in order to meet her needs. Rozemyne wants to ace all her exams quickly to be able to go to the library, but she’s not supposed to go places without her retainers. In order to have them with her, they have to pass their own exams almost as quickly as she does her own. The fact she has so many makes it more likely someone will be available for anything she needs, but they still have to account for everything she wants to do and plan their own time entirely around it, even if it’s unfair or difficult.

It certainly seems like not just anyone would be able to meet the requirements for the job. Most of the people Rozemyne chose for her retainers were recommended to her, so i’m sure her family made sure they would be capable enough to do the job. There are some exceptions of course, but they seem to like Rozemyne enough to work harder for her, not that they have much choice with their family reputations on the line if they fail.

Myne Awakes

This is Effa’s perspective on the day Lutz sees Rozemyne after she awakes. It covers how Myne’s family has been feeling and dealing with the knowledge of her long sleep. Kamil is almost four, so it’s a little strange to see him walking and talking after he was just a baby not long ago.

It’s tragic that they can’t tell Kamil about his sister. I think Tuuli is right in regards to all of this, though. Kamil doesn’t associate with nobles in any way, and likely won’t for a really long time, if at all, so he can’t possibly understand the danger associated with the situation. Plus, he’s still very young, and children aren’t the best at keeping secrets. It would probably break Rozemyne’s heart to find out Kamil doesn’t know who she is, but she’d likely understand.

When Lutz met Rozemyne after she woke up, she gave him a letter for her lower city family. That note makes no appearance in this story. I don’t know if it was forgotten or if it will get a mention in a later volume. I thought for sure he would give it to them during this visit.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part. 3, Vol. 5 (LN)

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 5 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718356115
Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Rozemyne needs only one more ingredient for her jureve: the ruelle fruit she failed to gather the year before. With it, she and Ferdinand can finally brew the potent potion that will make her a normal, healthy girl. Well, probably…She funnels her excitement into advancing the paper-making industry and gathering more support, all to create a world with more books for her to read. As winter approaches, however, the political struggles between nobles intensify. Various plots unfold and sow discord within the temple, and what happens next will forever change not just Rozemyne’s future, but her new little sister’s fate as well. Shocking developments bring Part 3 to its climactic conclusion! This volume also includes short stories leading into Part 4, and a four-panel manga drawn by You Shiina!

Personal & Info

This is the final volume of Part 3. The story itself is only about 220 pages, followed by about 150 pages of bonus chapters.

Characters

The Archduke’s Family

Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order.

Sylvester is the eccentric archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.

Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.

Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother.

Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s sister.

Melchior is Sylvester’s youngest child and Rozemyne’s younger brother.

Bonifatius is Sylvester’s uncle, Karstedt’s father, and Rozemyne’s grandfather. He covers for Sylvester while he is away at archduke meetings. Bonifatius absolutely adores Rozemyne and usually stays away from her for her safety.

The Knight Commander’s Family

Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.

Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.

Eckart is Karstedt’s oldest son. He works for the Knight’s Order and serves as Ferdinand’s personal guard.

Lamprecht is Karstedt’s second son. He works as a knight serving as Wilfried’s guard.

Cornelius is Karstedt’s third son. He works as an apprentice knight serving as Rozemyne’s guard while she is in the Noble’s Quarter.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Damuel is a knight and laynoble from Part 2, Volume 2, currently assigned as Rozemyne’s guard. He is Henrik’s younger brother. Henrik is the laynoble to whom Freida has a contract.

Rihyarda is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the castle. She is an archnoble who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Brigitte is a knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Damuel. She is the younger sister of Giebe Illgner.

Angelica is an apprentice knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Cornelius. She hates studying and wants other people to think for her.

Ottilie is an attendant at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira.

Lower City Family

Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate.

Effa is Myne’s mother. She dyes clothes for a career.

Tuuli is Myne’s sister. Her current occupation is apprentice seamstress and she strives to move up in the industry. She currently works for the Gilberta Company as a leherl.

Kamil is Myne and Tuuli’s baby brother.

Temple Attendants

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers and making sure Rozemyne learns everything she needs to know for her job by the time she needs to know it.

Gil is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. He is in charge of running the workshop inside the orphanage, and traveling when new workshops need to be set up.

Wilma is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. She is in charge of running the orphanage and therefore does not reside in Rozemyne’s own chambers. Wilma also provides the art for anything the workshop makes.

Monika is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. She admires Wilma and does her best to emulate her to learn from her example.

Nicola is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

Fritz is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. He helps Gil run the workshop to lessen his workload and cover for him when he needs to travel for business.

Zahm is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. Like Fran, he was trained by Ferdinand. He helps manage the High Bishop’s chambers.

Personnel

Ella is Rozemyne’s personal chef.

Hugo is Rozemyne’s personal chef.

Rosina is Rozemyne’s personal musician.

The Gilberta Company

Corinna is Benno’s younger sister. She is the head seamstress of the Gilberta Company.

Otto is the head of the Gilberta Company, and Corinna’s husband.

The Plantin Company

Benno is in charge of the Plantin Company. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.

Mark is Benno’s right hand man. He helps manage the store and train the apprentices, as well as cover anything Benno might miss.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.

Damian is Freida’s older brother and Gustav’s grandson.

The Othmar Company

Gustav is the Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild.

Freida is Gustav’s granddaughter with a nose for money. She has a contract with a laynoble to manage her Devouring.

Leise is Freida’s personal chef. She also assists with any projects the company has involving cooking.

Other Nobles

Oswald is an archnoble serving as Wilfried’s head attendant.

Moritz is Wilfried and Rozemyne’s instructor.

Justus is Rihyarda’s son, and one of Ferdinand’s estate attendants. He serves the role as scholar and tax official when necessary. Justus gathers both magical materials and information as a hobby.

Giebe Illgner is Brigitte’s older brother.

Georgine is Sylvester’s eldest sister and the first wife to the Duke of Ahrensbach.

Veronica is Sylvester’s mother, currently in prison.

Viscount Joisontak is part of Rozemary’s family. He insists Rozemyne is his niece.

Viscount Gerlach is a noble loyal to Georgine.

Gutenbergs

Ingo is the foreman of a carpentry workshop. He has Rozemyne’s exclusive business for her carpentry needs.

Johann is a smith talented with fine detail work. He can make otherwise impossible ideas a reality.

Zack is a smith good at coming up with ideas in the form of schematics. He can come up with several usable schematics of varying difficulty using abstract descriptions.

Heidi is an ink craftswoman who loves experimenting with new types of ink

Josef is Heidi’s husband, and an ink craftsman.

Other

Kampfer and Frietack are blue priests receiving training from Ferdinand to help lighten his workload.

Richt is Hasse’s new mayor.

Achim and Egon are the gray priests who are going to stay the winter in Hasse to help educate the citizens.

Volk is one of the gray priests involved in setting up the workshop in Illgner. He wants to stay there.

Carya is a good friend of Brigitte’s back in Illgner. She wants to marry Volk.

Dirk is a Devouring baby abandoned to the temple. In part 2, he was forced to sign a submission contract with Count Bindewald of Ahrensbach.

Delia is Rozemyne’s former attendant from her days as a Shrine Maiden. She takes care of Dirk like he is her own brother.

Lily is one of Egmont’s attendants. She returns to the orphanage in exchange for another after becoming pregnant.

Story & Thoughts

After reading this, I love Bonifatius. He usually keeps his distance from Rozemyne, because he’s an aggressive and excitable person, who usually can’t control his strength, which makes him dangerous for her to be around. He only had grandsons until Rozemyne, so he absolutely adores her. It’s unfortunate she isn’t aware of how he feels.

I like how the climactic events are handled. They are intense and emotional, but have humor mixed in, so they soften the blow for the heart-wrenching parts. I already know there are more Parts to the story, so nothing too terrible can happen, but the emotions still hit hard.

It’s clear that Ferdinand loves Rozemyne. I was touched by his aggressive protectiveness of her. He was speaking the truth when justifying his actions, but I don’t think he’s ever been as emotional or passionate about anything in the entirety of the story.

There are so many loose ends by the time everything is done. Thankfully the seven bonus stories help fill in some of the gaps and answer some questions. As always, I am in love with this series, and can’t wait to read more. I can’t get enough of it.

Grandfather on the Day of the Baptism

I was already loving Bonifatius during the regular story, but this bonus story just makes me love him more. It’s the events of the day of the Baptism in his perspective. He dotes internally on Rozemyne all day, and worries like crazy during the chaotic events of the climax.

This bonus also covers the investigation following the end of the volume’s events. Bonifatius’s thoughts and contributions prove he is not just some meathead. He is smart with a good intuition. The investigation would be at a dead end without him. The chapter also touches on what will happen with Georgine’s scheduled visit next year.

In Place of My Older Sister

Charlotte and Wilfried gain a new respect for Rozemyne when they try to cover all of her jobs, from managing the winter socializing room to her duties as the High Bishop. Wilfried thought he understood, because of their switch day, but he still had no real idea. Charlotte, whose perspective this bonus is, thinks Rozemyne has to be some sort of goddess to do everything she does.

It’s saddening to read this chapter. They’re trying so hard, but Charlotte feels so useless and inferior. Rozemyne has become so important to the regular functioning of Ehrenfest that there is a void to fill whenever she isn’t around.

Two Marriages

This bonus story is in Giebe Illgner’s perspective. It covers the events regarding Volk’s purchase, and the public spectacle of Damuel and Brigitte’s proposal. If I’m being honest, I’m disappointed, but I get it. It seems Giebe Illgner put more thought into things than Brigitte did. However, I think her request for Damuel to choose was unfair.

No Rest for Us

This one is in Lutz’s perspective. Lutz and Tuuli do their best to learn etiquette, while the Gutenbergs all stay busy with projects to fill their time. Unfortunately for Benno, he doesn’t get the break he thought he was getting. More work gets dumped on him with yet another tight deadline. Elvira previously discussed this project with Rozemyne, so it was bound to pop up eventually.

Meanwhile at the Temple

Rozemyne is currently unavailable to provide stories for the workshop to print. This is Fran’s perspective of things during that time. The temple’s overall workload is extra busy, and nobody knows how to compose simple stories into something publishable. I think Rozemyne should add creative writing to her education program.

The Laynoble Guard Knight

This whole bonus chapter is Damuel’s perspective during a conversation with his brother regarding his proposal to Brigitte. As with Brigitte, Damuel’s family put more thought into the proposal than he did. Between Two Marriages and The Laynoble Guard Knight, we get the full explanation behind things and why they turned out the way they did.

One Handful of a Chef

Okay, this one makes me happy. This is in Ella’s perspective. When she was originally introduced, it was clear she had a crush on Hugo. Hugo started seeing someone shortly after, and I got bummed, because two passionate chefs together would be super cute. Well, it’s finally come full circle. Hugo has finally started to look at Ella as someone who would be a good partner, who also understands the demands of his job. I’m happy for them. I’ve been rooting for them since the beginning.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part. 3, Vol. 4

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 4 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718356108
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Love blooms in Spring! Rozemyne’s retainers are bursting with energy as they sew new clothes, attend their debuts, and thrive in the new season. The improved printing press has finally been completed in the temple workshop, and new types of books are steadily being produced. Knight stories, picture books, sheet music collections, and more are all now being sold! Their next goal is to further develop the paper-making industry in preparation for spreading printing across the entire duchy. To achieve this, Rozemyne’s party travels to Illgner to teach the people there how to make paper and also to research new materials. Rozemyne’s environment slowly improves, but unease spreads throughout Ehrenfest when the archduke’s older sister arrives for a visit…

Personal & Info

The Cat-Eared Maid is my favorite bonus comic in the back, but all of them are pretty good.

Characters

The Archduke’s Family

Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian at the temple, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order.

Sylvester is the eccentric archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.

Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.

Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother. He is supposed to become the next archduke of Ehrenfest.

Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s sister.

Melchior is Sylvester’s youngest child and Rozemyne’s younger brother.

Bonifatius is Sylvester’s uncle, Karstedt’s father, and Rozemyne’s grandfather. He covers for Sylvester while he is away at archduke meetings.

The Knight Commander’s Family

Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.

Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.

Eckart is Karstedt’s oldest son. He works in the Knight’s Order, and he is a big fan of Ferdinand.

Lamprecht is Karstedt’s second son. He works as a knight serving as Wilfried’s guard.

Cornelius is Karstedt’s third son. He works as an apprentice knight serving as Rozemyne’s guard while she is in the Noble’s Quarter.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Damuel is a knight and laynoble from Part 2, Volume 2, currently assigned as Rozemyne’s guard. He is Henrik’s younger brother. Henrik is the laynoble to whom Freida has a contract.

Rihyarda is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the castle. She is an archnoble who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Brigitte is a knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Damuel. She is the younger sister of Giebe Illgner.

Angelica is an apprentice knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Cornelius. She hates studying and wants other people to think for her.

Ottilie is an attendant at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira.

Lower City Family

Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate.

Effa is Myne’s mother. She dyes clothes for a career.

Tuuli is Myne’s sister. Her current occupation is apprentice seamstress and she strives to move up in the industry.

Kamil is Myne and Tuuli’s baby brother.

Temple Attendants

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers and making sure Rozemyne learns everything she needs to know for her job by the time she needs to know it.

Gil is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. He is in charge of running the workshop inside the orphanage.

Wilma is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. She is in charge of running the orphanage and therefore does not reside in Rozemyne’s own chambers. Wilma also provides the art for anything the workshop makes.

Monika is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. She admires Wilma and does her best to emulate her to learn from her example.

Nicola is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

Fritz is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. He helps Gil run the workshop to lessen his workload and cover for him when he needs to travel for business.

Zahm is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. Like Fran, he was trained by Ferdinand. He helps manage the High Bishop’s chambers.

Personnel

Ella is Rozemyne’s personal chef.

Hugo is Rozemyne’s personal chef.

Rosina is Rozemyne’s personal musician.

The Gilberta Company

Corinna is Benno’s younger sister. She is the head seamstress of the Gilberta Company.

Otto is the new head of the Gilberta Company, and Corinna’s husband.

The Plantin Company

Benno is the merchant in charge of the Plantin Company. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.

Mark is Benno’s right hand man. He helps manage the store and train the apprentices, as well as cover anything Benno might miss.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.

Damian is Freida’s older brother and Gustav’s grandson.

The Othmar Company

Gustav is the Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild.

Freida is Gustav’s granddaughter with a nose for money. She has a contract with a laynoble to manage her Devouring.

Leise is Freida’s personal chef. She also assists with any projects the company has involving cooking.

Other Nobles

Oswald is an archnoble serving as Wilfried’s head attendant.

Moritz is Wilfried and Rozemyne’s instructor.

Justus is Rihyarda’s son, and one of Ferdinand’s estate attendants. He serves the role as scholar and tax official when necessary. Justus gathers both magical materials and information as a hobby.

Giebe Illgner is Brigitte’s older brother.

Georgine is Sylvester’s eldest sister and the first wife to the Duke of Ahrensbach.

Veronica is Sylvester’s mother, currently in prison.

Viscountess Gloria Dahldolf is the mother of Shikza, the noble who suffered execution as a result of harming Myne instead of protecting her.

Gutenbergs

Ingo is the foreman of a carpentry workshop. He has Rozemyne’s exclusive business for her carpentry needs.

Johann is a smith talented with fine detail work. He can make otherwise impossible ideas a reality.

Zack is a smith good at coming up with ideas in the form of schematics. He can come up with several usable schematics of varying difficulty using abstract descriptions.

Other

Kampfer and Frietack are blue priests receiving training from Ferdinand to help lighten his workload.

Richt is Hasse’s new mayor.

Dirk is a Devouring baby abandoned to the temple. In part 2, he was forced to sign a submission contract with Count Bindewald of Ahrensbach.

Delia is Rozemyne’s former attendant from her days as a Shrine Maiden. She takes care of Dirk like he is her own brother.

Story & Thoughts

Everyone is thinking ahead in this volume, except Rozemyne. Benno, Mark, and Lutz are making business decisions based entirely on how Rozemyne’s life proceeds, ready to uproot at a moment’s notice. Tuuli, who wants to make Rozemyne’s clothes someday, wants to be able to follow her wherever she might end up, too.

My favorite thing in this book is the romance. Back during the previous Starbind events, we learned both Damuel and Brigitte are seeking marriage partners. If you’re like me, you might think they should just marry each other, but there’s the issue of him being a laynoble, and her a mednoble. Their mana difference makes it an impossibility due to societal expectations.

Nothing is for sure, but the start of a potential romance between them blooms. It’s so cute and sweet. I ship them so hard. We’ll have to wait until next Starbind to see what happens.

After part two, there has been a long break from major political issues. The story is circling back around to politics. However, it doesn’t seem like the people supporting Georgine have thought anything all the way through. Their thoughts seem based on what they want, rather than what Georgine might want.

If you consider Georgine’s rank for her current status, her intentions can’t possibly be what they think. After all, why would anyone with a higher status intentionally throw that away to take something of a lower status? There has to be something more elaborate going on in Georgine’s mind. I don’t think she would throw away her current rank. She seems like the kind of person who likes to have power. We likely won’t see the full culmination of whatever her plans are until somewhere in part four. Needless to say, the whole thing is ominous.

Tea Party

This is Florencia’s experience during Georgine’s visit. She attends a couple tea parties with Sylvester and Elvira to discuss the previous High Bishop’s death and learn more about Georgine. Florencia apparently never met Georgine, until now. She is more familiar with Sylvester’s other sister. We also get to see her side of Wilfried’s blunder. She has nothing but praise when it comes to Rozemyne. Florencia doesn’t speak much during the main story, but it’s clear she’s a kind person with good intentions, who has been treated unfairly in the past.

Damuel’s Proposal

If there’s a bonus chapter you’ll want to read, it’s going to be this one. Rozemyne was not present for the events of the actual Starbind socializing, so this chapter covers what actually happened, without any embellishment. Damuel’s goal is unheard of, but I’m rooting for him. Brigitte and Damuel are so cute together.

Staying in Illgner

This last bonus chapter is in Gil’s perspective. It takes place over the summer in Illgner, while they’re experimenting with new types of paper. Things are very different in Illgner. There are no stores, no thieves, and everybody has to work. Damien doesn’t like it there one bit. He was sent because he has experience with nobles, but really that has little to no significance in Illgner. I’m pretty sure I did not see the feybeast wood mentioned here, so they may not have tried it yet. This chapter’s resulting paper is the stuff Rozemyne uses to make her fan.

Light Novel & Manga Haul January 2025

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About

I didn’t think I’d have enough books for a January haul, but various sales and impulse purchases happened. All of the light novels and one of the manga came from Amazon. Two of the manga were in-store purchases from a small local store, and the fourth was a late Christmas gift. Usually there are one or two light novels next to a bunch more manga, so I’m surprised I have an even ratio this time.

Light Novels

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Royal Academy Stories

I couldn’t pass up buying this one. It was on sale for half price. It’s not part of the main series, though.

This volume is a collection of short stories involving the characters for Rozemyne’s first year at the Royal Academy. None of the stories are in Rozemyne’s perspective. The description says they are all stories from the perspectives of her classmates.

I don’t know exactly when this should be read, but it’s somewhere in or after Part Four. I’m sure I’ll have a better idea for when I should read it once I actually start reading that part. The side stories at the end of each volume are usually enjoyable, so I’m looking forward to reading this.

What is it?

Side stories for an isekai about a bookworm who wakes up as a five-year-old girl in a world where books are unobtainable by the general public, so she decides to make her own and strive to make them more accessible.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection, Vol. 1

This is the first volume of the short story collections. There are currently two volumes of these, but the second is not yet available in physical print. The stories span anywhere from part one to Part Four, which probably means part four should be read before this. I generally enjoy all the short stories the series has to offer, so I’m looking forward to reading this.

What is it?

Side stories for an isekai about a bookworm who wakes up as a five-year-old girl in a world where books are unobtainable by the general public, so she decides to make her own and strive to make them more accessible.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Vol. 22 & 23

These are Part Five, volumes one and two. I haven’t read any of Part Four, yet, so I have a substantial buffer at this point. I plan on trying to get caught up on physical volumes, because they are still releasing, and the end of the series is in sight. Part Five is the final, and longest, part.

Reviews for the Ascendance of a Bookworm light novel volumes I have already read can be found in the Index.

What is it?

An isekai about a bookworm who wakes up as a five-year-old girl in a world where books are unobtainable by the general public, so she decides to make her own and strive to make them more accessible.

Manga

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 8 & 9

I’m not terribly behind on this series, but it has been a while since I got any volumes. Season two of the anime isn’t far off, so I want to try catching up before watching it.

I didn’t actually intend to buy these when I went to the store. My intention was to pick up the latest volume of Daemons of the Shadow Realm, that I was two months late in grabbing, but the store didn’t have it. I always feel bad going into a store and walking out with nothing, so I grabbed these instead, since I had already planned to buy one or two manga.

Reviews for the Frieren volumes I have already read can be found in the Index.

What is it?

A fantasy story about an Elf mage coming to terms with how long her lifespan is compared to those around her.

Inuyasha VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 6

I read the entirety of the Inuyasha manga a number of years ago. However, I did not own them at the time, so I’m collecting the VIZBIG editions. I think they’re overall cheaper and more efficient than getting more than fifty single volumes.

This series will always be special to me, because it had a huge impact on my childhood. My friend group bonded over it back when it was first premiering on Adult Swim. I’m about to date myself, but I remember setting up the VCR to record Adult Swim so I could watch the episodes the following day. The anime was a big part of the culture of my childhood.

Owning my own copies of the manga and having some figure merchandise means a lot to me. It was fairly recently that I managed to get a Koga Funko figure, and it meant the world to me. There is little to no merchandise available of him, and he is one of my favorite characters. The nostalgia of it all makes me happy, and I love that there’s a sequel series for me to enjoy for some new content. I haven’t read or watched much of Yashahime, yet, but I love everything I’ve seen of it, so far.

What is it?

A time travel adventure romance with demons.

Skip Beat! Vol. 49

Skip Beat! is one of my all time favorite shojo manga series. I haven’t given it a reread in years, but it’ll be time to circle back soon. At this point I might have more volumes I haven’t read than volumes I that I have.

I’m glad it’s still going, but the current volumes are noticeably thinner than they used to be, substantially so. Hopefully, that won’t be a reflection of story quality. Volume 50 is due out on March, 4th.

What is it?

A revenge showbiz story with comedy and romance.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Part. 3, Vol. 3 (LN)

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 3 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718356092
Rating: 3.75/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll Thriftbooks

Description from the Book

Rozemyne the High Bishop has her hands full: she’s participating in noble society, the baptism ceremony, and the Dedication Ritual, as well as tutoring young children and guard knights with bad grades! Her influence in noble society and the temple increases steadily, and her squad of Gutenbergs work on improving the printing press. As her love for books grows, her mana grows stronger as well. The Saint of Ehrenfest’s work doesn’t stop there, as she must also hunt the Lord of Winter with the Knight’s Order, and then gather a new ingredient for her jureve potion during spring prayer. This is another action-packed volume of this biblio-fantasy, including two lengthy short stories and a four-panel manga drawn by You Shiina!

Personal & Info

It’s unfortunate that the title box for this volume covers the pandabus. The bus can be seen inside the book on the mini-poster version of the cover image. We need more pictures of the pandabus.

Characters

The Archduke’s Family

Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian at the temple, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order.

Sylvester is the eccentric archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.

Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.

Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother. He is supposed to become the next archduke of Ehrenfest.

Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s younger sister.

Melchior is Sylvester’s youngest child and Rozemyne’s younger brother.

The Knight Commander’s Family

Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.

Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.

Eckart is Karstedt’s oldest son. He is around eighteen-years-old and works in the Knight’s Order. Eckart is a big fan of Ferdinand.

Lamprecht is Karstedt’s second son. He is around sixteen-years-old and works as a knight serving as Wilfried’s guard.

Cornelius is Karstedt’s third son. He is around eleven-years-old and works as an apprentice knight serving as Rozemyne’s guard while she is in the Noble’s Quarter.

Rozemyne’s Retainers

Damuel is a knight and laynoble from Part 2, Volume 2, currently assigned as Rozemyne’s guard. He is Henrik’s younger brother. Henrik is the laynoble to whom Freida has a contract.

Rihyarda is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the castle. She is an archnoble who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.

Brigitte is a knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Damuel. She is the younger sister of Giebe Illgner.

Angelica is an apprentice knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Cornelius.

Ottilie is an attendant at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira.

Lower City Family

Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate.

Effa is Myne’s mother. She dyes clothes for a career.

Tuuli is Myne’s sister. Her current occupation is apprentice seamstress and she strives to move up in the industry.

Kamil is Myne and Tuuli’s baby brother.

Temple Attendants

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers and making sure Rozemyne learns everything she needs to know for her job by the time she needs to know it.

Gil is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. He is in charge of running the workshop inside the orphanage.

Wilma is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. She is in charge of running the orphanage and therefore does not reside in Rozemyne’s own chambers. Wilma also provides the art for anything the workshop makes.

Monika is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. She admires Wilma and does her best to emulate her to learn from her example.

Nicola is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

Fritz is Rozemyne’s new attendant. He helps Gil run the workshop to lessen his workload and cover for him when he needs to travel for business.

Zahm is the High Priest’s attendant who handles all matters between him and Rozemyne.

Personnel

Ella is Rozemyne’s personal chef.

Rosina is Rozemyne’s personal musician.

The Gilberta Company

Benno is the merchant in charge of the Gilberta Company and the Italian restaurant. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.

Mark is Benno’s right hand man. He helps manage the store and train the apprentices, as well as cover anything Benno himself might miss.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.

Corinna is Benno’s younger sister. She is the head seamstress of the Gilberta Company.

The Othmar Company

Gustav is the Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild.

Freida is Gustav’s granddaughter with a nose for money. She has a contract with a laynoble to manage her Devouring.

Leise is Freida’s personal chef. She also assists with any projects the company has involving cooking.

Other Nobles

Oswald is an archnoble serving as Wilfried’s head attendant.

Moritz is Wilfried and Rozemyne’s instructor.

Justus is Rihyarda’s son, and one of Ferdinand’s estate attendants. He serves the role as scholar and tax official when necessary. Justus gathers both magical materials and information as a hobby.

Philine is a laynoble in the same class year as Rozemyne. She has a love of books and reminds Rozemyne a little of herself when she was starting out on her book journey in Ehrenfest.

Gutenbergs

Ingo is the foreman of a carpentry workshop. He has Rozemyne’s exclusive business for her carpentry needs.

Johann is a smith talented with fine detail work. He can make otherwise impossible ideas a reality.

Zack is a smith good at coming up with ideas in the form of schematics. He can come up with several usable schematics of varying difficulty using abstract descriptions.

Other

Kampfer and Frietack are blue priests receiving training from Ferdinand to help lighten his workload.

Hasse’s Mayor is in charge of the town where Rozemyne’s new temple workshop is progressing. He has connections relevant to the previous High Bishop, and owns all of the orphans of Hasse.

Richt is both a relative and assistant to the Hasse Mayor.

Story & Thoughts

There is a lot going on in this volume. It covers the end of autumn all the way through Spring Prayer. There are time skips, but still, it’s a lot. Rozemyne’s schedule is packed the whole time.

I’m surprised they cover two seasonal gathering attempts in one book. The winter one is kind of boring. The feybeast is cool, but the actual encounter is rather dull from Rozemyne’s perspective. All she can do is wait, while she can hardly see anything, until Ferdinand comes to get her for the final step.

The spring gathering attempt, however, I love that one. It’s less combat oriented than autumn and winter. They clear out some weaker feybeasts, but the overall gathering is more of a fantastical magical experience. It’s kind of funny, too, because of the guys’ perspective afterward.

Knowing Rozemyne, I won’t be surprised if she keeps most of her current guards as her official retainers when the time comes. She likes to keep people around once she builds trust with them. I can see Brigitte probably leaving her after marriage.

I hope Rozemyne and Philine become good friends. She needs a kindred spirit around. As of right now, I have no idea who she might choose from the playroom to make retainers, but I can’t wait to get to know the new characters better.

Angelica has basically no dialogue or anything until now, so it’s nice to finally get to know her a little. I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out for Brigitte with the new dress, too. I just love all the characters so much.

Winter Debut and the Playroom

These are the events of the Winter Debut and the playroom from Lamprecht’s perspective. What I gather from the story is that all of the people around Wilfried are concerned about Rozemyne swiping the title of the next Aub from him, even though everybody makes it clear Rozemyne has no intention of becoming Archduke. If they aren’t worrying about Rozemyne, they are worrying about Wilfried’s sister, Charlotte, who comes of age the following year. It’s kind of sad, because this just shows most of the people around Wilfried don’t have confidence in him.

The High Bishop’s Exclusive Business

This short story is Ingo’s perspective regarding the carpentry work in Hasse, as well as his stress and uncertainty about whether or not he has Rozemyne’s exclusive business. In the volume, he makes it clear his reputation is on the line if he can’t get clarity, but here we actually get to see the doubt from those around him. It’s clear Rozemyne has more to learn about how to properly work with craftsmen without causing problems.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 1

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Official Fanbook by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina, Suzuka
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian!
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 9781718350540
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Here is the first official Ascendance of a Bookworm fanbook, intended to be read after finishing Part 3 volume 2. This book contains a slew of additional content, including all the color and cover artwork up to Part 3 Volume 1, a short story on Monika and Nicola’s first tour of the temple, a manga chapter by Suzuka, and three four-panel manga by You Shiina. Also inside are design sheets showing how Bookworm’s characters were visually brought to life, and a Q&A with author Miya Kazuki containing lesser-known details about the plot as well as information on how she planned out and developed the series.

Personal & Info

If you’re not familiar with fanbooks, they usually compile a bunch of bonus material. This one has cover art, inner color art, concept art for character designs, bonus comics, a Q&A with the creator, and a short story. The size of the book itself is larger than the manga or light novel, but the page count is small.

Characters

Instead of doing a full character list for every character in the entire series, I will just list the characters that appear in the short story and comics.

Rozemyne, previously Myne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.

Lutz is a leherl apprentice at the Gilberta Company. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.

Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate. Earlier in the series, he guarded the South gate.

Effa is Myne’s mother. She dyes clothes for a career.

Tuuli is Myne’s sister. Her current occupation is apprentice seamstress and she strives to move up in the industry. She currently works for the Gilberta Company as a leherl. Early in the series, she would go to the forest with the other kids in the neighborhood.

Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers and making sure Rozemyne learns everything she needs to know for her job by the time she needs to know it.

Rosina, previously one of Rozemyne’s temple attendants, is now her personal musician.

Monika is an attendant who cooks and also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. She admires Wilma and does her best to emulate her to learn from her example.

Nicola is an attendant who loves cooking and also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.

High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian at the temple, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order.

Otto is one of Gunther’s co-workers who handles the clerical work at the gate. He is married to Corinna, Benno’s younger sister, and will start to play a bigger part at the Gilberta company.

Story & Thoughts

Overall, this fanbook is a great source of bonus content to read, flip through, or stare at whenever you need a little a little more Ascendance of a Bookworm. It has a little bit of everything. I look forward to getting the rest of the fanbooks for the series.

Color and Cover Art Gallery

This section is so beautiful. It’s nice to see all the art from each volume blown up. I never get tired of looking it. The only negative is the binding crease. It really takes away from the larger images that require two pages. I’m not sure if the book should have been bigger or if the larger pictures should have been fold out, but the binding crease is definitely worse than the fold out creases the individual volumes had. That is the main reason I didn’t give the book a five.

Color and Cover Art Sketch Gallery

The sketch section is cool. When one hears the word sketch, they typically don’t expect something with as much detail as we see here. The pictures are beautiful and complex with an almost ethereal quality.

Temple Tour

My biggest excitement about this part is there is a temple diagram. I’ve been wanting this for a long time. I thought it should have been included in many volumes, since there were diagrams of the city and the country. So if you’re like me, and have been waiting and hoping for a map of the temple, they put it here. You can follow the entirety of this short story using the temple diagram.

It takes place during the time when Rozemyne is resting while her chambers are being prepared for her role as High Bishop. Monika and Nicola have just been hired as her newest retainers, and Fran is giving them a tour of the temple, since they’ve never left the orphanage before. It’s in Nicola’s perspective, and the tour is turn by turn, so it’s easy to follow where they are in the building. After reading this, it’s pretty clear I was imagining the majority of the building wrong.

The story is cute, because Monika and Nicola are both so nervous to be taking on such an important job in the noble section of the building. However, I find it a little concerning that Rozemyne’s promotion causes so many people to have to relocate their chambers. I can see how that might contribute to resentment, but some of those people are likely glad to move if they don’t like her. It’s always interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes outside of Rozemyne’s view.

Character Design Sheets

It seems like You Shiina got immediate approval for a majority of the character designs, and only minor adjustments for the others. That’s crazy good. I love seeing the before and after designs for the ones that show both.

Bonus Manga Chapter by Suzuka

This is a “side episode” that takes place while Myne is at home, sick, after her clay tablets have been destroyed. The story is amusing enough. Gunther stresses over Myne’s health while she plots revenge using terms nobody can understand, because they are all things from her Urano days.

My only problem with it is I’m not fond of the art style the manga uses. I’m not saying this to be mean, but it seems like a step down in quality when compared with the light novel and anime. I think the art for the light novel is the best, followed by the anime, and lastly the manga. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it doesn’t hit the same if the manga was not the first exposure to the series.

A prime example to make my point would be Gunther’s hair. The light novel and anime both use relatively similar hairstyles for him. The manga, in Suzuka’s style, makes him look like a completely different person. His hair, and even his face, are so different from the others. I don’t know why his design is so different, but it bugs me. I’ll have to get used to it eventually, though, because I do plan on reading the manga version of the series at some point.

Q&A with Miya Kazuki

The Q&A has so much interesting information. It made me aware I have missed some details or forgotten some things along the way. I’m now looking forward to a reread of the whole series at some point in the future.

Miya Kazuki’s writing process and personal story are so inspirational. It just goes to show, you never know if your hobby or art might take off or become someone’s favorite thing someday. It’s clear a lot of love went into the making of the series.

Bonus Manga Shorts by You Shiina

This section is four panel comics by You Shiina, like what we usually see at the end of the light novel volumes. They are cute and funny shorts discussing what fanbooks are and of whom they would want fanbook content made. For example, Otto would want a Corinna fanbook.

Light Novel Haul November-December 2024

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About

Holiday burnout has me running behind schedule, so bare with me while I get back on track. This haul covers all my light novels from November and December. I didn’t buy any regular novels or manga during those months.

This is probably the largest batch of light novels I’ve had so far. Everything is either a gift, or a purchase from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Most of the Amazon purchases came in paper bags, which is why you might see some corner damage in the picture.

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 3

At the moment, I’m just stocking up on this version of the series as they release in physical print. I’ll read them at my leisure eventually, but right now, I’m more focused on the manga version of the series. If you want to see the reviews for those, they can be found in the index. I am looking forward to reading these light novels, but it’ll likely be a while.

What is it?

A Chinese inspired historical mystery romance, mostly taking place inside the Inner Palace of the emperor’s consorts.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Vol. 10-21

These are Part 3 Volumes 3 through 5, and the entirety of Part 4, which is nine volumes. I’ve been hyper-addicted to this series, so I’ve been getting as many volumes as I feasibly can. Reviews for the rest of Part 3 are done and ready to go, so those will likely be up soon.

I’m starting to reach the point where there will be side story novels to collect. As far as I’m aware, there is a side story series that has at least two volumes, and at least one book specifically involving Rozemyne’s classmates from Part 4, so that gives me at least three extra books to read. The Fanbooks and side novels all start to be applicable in parts 3-5. It’s not as expansive as say, My Hero Academia’s universe, but I love that it has bonus side stuff.

What is it?

An isekai about a bookworm who wakes up as a five-year-old girl in a world where books are unobtainable by the general public, so she decides to make her own and strive to make them more accessible.

Miscellaneous

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Official Fanbook 1

I’ve never really been interested in getting fanbooks before. My guess is because nothing resonated with me enough to warrant bothering with them. I love Ascendance of a Bookworm so much that I knew I had to have them when I found out they existed. This one was a Christmas gift, and I’ve already read it, so if the review is not up, it will be soon.

As of right now, there are five known fanbooks for the series. Only three of them are currently published in physical print in English. I plan on getting all of them eventually, but the second one is currently out of stock everywhere, so it’ll likely be a while until I can get a copy.

What is it?

A complication of art, bonus stories, and Q&A’s relevant to Ascendance of a Bookworm.