Light Novels

@ shakey - the Kino book is awesome. the only catch is that only book 1 has been officially translated into english. (there's a bit of an argument between the people who hold the japanese and english rights.) which is a bit of a shame, considering how good the book is. But it shouldn't put you off...
 
I looked into "Kino no Tabi" an it seems to be awaiting a reprint. Its another one i can't seem to find at a reasonable price :(
 
I've read through the first 5 novels, but have been told to avoid the official translation due to unfaifulness... Anyone know anymore about this? I don't want to blow my limited budget on 'The Magical Adventures of Haruhi and Friends'.

Also, 'All you Need is KILL' is worth reading, especially if you like mecha or war stories.
 
I think I got mine for like £4 just after paying £40 for the manga. Cheap as chips.

I've read Death Note, Goth and NHK. Battle Royale, too, if that counts... though it isn't exactly "light". I'm going to read 'Calling You' soon 'cause I own it and it was wrote by the Goth author.
 
Aion said:
Battle Royale, too, if that counts... though it isn't exactly "light".
If you're being strict about it, the NHK novel wasn't a Light Novel, either, but it doesn't really matter in the context of trying to get people to read more Japanese fiction.
 
For a fan of the manga, it's a must read, in my holy opinion. The manga has its plus points (most notably, the NHK artwork) but doesn't have anywhere near the depth of the novel. The planning/thinking sections in the manga are rushed in comparison, and the thoughts of the characters are either simplified for space reasons or removed.

There are many quotes I wanted to take from the novel, and none from the manga. That says a lot about the difference in terms of dialogue.

The main flaw of the novel is the cheap method the author uses to make his stories unpredictable. On more than one occasion, he used the fact he wasn't descriptive about the looks of his characters to his advantage. The main character's name doesn't even get revealed until the end!

After finishing the novel, I re-read the manga. Besides the rushed pacing and small amount of dialogue, what irked me the most was Morino. In the novel, she's emotionless; like a doll - she never smiles. In the manga, she's shown smirking on more than one occasion. Really, that's showing poor understanding of her character by the artist.

Why didn't you like Calling You?
 
Just looked up Calling You and it sounds pretty interesting, might give it a try. Was wondering if anyone knows if the Paprika novel was any good? Coz i love the film.
 
Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons

My library had a selection of light novels based on Trinity Blood. The one I read was Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons. It didn't impress me all that much but then I was reading 'serious novels' at the time. If you're a fan of the series you might get more out of it.
 
Bumping this thread for some discussion of Sword Art Online.

I've only read the first two novels so far, haven't read Aria or any of the other side stories.

The pace of the first volume is understandably pretty hectic, I only felt like I was able to fully appreciate it once I'd read volume 2 and also done a small bit of semi-spoilerish reading around exactly how and when certain things were written and published.

Even though the main relationship seems a bit... slap dash? at times, I was still able to get pretty into it. It will be interesting to see how much things are changed as Kawahara continues to write SAO: Progressive over the next couple of years.

I guess I should have seen the big reveal about Heathcliff coming, but maybe it speaks to how much I was getting behind Kirito's point of view that I only figured it out roughly when he did. I had assumed Heathcliff was just a "regular" hacker based on what happens during his duel with Kirito.

I'm excited but also quite anxious starting volume 3 - I know that we get to meet Kirito's imouto which can only be awesome, but I also think it's going to be weird not being in Aincrad any more.
 
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I just ordered the first 4 Kokoro Connect light novels.

I hear there are fan translations out there on the net, but before I begin looking, I wanted to y'know, support the series (Despite the fact that if anything, the manga will be licensed and the novels won't be >>). Once I'm done with those, I'll either buy more Kokoro Connect, or look into the Sword Art Online novels I guess.
 
Joshawott said:
I just ordered the first 4 Kokoro Connect light novels.

I hear there are fan translations out there on the net, but before I begin looking, I wanted to y'know, support the series
Good stuff! It does annoy me slightly that people freely distribute translations of relatively cheap, easily available retail products without at least asking for some kind of "did you buy the product" check, so I'm pleased to read that.

Also, I find collecting LNs relatively addictive in its own right - the size and consistency of design makes for nice looking rows on shelves.
 
ilmaestro said:
Joshawott said:
I just ordered the first 4 Kokoro Connect light novels.

I hear there are fan translations out there on the net, but before I begin looking, I wanted to y'know, support the series
Good stuff! It does annoy me slightly that people freely distribute translations of relatively cheap, easily available retail products without at least asking for some kind of "did you buy the product" check, so I'm pleased to read that.

Also, I find collecting LNs relatively addictive in its own right - the size and consistency of design makes for nice looking rows on shelves.
480yen per volume, plus just over 1000yen postage is pretty darn cheap. A lot cheaper than I thought it would be to be honest (and they're books, so if they're declared correctly, I should be saved from customs, right? =3).

I've been a bit of a bad boy in the past in this respect, so I want to try and change it.
 
ilmaestro said:
Yup, zero rated for VAT as long as you don't have them shipped with other non-book stuff.
My order only contained the books =3. I was going to buy some OP CD singles, but I decided to hold off on them for later.
 
Woah, necrobump alert.

I've started reading The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya via the Kindle app on my phone. Makes commuting much more tolerable in the mornings. In any case it's pretty good. Kinda want to compare it with the anime adaptation side-by-side, reading loads of passages which I remember the anime pretty much quoting verbatim.
 
Funnily enough, I'm reading the third Haruhi book at the moment too. They're pretty well done, as far as light novels go, and once a lot of the initial exposition is out of the way, you can just sit back and enjoy the characterisation - although with the full interior monologue, Kyon definitely comes off as more of a perv over Asahina than he does in the anime.
 
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