General

ima bookmark this. c:
I like reading light novels while waiting for my flights/on flights.

I've been meaning to buy the blood+ light novels, but I haven't found them anywhere in shops where I live annnnd.. I haven't gotten around to buying them online yet. x:

Fate/Apocrypha- first two volumes were amazing, although waiting for the next 3 volumes to be finished being translated is painful

I don't know what a light novel is, but try reading some Haruki Murakami. [url=http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Boiled-Wonderland-End-World-International/dp/0679743464]Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World[/url] is a great book.

Toaru Majutsu No Index: New Testament.

I'm interested in getting into reading them but I never seem to have time nor make an effort to do so. I've only got the first two volumes of Spice and Wolf and I haven't even touched them yet.

Katawa Shoujo

I'll try to list a few I really like, following a short description of them without spoiling much content of the novel.

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Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu PLUS by Hino Wataru

Divided into 65 or so mini-chapters throughout, written in third person, with shifting perspectives every time the chapter changes. Tomo along with the rest of the group find themselves attending a party on a luxury cruise liner, but things go wrong when terrorists begin detonating bombs they've installed on the boat. The group soon gets caught up in things, as Tomo was carrying around a suitcase identical to the ones that both the terrorists and Yenfei had, resulting in a three-way mixup. From there, a lot of stuff happens.

To be honest, Hino has written much better stuff on a purely technical level. Parts of Hanafubuki and Ruitomo (two other works worked on by the same author) I feel are at least a level or two higher than the stuff here. That being said, it doesn't really matter, since this is the only novel Hino has ever written by himself, which by default makes it his most consistent work. With that in mind, I have to commend him with a job well done. The switch to third person felt odd at first, but I believe in the end there's no other way he could have really told the story he had planned out otherwise. He also manages to transition to writing for print medium (lengthier sentences in general, but more physical descriptions, and overall tighter pacing) quite well, which results in it reading much differently from the games in a lot of places, but was again a required change if he wanted to write this novel to begin with. It feels a bit toned down from the best parts of his games overall, and the amount of exquisite lines is definitely lower, but I'm just happy to have read something written by him completely from beginning to end. Though, I should note that evidently nobody at the publisher ever actually bothered with the thing - there are a ton of typos (mostly missing particles), the furigana is inconsistent to hell, and there are a noticeable amount of physical descriptions that are a bit hard to understand or contradicting (the worst instance of this is when Rui is running down several flights of stairs, then a sentence later turning back to look down the stairwell she just ran up.) I usually don't worry about this kind of stuff, since they're written in a hurry with basically nobody but the writers going through them, but it's still something I felt like pointing out. Especially when the lack of editing is apparent as it is here.

Hino stated that he tried to make it accessible to both new and old fans, but I think this was pretty much pointless. It's honestly pretty nice to see the perspective of other characters, but I don't think he should have been quite so thorough in reiterating their backstories and curses in the process - it comes across as a bit overbearing at times. Perhaps this wouldn't be so much of a problem if the rest of the story were actually accessible to new readers, but truthfully, you're going to be missing an entire layer to the story and confronted with a few passages that are incomprehensible if you haven't read the entirety of the original game and more importantly the fandisc. Also, it's not really a flaw, but there's a lack of focus on humor since Hino is too busy with the other stuff, thus making it lack comedic relief the games had. It's not a big deal though, just different focal points.

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Eisen Flugel by Urobuchi Gen

If I were to describe it in a word, it'd be majestic. Third person perspective. Karl, a fighter pilot brought up as the hero of a recent war, finds himself in the position of test pilot for a jet being developed by a group of engineers led by an aberrant scientist for the purposes of breaking the sound barrier and challenging ancient dragons in a contest of speed. However, the funds for the project are being given by the military, who clearly have other plans for the technology. When a new war breaks out, Karl is forced to confront his past, face the very core of his being, and stain the skies with blood once again.

In terms of utter technical prowess, Urobuchi Gen is one of the finest writers working in otaku media, and Eisen Flugel is no exception. He always knows the right word for any given situation, drawing from his seemingly endless vocabulary to depict the current situation or emotion with absolute clarity. The sentences are expressive and meaty without being overbearing, retaining the attention of the reader and putting them right alongside the action. I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say that Urobuchi's carefully measured diction affords his works a depth that they may otherwise lack; I'd say one of his strengths as a writer is being able to back up fairly direct premises with purposeful text. In particular note of Eisen Flugel is his description of the dragons - thanks to the very forceful writing associated with them, he really sells them as ancient, magical beings far beyond the pale of humans despite the fact that they're not actually given as much booktime as you might expect from the premise.

While Urobuchi excels at developing compelling characters who find themselves at odds with common sense and humanity's morals, he has issues when it comes to creating actual human being. I know, it seems like an odd criticism. Most of the characters other than Karl feel one-dimensional or ill-defined, and I feel that the epilogue in particular is damaged to a certain extent because of this, given its focus on Erik and Helen. I suppose this pretty much comes with the Urobuchi territory, though. If you like his other work, I don't think it'll bother you that much in Eisen Flugel, but it's definitely hard to overlook when you evaluate his body of work as a whole.

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Kemonogari by Higashide Yuuichirou

My absolute favorite at the moment. Suitably badass and packed to the brim with action. Mix of one-fourth third person and three-fourths first person male perspective. A bus full of Japanese high school students on a school trip to a fictional country located in Eastern Europe ends up being kidnapped by an organization known as the "Club". The Club is a group composed of politicians, rich individuals, and the like that goes around abducting people so they can be used for games of human hunting that the members participate in. Unfortunately for them, one of the students they kidnapped happens to be Akagami Rouki, a guy who lived his entire life repressing and trying to forget his one and only talent - slaughter. You can probably infer what happens next.

The violence feels euphoric, action scenes pack a blow, and the protagonist's total absence of hesitation is demonstrated in a captivating manner. Basically exactly what you'd want out of the premise. That said, it's a little rough around the edges in certain spots - Higashide has this tendency to reuse words in close proximity to one another and there are a good number of excessively similar descriptions throughout the book; feels like it would have benefit from a once-over after he was done writing it. He also has this neat trick to increase the presence that he uses here and there, especially in fights, where he'll make a sentence out of a variety of basic clauses in quick succession (something like ikiwonomu, ya ga tondekuru, yoko ni yokeru, teki megakete choyaku suru, etc), and while I don't think he's being lazy or using it as a crutch (the fight scenes are well depicted given how snappy they are), it does make the situation being described a little hard to follow in places, so he probably should have cut back on the usage of this just a bit.
There isn't much I hate about it, but there is a lack of information about characters other than the dynamic between Ayana and Rouki.

[quote=GeminiBladeZX]I really enjoyed Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei along with Log Horizon.[/quote]
Yeah, I enjoy the technical explanations of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. They really go into detail about the magic and politics, which are always interesting to learn and read.

At the moment, Saekano. Waiting for volume 8 is suffering.

That being said, light novels are trash. For some reason they're more expensive than manga, but are almost always of lower quality.

Oregairu, Zoroth Maria, Eromanga-sensei, Oreimo, No Game No Life

reading tate no yuusha no nariagari and danmachi LN atm...i enjoyed durarara LN. was reading konjiki no wordmaster but i got bored from the recent chapters. also worm is a good webnovel but its not of japanese origin

Favorite is kore wa zombie desu ka

"...She looks up and sees his gaze fixated on her as his hands gently reach down...Ah~ not there senpai... he picks up a beetle."

My absolute favorite is Rokujouma no Shinryakusha.

I really enjoyed Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei along with Log Horizon.

@UAPaladin pretty much lol usually they have a picture when a new character is introduced but that's about it. Light novels are super popular in Japan and Asia but not so much in US

Rakuin no Monshou
Mushoku Tensei
Overlord
Utsuro no Hako
Wuxia novel, Coiling Dragon

campione, high school dxd, and mondaiji tachi ga isekai.

Manga without pictures? You mean books?