As the Light Novel Club enters 2020, we have a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, we have read many wonderful light novel series so far, and we would love to continue reading more volumes in those series. On the other hand, there are still lots of great light novels out there we have yet to start, with more being licensed all the time. So how do we go further into the series we have already started, while also checking out interesting new series?
We are just going to have to read more novels faster this year!
Starting in 2020, the Light Novel Club will be covering one light novel per month. That is definitely going to be a faster pace than we have been doing things before, but I think we all can handle it. To help our fellow readers out, though, we will announce two months’ novels at a time. That way, once you finish the novel for the first of those two months, you can jump straight to the second month’s novel. Or you can just focus on the second month’s novel and take two months to finish that one, if you are not interested in the first month’s novel. For each two month period, one month’s novel will be a brand new series, and one month’s novel will be the next volume of a series we have previously covered.
Of course, that means we need to announce the novels for January and February, so without further ado…
January 2020: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 1
Don’t worry; they’ll buff him in the next update.Real life is just a bad game. Or is it? What if it is a game that, like any game, with the right strategies, you can dominate? Or at least make it to the next level? A new challenger approaches: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, in which an avid gamer, with the help of a popular girl, tries to crack the game of life!
Yen Press describes volume 1 (or rather, Level 1) as follows:
Tomozaki is one of the best gamers in Japan, and in his opinion, the game of real life is one of the worst. No clear-cut rules for success, horribly balanced, and nothing makes sense. But then he meets a gamer who’s just as good as him, and she offers to teach him a few exploits…
You can buy volume 1 digitally (links here) or in paperback. Our discussion will be posted on January 31st.
February 2020: Infinite Dendrogram, Vol. 3
Did someone order an anime adaptation?It’s time to take a deep dive back into the world of Infinite Dendrogram! With the anime starting in January, this is the perfect time to see what is next for Ray and Nemesis, as the anime should be right around the same part of the story when our discussion goes up. The anime can even serve as a nice refresher for what happened in the first two volumes.
J-Novel Club describes volume 3 as follows:
Who will survive the Clash of the Superiors?
The day after Ray and Hugo faced off against the vile Gouz-Maise Gang, the city of Gideon was far livelier than usual, brimming with excitement and anticipation for a certain event. As one would expect from a metropolis bearing the title of “city of duels,” the event was a match between two highly notable duelists: Figaro — the local hero — and Xunyu — one of the most powerful individuals from the far-east empire of Huang He. Both were Masters wielding the powers of Superior Embryos, and both would give their all to fight, make merry and emerge victorious. But a malicious plan unfurls itself in the shadows, who is it that seeks to strike the Kingdom of Altar at its most vulnerable?
You can buy volume 3 digitally (links here) or in paperback. Our discussion will be posted on February 22nd. Yes, that is a week before the end of the month, rather than at the end of the month like the first month. On February 29th we will announce the next two months’ light novels.
2020 is the start of a new decade and a new era for the Light Novel Club, one where we, well, read more novels! I am definitely excited to be covering more light novels this year, and I hope you join us as we bring more attention to the world of light novels!
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