Volume ten of Spice and Wolf is remarkable for how much mercantile intrigue is centered around Blondel Abbey in Winfiel, which no doubt has its antecedents in England’s Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx.  Both favored wool production and became their country’s chief exporter of wool.  (Yes, Winfiel is essentially England.  The country is an island, wool is… Read More Examining Light Novels: the Monastic Origin of European Civilization