魔法 科 高中 的 劣等 生 16

The past two or three volumes of the series have been a real slog to get through. I read them stop-start, unable to keep up my enthusiasm for the story. Having got to volume 16, I think that lack of enthusiasm stems from the author. This is me reading things into the writing which may not be there, but I think writing those last few volumes was also a slog. But he had plot threads to tie off and all that world building to expose to the readers... I'd have cut the exposition, concentrated on the story, and cut two or three volumes down to one. Just because the author knows all this stuff about esoteric magic, doesn't mean the reader needs to know.

Anyway, we're back to the style and pacing of the first few arcs with volume 16. It's like we had a full stop at the end of a really long sentence, and now we're off to a new start with renewed vigour. Even the exposition reads better. The fights have more zing. The tea has more fragrance (and there's plenty of tea). The author has enthusiasm for the story once again, and it really comes over in the writing. Hopefully, that continues into the next arc.

'Why am I doing this?' has been circling through my head every time I picked up one of those sluggish volumes. I know the answer, however. A while back, I looked at the Wikipedia page for this series and saw that volume 16 was the book where Tatsuya and Miyuki get engaged. You what?! Generally, the incest in light novels is kept to potential rather than actual, and here we are officially hooking up brother and sister. I just had to find out how this was going to be justified in universe. I'm not going to spoil the solution, but it does make sense. The reason it has to happen also makes sense, given what we know of Tatsuya's capabilities. It's all a little contrived, but it does make sense. And there is fallout to be expounded in the next arc.

I feel sorry for Honoka. The girl is going to be heartbroken. And Pixie! The robot is going to be heartbroken! Saegusa has been something of a potential partner for Tatsuya, but I never felt she was entirely serious about chasing him. Also revealed (to me; maybe others noticed before now) was another broken heart I hadn't realised was in the running, though it makes sense in retrospect. And, of course, Ichigo is going to be broken up about Miyuki being taken off the market. He never really had a chance of her loving him, of course, and I'm not sure how a marriage would have worked with Miyuki being named future-head of the Yotsuba. It's still going to mess him up.

Also interesting will be how the wider gang reacts to discovering who the lovey dovey brother and sister really are.

I had some gripes about the physics this time. These books are science-fantasy and I generally ignore things which are patently magical rather than scientific, but I did balk a bit at some things in this story. The use and abuse of inertia in the (otherwise excellent) climactic fight was... mistaken. At least as described and as I understood it, there's a poor understanding of inertia there. Also, I'm not sure that you'd get electron capture happening in the process described toward the end of the book, but it's a cool spell that boils a boar alive with awesome pseudo-science, so what the hell.

Overall, this is a pretty good book. I was honestly planning to just drop the series after this one because it was getting boring. Now I'm enthusiastic to read the next one. I'll probably move to reading them on Kindle, however, because the reading experience is superior to the one on Book-Walker.

The story was focussed. Tatsuya got his moments to show off his powers. We get to see a few more family members and their motivations for past and present events. Some answers should not come as a surprise, others do fill a few of the apparent plot holes in the past. It is good to know that the opposition are not unbelievably stupid, just flawed. The world is dark, but well designed, one of the strengths of the series for me. The book got me hooked and I finished it one go.

Still, there is no high school stuff in the book, nor any of their friends. While I enjoyed the book itself, I do hope we get to see more of the gang in the future. Not just because they are fun to hang out with, but also to keep things a bit unpredictable.

Finally there is the elephant in the room. The event at the end of the book should not come as a surprise even if the details are even darker then hinted at. It is rare though for the trope to make sense within the world and the story instead of being simply accepted as fact. We as a reader should be disturbed by it also makes sense. The only one truly fine with it in the story is Aunt Maya and she is described as insane. I can see Tatsuya and Miyuki not fighting it, it is literally coded in their genes through magical and biological engineering when they were unborn babies. It certainly explains their hatred for the family and their aunt. It is that same will to fight their assigned role in society and the family that makes me curious were things are going.

All in all, a good addition to the series and one which has revitalized my interest in the story. Random terrorists directed by some kind of unknown third party were getting a bit old.

On the other hand, I was really hoping the author would lean AWAY from the incest themes, not at them. For a while, seemed like that was going to be the case -- even that they were going to largely vanish -- so I kept reading . . .

Ugh. (view spoiler)[Really, they are forcibly engaged, she tells him she's in love with him, and he tells her he'll try to return her feelings? There are so many issues with that on any number of levels. Even putting aside the sibling incest thing, we have mental interference magic messing with them on both sides. And even aside from that, forcing this on him is abusive both from his aunt and from his sister . . . and . . . well, rant. (hide spoiler)]

I know, I know. Why did I put up with this so long? Well, because it was one-sided and quite possibly due to Mental Interference Magic and also quite possibly just stupid teenage girl idolizing taken a bit too far. But a this point (and skimming vol. 17 and what few spoilers I could find), I doubt the series'll ever get away from it and just keep leaning into it more. Which I'm not okay with. So I'm going to stop reading now. At least this is a good stopping point . . .