Which novels from J-Novel Club do you read and buy?

Silver Sugar Duchess

It would interest me, which novels from J-Novel Club you really like to read/buy and why?

Mine are the following (in alphabetical order):

A Wild Last Boss Appeared!:
I just love gaming novels or novels where the main character is transported into a game possessing his avatar. The world building is very interesting and the story sometimes quite hilarious. And I really like the uniqueness of the avatar Luphas Maphaal.

Apparently it's My Fault That My Husband Has The Head of a Beast:
One of the first romance novels I've read from J-Novel Club with very pretty art. The story was fun too, though I'm a little bit sad, that it won't continue.

Ascendance of a Bookworm:
Before I joined J-Novel Club I already read the fan translation of the web novel and was always disappointed, that it updated so slowly. I love it, that the main character is such a book lover and it is really interesting to read how Myne literally starts at rockbottom and after many hardships do the impossible and climbs up the social ladder to reach the top. Besides this. the world building is very interesting too. I think it's a novel which mirrors the hardships and cruel reality of the lifes of lowborn people in the middleages very well, albeit with a fantasy setting (magic and the like).

Bibliophile Princess:
Another novel I really wanted to read and got introduced to through the beautiful drawn manga adaption. I love the beautiful art style of the light novel and the main character Elianna, who is a huge book lover similar to Myne from Ascendance of a Bookworm. I love the mystery plot of the novels and the palace intrigues make it much more interesting. The many characters are really interesting too.

Deathbound Duke's Daughter:
First I need to say, that I'm a fan of the "reincarnated into an otome game" setting and the setting of the game poor Erika got reincarnated into is especially interesting and exiting. The world building is really interesting too, I love the idea with the alchemy and the wands, always reminding me a little bit of Harry Potter which I loved back in the days. This is one of my very favorite novels from J-Novel Club!!! Here I'm really sad, that the light novel won't continue. But to satisfy my craving for the novel, I continue the story with reading the web novel, which is something I usually don't do.

Her Majesty's Swarm:
Another novel where the main character is transported into the game she played before. Very interesting and exiting here is, that the main character is using the evil-aligned faction of the game, the Arachnea. It's the first time for me that I read a novel where the main character is on the evil side (from the view point of humans). It's also a novel unparalleled in cruelty, if you ask me. At first I was a little bit disturbed by it, but now I can't get enough of the novel. hope the fourth volume will get released fast in Japan, so that we can continue with the story!

I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!:
Again another novel, where the main character got transported or more like reincarnated into the game she played before as the villain character. Besides that the MC knows the world and how the future will play out from a game, it's your typical fantasy-romance story. After release I didn't take much notice of it, but after reading the first volume in a catch up I totally took a liking to the story.

I Shall Survive Using Potions!:
Another one of my favorite novels from J-Novel Club, Kaoru is an interesting main character in every way and I love the idea with the potions!

Infinite Dendrogram:
Currently my most favorite novel from J-Novel Club. I love the interesting and detailed world building, not forgetting that there are so many interesting characters, this is a true unique gaming novel completely to my taste!!! It's also very fun to see Ray evolve more and more to an overlord appeareance-wise and MVP-reward-wise.
I can't wait for the day, where I finally can read about the next showdown between Ray and Franklin, the only player where I have the feeling he can hold a candle to Ray. It would also interest me, when Ray will find out that his pretty little neighbor is his most hated player ingame.

I'll Never Set Foot in That House Again!:
A novel I picked up, because the main character seemed so pitful, but the more and more I've read the more the story really intrigued my, I'm very curious about what the MC's special skill is able to do, besides the things we already did see/read.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!:
It's the very first novel I picked up, way before I became a member. In truth I picked it up, because it has a "reincarnated into an otome game" setting and the story seemed quite fun. I still like it, but the MC is beyond stupid and I don't really like dumb main characters. It's getting a bit annyoing. Well, I'm still reading it (the anime rekindled my interest) and I will finish the light novel. But in retrospect I probably wouldn't picked it up, same with Apparently It's My Fault That My Husband Has The Head of a Beast, as cute as the story is, but they are not novels I burn for.

Outa Ragna:
A light novel I picked up today, I used the december catchup to for. So far I really like it, the gaming system seems really interesting, same with the different point of views of the characters ingame and the live streamers who made the character "Kuroi", PotatoStarch. I haven't completely finished the first volume, but this is a novel I definitely will continue.

Slayers:
I loved the anime back in the days and rewatching it rekindled my interest in the anime and brought me to the novel. Lina is such an unique and hilarious main character, I really love her! And the story and world building are also very interesting and exiting.

Tearmoon Empire:
I got introduced to the light novel through the manga adaption and wanted to know how the story will continue. Part of my interest comes from the fact, that it seems to be some kind of parody on the french queen Marie-Antoinette and that I'm a huge fan of her and the rococo style in general (though as beautiful as I think the fashion style and the architecture at this time was, I don't absolutely don't want to live in it).
Mia is a very unique main character and her hilarious antics to save her head from the guillotine and how the people around her always misunderstand her
so that the situations always turn out in favor for her amuse me greatly.

The Apothecary Diaries:
Well, what can I say besides interesting and unique main character, story, setting and world building. It's one of the light novel I wanted the most getting licensed and J-Novel Club fullfilled this wish, thank you very much!!!

The Epic Tale Of The Reincarnated Prince Herscherik:
The gender-bend tag made me curious and the main character is really adorable. So far the story has been good, but I have only read until volume two.

The Tales of Marielle Clarac:
I love novels with unique main characters and Marielle tops them all. The story is very fun to read and I really like it that Marielle writes romance novels in secret, I always wanted to read a novel about about a lady author!

The Sorcerer's Receptionist:
A novel I started reading on a whim and so far I haven't regret it. It's always funny how Nanalie and Rockmann more or less argue and compete with each other. How it's called, who teases each other, loves each other (an old german saying, unfortunately I didn't find an accurate translation). I'm already very exited how the third and last volume will end.

The White Cat's Revenge as Plotted From The Dragon King's Lap:
I quite like reading revenge novels and I started this one, mainly because most of the time the main character is in form of a cat and I wanted to find out how she will take revenge. The story is definitely fun to read, but I think it's a little bit sad, that the dragon king found our Ruri's true form already in the second volume.

Rahul Balaggan

Here is a link to a list of titles I buy and read, distributed by J-Novel Club:

https://j-novel.club/series

As for why I read those particular ones, I just want to consume large amounts of stories, I don’t care about “generic”, at the end of the day even stories people deem generic, are still unique in their own way.

Lex

I came here for Rokujouma, I stayed for Rokujouma and How not to summon a demon lord, and after a while found myself following a ton of series.
I read most of the isekai and harem here, like the two mentioned before, Arifureta, Master of Ragnarok, Realist hero, Infinite Dendrogram, Demon king daimao, Mixed bathing, Smartphone, Black Summoner, Wakaru, Isekai maou, Instant death, Master swordsman, Outbreak company, Demon lord retry, Middle aged businessman, Magicmaster, Ms elf, Seirei Gensouki, Amagi brilliant park, Elf bride, For my daughter, Lazy dungeon master, Infinite stratos, Unwanted undead, Little apocalypse, Grimgar, Siskan, Faraway paladin, Bluesteel Blasphemer, Me a genius, Mapping...Basically if there is action, some romance and a male protagonist (bonus points if overpowered) the series is likely to catch my eyes. I also don't dislike horror stories like AOL oni or romcoms like Slightly older girlfriend or Fake fake princess.

mystyk

@Rahul-Balaggan Considering that you've said before that you buy everything JNC publishes, that's kind of a power-move for this thread...

Anyway... As for me:

JNC Active:

Bookworm (read 1-7 elsewhere, bought 1-11 from JNC/up-to-date)
Arifureta (bought 1-10 elsewhere, 11 from JNC/up-to-date)
Grace of Gods (bought 1-4 elsewhere, 5-6 from JNC/up-to-date)
Smartphone (read 1-20 elsewhere, bought 1-21 from JNC/up-to-date)
Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf (read 1-3 elsewhere, bought 1-5 from JNC/up-to-date)
Older Girlfriend (bought from JNC/up-to-date)
Sponger Life (bought from JNC/up-to-date)
Tearmoon Empire (bought 1-4 from JNC/up next to read)

JNC Considering or Already Decided:

Bakarina/Villainess
Demon Lord Retry
How Not to Summon
Outbreak Company

Other actively-tracked series worth mentioning:

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
Reincarnated as a Slime
Overlord
Re:Zero
Saga of Tanya the Evil
Spice & Wolf / Wolf & Parchment
Devil is a Part-Timer

As one can clearly tell, with the exceptions of Older GF, Tearmoon, and Spice & Wolf, I'm a hardcore isekai story lover. Also, when I say "read elsewhere," let's just suffice to say I wasn't being as picky about sourcing my content at the time, but as you can see I've taken some steps to make amends on that. There's also a good chance that I'll re-buy Arifureta and Grace of Gods, as I want them in the drm-free ebook format, which works well with the ubooquity media server I use to store/organize them all.

Ludovico Secondo

I have come to J-Novel Club because of Ascendance of a bookworm. After watching the anime, I wanted more, so I investigated and found out it originated from light novels.

After reading what was on the market, again I was eager for more, so, surfing the internet, I discovered J-Novel Club. The possibility to read a release each week was a temptation I could not even try to resist. Honestly, considering the speed the books are being published, I might wait for them to be available, but I simply cannot.

So, I read and buy Ascendance of a bookworm.

At the moment there is only one other light novel I read: Tearmoon Empire. I discovered it through a comment made by the translator, @DeiLight, on a topic not directly related to the work by Nozomu Mochitzuki. It just happened that, at the time, Tearmoon Empire was on catchup, so I had the chance to start the series from book 1.

Raitoiro

I've brought my 100th volume this year, so the list is starting to get kinda long.
Plus I got multiple versions of some (Faraway paladin, last and first idol, Outer Ragna) and especially Grimgar since I own it in 5 versions, as I have both EN and JP versions in e-book and physical, plus the EN kindle edition since it's where I started to read it.

A wild last both appeared
Altina
AO Oni
Ascendance of a bookworm
Cooking with Wild Game
Crest of the Stars
ECHO
Grimgar
If It’s for My Daughter
Kokoro Connect
Mapping
Lazy Dungeon Master
Instant Death
Otherside Picnic
Outer Ragna
Teogonia
The Faraway Paladin
The Holy Knight’s Dark Road
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!)
Yume Nikki

I also own most of Infinite Dendrogram, up to vol 9 which was a concentrate of everything I dislike in that series and almost made me drop it completely. But I've continued to read the pre-pub (I'm only 1 volume behind) and the last few volumes have been pretty good (especially when Ray is out of the picture like vol11) so If it keeps that quality in the next few volumes I may restart to buy it.

Plus I own the first few volumes of Bakarina and Tearmoon, which I've (almost) definitively drop.

SomeOldGuy

My list has 42 series currently. Invaders Of The Rokujouma was the one that brought me here.

There are some I haven't gotten around to reading more than one or two volumes; I continue to accumulate all of them because I probably will get to them some year.

A lot of JNC series don't appeal to me; I don't buy horror stuff, and "based on a game" isn't a draw for me.

So, the list:

[New Life+] Young Again in Another World
Altina The Sword Princess
Amagi Brilliant Park
An Archdemon's Dilemma How To Love Your Elf Bride
Apparently It's My Fault That My Husband Has The Head Of A Beast
Arifureta From Commonplace To World's Strongest
Arifureta Zero
Ascendance Of A Bookworm
Bibliophile Princess
Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On
Clockwork Planet
Deathbound Duke's Daughter
Demon King Daimaou
Demon Lord Retry
Girls Kingdom
How A Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom
How Not To Summon A Demon Lord
I'll Never Set Foot In That House Again
In Another World With My Smartphone
Infinite Stratos
Invaders Of The Rokujouma
I Refuse To Be Your Enemy
I Shall Survive Using Potions
Lazy Dungeon Master
Me A Genius I Was Reborn Into Another World And I Think They've Got The Wrong Idea
Middle Aged Businessman Arise In Another World
Mixed Bathing In Another Dimension
My Big Sister Lives In A Fantasy World
My Next Life As A Villainess All Routes Lead To Doom
Outbreak Company
Seirei Gensouki Spirit Chronicles
Side By Side Dreamers
Tearmoon Empire
Marielle Clarac
The Extraordinary The Ordinary And Soap
The Greatest Magicmaster's Retirement Plan
The Magic In This Other World Is Too Far Behind
The Master Of Ragnarok Blesser Of Einherjar
The Sorcerer's Receptionist
The White Cat's Revenge As Plotted From The Dragon King'S Lap
Walking My Second Path In Life
Wild Times With A Fake Fake Princess

The ones that have been read more than a few times are Realist Hero, LDM, Mixed Bathing, and Smartphone.

"Why read something you've already read?" "Same reason people listen to music they've already heard!"

Andreas Muth.0lwpbkw

I accidentally discovered JK Haru some time ago and because of the slightly different isekai setting I immediately got it (on amazon as a paperback) but I have a problem and hope that I can be helped here. Amazon said it was explicitly illustrated, but when the book was received there were no illustrations in it. is that illustrated a wrong product description from amazon, or were the illustrations removed because they were too explicit?

myskaros

@Andreas-Muth-0lwpbkw There are no illustrations in either JK Haru book. Not sure why Amazon marked it that way.

Lily Garden

@SomeOldGuy said in Which novels from J-Novel Club do you read and buy?:

"Why read something you've already read?" "Same reason people listen to music they've already heard!"

I wholeheartedly agree
To quote Rafiki at the end of Lion Kind 1 1/2 "Any story worth telling is worth telling twice." 😉😁

Andreas Muth.0lwpbkw

@myskaros thanks for the quick reply ^^

mwbworld

Currently I'm following:

Altina the Sword Princess
Ascendance of the Bookworm
Banner(Crest) of the Stars
By the Grace of the Gods
Demon Lord Retry
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
How not to summon a demon lord
I Shall Survive Using Potions
In Another World with My Smartphone
My Next Life as a Villainess
Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles (Just started)
Slayers
The Magic in this other world is too far behind

Read it is finished:
Sexiled

Starting soon:

Bibliophile Princess
Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
The Tales of Marielle Clarac

Andreas Muth.0lwpbkw

@myskaros in the japanese original there weren't any illustrations either, right?

myskaros

@Andreas-Muth-0lwpbkw Correct.

saskir

Hmmm, I mainly read anything. It would be easier to say what I don't read. So how about for me an exclusion thread?

Started WATARU!!! but could not really get into it.
Never finished JK Haru. I think I am still stuck on part 1.
Find no motivation to read further into Altina. Although I like the story but I am still somewhere in Volume 2
Wanted to start Mariele Clarac but it is still on my to-do list
Ao-Oni never started

So and anything not mentioned here am I actively reading. I am only holding back on Rukojuoma as I am waiting for the printed volumes.

Crey

The list of series I follow is slowly dwindling, but there are still several. I do find it hard to explain why I like the series, basically I read it because it interests me and I enjoy it. Anyway, from newest to oldest:
The Magician Who Rose From Failure - It's a fun system of creating new spells in the framework of having to use the passages from scriptures. And the fact that MC just has memories of someone from another world but doesn't think it was him. True or not, who knows.
Fushi no Kami - Pure fun and I kinda like village/city building stories. The dissonance between the MC thinking himself middle aged in the child's body and then throwing out lines like "how are you treating this innocent child" is quite funny.
Black Summoner - I like isekai with male MC. This protagonist is a little bit too much battle junkie for my tastes, but for now I enjoy the series. Helps that there's plenty of humour.
Instant Death - Amusing. At first I wasn't sure I'd like it, but for some reason I have kept on reading. It probably helps that the whole world seems to be populated with unlikable people.
By the Grace of the Gods - Slice-of-life isekai with male protagonist. Pretty much means autoread for me.
Middle Aged Businessman, Arise in Another World - Good fun and an older protagonist for a change. Unfortunate that there's not more of it.
Campfire Cooking - Again, slice-of-life isekai with male MC says it all. this one also has cooking which I like as well. To be honest, the protagonist is annoying at times but good for light fun reading.
Cooking With Wild Game - Same as above. The political maneuvering bothers me some, but I guess you simply have to have intrigue and big bad antagonists for people to buy your books.
Der Werwolf - The Annals of Veight - Simply a very good isekai, with the MC being on the side of what are stereotypically pictured as bad guys. And there's country building.
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer - The trials and tribulations of the protagonist are just interesting and enjoyable. The series suffers from being way too wordy, but not to the level where I would drop it.
In Another World With My Smartphone - Pure popcorn isekai. I truly enjoyed the first few volumes, since then the power creep and the escalation of problems have been a bit ridiculous, not to mention rather cartoonish villains, but for some reason I still keep reading it.
Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension - This was one of the first series I started reading, so it kinda holds a special place in my heart. Again, I truly enjoyed the first few volumes, but then the bath got rather too full for my tastes.

TheGrimLich

Right now, the ones I'm either reading in prepub or caught up to on published volumes are:

Ascendance of a Bookworm
Fushi no Kami
Realist Hero
Altina
Potion Loli
Slightly Older Girlfriend
She's The Cutest
Apothecary Diaries
Ideal Sponger Life
Girls Kingdom
I'll Never Set Foot In That House Again!
Slayers
Black Summoner
Mapping
Sorcerer's Receptionist
Lazy Dungeon Master
Prince Herscherik
Tearmoon Empire
Welcome To Japan, Ms. Elf
Monster Tamer
Mixed Bathing
Isekai Smartphone
Bibliophile Princess
Wild Last Boss
Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On
I Refuse To Be Your Enemy
White Cat's Revenge
Her Majesty's Swarm
By The Grace of the Gods
My Next Life as a Villainess
Elf Bride

And for completed and orphaned series...

SOAP
Fake Fake Princess
A Lily Blooms In Another World
Sexiled
Deathbound Duke's Daughter

As for the ones I'm not yet caught up on...

Unwanted Undead Adventurer
The Magic In This Other World is Too Far Behind
How Not To Summon A Demon Lord

xdrfiredogx

@Rahul-Balaggan See, from most I'd think this was a troll post. But I know perfectly well that is isn't and you are being entirely serious, which just make it that much more impressive.

So, for me the "Read" and "Buy" reasoning tends to be a bit different. I read... a lot. I can't top RB of course, but last time I checked I was over 40 titles and that's been a few months ago. I do have my own quality standards and will drop something that seems like a waste of time to continue but I love stories and enjoy reading and experiencing new tales.

I'm generally not going to bite on generic power trip isekai stuff, here or elsewhere. For me it has to actually add to what would otherwise be a workable story, such as Der Werewolf or Cooking with Wild Game, and not be the whole reason why the story happens in the first place. There are exceptions of course... being reincarnated into that world is core to AoB for example, but there is so much character and world building that it just becomes one (vital) cog in the story and isn't the story itself. I'll also make an exception for series that aren't trying to take themselves too seriously, like Black Summoner or Potions Loli.

Outside of that I read most everything else, especially anything that is pure fantasy (i.e. Slayers, Tearmoon, Altina, etc) or scifi (i.e. Clockwork Planet, Dendrogram).

What I buy, however, tends to be more strict. Simply put, there is more content than time to read it, even at my pace. So my purchases are always either something I can't read otherwise (i.e. Spice and Wolf, Baccano), something (physical) that I am buying either to give to someone else or make sure someone else has the chance to read it (i.e. First and Last Idol), something I know I don't want to be rushed in reading (i.e. my awesome FMP and Crest of the Stars omnibus hardcovers) or it is one of the few series I do see re-readability in (i.e. AoB, ID, Marielle Clarac).

Even before J-Novel I avoided the... less reputable places to find stuff to read. I'd pretend it's due to moral high ground but really it's more to do with not wanting to start reading something and then have it not finish. That can happen with legal published material - *looks at the 14 of 18 volumes of Eden in the bookcase, flips Dark Horse the bird yet again * - but it's more rare. I got burned enough by that back in the old manga scanlation days to not be willing to go though it again. The one series that is the exception to that is Hyouka, which is fantastic to read (as is the anime to watch) and which Sam's commented in the past that he can't forsee trying to licence since the existing fan translated version is too good/complete for it to sell enough to cover the expenses.

Speaking of novels, I think I accidentally wrote one here