For general information on this series: Pandora Hearts – Caucus Race entry
This review is for the first volume of Pandora Hearts: Caucus Race by Shinobu Wakamiya. The English edition was released by Yen Press in June 2015. The second volume released in September 2015, and will be followed by the third in January 2016. So far, there are three volumes available in Japan.
This is a somewhat harder book to review, as it is very much a light novel intended specifically for those who are already fans of the Pandora Hearts franchise. The four stories of this volume assume the reader is well-familiar with all the characters, and is aware of some of the plot twists made in the first half of the series. There is very little in the way of explaining setting-specific terms and giving background information on the characters’ relationships.
For those who know nothing about Pandora Hearts, I will go ahead and strongly recommend giving the manga a try. (It is published by Yen Press, and its final two volumes will be releasing over the next few months.) In a Victorian Europe-like setting with some fantasy elements, a group of characters deal with a variety of large-scale mysteries and a great deal of political intrigue. The character development is some of the best I’ve ever seen, and the artwork is quite lovely (and steadily improves with each progressing volume). It is my #1 favorite manga, and its themes resonate with me strongly.
With all that in mind, you can imagine I was quite excited by the Yen On announcement that the light novel spinoff volumes would be localized for English release. For those who are Pandora Hearts fans, your question now might be: Is this light novel any good? This book is not written by Jun Mochizuki, so in a way it could be considered a kind of fan fiction.
But as luck would have it, I feel the stories here are all written quite nicely, and feel right at home amid the canon of the manga storyline. The prose is simple, but has a bit of an elegant flair to it that I found fitting for Pandora Hearts. The author (Shinobu Wakamiya) seems to have a good grasp on all the characters, as all of them acted very much in a manner I’d expect them to. The stories themselves are overall of the inconsequential variety (perhaps making them “filler” for all intents and purposes), but I found them all enjoyable reads. If you like Oz, Gilbert, Alice, Sharon, Break, Reim, and the others as much as I do, you’ll get a kick out of the antics they get involved in throughout this volume. I considered listing some examples of the situations they end up in, but half of the fun is being surprised by it all.
If you like Pandora Hearts, be sure to pick this volume up. It may not advance the main plot in any way, but it’s a nice chance to spend some more time with a lovely cast of memorable and easy-to-like characters.
Cho’s Rating: Strongly Recommended… for Pandora Hearts fans
so is the light novel a collection of stories then?
Yes indeed. There are four stories in this volume, each one focusing on a different house for the four dukedoms (Vessalius, Nightray, Rainsworth, and Barma). The protagonists in this volume are Oz, Gilbert, Sharon, and Reim.
ok thanks :)
[…] Reviews of Pandora Hearts: Caucus Race Vol 1 – English Light Novels […]
Are the story different from what happened in the anime ?
i didn’t watch the anime but i’m planing to do and read this novel too
These stories are brand new, and not featured in the anime or the manga. The LNs here are side stories intended for fans familiar with the characters in the manga. I personally suggest reading the manga, rather the anime, as the anime only covers a small portion of the story.
i already started the anime and near to finish it,,, so from which volume or chapter should i start reading??
I was wondering how did they adapt a 24 volume in a 24 or 25 EP only XD The manga ended recently in march 2015 so we may have a second season soon
If you want to just continue where the anime left off, I suggest starting with volume 8 of the manga. That is where the plot begins to deviate and move on to new things. (Also note that the last three episodes of the anime don’t happen in the manga. Oz will confront a certain character later on in the story.)
As for the first light novel volume, I suggest reading that after manga volume 12, as it gives away a pretty memorable reveal there.
My impressions of this book:
Story 1 – Meh.
Story 2 – Gay.
Story 3 – Very gay.
Story 4 – Very Reim.
In conclusion, my favourite story was story 3.
I figured as much, ha ha.
Heh heh, what was your favourite chapter?
Oh, I loved them all. I do have a soft spot for Reim though, as he is more or less the only responsible character in the series. He has to put up with a lot of nonsense day in and day out (**I can relate**) so it was nice to see him get a brief reprieve in the fourth story.
[…] Written by Shinobu Wakamiya, inspired by the Pandora Hearts manga from Jun Mochizuki, who also provides illustrations for the book. Originally published in Japan in 2011, Yen On released the English edition in 2015 with translation done by Taylor Engel. This first volume has also previously been reviewed on the site by Cho. […]