Results for the LN Summer Reading Program 2016

(pictured: Grimgal of Fantasy and Ash)
(pictured: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash)

The results are in! I can now share a full lineup for what we’ll read and discuss this summer.

The poll for officially-released light novel had a clear winner in Re:Zero, which earned first place with 67 votes. We will read that book in August, following Baccano! in June and Psycome in July. Looks like we’ll be sticking with new releases for each month then. For those interested, here are the full results of the poll.

Meanwhile for fan-translated light novels, first place was The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria (to be read in June) with 27 votes, followed by second place Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (to be read in July) with 17 votes. Here are the full results of the poll in the end.

For my fan-translated light novel pick, I will go with Our Journey to the End of the Ceasing World. This happened to get third place in the poll with 13 votes. It was on my to-read list already… Actually, it’s already on my Kindle! So let’s give that a read this August.

Summary: In June, we will read the first volumes of Baccano! and The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria. Then in July, we will read the first volumes of Psycome and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash. And finally in August, we will read the first volumes of Re:Zero and Our Journey to the End of the Ceasing World. All in all, I think it’s a nice variety of stories! Below are links to help you get these novels:

How the first month’s reading schedule will probably play out:

  • June 12th — discussion for Act One (the first third) of Baccano! and The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria
  • June 19th — discussion for Act Two (the middle third) of Baccano! and The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria
  • June 26th — discussion for Act Three (the final third) of Baccano! and The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria

I’ll give page numbers to read up to or specific chapters to finish for each month’s three posts. This way, we can discuss what we like or dislike about how the stories are going, and predict what will happen next. As always, feel free to ask questions here. Thanks for voting, everyone! I’ll be sure to post specifics for June’s reading once that month approaches.

23 thoughts on “Results for the LN Summer Reading Program 2016”

    1. I don’t think it was really on anyone’s radar, but that makes me a little curious to see if it was brought over for good reason.

  2. I have been thinking of rereading Our Journey to the End of the Ceasing World, so I might join that one :) Hopefully I remember by then…

  3. I’m very much looking forward to Baccano. That’s what I would’ve read anyways so it fits in perfectly well.
    This also seems to be a nice chance to finally get around to reading The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria .

    1. June will be an interesting month, as both these titles can be considered cult classics that are held in high regard.

  4. I’ll read Psycome and HakoMari (already halfway through vol 1), but Baccano…? Well I’d really like to buy it, but since it’s a hardcover it’s more expensive.

      1. Yes, but
        1. I like holding the book in my hands (yep sounds weird xD)
        2. I’m from germany, and I don’t know of any way for me to get ebooks from America

    2. Sorry, it seems I can’t reply to the last comment you made, so I’m replying here.

      If you want, I think you can just use Google Play to get the ebook. I’m from Europe (Italy) and I’ve never had any problem buying American ebooks. It’s been a life saver even for university.

  5. I’ll definitely be reading along for Baccano! (I’m excited to read the official translation for it!) and will try to follow along with the fan translated light novels as well. Sadly, Psycome really doesn’t sound like my cup of tea and I’m uncertain about Re:Zero so I don’t think I’ll be picking them up.

    1. Feel free to just read the books that sound interesting to you! I don’t expect all of these to appeal to everyone.

  6. Ahh, the Re:Zero hype wins the day. Well, it’ll be interesting to see how the LN version differs from the web novel version, so I suppose I’ll give it a read.

    Funnily enough, Psycome interests me the most out of the official releases because it has no anime attached to it. I have no idea what to expect from it and that’s kind of exciting haha.

    1. Be sure to share what’s different between the LN and the web novel versions of Re:Zero. I’d be curious to hear how much editing and revision goes on from one to the next.

      I don’t know what to think of Psycome either, but sometimes it’s fun to just pick up a book on a whim and see if it takes you by surprise. I’ve grabbed random books at the library before and have given them a read… Sometimes they’re pretty good! (And sometimes they’re VERY bad, but I’m going to try staying positive for now.)

      No anime for Zeroth Maria or Ceasing World either; give those a try too if you wish. ;)

    1. My goal in all this is to encourage more discussion about light novels in general, so hopefully things pan out well enough for these summer reading posts. Last year’s discussions were fun, so I imagine things will be interesting this year too.

  8. I have already read first volume Polish official release of Zeroth Maria, but I will engage in discussion at final act I think. Or even better, I can read English fan translation for comparison.
    I will finally read Our Journey to the End of the Ceasing World too.

    1. Would love to hear what you think of the two versions of Zeroth Maria! I think that’s really neat you can read books in two languages. (I’m currently working on Japanese myself… It’ll be a while before I can read a whole book easily though.)

      I’ve heard good things about Ceasing World, and it’s been on my to-read list for a while now. I tend to like quiet and pensive stories, which it sounds like this story is, despite its post-apocalyptic setting.

  9. I found out about this blog just today and i’m so happy! Light novels have been ignored for so long in the West that coming back to them and finding out so many in English got me all excited XD

    If I find the time (and I remember), I’ll try to follow along for Zeroth Maria and Grimgar. I’m going to read Baccano! too, but I think I’ll get to it later than June, maybe with Re:Zero.

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