The summer light novel reading program is under full swing, but I’m still making time for another post full of news, reviews, and other LN-related links. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s start off with what’s new on everyone’s bookshelves and e-readers.

Recent Releases

In May, there were seven light novels released: Naruto – Sakura’s Story, My Favorite Song – The Silver Siren (vol 1), Baccano! (vol 1), Strike the Blood (vol 3), Overlord (vol 1), Another: Episode S/0, and Seraph of the End – Guren Ichinose Catastrope at Sixteen (vol 2).

And then in June, there were four more light novels released: Rising of the Shield Hero (vol 4), Psycome (vol 1), A Certain Magical Index (vol 7), and Attack on Titan – Lost Girls.

Upcoming Releases

We have five new releases coming out in a few days (on July 19th): Durarara!! (vol 4), Log Horizon (vol 5), Re:Zero (vol 1), Kagerou Daze (vol 4), and Legend of the Galactic Heroes (vol 2). It had appeared Galactic Heroes was going to release in August, but it looks like it will be here sooner than that.

August will certainly be a big month for light novel releases though. Nine releases all on August 23rd! That will include newcomer The Asterisk War. For the full list of releases, take a look at the right sidebar, which I try to update regularly.

Site News

• Are you all keeping up with the summer reading? Try to remember to share your thoughts on the books each week!
• I’ve started some more thorough updates on the light novel entries… I’m done with the series that start with A and B, along with a few scattered others. (For an example, here’s the Accel World entry.) I’ll try to keep at this in the upcoming months, but we’ll see how that goes.
• I will be moving back to Japan this month! I am going to be doing some English teaching again. Hopefully I can learn a bit a lot more Japanese too? We’ll see how that goes.

English Light Novel News

Recent license acquisitions:

• Goblin Slayer! (Yen On) — volume 1 releases December 13th
• Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (Yen On) — volume 1 releases January 24th
• Konosuba (Yen On) — no release date yet
• Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers (Yen On) — no release date yet
• Nisemonogatari (Vertical) — volume 1 releases April 2017
• The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku (Seven Seas) — volume 1 releases May 2017

Other news:

• For those curious about Goblin Slayer, you can “preview” the light novel’s story by checking out the simulpub release of the manga adaptation’s first chapter.

• Are you looking forward to The Asterisk War, the first volume of which will release in English next month? If you have a PS Vita, you will be able to play a video game based off this light novel series on July 26th. This will be a digital release in North America and Europe, and will be localized with the strange title A.W.: Phoenix Festa.
• Speaking of video games, there will be a special release for the next Sword Art Online game (subtitled Hollow Realization). This collector’s edition set for the Playstation 4 game will include figures of Kirito and Asuna, among other goodies in North America. A set for the game in Europe will just include the figures.

Japanese Light Novel News

What are the top-selling light novel series in Japan for the first half of 2016?

• Konosuba — 757,412
• Sword Art Online — 489,374
• The Irregular at Magic High School — 371,880
• Sword Art Online: Progressive — 321,535
• Monogatari Series — 308,471
• No Game No Life — 304,721
• Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash — 302,013
• Boukyaku Tantei Series — 297,459
• Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu — 280,586
• Re:Zero — 263,357

• For the top-selling light novel volumes specifically, check out this article. From the looks of things, it seems everyone in Japan is picking up a full set of Konosuba.
• The anime adaptation of Konosuba will be getting a second season in winter 2017, by the way.
• Speaking of successful light novel series, Re:Zero now has a million copies in print!
• Also, the same can be said for Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? (And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online?).
• After ten years, the light novel series Read or Die will finally be getting a continuation. Volume 12 will release this August, followed by the final volume 13 in 2017.

• Guess what anime is getting a spin-off novel? The Lost Village! Apparently I’m not the only one who liked this series? At any rate, this book will release in August, and will focus on the character who goes by Lion. A second volume will later release, focusing on Koharun.
• One of the more oddly-named light novel series, Do you have what THE END? Are you busy? Shall you save XXX?, will be receiving an anime adaptation.
• Aspiring authors in Japan, do you have what it takes to write a short story that isn’t about an average high school boy finding himself transported into the world of Dragon Quest?
• Speaking of contests, this 81-year-old is out to win the MF Bunko J Light Novel Rookie of the Year Award. I wonder what his story is about?
• Releasing in Japan this September: two new Spice and Wolf novels. (Spoiler Alert!)

• Do you love No Game No Life? Soon you will be able to get Nendoroid figures of the two main characters.
• For all of you going to see the new Accel World movie in Japan, you may be able to get your hands on a new short story written by Reki Kawahara. It is titled “Accel World: Jump to Infinity,” and will be available from July 23rd to 29th.
• One anime airing this season I ought to mention: Qualidea Code, streaming on Crunchyroll. This is part of a cross-media franchise that originated from Sou Sagara (The “Hentai” Prince and the Stony Cat), Koushi Tachibana (Date A Live) and Wataru Watari (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU). If you want to learn more, here is a blog post telling you everything you need to know!

Links to Recent Reviews and Articles

• For those interested in learning more about the Kono Ranobe ga Sugoi! contest, Melodicity presents a nice perusal of the most recent volume of the official booklet.
• Also from Melodicity, a review for the first volume of Zaregoto.

• New review from The August Hail: several volumes of The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria, Psycome (volume 1), and Dantalian no Shoka (volume 1).
• From wcthinking, a look into Sword Art Online: Progressive.
• Want to learn more about Cross Infinite World and their new light novel releases? The OASG had a nice interview article with them.
• Also from OASG, a discussion on the first English release for the Baccano! series.
• At Nerd Rambles, an overview of The Devil is a Part-Timer! series.
• And at Sour Whiskey, an overview of the Book Girl series.

And that's all I have for now! Please feel free to post links to more light novel-related articles, and to share your thoughts on this feature or anything else for the site.