How was everyone’s summer? I hope you all had a good time reading light novels. I haven’t been keeping up with all the posts I’ve wanted to publish here, but I think it will be easier now that things have settled a bit with my move back to Japan and wrapping up the summer reading program, etc.

I will go over what light novels released the past couple months, just in case you might have forgotten a volume you were interested in picking up.

July

Durarara!! volume 4 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Log Horizon volume 5 (paperback)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Re:Zero volume 1 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Kagerou Daze volume 4 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Legend of the Galactic Heroes volume 2 (paperback, ebook, audiobook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Durarara!! volume 4 Synopsis:
“Do you enjoy being the Black Rider who’s been spotted all over Ikebukuro over the past few years now? Why is it that you’re riding such a dangerous bike all over the place? Are you aware that you’re violating the law?!” Ikebukuro, Tokyo. A place full of fires waiting to be lit and plenty of people ready to light a match: Twins who are the perfect opposite of each other. An idol who’s nothing like her older brother. A girl with a crush on her senior in the Dollars. And a headless rider with a bounty on her…uh, head. Keeping the peace is probably not gonna happen.

Log Horizon volume 5 Synopsis:
In the sort of autumn afternoon that leaves maidens sighing, new enemies arrives in Akiba! And these enemies are more terrifying than any monster–they’re human. Worse, their target is the very system at the heart of the city–the Round Table Council! Will the tenuous government that Shiroe’s worked so hard to build survive this latest threat?

Re:Zero volume 1 Synopsis:
Subaru Natsuki was just trying to get to the convenience store but wound up summoned to another world. He encounters the usual things–life-threatening situations, silver haired beauties, cat fairies–you know, normal stuff. All that would be bad enough, but he’s also gained the most inconvenient magical ability of all–time travel, but he’s got to die to use it. How do you repay someone who saved your life when all you can do is die?

Kagerou Daze volume 4 Synopsis:
A certain boy and girl meet on a certain endless summer day. They thought they were alone, misunderstood by everyone, but the powers they hold in their eyes lead them to a group that does understand them: the Mekakushi-dan. They’re not alone anymore, but now they have a new mystery to solve: What is the phenomenon of the “kagerou daze,” and who is the shadowy figure behind it?

Legend of the Galactic Heroes volume 2 Synopsis:
In the thirty-sixth century humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time. After a coup d’état erupts in the Free Planets Alliance, military strategist Yang Wen-li is ordered to use his tactical wizardry to put down the rebellion, but the ringleader holding the capital is someone he once trusted deeply. Meanwhile, in the Galactic Empire, Reinhard will soon face a new trial, as in the wake of the emperor’s death he stands amidst an intensifying power struggle among the aristocracy. The unbeatable magician and the unstoppable genius: the battles these heroes wage will send shock waves across the galaxy!

August

A Certain Magical Index volume 8 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

The Irregular at Magic High School volume 2 (paperback)
Amazon — Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Rising of the Shield Hero volume 5 (paperback)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

The Asterisk War volume 1 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Amazon (Kindle) — Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Black Bullet volume 4 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

The Devil is a Part-Timer! volume 5 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? volume 6 (paperback, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Baccano! volume 2 (hardcover, ebook)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

Sword Art Online volume 8 (paperback)
Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository

A Certain Magical Index volume 8 Synopsis:
Tokiwadai Middle School–a place bathed in the envious gazes of all the schoolgirls in Academy City. Every single one of its female students is a proper young lady, and none more so than Mikoto Misaka. Kuroko–a Level Four teleporter and a member of Judgment, the organization that preserves public order in the city–knows this all too well. She invites her darling Misaka out to go shopping, but that’s just the beginning of what ends up being a very, very long day, one in which she sees Misaka’s true form and may wish she hadn’t…

The Irregular from Magic High School volume 2 Synopsis:
Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba are brother and sister, but they share a bond that transcends mere blood relation. Despite the fact that they’re siblings who attend the same school, their lot in life couldn’t be more different. Miyuki’s a Bloom, one of the elite students of Magic High, while Tatsuya’s a Weed, with low expectations and even lower levels of respect. But having skillfully diffused a tense situation, Tatsuya finds himself recruited by the school’s disciplinary committee and soon discovers there’s more to Magic High than he realized…

The Rising of the Shield Hero volume 5 Synopsis:
Naofumi is off to the Cal Mira islands, where he plans to continue leveling up. Soon after arriving he meets a mysterious young man named L'Arc Berg. But how will this curious new character impact Naofumi's adventures? Surrounded by mystery and intrigue, Glass makes her second appearance. Aneko Yusagi’s epic fantasy continues in volume 5!

The Asterisk War volume 1 Synopsis:
The school-city of Rokka-also known as “Asterisk.” Here boys and girls of the Starpulse Generation all compete in the Seibusai-the “star battle festival,” fighting for glory on the greatest combat entertainment stage of the world. Ayato Amagiri has just arrived at one of these academies at the express invitation of its student council president, but when he begins his career by making a dangerous enemy, his life on Asterisk is off to a rough start!

Black Bullet volume 4 Synopsis:
One of the giant Monoliths that protects Tokyo Area from the virally superpowered Gastrea creatures has been destroyed. And right on schedule, the Stage Four Gastrea Aldebaran leads an invading army of the monsters into the city. The elite self-defense forces are sent to face them, and the terrible sounds of war echo across a newly christened battlefield–but soon a tense silence falls. What is it that appears before the eyes of Rentaro and his friends? The near-future thriller of post-apocalyptic survival continues!

The Devil is a Part-Timer! volume 5 Synopsis:
With the repairs to his dingy one-bedroom apartment completed, Maou needs a new TV, so…the Devil’s going digital! The trouble is, Maou and Ashiya don’t know the first thing about flat-screens, so they bring Emi’s friend Rika along with them to the local big-box electronics outlet. For some reason, Suzuno ends up coming along, and it turns into a shopping tour with the whole gang!

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? volume 6 Synopsis:
“Hestia, I challenge you to a War Game!” “What’s with you, Apollo?” A War Game–an all-out proxy war between gods, and the winner takes all. But what is it that Apollo wants? Hestia’s beloved Bell Cranell, of course! With a week to go until the Game, things are bleak enough, but then Lilly is kidnapped by the Soma Familia. The outlook isn’t good , but Bell has made many friends through his adventures, and they won’t stand idly by. The familia myth continues!

Baccano! volume 2 Synopsis:
The place: America. The year: 1931. The setting: the transcontinental express train known as the “Flying Pussyfoot.” Aboard the train are a gang aiming to make some extra cash, a group of revolutionary terrorists trying to recapture their leader, and a pair of thieves looking to meet up with an old friend in New York City. But drunk on the excitement of their departure, none of them are prepared for what awaits them on the rails…

Sword Art Online volume 8 Synopsis:
The saga of Sword Art Online continues with three side stories set during the Aincrad and Alfheim eras. The game of death took its toll on every player in a different way–when one turns up dead on the fifty-seventh floor, the game’s afoot, and it’s up to Asuna and Kirito to crack the case. There’s also the story of how Kirito got his Excalibur sword in Alfheim (with a little help from his friends). And when the game of death first began, Kirito learned a difficult lesson–one he would never forget.

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That was a lot of light novels! Are you keeping up with all your favorite series? What book are you planning to read next? I’m thinking of picking up the second volume ebook of Baccano!, when I get the chance. Also, the second volume of Legend of the Galactic Heroes? I’ll probably go with an audiobook again for that one.

I have two other light novels I’m in the middle of right now though; I need to finish reading those first…