#Review: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Vol. 14
#LightNovel Satatoru Yamaguchi
English Pub: #JNovelClub
Rating (1-9) 6 (Good)

We are now well into Katarina’s (Bakarina’s) adventures surviving the otome sequel “Fortune Lover II.” This time she only has clues to what happens in the game. But now she had a whole harem of friends to help.

In volume 14, she must survive the Cezar Dahl route.

The journey is leisurely with the first part of the volume reading like a pleasant slice of life story: eating good food, chatting with friends, and struggling to read the Dark Magic tome she is supposed to translate. It is only in the last third that the adventure portion gets rolling.

I found the last section hurried and the entrance of Sarah, the dark antagonist, being overly short. A fair portion of this section deasl with Cezar’s tracking down a high-ranking antag. This turns out to be mainly “tell” with little “show.” We are reminded of the yuri subtext by the presence of her jealous but protective female friends.

Despite that, the volume was enjoyable, and I finished it in one day. It just could have been better. Which is why it fails to climb above a 6 into the excellent class.

Review based on PrePub version available until: 25/01/15

Digital release 24/12/19

https://j-novel.club/series/my-next-life-as-a-villainess-all-routes-lead-to-doom

#MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom #Bakarina #SatatoruYamaguchi #Fantasy #NMReview

#Review: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
#LightNovel Satatoru Yamaguchi
English Pub: #JNovelClub
Rating (1-9) 6 (Good)

Like most long series, this one is uneven with the first few volumes being the best. (13 volumes released in English and 14 in prepubs.) It’s a well-used plot Katarina Claes suddenly remembers her prior life and realizes she is the villainess in an otome. The first few volumes are excellent with a good dose of blatant subtext yuri. When Katarina (Bakarina) survives all the game’s death flags, winning the hearts of all the characters on the way, the author loses focus on what made the series good to begin with. I almost gave up on it. Then the author picks up the tone again, and the series regains its footing. Bakarina, through charisma, luck, and lots of friends: surviving adventures, surmounting death flags, and all the while remains clueless. Yuri, unfortunately, becomes a faint echo of the beginning.

https://j-novel.club/series/my-next-life-as-a-villainess-all-routes-lead-to-doom

#MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom #Bakarina #SatatoruYamaguchi #Fantasy #NMReview