By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.
The basic premise of this series, more than the spy shenanigans, or the moves and counter-moves, or the traumatic cliffhangers, is fairly simple. The narrative lies to the reader over and over again, and we have to try to figure out what’s going on before we have the rug pulled out from under us again. We get a lot of that in this volume, as Lamplight use the idea of narrative convenience to plant doubt in their colleagues’ mind. Everyone knows Avian were really amazing spies. Everyone knows that their symbol was a phoenix, the symbol of rebirth. And everyone knows that faking deaths for drama is something that books have been doing ever since there were books. Surely it’s possible that we were all bamboozled, especially considering THIS author. But that’s not all we’re here to doubt. There’s piles and piles of lies here, and therefore it’s doubly ironic that the star of this book is Sara, who is the most straightforward, honest, and true cast member.
Lamplight is smashed to pieces. Monika is a traitor, and presumed dead. Klaus and Thea are imprisoned. Annette, Erna, and Grete are hospitalized. That leaves the three “weakest” members of Lamplight to figure out who set them up, find the traitor and save the day. Unfortunately, no one trusts them, and they aren’t really allowed to do anything without a watchdog. Despite this, they try to figure out how to stop White Spider, whose backstory we get here, from doing his damndest to kill Klaus – and see exactly why he wants to kill Klaus. There’s traitors galore, there’s one of their members going off the rails and deciding to go full evil, and there’s everyone calling them weak, stupid, and saying they’ll be executed as soon as they blink. With all this going against them, can they find a way to rescue Klaus, stop White Spider, and clear their name? Well, as much as it’s possible to clear their name.
I’ve gushed about Sara before, and want to avoid repeating myself, but man. This is her book, and it’s here when she finally gets a purpose, a reason she wants to be a spy. She’s also brilliant, using her abilities and talents in the best possible way – when White Spider sneers at her and says he saw through it all, I wanted to yell at what a dipshit he was being. I don’t care that he saw through it, it was incredible! I also liked her final conversation with Klaus, and hope she gets that happy ending. Lily and Sybilla, of course, also get their chance to shine, though Sybilla also gets a heaping helping of verbal abuse – EVERYONE seems to loathe Lamplight beyond all reason in this book. I also liked how the ending to this 8th book was a dark, serious mirror to the wacky comedy ending of the 4th book – one involving Lily, the other involving Monika.
This was an excellent ending to this arc. And now it’s time to start a new one… after yet another short story volume. The SS volumes come fast and furious with this series.
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