By Kamihara and Shiro46. Released in Japan as “Tensei Reijo to Sūki na Jinsei o” by Hayakawa Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

This review has massive spoilers, and I’m pretty sure that each review I do of this series will have to have the same thing.

When I first heard that J-Novel Club would be splitting the books in half starting from this volume, I admit I was a bit disappointed, the same way that a kid might pout when being told he can’t go on the 20-mile hike. I was looking forward to another 500+-page monster! Having finished this Part 1 volume, I admit that I’m actually grateful to them, as frankly, I’m exhausted. And so is Karen, to be fair. This series can best be described as “Everything happens at once”, and that applies even more so to this volume. The first book at least had occasional parts where a relaxed and happy Karen toured the grounds, or learned about the political landscape with her elderly husband. This volume has no time for that. It needs to run flat out to get to the cliffhanger at the end of the book. Which means resolving the cliffhanger at the end of the LAST book. Which involves… well, read on.

We open with Karen watching in horror as Sven, Nico and Doctor Emma are brutally murdered outside the mansion. Yeah, sorry, it’s that kind of book. As the rest of the cast desperately try to get to safety, it’s become clear that “bandits” are attacking and massacring everyone, and that one of the people they’ve been told to kill is Karen herself. At the end of a very long massacre, the only survivors who are able to stagger to the capital are Karen, younger son Wendell, steward Whateley… and a few townsfolk who managed to avoid being mass murdered. Karen now has to deal with trying to explain to the King how this domain got completely destroyed, try to set things up so that Wendell can inherit as her late husband wanted, and also try to secure her own future, which means NOT going back to her family. Unfortunately, it rapidly becomes clear that even staying in this country is going to be extremely unsafe…

There are some lovely pieces of prose in this series. I don’t normally read things this dark, but the writing pulls me in, which is a plus. My favorite part was probably Karen and Whateley being very angry at the Margrave for not coming back as a ghost and haunting them, so they could feel his presence still. I also like Karen trying to figure out what’s going on (which she MOSTLY does, though not in time to do much but damage control) and also figure out how to talk about what she suspects without getting straight up murdered. It helps that she and Reinald continue to be, frankly, perfect for each other. I’m half convinced that the main reason he does not have someone like her quickly taken care of is that he absolutely cannot get a bead on how she thinks – and he’s not alone. Then again, no one can get a bead on how Reinald thinks either, especially after the climax of this book.

By the “end” of this book, the nation has fallen and Reinald is greeting the invader… his younger sister. And may I remind you this was only HALFWAY through the original book. Riveting and compelling, but I believe tomorrow I will take a “no light novels today” break to rest.