皇女アルスルと角の王 (創元推理文庫 Fす 1-4)

A personal challenging read but I'm glad I pushed through to finish it

This novel is about a young girl アルスル (Perhaps a variant of “Arthur? Who knows), the youngest daughter of the emperor, who is seen as a disappointment by her family and others around her. Why? The people around アルスル assume her lack of being skilled at certain things is because her DNA is tested and concluded to be similar to a non-human’s. In the world アルスル grows up in, there are humans, non-humans (some who serve as servants to humans while others are considered wild creatures), and domesticated animals like cattle.

When the emperor is found dead, and アルスル covered in her father’s blood, she is sent to her relative’s fortified city and castle. There, she is to be judged by the Key Castle’s lord, リサシーブ, an albino leopard who can divine the future.

This story takes a lot of names from Arthurian mythology. Again, most of the challenge in reading this book was from learning the worldbuilding vocabulary and character names. There were moments I wanted to give up and find something lighter to read. But there were surprising moments in the plot that made me want to keep reading and push to the end, despite the challenge. That, and リサシーブ who became my favorite character.