May 26, 2022

A series of mystery stories featuring the half-vampire teenager 神代エリカ, her father the full-blood vampire フォン・クロロック, and her classmates. The wikipedia entry says that as the series progresses, the characters grow up, progress through school, and experience other life events. There are 3 stories in this book.

I think the term “light novel” didn’t exist yet when the first volume of this series was written (1981), but it’s known as a precursor to the genre, and current reviewers on JP sites describe these as light novels. The tone and style seem like it’s meant as a fast and easy read for teenagers or younger. There’s very little attention given to scenery or descriptions.

The writing style here is plain and considerably easier than the other 赤川次郎 book I’ve read (三毛猫ホームズの推理). There are some N2 and N1 grammar points here and there, but they tend to be the common ones. The sentence structure is short and direct, with lots of dialogue and plenty of white space. There isn’t a wide range of vocabulary and what’s used are mostly common words. If you’ve heard people saying that 赤川次郎's books are easy, this series is definitely one that fits that description.

There is no furigana for kanji which middle school students would be expected to know, but it’s added for higher-level kanji the first time they’re shown in a chapter. If the word is repeated within that chapter, it will not have furigana. If you have N2-ish kanji and want something with reduced but not zero furigana, this is a good style for that.

I wanted something easy to read, but this didn’t pull me in. Perhaps because it’s so extremely light on description and mood-setting, it didn’t have the characterization or atmosphere to catch my interest. I found it harder to pay attention here than with some other books which are more difficult.

Gradings:10
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basilsauce graded
on November 4, 2022
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on August 26, 2022
basilsauce graded
on August 14, 2022
easier thanボッコちゃんL31
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on August 12, 2022
easier than異端の祝祭L28
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on May 26, 2022
easier than君の名はL28
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on May 26, 2022
easier thanしずかな日々L27
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on May 26, 2022
easier than怪盗探偵山猫L31
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on May 26, 2022
easier than怪人二十面相L28
basilsauce graded
on May 26, 2022
basilsauce graded
on May 26, 2022
easier thanコンビニ人間L30