Adarain

「お金は取れる時に、取れるところから、取れるだけ、取っておくものだ」

Book 1 had Myne at the absolute lowest point. Now things are finally looking to go her way at least a bit. The merchant Benno has agreed to support her and Lutz and possibly take them in as apprentices once they’re old enough. Their mission: Make paper.

Unlike the first book, this one feels more narratively focused. Myne is no longer fumbling around for possible things she can do, but has a goal she can devote all her attention to. This change alone alread

本が買えないなら、本を作ろう。でも、本をつくるにも紙がない。紙がないならば紙を作ろう。でも、紙を作るにも体力、腕力、身長、年齢、お金がない。

After book-loving Urano gets killed in an earthquake, she finds herself in an unfamiliar environment — she is now Myne, the daughter of a city guard and a textile worker, and lives with them and her big sister in a tiny apartment somewhere in a pre-industrial city. And Myne has three big problems: Her living standards are terrible, her new body is extremely weak and prone to fevers at the lightest exertion, and worst of al

More enjoyable than the first volume

While the first novel is basically a collection of entirely separate adventures, this volume has more of a cohesive story. It’s still structured in an adventure-of-the-week fashion, but events now have consequences throughout the whole book. I especially loved a segment roughly in the middle of the book where after being faced with some prejudices people have about witches, Kiki falls into a bit of a slump and it takes her a few chapters to get fully back on track. All in all,