I’m sure there are a lot, maybe even having read more books under their belt than myself. I have read only a fair amount of light novels, since I can only read the ones that are translated. Despite that, I’ve enjoyed those that I’ve chanced upon, so much so that I re-read them every now and then.

Here are three of my favorite titles ^^

1.) Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria [ The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria ], Hakomari

                  Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Mari, or Hakomari, is a (hopefully still) ongoing series, with four volumes out, written by Eiji Mikage. A fantasy/mystery style novel that got me reading for five or so hours straight. It tells the story of Kazuki Hoshino, a person who finds content in his everyday life. That is until a transfer student, Aya Otonashi, transfers for the 13, 118th time, approaches him on her “first” day, and proclaims that she will “break” him. That was only the beginning though, as Kazuki discovers more otherworldly occurrences through mediums called “boxes”. He and Aya now struggle to uncover truths about the boxes, the one who gave the boxes in the first place, as well as the truth between themselves. It may not sound interesting, the way I’m describing it now, but the first few pages are really thought provoking. I love Kazuki and Aya’s character. They are almost perfectly contrasted; Kazuki loves his everyday life, while Aya loathes it, yet, they suit each other quite well. However, this is by no means a romance novel. The mystery presented through the four novels really comes out as more of a thriller, the way it gives you that “edge of your seat” kind of feeling. The unexpected twists were really a treat as well. Currently, there has been no news about the fifth novel, but the author assures that the series is not cancelled. Believe me, if you’ve read up to the fourth novel, you’d be itching for the next one too.

2.) Kara no Kyoukai [ The Boundary of Emptiness ], Rakkyo

                  Kara no Kyoukai is a series written by Kinoku Nasu, which has two volumes (three as of the later re-release) with eight parts, and one epilogue. I think that some, if not all Anime fans know of Kara no Kyoukai in one way or another. It was a well done adaptation of an equally awesome novel series. To those who are not familiar with Kara no Kyoukai, it is the story of Shiki Ryougi, a woman who has acquired the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (the ability to see the death of, well, basically anything that exists) which can only be acquired by living through a near-death experience. In Shiki’s case, it was as she woke up from her two-year coma. With her, is her childhood friend, Kokutou Mikiya, an average guy who works with Shiki in a sort of “special cases” firm, under Aozaki Touko. The story is told in an anachronistic order, which gives it more of a mystery feel. It is also a bit darker, compared to other light novels, but this is due to the seriousness of the story as a whole. This is one of Nasu’s earlier works, but it still remains to be a very good read, eve when compared to his later works in visual novels like Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night. I’d recommend this, not only to Nasu fans, but to anyone in general who likes to read.

3.) Gekkou [ Moonlight ]

                  Gekkou is a one-shot novel written by Natsuki Mamiya. I remember only picking this up on a whim, since I had nothing else to read at the time. All I can say is, I’m glad I did. Gekkou is, again, another mystery themed novel, this time, with a rather detective-like twist to it. Nonomiya is a teenager who seems to have grown weary of his ordinary life. That is until he discovers the “Murder recipe”, or at least part of it. Listed within the piece of paper were some step-by-step procedures of, well, murder. He found it in one of his classmates’ notebook. To add to Nonomiya’s already perplexed situation, said notebook belonged to the class’ idol, so to speak, Youko Tsukimori. I’ll stop there, and say that this is also worthy to be picked up, and I don’t want risk spoiling the story. I liked it so much, I finished it in almost one sitting. Twist after twist after twist within a single novel. You’ll find yourself immersed in the various thought processes of Nonomiya as he tries to figure out what is actually going on. Then again, this one is rather rough compared to the ones above, but one can just overlook that and appreciate what the author was trying to do (also, this was the author’s debut work)

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There you have it. So, how about you guys? Any light novels that you find awesome? I’d love a new read, so if you guys have any suggestions, I’d be more than pleased to hear it ^^

Also, you’ll easily find these novels floating around the internet, so yeah