finished this on a plane a few days ago, this one was a lot shorter than the other novels, but I liked it :) the case was interesting, but the Norman's Hotel in volume 2 will probably always be my favourite. I looove Licorne tho.. can't wait to see how his character develops
A really great ending doesn’t save this novel feeling a bit meandering and slow.
The mystery was fine, step down from the last two mainly because it felt like it started too late and ended too early. The trick was interesting but I felt some of the deductions was a bit of a stretch.
The setups for later novels are interesting and I wanna see where a lot of this pays off but I’ve been saying that for the past 3 novels now, a lot of set up constantly happening with a payoff that feels far away.
In the moment, this felt far too long, which is saying a lot because its not even a particularly long book to read.
Its not all bad, the dynamic of the protagonists are still great and I hope this does lead to a grand payoff. Hopefully things pickup, but as it stands my novel ratings go: 1 > 2 > 3
I pray by the end it’s not constantly declined quality.
Unlike the 2nd volume there is a little more added to the novel with the explanations of the Detective Library and the organization titled Crime Victims' Relief Committee. The plot starts off with the MC, Samidare Yui visiting the Library and catching glimpse of a blue haired youth. Chasing after him she encounters an elderly, Ryuuzouji Gekka, who is described to be one of the top ranked detectives registered in the Library. After some introductions and some envelope selections the plot moves onto introducing the blue haired youth, called Licorne. Events after that involve the three splitting up and attempting to solve 12 crime cases as the chapters nearing the end introduce the first location along with 4 other detectives that would make reappearances in volumes 4 & 5. As for characters, the author makes it a habit to lay out every little detail of the character straight up without having the character do other interactions and 3 other detectives, "Salvador Fukuro Yadorigi", "Mizuiyama Sachi", and "Yaki Hajiki" have the liberty of reoccurring which means their character is fleshed out, but only slightly. Other characters are introduced only to be tossed out to the curb. As for organizations and concepts such as the Library, the Crime Victims' Relief Committee and the Duel Noire little info is given regarding explanations and how exactly they operate, leading to a very inconclusive picture and most are left up to the reader's interpretation (which in my opinion isn't a good sign).
Unlike the 2nd volume there is a little more added to the novel with the explanations of the Detective Library and the organization titled Crime Victims' Relief Committee. The plot starts off with the MC, Samidare Yui visiting the Library and catching glimpse of a blue haired youth. Chasing after him she encounters an elderly, Ryuuzouji Gekka, who is described to be one of the top ranked detectives registered in the Library. After some introductions and some envelope selections the plot moves onto introducing the blue haired youth, called Licorne. Events after that involve the three splitting up and attempting to solve 12 crime cases as the chapters nearing the end introduce the first location along with 4 other detectives that would make reappearances in volumes 4 & 5. As for characters, the author makes it a habit to lay out every little detail of the character straight up without having the character do other interactions and 3 other detectives, "Salvador Fukuro Yadorigi", "Mizuiyama Sachi", and "Yaki Hajiki" have the liberty of reoccurring which means their character is fleshed out, but only slightly. Other characters are introduced only to be tossed out to the curb. As for organizations and concepts such as the Library, the Crime Victims' Relief Committee and the Duel Noire little info is given regarding explanations and how exactly they operate, leading to a very inconclusive picture and most are left up to the reader's interpretation (which in my opinion isn't a good sign).