One of the questions I often get asked through my YouTube videos is “What book would you recommend to someone just getting into Light Novels?”
My answers have varied over time, usually inquiring what genres the person likes, what shows/anime/comics/manga the person enjoys. Since light novels cover such a wide variety of stories, it can be difficult to have a “One size fits all” answer.
Well, Cho over at EnglishLightNovels.com decided to create an article just for those people. He approached a number of light novel bloggers (myself included) and asked for our lists of books we often recommend. He then organized those books by genre and assigned each of us two titles. For our assigned titles, we gave a short synopsis of the series, and what type of audience it would appeal to.
The article, LIGHT NOVEL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEGINNERS, is now live at his site and worth giving a read. It’s also great seeing other light novel reviewers you may not be familiar with. And unlike myself, who focuses only on commercially available books, some of the reviewers also discuss fan translations on their websites.
While I don’t personally read fan translations, I still find it interesting and informative to see what titles fans are putting so much work into. Inevitably, these titles end up being the big anime or official releases down the road.
So if you’re new to light novels, or have a friend/loved one who is, send them over to the article for some great recommendations.
BTW, EnglishLightNovels.com also has an ongoing list of all the upcoming official releases. It’s a great resource, one I visit often myself.