An open heart is an invitation to pain.
Creative Staff:
Written by: Matsuri Isora
Art: Nanna Fujimi
Translation: Alice Prowse
What They Say
Danger and Daring at the School Festival! Despite the threat uncovered at the chess competition, plans for the school festival and Felix’s big debut remain unchanged, making Monica’s mission to protect him more important than ever. Luckily, self-proclaimed villainess Isabelle and fellow sage Louis Miller are here to help. But then, on the morning of the festival, Monica learns there’s a cursed tool somewhere in the academy! Protecting the prince, retrieving a dangerous item, and maintaining her secret identity—can Monica make it through her first and only school festival in one piece?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The school festival has arrived and Monica ends up facing her most dangerous challenge yet as antagonistic forces attempt to navigate the school during Prince Felix’s big chance to show his power-hungry uncle how collected he is. Juggling a secret identity, mission, a secondary danger of a lost artifact, and the usual social bombshells, Monica has her work cut out for her.
What I really enjoy about this series is that Monica is not all-powerful. We are very aware of her limits and we have learned what they are. Each volume adds a bit to her story and this one is no different. Her second mentor after her father was a colleague of his who allowed Monica to start healing and begin to grow as her own mage. That kindness saved Monica and set her on the path she is now on. Even now, Monica realizes she has to rely on the help of others but doesn’t push that help away even as she seeks to solve problems on her own. (An exhausted Monica in a ball gown pushing a cooler of ice because she doesn’t want to trouble Cyrus is oddly relatable.)
For as insular as Monica can be sometimes, she doesn’t miss much of what happens around her. It doesn’t come as a surprise when she immediately recognizes that the enemy has infiltrated their ranks. When she does confront the intruders she shows off just how powerful she can be, and ruthless. It’s easy to be tricked into thinking Monica’s strengths lie in just her quick casting when her real strength is in her ability to think quickly on the fly. Magic is math, and she can calculate faster than anyone.
We also see the first cracks appearing in Monica’s interpersonal systems. While there was once a time when she would be able to easily ignore the threat of bodily harm to someone who wasn’t herself, now she cares. That caring is a weakness, but it’s not one that she would trade. She’s becoming increasingly aware that her days masquerading as Monica Norton will be short-lived and that she’ll miss her school life.
The one-sided love triangle is starting to impact the actions of those around Monica. Monica doesn’t understand romantic love, and I’m not going to assign a label of asexual aromantic to her but that’s how she acts. She sees Cyrus as a friend and fellow council member, but he’s clearly become smitten with her. Meanwhile, the Prince is wrestling with a feeling of jealousy over Monica that lies somewhere between possessiveness and genuine affection. Add to that the complication that the third prettiest girl in school (but certainly first in pettiness) is taking for granted an assumed arranged marriage, and Bridget is picking up on what the prince isn’t, and we have a recipe for romance disaster.
While the introduction of a few new factions and important characters occurs in this volume, we’re still no closer to understanding the power players and their motivations. We learn that the enemy may not exactly want to kill the second prince but have no idea what their real goal is. Duke Clockford remains a heavy-handed manipulator. Louis remains shady as fuck, despite his role as Monica’s handler. (I’m increasingly disliking Louis and I believe that’s by design.) The weakest character in the story is Ray. He is cartoony in a way that pushes the boundaries in the silliest direction. He’s just such an over-the-top angst-ridden boy. The addition of shamanic powers in the story is an interesting wrinkle, but it’s hard to take seriously when the representative of that power is Ray.
In Summary
Silent Witch continues to build out a cast of characters that go a step above the usual light novel fare. As Monica’s confidence grows she confronts threats to her secret identity, mission, and above all her hardened way of looking at the world as nothing more than equations that need to be solved. The attention that she’s getting from the two young men closest to her does fall into a bit of a typical pattern, especially with the clueless Monica not picking up on the vibes. Yet these developments don’t bother me, because for as talented as Monica is she isn’t infallible, and neither are they. The plot of the outside forces remains a complete mystery that only grows, layering on the danger from outside and within. This isn’t just a good light novel series, it’s a good fantasy series.
Content Grade: A –
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: A –
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13 +
Released By: YEN ON
Release Date: July 25, 2023
MSRP: $15.00 US / $19.50 CAN
