Spice & Wolf book 3
Author: Isuna
Hasekura
Illustrator: Jyuu
Ayakuya
Yen Press
256 pages
Review warning: Post contains
spoilers for the third light novel in the Spice & Wolf series. Read with
caution!
Having narrowly
escaped financial ruin, Lawrence turns his attention to helping Holo find her
ancient homeland in the North. But how long can a traveling merchant afford to
wander the countryside looking for a village that he suspects may have ceased
to exist long ago? When a rival merchant sets his sights on Lawrence's
beautiful companion, though, can Lawrence truly be confident that Holo will
remain by his side? Has the time come when Lawrence must ask himself whether
his relationship with the Wisewolf is business or pleasure?
You would think that
after squeaking out a victory in Ruvinheigen with the armor racket that
Lawrence would think twice about getting into a risky financial maneuver – but this
is Lawrence we're talking about, and the stakes aren't just for
financial gain but for the hand of his own traveling companion.
Yes, for the first
time, Lawrence is in serious jeopardy of losing Horo’s companionship forever.
But what is Horo to him, actually? It’s this question that dominates this
volume of Spice & Wolf and makes it a memorable one.
Too bad Lawrence
spends most of this book acting like a total dingus! No, I’m not being glib;
Kraft Lawrence does a lot of stupid things, most of them revolving around Horo.
Perhaps Horo has turned Lawrence into a moron who wishes to protect her from
the truth – but what is there to protect Horo from? She is, after all, the wolf
goddess of the harvest. If anyone is the protector, it is her. Even Lawrence has to admit to himself how much he relies on
her cunning and strength.
In the end, trust
issues and lies keep Lawrence from connecting to Horo truthfully and in the end
causes a seemingly final disconnect between them, leading to the competition
between Lawrence and love-struck fish merchant Amati. It also does not help
that his reluctance to tell the truth about Yoitsu drives that wedge even
deeper between them. Someone should tell him about honesty being the best
policy, because right now keeping secrets is not working out for him.
It’s a shame that
Amati seemed like such a sweet little harmless guy at first with a crush on
Horo, only to turn into an obsessive jerk bent on separating Lawrence and Horo.
That’s probably unfair of me, but who the hell just offers to buy up his love
interest? A jerk, that’s who he is. He claims to have romantic intentions but
Amati never asks Horo what she wants. Neither does Lawrence, but we as readers
expect him to be pigheaded – and he never explicitly comes out and calls Horo
his love.
Honestly, I think the
one thing that is keeping this volume from being perfect is Lawrence being,
well, Lawrence. His reluctance to actually talk to Horo and tell her the truth,
as well as his taking up the silly contest against Amati in the first place,
really puts him in a bad light – a bad, stupid light. He really did break Horo’s
heart. It’s a bit amazing that Horo came back to him, but theirs is a relationship
that cannot be shaken by simple people like Amati.
Having said that, the
moment when Lawrence is lost for ideas and taps into his inner Horo was
delightful. I think he should do that more often; after all, Horo won’t be
around forever. Or if she is, she won’t always be around to save Lawrence every
time. As a merchant, Lawrence can learn a lot of stuff from Horo that can help
him plan clever things as a trader. That pyrite scheme, for once, was genius.
One of my favorite
things was the world-building around the town of Kumersun. I really wanted to
learn more about the alchemists who live in the walled-off area! Plus, the
chronicler Diana was a truly fascinating character. Her conversations with
Lawrence were some of my favorite scenes in the book. I can only hope that we
return to the characters of Kumersun sometime in the future. I’m not holding my
breath though; this series does not have a history of returning anywhere.
All in all, it was a
rather big volume for Lawrence and Horo. They managed to get over their hump
concerning what they meant to each other – or at least for now – and are back
on the road to Horo’s home land, which may or may not still be there. As long
as the journey to Yoitsu is as enjoyable and eventful as it has been, readers
won’t hesitate in going along with them.
You can read more
about future volumes of the Spice & Wolf light novel series at the Yen
Press series page.
No comments:
Post a Comment