Light novels are to YA literature what manga are to comics: A Japanese take on the medium that many readers find refreshingly different. Light novels are also closely linked to manga and anime; many, such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Yen Pr., 2009), are the source material for popular anime and manga series, while others, such as Death Note: L, Change the World (Viz, 2009) are spin-offs of manga, usually side stories set in the world of the series rather than retellings of specific story arcs.
Like manga, light novels are often serialized in monthly magazines in Japan and then collected into multivolume series. Fantasy and gaming stories are popular genres. The most popular manga series in the U.S. right now are shonen (teen boy protagonists) action stories, including Naruto and Attack on Titan. Mirroring this, most of the light novels currently available are also shonen titles.
Unlike manga, light novels read from left to right (like a standard English-language book), and they are mostly prose. They are intended to be quick, light reads. A typical volume is between 200 and 300 pages (although American publishers sometimes publish several volumes as one omnibus) and the first few pages often feature portraits of the main characters. There may be illustrations interspersed with the text as well. The writing style is informal, often told in the first person or from the protagonist’s point of view, and there’s plenty of dialogue and action.
The publisher with the biggest line of light novels right now is Yen Press, which has created a separate imprint, Yen On, just for them; they are also publishing many of the associated manga. Viz, Vertical, Seven Seas, and One Peace Books also publish light novels, often spin-offs of their manga series.
Before we start looking at individual titles, here are some resources: Deb Aoki wrote a nice overview of the current light novel market in North America for Publishers Weekly last year. The English Light Novels blog is a good source of information and reviews, and there’s a light novel section on Goodreads. The manga and anime news site Anime News Network also reviews light novels, and their encyclopedia section provides helpful lists of manga and light novel releases.
Here are a handful of light novels for a range of ages and interests.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: The Novel. by Tomoco Kanemaki, Tetsuya Nomura, and Daisuke Watanabe. illus. by Shiro Amano. Yen Pr. 2015. ISBN 9780316261739.
Gr 3 Up–This hefty book collects three volumes of the novel adaptation of the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories action role-playing game, which mixes Disney characters and settings with original-to-the-game characters, including the hero, Sora. In this volume, Sora sets off with Goofy and Donald Duck to find King Mickey and Sora’s friend Riku. The light novel follows the plot of the game closely, starting out with Sora and his friends in the middle of their quest without any backstory, so it will probably be enjoyed the most by those who have played the game or read the manga.
A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 1. by Kazuma Kamachi. illus. by Kiyotaka Haimura. Yen Pr. 2014. ISBN 9780316339124.
Gr 8 Up—This series, which runs to 25 volumes in Japan, is set in Academy City, an area of Tokyo that is one big school where students learn to use scientific techniques to boost their special powers. Touma Kamijou has only one power, and it’s a limited one: He can cancel out other people’s powers. Unfortunately, that means he also cancels out his own good luck, and his life isn’t going too well when a young woman dressed as a nun suddenly appears on his apartment balcony. Index, for that is her name, is not just a cute girl, she’s a repository for 103,000 grimoires, or evil spells, and she’s being chased by a sorcerer with evil intent. This fantasy mixes magic and pseudo-science and has spawned a manga series of its own, plus an anime and two spin-off manga series, “A Certain Scientific Railgun” and “A Certain Scientific Accelerator.”
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 1. by Satoshi Wagahara. illus. by 029 (Oniku). Yen Pr. 2015. ISBN 9780316383127.
Gr 8 Up—The tagline says it all: “Do you want fries with your hellfire?”. In the midst of a battle over the magical land of Ente Isla, the Devil King, aka Sadao Maou, is somehow transported to present-day Tokyo, along with his sidekick, the Great Demon General Alciel. In order to survive, and pay the rent, Sadao takes a job at a MgRonald fast-food restaurant and immediately starts scheming about making a comeback. His plans are complicated when Emilia the Hero, who gave him a sound drubbing back in the old country, shows up in Tokyo as well. This lighthearted story has a lot of fun contrasting the grandiosity of the Devil King with the small humiliations of everyday life, and it has been adapted into a manga and an anime series.
Naruto: Kakashi’s Story. by Akira Higashiyama. Viz. 2015. ISBN 9781421584409.
Gr 8 Up—Because 72 volumes of manga weren’t enough, the story of Naruto and his confederates continues in a series of novels, each of which is dedicated to a particular character. The first volume focuses on Naruto’s teacher, Kakashi. The novels are set between the last two chapters of the manga and follow the continuity of the series, so they are not beginning titles for newbies, but rather a way for readers of the manga to enjoy some additional stories. The next volume in the series will be Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story, which is due out in February 2016.
Sword Art Online Bk. 1: Aincrad. by Reki Kawahara. illus. by abec. Yen Pr. 2014. ISBN 9780316371247.
Gr 8 Up—Sword Art Online is a series of stories about players who are trapped in the virtual world of a massive, multiplayer, online role-playing game (MMORPG). Players experience a “full dive” into the game by wearing special headgear that connects directly with the user’s brain to provide a realistic experience. What could possibly go wrong? We find out when the players notice there is no “logout” button—because the only way out of the game is for one of them to conquer all 100 levels, and the game developer announces that he will use the headgear to fry the brain of anyone who tries to remove it. This novel is the first volume of the two-volume story arc “Aincrad.” Yen Press publishes the “Sword Art Online” and “Sword Art Online: Progressive” light novels and manga, as well as several other manga spin-offs, and there’s an anime as well. For those who can’t get enough of game novels, Reki Kawahara is also the author of another novel/manga franchise about in-game life, Accel World, and Yen Press publishes another trapped-in-the-game novel and manga series, “Log Horizon.”
Ryo Suzukaze. Attack on Titan: Before the Fall. 2014. ISBN 9781939130860.
———. Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound. 2015. ISBN 9781939130877.
illus. by THORES Shibamoto.
Ryo Kawakami. Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City, Vol. 1. illus. by Range Murata. 2015. ISBN 9781941220627. ea. vol: Vertical.
Gr 8 Up—When he created the manga series “Attack on Titan,” Hajime Isayama came up with a rich world and a big cast, allowing plenty of scope for continuing series. These three novels are set in the world of the story but at different times. Confusingly, the manga adaptation of Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound is titled Attack on Titan: Before the Fall. It’s a prequel to the series that follows a boy who is born after his mother is swallowed and then regurgitated by a Titan; known as the “child of the Titans,” he is viewed with suspicion by the other inhabitants of the walled city. The novel titled Attack on Titan: Before the Fall tells how the inhabitants of the city developed the special technology they use to fly through the air and fight the Titans. The two-volume Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City is about two soldiers trapped in the outer ring of the city after the Titans have breached the walls and begun wreaking havoc.