[Spoiler Free Section]
Back in August, I decided I wanted to broaden my horizons and read something far outside the typical genres that I read. Seeing as how I’m about to release my own Original English Light Novel Series, I Dreamt I was a Red Knight’s Squire, I opted to get a taste of something within the pool of the Light Novel medium. Up until now, I’d mostly read LNs within the sphere of how I write. Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Isekai/Portal Fantasy, etc… So I made sure to do a little research and not just pick something right away.
My only criteria was…
1. Had to be a Light Novel, Japanese or otherwise.
2. Needed to be under 10 volumes. A lot of LNs go well beyond this and that’s great, but since I was testing the waters of something new, I wanted it to be within reason.
3. Drastically different than any other Light Novel I’d read.
4. Not something that had been animated yet. Or at least not dubbed.
My research led me to quite a few interesting finds! There’s a number of books I may go back and pick up at a later date. But the series that stood out to me ended up being, The Holy Grail of Eris. A 4 Part LN Series that seemed relatively unknown, but had great reviews. Judging by the description and the cover art, I reasoned that this was a Paranormal Mystery with a Romantic subplot. We’ll get into that subplot part later. But I also had assumed there was some sort of horror element to the story. You know, seeing as how there’s ghosts involved. But all told, that is a very, very minor flavor found within the series and mostly limited to the first few chapters at that.
So I decided to buy a copy of Volume 1. I figured, worst case scenario, I’d broadened my horizons and if it really wasn’t my thing, I could give it away to someone who liked that sort of thing. Best case scenario, if I at least enjoyed it on some level, I’d go ahead and read the other three.
Other than the description and a couple of Amazon reviews, I knew virtually nothing about this story. Supposedly, it was within the so-called “Villainess” subgenre. But don’t let that deter you if you don’t like that sort of thing. Alternatively, don’t pick this book up if that’s specifically what you’re looking for. Myself and other readers duly noted that the featured “Villainess” has more in common with Regina George from Mean Girls than say, Cruella de Vil. And certainly not with a character like Carmilla from Castlevania.
That said, the character given in this series is a standout. I’ll provide more about her and some of the other characters below, in a Minor Spoiler marked section. But for now, I just want to talk about the book itself.
Generally speaking, the layout and formatting of the books are typical of English Translated Japanese Light Novels. Yen Press used their standard 5.5 X 8.25 cut, which I like. The cover art is, as you see, colorful, vivid and “Pops” where it should. The interiors feature 2-3 full color scene preview illustrations, a two page, full color character bio section and around a dozen or so black & white interiors. Which I’ve found, positively, to be a little more art heavy than most light novels.
What was really unique, however, was that unlike most LNs I’ve read, rather than simply having a character bio section at the beginning of each volume, The Holy Grail of Eris puts one between each chapter. There’s a small B&W portrait of the character and a little briefing to remind you of what had happened where you left off. I found it quite charming, because the author used it as a way to speak candidly to the reader. Also, worthy of note, there were little intermissions placed throughout series between chapters as a way to have something covered outside the main story, either through a flashback or to see what one of the non-main characters was up to. That may be more common than I’m aware of, but the only LNs I’ve read that did something sort of like that was the prequel trilogy to Konosuba that follows Megumin. There were little snippets that showed what her sister was up to, throughout the story.
Speaking of chapters. This book had some monstrous chapters. Most LNs have their page counts hover around 200-230 pages. But each volume of Eris exceeds 240-250 including credits and author notes. So this put it on the slightly longer than typical end. And since each volume only had 5-6 chapters, it made the average page count per chapter about 45 pages. Which, to me, is a little long. Especially for a light novel. Even full size, western novels don’t typically exceed 25-30 pages per chapter. So if I had one standout complaint about this book series, it’s that it was harder to stop than most. I’ve read some where the chapters are only 5-6 pages long, thus dozens of chapters. But I’ve also read some (like Konosuba) where there’s 4-6 chapters per volume, but the subchapters are marked clearly where you can stop every few pages.
Obviously, I enjoyed the first volume, because before I even finished, I went ahead and ordered the other three. Little did I know, until I had finished Volume 2 and was well into Volume 3, that the story was a trilogy and the 4th book is a standalone, written well after. I had wondered why the first three had matte finishes but the fourth was glossy. It was great though, because that standalone was written as if it was a fanfic by someone who really liked the story and wanted to see more…but it’s the same author!
Also, I discovered that the series had actually been picked up to be animated! There are two trailers available at the time of this writing and I have concerns. More about that below.
Before moving on to some spoilers, I do want to mention the setting and tone of the series for those reading this who are still on the fence but don’t want to know too much.
Setting: The Holy Grail of Eris is set in a fictitious European-esque kingdom called Adelbide. The time period is right on the cusp of what we’d consider to be Late-Victorian/Early-Edwardian and it shows in the fashion featured on the covers. Right from the beginning, the author gives us mentions of familiar things such as Christianity and Nobility ranks that make it very easy for us to relate to. Adelbide and the surrounding nations could easily fit into a pseudo-map of the existing continent and not feel out of place.
Tone: As mentioned before, this is supposed to be a Paranormal Mystery series with a Romantic subplot and a splash of Villainess…and that’s exactly what this is. The Paranormal and Mystery parts are pronounced. The Romantic subplot is a subplot. And we get just a splash of Villainess. Just enough to make it interesting. I should note that I generally prefer stories told in first person over third person, hence why I normally write as such. But the writer did such a good job in his third person prose that I didn’t care at all about it being against my usual preference. Same can be said for the translation. I detected not an ounce of difficulty in taking the story from Japanese to English, unlike some books from Yen Press.
All in all, if you’re down for a bunch of “A-ha!” moments, interested in the time period, like ghost/possession stories that are more PG-13 and don’t mind the absence of a true villainous, then I’d recommend this story to you. It’s not my favorite franchise, but it’s honestly probably the best written light novel I’ve read so far. You can get all four books on Amazon for under $50, even with no promotions running.
But if you’re still not sold or you’ve read the story and want to hear my thoughts on some specifics, scroll down so we can get into this!
This is a Volume 3 interior…not from the Manga! No, this is from the Light Novel!
If you end up checking out The Holy Grail of Eris, listen to this track after reading the cemetery scene.
[Minor Spoilers Below]
Alright, now that the kids are out of the pool, we can go a little more in depth on what this story is about and some of my thoughts on it. I won’t be spoiling any major plot points or discussing the final chapters, so if you scrolled down because you’re on the fence about this series but want to know more, you’re safe.
Let’s start with the three main characters and go from there.
Scarlett Castiel:
So, first things first, Scarlett is the 16 year old daughter of a Duke. Not just any Duke…the second most powerful man in the country and the king’s best friend. We’re talking high nobility here.
She’s also considered the hottest, most beautiful woman imaginable. And she knows it! She takes absolutely no shit from anyone and her very presence commands respect. Married men can’t take their eyes off of her. The wives are jealous of her. Her political enemies avoid her. Hell, even her best friends are scared of crossing her! (That’s the Regina George comparison.)
But none of this stops Scarlett from getting her head chopped off within the first couple pages of the book. That’s right…minor spoiler number 1. Scarlett is beheaded for something she didn’t do and then ten years later, she’s back as a ghost for some revenge.
What do I think of this character?
Overall, I like how she’s written. As I mentioned before, she doesn’t wield the villainy of other characters within the trope. But within context of her role in society, it works. She splashes drinks in other girls faces, spreads rumors, talks down to people (who actually deserve it 90% of the time) and says and does what she wants.
I think it’s cool that her Amethyst eyes are considered a trait of the purest of pure royalty from the old Faris Empire in this world. That’s something I’d not seen before but it was an interesting addition.
One thing worthy of note about her in ghost form, is that she can memorize an entire book just by looking at each page without even reading it. I don’t know if it’s just because Scarlett had a great memory in life, so it’s suped up in ghost form. Or if the implication is that all ghosts can just absorb info that way and Scarlett can recall everything she read due to her good memory. Either way, I liked that fact about her.
Constance Grail (Connie):
Constance is near the bottom rung of nobility. She’s the daughter of a Viscount…one that’s in terrible debt. Their family has only been nobility for a few centuries, due to an ancestors heroism during Adelbide’s war of separation from Faris.
She’s also 16 years old. Except she’s ten years younger than Scarlett and was present at her execution. Ten years later, she sees Scarlett’s ghost at a social gathering of lower nobility and ends up becoming possessed by her. Connie is also being framed for something she didn’t do, so her and Scarlett make a pact to help clear each others names.
The author did a really good job at describing Connie. He goes out of his way, multiple times, during the first volume to give the reader an idea of how different she is from Scarlett. She’s intelligent in her own way, but not cunning like Scarlett. And several paragraphs are dedicated to describing how painfully plain she is! She’s not ugly. Just absolutely, boringly, unremarkable. Rail thin arms and legs, washboard body, plain, featureless face… It’s even noted that it would have been better if she had some kind of defect. For example, her best friend, Kate, is short and on the chubbier side, but at least she’s busty. Connie is just background scenery in a sea of beautiful and handsome nobles.
What do I like about Connie?
She pushes really hard to do the right thing. Her family’s motto is, “Always be sincere.” But when she discovers that sometimes, the right thing to do requires her to not be so sincere, she abandons her morals in favor of the greater good.
I think the writer’s intent was to juxtapose Connie against Scarlett in such a way that she has to strive to be equal in the spotlight as dual leads in this story. Scarlett is the star of the show, both in life and in death. So Connie has to make a splash in other ways.
And he pulls it off! I can honestly say, that by the end of the second book, I felt my theatre of the mind shift with her. You know how they say that someone can be more or less attractive to you based on their actions? Well, Scarlett is supposed to be so beautiful that she’s immune to that flaw. But Connie…she becomes more attractive than she is written to appear because of her actions and character development.
Sidenote: Her last name being Grail doesn’t do anything to help the reader understand why the story is titled, The Holy Grail of Eris. That isn’t even discussed until the second book.
Randolph Ulster:
Okay, right off the bat…I have to admit that I totally misjudged this character. Based off the description of the series and the cover art, I assumed Randolph was gonna be an ultra generic, shallowly written, shoehorned love interest. Seriously, go back up and look at the cover images. Nothing about his presence on those indicates he’s going to have anywhere near the importance of the two main girls. And truth be told, he didn’t need to. Because it’s about them.
But I’m happy to say that I was wrong!
First off, his full name is just awesome. His Excellency the Grim Reaper, Lieutenant Commander Randolph Ulster, Earl of the Richelieu Domain. He’s written as being a cold, badass who has a high ranking position in the investigative division of Adelbide’s Security Forces. He’d actually be a Duke right now if he would just retire from the military and stake his claim. If he did, he’d be the third or fourth most powerful person in the country. Even Connie is so intimidated by him, it takes a while for her to call him by his first name.
He’s 26 years old, but was the same age as Scarlett when she was executed. Though they didn’t know each other well at the time. He is, however, interested in resurrecting her case since he didn’t think she was guilty.
So what is it that stood out to me about him?
In the first volume, he has a few moments but it’s not until the second that he hits his stride and by the third volume, I was invested. He has a very interesting back story and becomes more crucial to the chain of events than I expect. Though, he was never going to be an All-Star like the girls were in this story. I’ll give him a 7/10 as a character though. Which is pretty damn good considering where I was placing him speculatively!
The scene in the cemetery is one of my favorites in the book. There’s an image above that I find exceptional. I’ve even got it as the wallpaper on my Chromebook at the time of this writing.
Also, despite being a tall, dark and handsome stereotype, he’s the opposite of Scarlett in relation to his looks. It has absolutely no bearing on his chemistry with Connie. That’s been done a thousand times over with the hot chick going for the dork and I’m good with that. But it was really refreshing to see Male -> Female for a change.
One thing worth mentioning, however. The writer did two annoying things in this story and both of them pertain to him. In creative writing, we refer to our “go to” phrases as crutch phrases or crutch words. Well, the author incessantly refers to Randolph’s eyes as, “His cerulean eyes.” It’s actually absurd how many times this is used in this story. I’m talking 3-5 times per volume in the first three. I only noticed it once or twice in Volume 4 though.
The other annoying crutch phrase is not exclusive to Randolph, but it’s used on him about 70% of the time. “He clicked his tongue.” I realized after the 5th or 6th time I read this that I had never used this phrase in any of my writing before. But now I want to intentionally put it in somewhere just because of how many times I read it in this story. Now, if it was just a thing Randolph did, I could understand. But other characters get this phrase tacked onto them too. If “cerulean eyes” were used at least 15 times in this story, then tongue clicking had to have been mentioned more than 20.
But aside from that, he wasn’t annoying at all and I enjoyed his presence.
What about the villains?
They’re interesting! There’s no solid “Big Bad” but rather, an organization called Daeg Gallus. They’re a foreign syndicate of infiltrators, hell bent on bringing down other countries. You never know who is or isn’t one of them in this story.
But what makes them particularly scary is how they tend to commit suicide when captured. They are very rarely taken into custody and kept safe. Because even the ones who don’t want to commit suicide often get killed in a manner that looks like they did, by another infiltrator that can get to them if there’s no feasible way to help them escape.
I mentioned before about how there’s not really a horror element in this story, despite it having a ghost. But there are some truly suspenseful moments. I’m thinking in particularly of a certain carriage scene and another in the cellar of a tavern. Though, the whole story is rather suspenseful. At least for the trilogy, everything is mounting up for a crescendo. The standalone book has its moments, but it’s a little more wholesome and has some comedy. I really enjoyed it’s difference, however.
Sex, Violence, Language?
Honestly, it’s fairly tame. The gore factor can randomly ramp up to 11 and take you by surprise. You just finished reading about tea and biscuits and next thing you know someone is knifed 20+ times. It’s pretty sparse, but it goes harder than a lot of books I’ve read do.
The language is pretty limited. There’s some “damns” and I think a “shit” every so often. I know “whore” gets used. No F-bombs though. Even Konosuba used that at least on one occasion! (The magic suit of armor, look it up.) Also, there’s a gay character. He doesn’t even appear in the story in person. Just “off screen” so to speak. But he’s a highly respected upper noble that is in the closet. The writer wrote respectively of him and indicated what it might have been like in the time period to have the spotlight on you in that station of society. He had cohorts who were in the know and they treated him just like anyone else.
Not really any intimate scenes, which actually kinda surprised me. There’s references all over the place to so-and-so hooking up or cheating on so-and-so. The thoughts are there. The notion is there. But this series doesn’t get explicit. At least it hasn't. I suppose it could, if it gets continued. But if you’ve read any Japanese LNs before, you know that more often than not they lead you along in that respect. So much so that when something does go down, it shocks you.
Final Thoughts
Before wrapping up, I’d like to discuss my thoughts on the anime that’s being produced and some of my concerns about it.
Firstly, I really enjoyed this series and it sounds like it’s possible for the author to do a 5th volume as a second standalone. I certainly hope that’s the case. That said, the anime has a thin line to walk in order to be accepted by me. Some things I saw in the trailer were really concerning.
For one, the dynamic between the girls is everything. If they don’t get that down within the first 3-4 episodes, I don’t think the show is salvageable. It has to be Mean Girls wrapped in a paranormal period piece. Connie and Scarlett are so different and yet work together so well. I actually assumed Scarlett would possess her more than she did. But there was plenty of good writing to make the times that she did count more. You really get the sense that everywhere Connie goes, Scarlett is right there, even though no one else can see her. (Almost no one else…)
The second thing that’s really got me concerned about the anime is some of the character design choices. Most of them seemed good. There was a few minor characters that don’t seem like how I pictured them based off of the trailer. But the big issue I have is some of the shots of Connie make her look a lot younger than she is. Almost prepubescent. One of the clips showed Connie in her bed and Scarlett standing next to it. This made Scarlett look like a 30 year old woman and Connie look 10 or 11. At no point in the story is it ever implied that she’s infantile. Just plain and unremarkable! It’s simple…Scarlett’s hot and Connie’s not. No need to add another layer of difference between them.
They didn’t do that in every clip, but it was enough to be concerned. What I’m hoping for is that they took some creative liberty and have it where Scarlett’s ghost visited Connie much sooner than she did in the book. I don’t know why they’d do that but it’s a hell of a lot better than putting a gap between them in age. They’re both supposed to be 16, except Scarlett is technically 26, but eternally 16 in appearance.
Outside of those concerns, I’m really excited to see what they do. No word yet on if it’s going to be a mini series or multiple seasons. If they do it all in one go, I’d think they’d have to do the trilogy over at least 25 episodes, if not more. Then maybe make the 4th volume a 90-120 minute movie. But if the plan is to produce more source material, I suppose they could make the first two volumes a twelve episode season. Then make the third volume into a twelve episode season on its own. And same with the 4th before repeating with any new books. I highly doubt they would try to make the first volume a season on its own.
Rating?
Well, I suppose I should rate this thing.
I’ll go with…
Originality: 5/5
(Pretty Unique!)
Quality: 4.5/5
(Only docked for Tongue Clicking and Cerulean Eyes.)
Characters: 5/5
(Quality over Quantity)
Dialogue: 3.7/5
(Had its moments, but left a lot to be desired.)
Formatting: 4.8/5
(Shorter Chapters would have helped,)
Artwork: 5/5
(Solid!)
Marketing: 3/5
(Oversold the Villainess, ambiguous about the paranormal/horror and romance elements. Could reach target demo better.)
Overall: 4.5/5
This story knows where it’s going and has great care taken from the writer, artist and editors who work on it. It left me wanting more and that honestly surprised me.
Connie possessed by Scarlett
