What does Veeky Forums think of Light Novels?

I was thinking of reading the english translation of Spice and Wolf because I love the anime and it left me with a huge cliffhanger. Although I have a large backlog of things I want to read before I relax with some genre fiction and I'm not sure if my tastes might have changed the last several years since I watched the anime.

Most are isekai bullshit so automatically trash

Not a single LN I've bothered to read warranted the praise they received on /a/. Things like Haruhi, Bakemonogatari, Index, Log Horizon, Welcome to the NHK, etc.
It's all dumb dumb derivative garbage so obviously aimed at market research approved demographics the whole artform sort of transforms into a case study of creative bankruptcy in SEA.

I particularly hate the derivative nature of the contemporary LN stories. Circles that engage in reading LNs generally see parody of the genre as a display of virtuousity by the author but don't realise that since 2006, putting 4th wall breaking moments pertaining to anime clichés and whatnot has become so par for the course it's basically a cliché in and of itself.

Moving on; the prose in these books is unanimously absolutely untenable and reads like it was written by a literal 12 year old. Abstract descriptions almost never appear (except in Welcome to the NHK) and the exposition doesn't stray far from describing a character's appearance or kawaii expression, a word for word account of a conversation, or a fightscene. Think B-movie scripts.
This is less the case with, again, Welcome to the NHK, which is by far the most profound work I've read from the LN scene, but still- the authors don't even attempt to create beauty when crafting sentences. Everything from the trite 1st person perspective the author almost perfunctorily uses, to the dry prose, to the awkward (and almost inhuman) dialogue- it's all in service of a self insert fantasy plot that mostly leads nowhere (see haruhi and bakemonogatari) and any theme (in case the LN contains concrete themes beyond "friends are important," etc.) are to be understood easily by high school students and are generally handed out on a platter.
Really, no thought is required to read LNs and are, on the whole, a massive waste of time.

"Chapter 2: The lady molester from another dimension"
You see this, you know you're reading a work of art.

The only good light novel is Welcome to the NHK.

Probably because it's the closest thing (accessible in english) to a real book even if the prose sucks a bit.

As you said, it's a market research thing. The magazine/manga/LN culture radically differs from the western consumption of media.
At least I remember reading that in a book.
They buy this weeks Jump, read the contents while commuting on the subway and then throw it the fuck out.
It was never meant to last. It was created for a stressed soceity to relieve some pressure.
To lift up the piston, you need steam, to get steam, you burn trash to heat the water.
LNs and Mangas are the trash in this case.

Is the monogatari series Veeky Forums?

Ostensibly so; the first novel opens up with a dry description of a relevant character that drags on for three or four pages (and not in the Notes From Underground way) which made me suicidal. The series has a bad habit of explaining its metaphors too. Me personally, I decided I was done reading this schlock when a character urged the hero to molest her in a bike shed for no real reason. I wouldn't rate the series to be among the best that Japan has to offer. See for yourself though.

You say yes, but your post reads like a no.

Anyone read the English releases of Legend of the Galactic Heroes? How are those holding up?

Are visual novels Veeky Forums?

Which means my post has more depth than Bakemonogatari as a whole.

That's the VN where the girls eat shit, isn't it?

Reading warlock of the magus world at the moment, really enjoying it.

I honestly prefer light novels these days because I have shit all time to read.

>That's the VN where the girls eat shit, isn't it?
Yes.

It also made me cry.

>What does Veeky Forums think of Light Novels?

Yes I quite like Haruki Murakami

>light novels aren't litera-
>haruhi suzumiya no yuutsu.jpg

I have the first three.
They are pretty short and hold your attention while you read them.
Unlike a few other japanese novels, this has bearable prose and doesn't want to make me kill myself.

What's the difference between a light novel and a manga?

No, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're all terrible, though. You do need to be a bit autistic to enjoy them as with any form of otaku media. Now go back to /jp/.

A manga is a comic book, LN is a book with light illustrations sprinkled in.

This is Veeky Forums, everyone here is a bit autistic, whether we want to admit it or not.

I mean more autistic than the average 4channer, it was an understatement. I'm probably more autistic than the average 4channer, so I've gotten plenty of enjoyment from otaku media. Obviously, it's not as meaningful or well-written as real literary fiction, but literary fiction hasn't exactly been churning out masterpieces in recent decades.

I mean you don't HAVE to be an otaku to read LNs/manga/watch anime etc. You can do it casually and not be a massive sperg.

Oh, Monogatari does lead somewhere, it's just Nisio is too much of a piece of shit to show that instead of cliche commedy and fanservice or the occasional interesting psychological profile. For such a long series it's stupidly reticent to show some development actually fucking happening.

>and then she solved these important issues we just discovered and that might be ailing the readership... some other time
>we won't tell you how
>the end
>see you next book

It's like the ending of Crime and Punishment over and over again, but with a shitton of embarrasing shit in the middle.

Welcome to the NHK isn't a light novel, baka, it's an actual novel.

Reading No Game No Life in the Yen Press translations is extremely painful for me. Too many goddamn sentence fragments. The characters are fun though

Also, I'm pretty sure NHK is meant to be a big boy novel, not a LN like you are all saying

Technically, yeah, but the majority is abysmal

>tfw having to go through pages and pages of cliches, pointless worldbuilding, bad sex and action scenes and pretend gameplay in order to get to something actually good

>tfw people think Fate and Science;Adventure are good

Has anyone else on Veeky Forums read Hakomari?

I suppose it's too late to say that nisioisin should be read in his native language

Slayers is literature

Just because the puns work in Japanese doesn't mean basic narrative details of his work don't suck.

I just find functional psychopaths fascinating, that's all.

I feel like you're not enjoying the source material as intended if you're not a massive sperg.

They're barely on par with your typical 800+ page fantasy novel.