The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (light novel)

*This is a digital eBook, not a physical book.

Synopsis

Haruhi holds the fate of the universe in her hands . . . lucky for you she doesn't know it!Meet Haruhi - a cute, determined girl, starting high school in a city where nothing exciting happens and absolutely no one understands her.Meet Kyon - the sarcastic guy who sits behind Haruhi in homeroom and the only boy Haruhi has ever opened up to. His fate is now tied to hers.Meet the S.O.S. Brigade - an after-school club organized by Haruhi with a mission to seek out the extraordinary. Oh, and their second mission? Keeping Haruhi happy . . . because even though she doesn't know it, Haruhi has the power to destroy the universe. Seriously.The phenomenon that took Japan by storm - with more than 4.5 million copies sold - is now available in the first-ever English edition.

Volumes

Review

Jan 7, 2008

45 of ? chapters read

Overall Rating: 9

Master10K (All reviews)

149 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Read Vol. 1 - 9

Haruhi Suzumiya is a collection of Sci-fi, Comedy themed Light Novels (10 in fact) that fans of the popular anime series would read to get more depth to the story. So there’s really no need to go into detail of the story and overall premise of the Novels. As you may already know the story revolves around an omnipotent high school girl Haruhi Suzumiya, with powers (unknown to her) but told from the point of view of high school boy Kyon (real name unknown).

The anime series only scratches the surface, as it only tells one of the 4 known main stories “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”. The other 3 being: “Disappearance…”, “Intrigues…”, and “Dissociation…”. Whereas the 1st only focuses on introducing and revealing the main characters and concepts of the story, the other stories tend to go all out in bringing forth complex stories involving time-travel, dimensional rifts and other sci-fi concepts. To help supplement these stories the remaining Light Novels contain episodic mini-events that only loosely follow the main stories. The main problem is the jumbled up nature of these stories and it does require some thinking into knowing the order of events. At least the seasons make it easier to overcome this issue.

The characters are what make these Light Novels worth reading and each of the main characters seem to have purpose into making this an enjoyable read.
- Kyon the guy that the story follows and it’s his witty comments and cynical attitude that will make him an instant fave.
- Haruhi is an eccentric and emotionally unstable girl that causes many problems for Kyon and the rest of the world.
- Mikuru is a clumsy, well-endowed girl that is there for fanservice and a means of time travel.
- Yuki is a cute, emotionless alien whose there to rely on whenever something happens.
- Koizumi is an esper that doesn’t play much of an active role except when it comes to his long explanations and annoying Kyon.
The best thing is when you see how each of these characters subtly develops, after a while but still remain a bit of a mystery. What’s also interesting is how the side characters tend to play a major role in the story and at times even become the source of speculation (e.g. Tsuruya).

Overall this is a Light Novel that any of the thousands of die hard Haruhiist would enjoy. There’s enough content to keep anyone busy with for a while and for those who like to use that thing called a brain would definitely enjoy it, with all the complex mathematical, physics and sci-fi concept involved. There are quite a bit of dull moments to be found, with excessive explanations and it can be difficult to tell what’s being thought and what’s being said out loud however these issues don’t take away the overall feel of the story.

^_^

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Aug 7, 2008

Unknown of ? chapters read

Overall Rating: 9

ShanaSakai (All reviews)

97 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

This series of novels is very compelling. I must say I was very captivated by how the plot works. It's very confusing if you don't know anything about it though; I recommend watching the anime first before trying to decipher the light novel.

Plot: Not too many loopholes. If you're a fan of the "What's Going to Happen Next" genre then I suggest you read this. The cliffhangers, although leaving you unsatisfied, will feed your desire to read about the next.

Art: Hah, the art totally rocks. The cover and front flaps basically sums the story up. The in-book art are black-and-white manga-like drawings that are high quality, but I can't argue with that. I'd rather have a novel with a few pics than none at all.

Character Development: This is where you get to know the story better. I think I'll start with Kyon.

Kyon: Your average bored high school student. Although he sounds very bored at first, as the story goes on he has matured into what we all know as the SOS's conscience. I am very compelled to give out spoilers here; but for the sake of those who haven't read I won't. All I can say is that he is the impromptu leader of the group, and the unofficial savior of the world. You'll get to know why.

Haruhi: Ah. Here's the happy-go-lucky leader of the SOS Dan. As we all know, she formed the group just by dragging everyone in. But as time goes by, the Sealed Realities decrease one by one, and she begins to feel that everyone is a friend, even Mikuru. Little by little she realizes her love for Kyon, as too many hints are dropped here and there.

Yuki: This silent humanoid interface alien is slowly begging to be human. I won't say anything further, but she is the character who (in my opinion) is the one who developed the most. She is beginning to realize the word "Friend", and for those of you who want to know more about her, listen to her character song, "Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite". That'll explain a lot.

Itsuki: He hasn't changed much really, maybe just the fact that he is beginning to work side by side with the other groups covering Haruhi. Though he always talks a lot, he now has sense in him, and doesn't do much bootlicking either (maybe that's the reason why Kyon doesn't blame him often nowadays).

Mikuru: Aside from the physical features we all know too much about, she also changes in the emotional department. She is braver now; she is now willing to take risks even though she doesn't know the consequences (pretty ironic for a time traveler). At first she was an outsider compared to Koizumi and Nagato, but because of her changes she is now willing to work with them (even though at first she refuses to work with Yuki).

All in all, very nice novel series. I suggest recommending it to your friends as well.

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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (light novel)

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