I continue to be impressed by how this series balances its main character's goals with personal growth and continuously engaging worldbuilding. This is the first time I can really remember out of the four volumes so far where Myne's past life morality and expectations have clashed so strongly with the culture of the world she's found herself in - the callousness of the church and the high expectations of the class-based world paint a dire yet compelling picture. It's still all about the books for Myne, but on her way to that goal she's improving as a person and bringing meaningful change to the people and the world around her. Once again, I really loved the extra stories at the back of the volume as they underlined that fact - the temple orphans didn't even have a concept of the sky beyond "a square" - as well as how the conflict between Lutz and his parents wrapped up. Myne means well, but she doesn't know everything, and even beyond needing help managing her fantasy-based chronic illness, she's learning not to dismiss perspectives outside of her personal experience as well.

I'm loving this emerging narrative of learning how to trust others and to buttress each others weaknesses in contrast to taking advantage of others for personal gain. Even in this complicated status-based world, there are people who genuinely care and want to help, and its worth it to offer the same to others as well. That kind of story is a rarity in the light novel isekai space, where the stories feel more revenge-based and bitter  - more of a "look at me now, you should never have underestimated me" vibe. Ascendance of a Bookworm has shades of this, but presented in a kinder package where the end goal isn't rubbing someone's face in their failure but uplifting the marginalized lower class of this world's society. There's more thought and care put into how Myne can not just accomplish her goal but also make the world a better place, and I'm glad that this series is telling a story like this.

The book still suffers from occassional translation awkwardness and there's still a lot of over explaining, but since we're now in a setting in which people (read: nobles) speak very...indirectly and without obviously showing their intention, it feels a lot less out of place. I took a while to get through each volume in part 1, but this one I have been devouring. A lot more stuff happens, new places and characters are explored, and the tension is much higher!

I'm also noticing that the series is putting an increasing emphasis on characters besides Myne having their own aspirations that they shoot for. Things that many other fantasy books make mundane, like Tuuli looking for ways to become a better seamstress or Lutz's troubles with his families when he wants to be a merchant, are deemed important enough to become the focus too. It's not just Myne's crazy rise to book making power, everyone else's life stories matter just as much no matter how little they will impact history or change the world - because everyone deserves to be the hero of their own story for a little while. Everyone has their own thing going on, and that just makes the world and the characters feel so alive.