Kieli
volume 4: Long Night Beside a Deep Pool by Yukako Kabei
Summary:
After the incident with the spaceship in the third book, Harvey, an Undyding (a super solider from a war decades earlier whom the Church has vowed to hunt down and kill on sight) has left to
look for more information concerning Kieli’s mom and it’s been a year and a
half since then. When they get a short note from him Beatrix, whom Kieli has
been living with all this time, Kieli and the Corporal, the spirit possessing an old radio, set out to find him
again. But things haven’t been going well for Harvey since then
The
Good: The story continues with a plot point picked up
from the second novel, the mystery surrounding Kieli’s parents (particularly
her mother) and a few details are answered here (such as who the Undying who
was traveling with her). Not all is explained, of course, but it was more than I
expected so I felt satisfied there. The story also has developed another
interesting thread, Harvey seems to be dying (or at the very least not truly an
Undying anymore) and given that none of the characters seem to have realized
plus their tendency to get into all kinds of trouble this is sure to become
even more important as the series progresses.
The
Bad: I’ve realized by now that most of the light
novels I read aren’t meant to be read with a 6+ month gap between them because
of the way they flow from one story to the next not like separate installments
in a series but rather likes parts of one whole story, and I’m having some
trouble enjoying them as much. Actually, I thought that alone was the reason
for one of my issues in the book, Julius. As far as I could recall he had been a
rather young character in the second book, around 8 or 10 at the oldest
(younger than Kieli in any case) yet here he acted and had the privileges of
someone who was closer to 17 or 18. I went ahead and checked the illustrations
of the second book and no, I was right the first time around, Julius feels much
too mature for whatever his age is and that really bothered me.
