We took a little bit of a hiatus but here’s volume 6. Before we dive into it, I do have to say I’ve read it in batches over a long time so some of my memories of it are a little bit spotty. I’m going to try my best to cover it properly though and I’m keeping it short because although this was a pretty fun volume when all was said and done, not terribly much happened.
We pick up right at the end of the previous volume. To give a quick recap, Lawrence joined forces with Eve to make a massive amount of money but was betrayed at the very last moment. Luckily he came out of it alive and with enough funds to buy back Holo from the slavers he’d given her to as leverage. A messy situation all things considered but the two are still alive and not completely broke. Holo is furious at what Eve did to Lawrence and vows to get her back. And so our two main characters set off to the harbor to find a ship that can sail them further north, after Eve.
Quickly finding a ship, captained by a man named Ragusa, they make their way upstream. At a toll stop they encounter a young boy, Col, who has been swindled and is trying to get on a boat with papers he bought that turned out to be false. Luckily, Holo and Lawrence decide to help the kid out and pretend they know him. Thus Col joins Lawrence and Holo on their journey north.
Arguably not a lot happens in this volume. Holo and Lawrence grow closer, which I can go in depth about, but is more fun to read for yourself. Col shows that he’s a clever kid and has a bright future ahead. Ragusa kind of wants him as an apprentice but Col shows no interest.
There’s a sunken ship in the way which causes a lot of the ships to be stuck and our friends have to take a break. Lawrence even has to walk through some fields to make room on the ship for a while. Joined by Col on this walk, they talk a bit here and there before meeting up with Ragusa at the sunken ship. The merchants and sailors try to get the ship out of the water, but it’s a massive waterlogged ship so of course they can’t get it out.
After a night of partying instead, they all wake up hungover. Col, Holo and Lawrence have a talk about gods, and how they’ve been looking for the fossilized leg of a dead wolf god. Holo and Lawrence both realize there’s probably more truth to this story than Col thinks. Their conversation gets cut short by some strange sounds that are identified as a ship getting loose and about to crash into the other ships. All the sailors jump up to deal with it quickly though, with Ragusa in the lead.
After saying goodbye to Ragusa and Col, they continue their journey towards Yoitsu where they will eventually part ways. After a little bit Col comes after them to join them. They agree and show him Holo’s true form which definitely scares him. He then tells them the secret behind the missing coins. And now our duo has become a trio.
I didn’t enjoy this volume as much as some of the earlier ones if I’m honest. I’m still going to read the next one, because it consists of side stories which could be interesting. But let me know how you felt about this volume. Did you think it’s getting a bit repetitive too, or is that just me? Either way, thanks for reading!
It’s been a month. I promised myself that I would be reading more books this year but it’s been a challenge. Through other plans, health problems and a general lack of focus I’ve not been able to read as much as I wanted to. Luckily I did find the time to read this volume Spice & Wolf. Just like the first volume, this part of the story has been covered by the anime as well. I’ve never actually read all of the second volume before, although I did read a bit of it back in the day when I first bought it. Now without wasting any more time, let’s have a look at the second volume.
The Story
We follow Lawrence and Holo as they continue traveling up north. They’re going through the city of Poroson and make their way towards the religious beacon for the church that is Ruvinheigen. Since the roads there are dangerous they decide to go through a lesser traveled road. This road is supposedly prone to wolf attacks but with the wolf goddess of the harvest on their side they should be fine. On their way there they run into a shepherdess which is curious. They travel to Ruvinheigen together where they part ways. Lawrence meets up at his merchants guild and slowly the signs that something is off start to creep in until Lawrence gets to the company where he’s planning to sell off his armor. There he finds out what was wrong. The price of armor has plummeted to mere scraps compared to what it once was. The company that sold them to him has had to default and the loan now belongs to the company he was initially hoping to sell the armor to. With a debt that’s too large to do anything about in a short time, and a cart full of useless armor, Lawrence and Holo are getting desperate.
So they hatch a plan. Together with Norah, the shepherdess, and the Remilio company that is facing bankruptcy with them, they decide to smuggle gold into Ruvinheigen. The city taxes gold extremely heavily so the price is very high in town. Being able to smuggle some into town without paying taxes on it would lead to ridiculous profit. But many have tried to do so in the past and a majority has failed. They’re now faced with finding a way to succeed against the odds. That’s where Norah and her shepherding skills come in. Having her sheep swallow small clumps of gold to then excrete them after they enter Ruvinheigen is a brilliant plan but it can go wrong at any moment. They decide on it against these odds and manage to convince her as well, allowing her to dream of quitting this job and becoming a seamstress. Together with a member of the Remilio family they travel through dangerous wolf-filled forests to the nearby Lamtra and back. Will they make it safely and avoid certain doom? You’ll have to read the book to find out. (Spoiler, there’s another 20 or so books after this, so I don’t think the worst case will happen to them. Just a hunch.)
The (new) Characters
We know about Lawrence and Holo at this point, so let’s have a look at some of the other characters introduced in this novel and what to think about them.
The first one that’s arguably the most interesting character as well is of course Norah, the shepherdess. They meet her on the road from Poroson to Ruvinheigen and hire her to protect them. Norah doesn’t really know that they don’t need her help at all with Holo’s talents, but Lawrence likes the extra company. She’s a young woman who’s been herding sheep for a handful of years. She’s employed by the church at the moment who aren’t really paying her well. It’s a stable line of work though, even if the church doesn’t really trust anyone who’s talented or even remotely different from the norm.
She has bigger dreams than being a shepherdess forever though, and that’s how she gets caught up in Lawrence’s scheme in this book. She wants a different career path and the money that Lawrence provides can just get her there. There’s the obvious risk though, but she decides it’s worth it. My favorite part about her character is that she is a lot more clever than Lawrence initially thinks, which leads to some interesting conversations. Holo is of course ever the smart one and realizes all this at once.
Besides Norah there’s no real major characters in this book. There’s the trade guild master that Lawrence visits, who is friendly but a lot colder when he finds out Lawrence’s predicament. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. Besides him there’s Hans Remilio, the man who’s going down with Lawrence into bankruptcy as well as Marten Liebert, a young upstart with the Remilio guild who is accompanying them on this trip. Besides these minor characters, the story mainly focuses on Lawrence, Holo and Norah. And the dog, Enek, of course. Can’t forget the goodest of bois.
Final Thoughts
Overall this volume felt similar in pacing and storytelling as the previous one did. The story is one I’m vaguely familiar with because season 2 of the anime covered it. Speaking of season 2 of the anime, as I was writing this, fresh of the press, season 3 of the Spice & Wolf anime has been announced. I’m still half worrying that it’s not real, but it looks real. I can’t put into words how excited I am for another season of Spice & Wolf. Putting that aside though, I liked this volume. I think Norah was a fun character that really complimented Lawrence and Holo’s cynicism a lot. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but there is definitely a sober way of looking at the world that Norah doesn’t quite have yet. Yet she’s also not so naive that she becomes an unbelievable character. The story was fine, although the situations surrounding the specifics of Lawrence debt and the way his guild handled it did feel a bit overly mean. I get that business is business, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
I am so ridiculously excited, Look at that majestic tail. Holo is such a fun character and design wise just amazing too.
The final chapter is where it’s at though, and we’re reminded that Holo isn’t just a young woman with a tail and wolf ears and some good senses. She is the wise wolf of Yoitsu. As the troop is harrowed by wolves in the forest, she’s the one who has to stand up in the end. I urge you to read the book itself to see what happens next, but I can assure you that it’s quite good.
I might make a separate post about the announcement of Spice & Wolf season 3, but I don’t know yet. It’s something I hold very dear as it’s the show that convinced me to start buying light novels and manga. Over the years it’s no longer my favorite show per se, but it’s very high on my list still. Holo was my avatar and steam on discord for a long long time and she’s still one of my favorite characters. She’s so sassy, whimsical yet emotional, flawed and so small at times. But she’s also this ferocious wolf goddess and it’s such a complex and amazing character I can write about it for days. But enough of me gushing over Spice & Wolf, I’d love to hear how you enjoyed volume 2. We’ll be covering Volume 3 next month, so make sure you get ready for it. I found myself zooming through the chapters once I started reading, which admittedly was way too late, I only just finished it. As always, thanks for reading and until next time!
A thousand sugar stars Oh, put them in a jar. And then whistle around the world Oh whistle round the world I’m a little wolf inside a girl.
Seven apples on a witches’ tree
My dear readers it’s an absolute pleasure to have you join me on this journey through the Spice & Wolf novels. To this day, the anime is still one of my favorites of all time, and the first volume, which we’ll be discussing today, was the first light novel/manga I ever bought. This isn’t the first time I’m reading it, of course, but it has been a long time since I’ve read it, and I’ve only read the first two novels. If you include the spin-off series Wolf & Parchment, there’s over two dozen novels at this point I’m pretty sure, so we have something to look forward to. If you’re here to test out the waters, I can already tell you ahead of time that I’ll definitely recommend this novel and by extension the anime. I love the more medieval, mercantile aspect of economics, in a world where rampant capitalism hasn’t gone overboard quite yet. But the main draw of this series, which most people will likely agree with me, is the Wisewolf Holo’s inescapable charm. Without gushing too much before the review even starts, let’s jump into Isuna Hasekura’s first installment in this series!
The Story
Spice & Wolf tells the story of Kraft Lawrence, a 25 year old traveling merchant who dreams of one day opening his own store. After he visits the small village of Pasloe he finds a stowaway in his wagon, a young girl with wolf ears and a wolf’s tail. The girl is revealed to be Holo, the wolf-goddess of the harvest. Pasloe has an age-old tradition where the last person to remove wheat from the fields is the one who becomes Holo and is locked in a storage room for a week, being given offerings. It turns out that this tradition is based on a true story, as the spirit of Holo did reside in the wheat fields of Pasloe. As time went on and the villagers became less loyal towards her, and started employing new farming techniques because Holo was “fickle”, she decided it was time to leave. Thus she joins Lawrence on his journey, at least for a while.
I’ve been a very big fan of Holo for years now, such a fun character with so much more depth to her than you initially think.
The first novel tells the story of how they meet and then dives into the first story arc, which is about the value of coins and how one can profit off of knowing when a currency is about to drop or rise in value. The pair gets involved with the Milone trading company, which ends up being their backer in this deal. Unfortunately, the opposing trading company, the Medio trading company, has someone on their side who knows Holo’s true identity. A chase ensues and eventually the two end up in the sewers, meeting Yarei again, the person who was Lawrence’s friend and the one to be “Holo” in the last Pasloe harvest festival. Driven to the brink because Lawrence endured a stab wound, Holo transformed into her wolf form and drove off the attackers. Disappointed in Lawrence’s fear at seeing her form, she seems to leave him behind. My opinion on the story is that it’s decent. The plot itself isn’t particularly griping, but I really like the interactions between Holo and Lawrence, which we’ll get to next.
The Characters
Since this is the first volume, let me focus on the two important characters; Lawrence and Holo. Lawrence has all the fake confidence a traveling merchant needs, but definitely seems to worry from time to time that he’s not quite there yet. Holo on the other hand exudes so much confidence that whenever there’s a moment of weakness in between it hits extra hard. This novel is definitely carried by the characters. Holo is witty, funny and just all around an interesting character. Lawrence isn’t a blank slate either, although I do think Holo is the more interesting of the pair, especially in this first book. Side characters in this story don’t take up a lot of space. Marheit being the only one who gets more than a few lines of dialogue. He seems to be interesting enough. He’s cunning and puts profit first, but at the end of the day he’s far from a bad guy, and when Holo and Lawrence are in trouble he does take the risk to help them. It does require a little push from Lawrence, but it comes across to me that he was considering helping them regardless. Besides them there’s Zheren, the young merchant who works for the Medio company as well as Yarei, Lawrence’s friend from Pasloe and the bad guy of the series. I need to go back to rewatch Spice & Wolf the anime, because I remember Yarei being a young woman there, but I could be wrong on that.
Final Thoughts
I was always going to be positive about this first novel, since I’ve read it before and I’m a big fan of the anime. What I found interesting was comparing this to the first time I read it. Back then I was still studying economics, and I have now long since abandoned that career path. As a matter of fact, I started to hate how predatory economics felt, so I completely did a turn around. Even though I feel that way, I couldn’t dislike the economics in this show. It’s not a grotesque capitalist hellscape like the one we live in, but more akin to early mercantile capitalism when the world still seemed somewhat fair. Sure, the rich got richer back then, but wealth disparity was not as large, and from the glimpses we get the people in this world seem to be doing relatively alright. I’m curious where the series goes from here, and what kind of economics it will be talking about. And more than that, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read along. Or did you watch the anime and are you here to see if you should read the novels too? I’d love to hear more in the comments down below, and I hope to see all of you next month for volume two! Thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 