When J-Novel Club made their announcement about producing more audiobooks of their most popular light novels at Anime NYC 2022, my first thought was, “Ok, Bookworm when then?” A few conventions and livestreams later, they finally announced production of Miya Kazuki’s Ascendance of a Bookworm in audiobook form at Anime Expo 2023, and part 1 is now out. As someone who is reading this series in print (Part 5, Volume 1 is the latest release), essentially going back to more “quaint” times makes approaching the audiobook slightly difficult. And unlike an anime, which can’t keep everything from the novel, I’m getting all 8 hours and 12 minutes of Urano Motosu’s journey from being an insatiable bookworm to becoming a sickly kid in Myne in a world without obtainable books.
I did say slightly difficult since I already know what to expect, but once the story gets going, there’s so much to like about the series. That does leave the question of, “can new readers jump into this audiobook?” Of course, but another question can be, “Can those who watched the anime but didn’t like it listen to this audiobook?” Don’t think that’s an issue, unless you are not a fan of isekai overall. Understandable but unfortunate, since Ascendance of a Bookworm is one of the better ones out on the market.
While generally speaking most protagonists who get isekai’d don’t take long to get their overpowered skills/trait/etc, Bookworm begins with its main protagonist dying because a bunch of books crushed her. As Urano copes with the pain, she soon begins to take over the body of someone else that’s also currently dying — Myne. Urano then wakes up in Myne’s body, slowly becoming aware she’s not in Japan anymore. From her attire to the simple and dirty abode she’s in, the now new Myne tries adjusting to her new surroundings — until she learns no one in her new family has a book. However, it’s thanks to a visit to the market that Myne not only learns that books do exist but also gets an idea of how nobles impact everything. (The book she sees at the market is unobtainable, notwithstanding Myne’s incalculable mistake in trying to let said book know she exists).
So rather than stay depressed, Myne resolves to make her own books. Thanks to her modern knowledge and what she’s learned from Urano’s mom, she starts to see some semblance of movement on that front by talking to and creating connections with other people, like Lutz, one of her next door neighbors, and Otto, a local soldier whose part of her new dad’s (Gunther) regiment. Her efforts eventually start succeeding, until one of her projects explodes in her face — things exploding do become a thing in the second half of the novel — and that leaves her very dejected. Attempting to help Lutz in his goal to find something he can do that his brothers can’t take away by traveling as a merchant is one of the few things that keeps her going. The only reason for this last part is Myne’s sickly body houses a mysterious ailment, and with no idea of what it actually is she’s not sure how much time she has left to stave it off.
For anyone new to the series, as this novel (and manga) has already been out for years and having read them, just note that the progression may seem slow but there’s numerous callbacks — including in this first volume — that later become major factors while also revealing the state of Myne’s new world. Right now Myne’s major challenge is obtaining books but being a commoner limits most things she can do; even obtaining paper is a challenge thanks to the disparity between commoners and nobles. The commoner/noble relationship is one of the many plots (and subplots) of this series, but for now, she’s in an entirely new environment with no one she knows and is in a sickly body. So the first thing is finding some way to take care of herself.
The audiobook production of Bookworm is great. It is notable that the English dub actor of Myne, Reba Buhr, is narrating the novel, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee an audiobook will be good. As most are read by one person, that requires consistently voicing everyone differently and ensuring that they don’t sound the same. I can guess Reba might have used the anime to center how she would make the characters (aside from Myne) sound, but having experience in narrating over 200 audiobooks was likely a boon as well. There’s a clear vision and voice throughout the audiobook, from the prologue all the way to the credits, that reflects the person narrating everything really well.
While I won’t spoil everything, there were a number of narration standouts from this volume to highlight. As mentioned earlier when she learned books existed in her new world, Myne begging the older man at the market stall to let her do absolutely gross things to the book was hilarious, but in truth, making sure to establish Myne’s and Urano’s voice was a major factor in my enjoyment of the audiobook. In anime (and the manga) you do lose out on most internal narration so consistently you think of Myne’s speaking voice. In novel form you come up with your voice for characters, but admittedly at this point you just think of Myne in her new world. But in listening to it, I had to remember that yeah, Myne actually would not sound the same internally because she’s actually a college-aged girl. So when she’s speaking internally, it would have to be Urano’s voice. Reba does a terrific job of making sure of this distinction throughout the audiobook.
The one story highlight would be when Myne’s grand plan to make clay tablets goes awry when Lutz’s brother Fey and his friends break them. There was a need to communicate just how devastating that moment was for Myne outwardly and internally, while showing how Lutz and Tulli (Myne’s sister) could calm her down and putting the fear within Fey and his friends in minutes. Sure there’s likely vocal cues and a method to handle those things, but how Reba presented the entire scene was exceptional. While there’s a number of standouts in the audiobook, this was one of the memorable ones for me.
Whether you’re a long-time reader, someone who didn’t really enjoy how things were depicted or explained in the anime, or a new reader who might’ve been interested in the series before, volume 1 of the Ascendance of a Bookworm audiobook is great. You will still have to carve out time to listen to it, but if you do, you’ll get something that’s generally well-written and a great way to spend a couple days with. If you have eight hours and some change, you’ll get a good amount of entertainment out of listening to this. Now the wait for volume 2 begins…