My ‘favorite P4V1-5 cover’ vote goes to P4V4 – it’s hands down my favorite cover in the series thus far. P4 actually has strong covers in general, but there’s something about the colors in this one that I just love; the yellow is so bright and cheery, and it goes well with the white and shades of blue mixed in. I know that P4V5 is also an amazing cover, but hey, this is a poll for personal favorites!

Been busy and had fallen a couple parts behind... good Lord were the Murderous Myne faces everything I could have wished them to be!

Napoleon Myne was cute too, but I was most amused by Myne The Thinker myself.

I’ll try not to do this too much, but since this one has been at a tie for a bit - bump! And if you haven’t voted on the other polls, you can do those too while you’re at it :D

@Aydena
She was pretty explicit. The ratio of male to female birth is about 50/50, but boys are more likely to not get baptized as nobles and become servants instead.

A close choice, but I went for P3V5 because it was our first illustration of both Charlotte and Bonifatius.

@NekoInu I think that was the year before Georgine became 1st Wife, and he's saying that the Drewanchel wife was prioritising the mana supply for Ahrensbach when Georgine magically produced chalices for Werkestock... and thus secured the backing of the factions that the at-the-time 1st Wife had been on bad terms with.

@MasterLillyclaw said in Best of Bookworm P3 Poll - Volume:

My ‘favorite P3 volume’ vote goes to P3V3, for giving us not one but two cool jureve gathering scenes – the spring gathering is my favorite of the four – mixed with the intense chapters covering Hasse’s punishment. Those chapters are certainly less fun to read, but they cement a lot of relevant information about noble-commoner interactions and the seriousness of the Bookverse. Also it has that very sweet comment about Cornbread in Lamprecht’s side story chapter ;w;

Also Philine. Enough said.

@b-scot-morgan
I think that's very likely that you have to have all the elements, plenty of mana, and be HB to see that final circle in the Bible. I wouldn't put it past Ferdinand to be able to cast it now that he's seen Myne cast it publicly.

@Geezer-Weasalopes Except we don't need to draw correlations to our reality. Every point used to support the "no" position is derived from in-universe ratios and examples.

Hokay.
P3V3P3:

"I remained in the Academy for the entire year, leaving only when summoned."

Ferdinand, speaking to Rozemyne.

So.
You can too stay at the RA year round.

My perspective: Being expected to add spoiler tags when drawing on the summary is a minor inconvenience for those who read the summary. Being spoiled is a major inconvenience for those who deliberately avoid the summary. As such, the weight is heavily in favour of expecting spoiler tags.

In terms of enforcement, there is the report facility so at least the number of people affected is minimised.

If people draw on the summary without making it clear where they found stuff out then people will mostly just assume it is speculation. The main issue is when people make it explicit that something is from the summary, and that should be clear cut to take action on if reported.

P2V4 just had so many details that once you read the story understood. It's a critical moment that does transition you into the next part of the story. I aspire to produce something so foreshadowing one day.

@MasterLillyclaw said in Best of Bookworm P2 Poll - Color Insert:

I might’ve gone for P2V2, but even knowing what’s causing the shadow on Myne, to me it always makes her look like she’s in some strange sitting position, and it just looks odd

It does, but her holding her first book, too powerful of an image for me to look past. Especially with all the exquisite detail on the illustrations in the bottom right corner.

@MasterLillyclaw P2V2 is also the proper introduction of Damuel, Karstedt, Wilma, and Rosina, and where Ferdinand's plan to mold Myne into a noble girl starts in earnest (with the Harspiel lessons).

Plus... I know you alluded to it, but how could you write a summary of that volume's highlights that leaves out the words Shikza, Trombe, Flutrane's Staff, and Urano bathing with Ferdinand?

@Zeteni She was on the short list. She was almost Mia. But... in the end, the romance obsession was just too important to me.

This was a wild one.

The first half was so nice and lighthearted. I wanted to write: "The biggest tragedy of this volume was that Hartmut has agreed to slow down spreading the church of Rozemyne". Alas, that turned out not to be the case.

Going in to this book blind. The first image of the book quickly revealed that I could expect some wet eyes during the book. So I went in expecting the worst.

And then it was just absolute bliss. Melchoir is such a sweet child, It seems to me that he will join Hartmuts efforts to spread the word of Rozemyne. At the beginning of the book he sees her nearly as a god already.

It was interesting to hear about how archduke candidates are taught. It seems quit nice that they build a little "mini duchy" complete with borders, buildings and everything. Rozemyne off course continues to amaze with her mana manipulation skills. Leaving Wilfried, Charlotte, and Melchoir in the dust.

The visit to the Leisegang was quite interesting. It is always good getting new printing workshops up and running. The amount of wrath spraying toward Wilfried and Charlotte was very intense indeed. Is this the first time we hear about Rozemynes wish to be second/third wife? I think she might have mentioned it once before, but only in passing, and it doesn't seem to be something she consistently pesters Ferdinand with.

Eating fish was a nice experience for Rozemyne. I hope she can get the chefs to combine her cooking with fish.

I guess that's most of the good stuff. Then the action happened.

NOOOOO, how will we do without Ferdinand? How will Ferdinand do without Rozemyne? I hope they will both be fine. But they have so little time, and so much knowledge to pass on between them. As we know now, my guess from last volume on the seed of adalgsia was completely wrong. And the evil Ahrensbach is taking our beloved head priest.

Also, we must spend a least a little while here admiring Ferdinands foresightedness. He probably ordered the exact ingredients needed for Rozemynes second Jureve for her sake already during the interduchy tournament. Now that Rozemyne is completely healthy, she will hopefully start growing. It will also be exiting to see if her mana affinity shoots up due to the treatment. It did seem so during the tea party.

I really don't like Ahrensbach people (except Aurelia). They seem very hostile, even internally as a group. So we can just hope Ferdinand will be fine. I do understand Ferdinands choice however. He could never live with killing Sylvester. I wonder how much of a "heart to heart" Ferdinand and the king had. I suspect that the king would have let Ferdinand staid, if the circumstances had been fully explained.

I think that covers my thoughts on the volume so far. I do have a comment I forgot last time: What is up with Ferdinands arch rival being literally named "Hot Shit" (Hot=Heiss, Shit = Shitze) (I know his name is spelled Heisshitze, but it is just not how that name is read)

See you in october 8-)

Edit:

I had forgotten something really important that I wanted to mention:
I really enjoyed the way Rozemyne blackmailed Ferdinand in this book (and the way Ferdinand used it against her). I think this book showed a great deal of character development in two ways for her:

Her willingness to oppose those above her. Previously she would just accept what Ferdinand said, but not anymore. Now she is ready to oppose even the king if he crosses her to gravely. This seems like a very important milestone for her. while she has accepted the gods more willingly than others previously. It seems that she is also beginning to be more interested in speaking up about her beliefs. Previously when praying, she would often mention it being hard not to laugh, and be slightly sceptical. I think the prayer for Hartmut is the first time we have heard her consciously going all out for a prayer (she has done so subconsciously previously)

Overall these developments seem like they will be super important for where the story goes in the coming volumes.

@KingCaesarRex

This is mentioned again in the Damuel SS 'Lunchtime in the temple' P2V4.

Good catch! Though it’s possible that this is a continuity error instead.

@Almond-Magnum said in Myne, Is she truly not normal:

@b-scot-morgan said in Myne, Is she truly not normal:

This suggests that the gods are mainly aware of the world, or at least the people within it, through mana.

That might mean the gods aren't aware of all the intricacies of human society and are unable to micromanage it even if they wanted to. Sort of like an entomologist may be able to tell a queen from a worker from a soldier ant, but can't point to a particular worker right inside the anthill and tell it "You're on foraging duty today, go north".

That explains part of the weird feeling I from the gods. You’d think if they were really the kind of pantheon they resemble from our world, they’d be mingling more with the mortals.

P1V2 because of Myne and Lutz working together to make paper. It's just so important to the series as a whole, but even there, you've still got them sneaking in buttered potatoffels. The other things in the image are nice too, but that bit alone is the clincher for me.