The Fall 2024 Light Novel Guide

In My Seventh Life, I Met a Monster Princess

What's It About? 

Hugo is stuck in a time loop, forced to relive the same life up until the moment he is slain by one of his own relatives. But, after swearing revenge on his murderous family during his seventh reset, he meets a beautiful girl. According to rumor, this girl is a monster in human flesh, but he agrees to become her servant all the same. The birth of their partnership heralds an intertwining of fates, and Hugo's life will never be the same again...

In My Seventh Life, I Met a Monster Princess is written by sammbon and illustrated nama2e. English translation by Haydn Trowell. Published by Yen On (October 29, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Lauren Orsini

Rating:

“Oh-ho-ho.” “Ah-ha-ha.” Never before has a light novel made me wish for WORSE localization. The saccharine lovebirds at the center of the tale each have their own trademark laughter style, so every conspiratorial exchange between them (and there are a lot) is a confetti of “Oh-ho” “Ah-ha” ad infinitum. I want to tell this PDA-loving couple to get a room, but their path to tying the knot is already what the entire story is about. For all my nitpicks, I still found this to be a fast, interesting read because every aspect of this power and revenge fantasy was tailor-made to scratch that itch in the basest part of my brain for seeing bad people get what's coming to them.

Hugo has had a rough six lives. He's stuck in a time loop until he can figure out how to keep his rotten family from murdering him. Over the past six attempts, he's acquired and retained all kinds of skills from assassination to book smarts, but he's never known the love of another person. That is until his seventh life, when he convinces his scheming father to marry him off to a princess rumored to be a hideous monster. Surprise surprise, Lady Meltreza is actually the most beautiful woman on earth—though she is a monster, with powers to match! Her most convenient power: she can tell when somebody is being sincere, so when Hugo unloads the story of his past six lives, she believes him immediately and instantly falls in love with him for his perseverance. After the pair decide on pet names (Hugh and Melza respectively) roughly an hour after they first meet, the rest of the book follows Hugo and his Monster Pixie Dream Girl as she puts everyone who has ever wronged her precious Hugh (and there is quite a list) in their place. Also, Meltreza's grandpa is the toughest dude in the kingdom, so he teaches everything he knows to Hugo so Hugo can kick everyone's butts. And they all live happily ever after, which is not a spoiler because there was only one way for this to go. Of course, it's only volume 1…

You can see how this is the most juvenile of power fantasies, where the unjustly overlooked boy finds happiness not through any self examination, but by meeting the perfect girl. Before he meets Meltreza, every single person in Hugo's life is cartoon villain evil, and this black-and-white dynamic keeps us from having to do any critical thinking. I still found it satisfying to watch Meltreza make Hugo's family squirm as they realize the jig is up, but I couldn't see anyone in this book (Hugo and Meltreza included) as a multi-dimensional character. This is a frustrated kid's daydream put into print.