The Fall 2024 Light Novel Guide
The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone!
What's It About?
The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone! is written by Kureha and illustrated by Yoko Matsurika. English translation by Alex Castor. Published by J-Novel Heart; PublishDrive edition (August 29, 2024).
Is It Worth Reading?
Rebecca Silverman
Rating:
Sometimes a book comes along that is utterly unremarkable but manages to touch something in the reader anyway. You know while reading that there's nothing new here, beyond different names for the same old story beats and characters. But despite that, there's something enjoyable about the book anyway. It's not cozy, precisely; that's a very specific subgenre. But it is pleasant, and that's what The Blessings of Liefe is: pleasant and enjoyable without being all that special.
Our heroine, Yui, is a “liefe,” someone who can't use the elemental magic prevalent in her world. Because this is the primary type of magic used by mostly nobles, liefe are reviled as less-than, and Yui's noble father is so aghast that his daughter is one that he ignores her. Mind you, he was a twit from the start; Yui's mother was a commoner whom he forced to marry him. By the time Yui is ten, her mother has had enough and divorces her husband, returning to her parents' bakery with Yui in tow. Unfortunately, Yui's older brothers, twins Cecil and Carlo, stayed with their father, who cares more about having sons with the appropriate magic skills than anything else.
Unsurprisingly, Yui's unusual powers prove to be just that: unusual, not useless. Her non-elemental magic allows her to befriend the second prince of the nation, Filiel, whose magic power is so strong that it physically overwhelms anyone with weaker magic should they make skin contact. But guess who can touch him? No points for the correct answer, but the way this is handled in the story is very good. Although we can guess long before the reveal that Yui's unusual magic is a boon, the way other characters realize it is gratifying. This is especially true of the no-chance rival character, although I don't expect that she's fully gone from the story. In a nice shift, though, everyone tells her that she's the no-chance rival and is quite put out with her insistence on marrying Filiel. She's meant to be annoying, and that's a nice change.
Although Yui herself would rather be a baker than a mage or princess and has the density of industrial-grade concrete, she's still a delightful character, secure in herself and her abilities. The only character who gives me pause is her overprotective stepfather, whose love for her feels like it could cross a boundary or two. He loves her mother, his wife, as well, which in some ways makes this worse, although arguably it was intended to make it better. But even with him in it, this is a comfortable book, one that's perhaps not actually good but is enjoyable and readable enough to make it feel better than it is.
Lauren Orsini
Rating:
Don't be fooled by this light novel's claim that its protagonist is powerless. This is 100% a power fantasy, and perhaps the most shameless one I've seen in years. It's the story of Yui, who was born as a Liefe: a type of person who is incapable of using elemental magic. But hold your horses: that doesn't mean she can't use any magic. Though the book begins by describing the many reasons that Yui is considered to be the dregs of her society, the reader will immediately glean that each of Yui's supposed shortcomings are actually features that make her the most amazingly specialist girl in the world, actually.
Since Yui is a Liefe, she doesn't look like other people. Instead, she has beautiful blue eyes and “ephemeral” light-colored hair. Since she can't perform elemental magic, she studies “support” magic. As a result, her magical knowledge rivals that of leading scholars, plus she's constantly using it at her top magic school to kick the butts of haughty noble-born students who look down at her. Though her noble father kicked out his Liefe daughter and divorced her mom, Mom then married up to the realm's formidable Prime Minister, which makes her an even specialer noble than the people who denigrate her. Also every boy in the book has a crush on her, including her stepdad. The book's most high-profile love interest is the prince, a magic user so powerful that other characters can't even touch his bare skin without risking death! (Except Yui of course: his dangerous magic does not affect her and her alone.) Yui does her best to blend in, for example by intentionally choosing the wrong answer on tests to appear average, but her brilliance always shines through despite her best efforts. She's just that perfect, y'all!
Everyone in this book clearly has a humiliation fetish, because nobody will leave Yui alone. Instead, teachers, students, powerful nobles, and more attempt to put her in her place and get obliterated instead. She's the best ever, but unfortunately I can't stand her! At first it was fun to watch her destroy the non-believers, but it soon became routine. The book's copy labels her as a “magical letdown” and implies this is some sort of underdog story, but I can't think of a single weakness that Yui has, unless her sweet tooth counts. She's smart, gorgeous, kind, has tons of friends and suitors, and is secretly one of the most powerful people in her kingdom, both by status and magical ability. In any other book she'd be a villain. I wish she would develop a mean streak: that would at least make her more fun.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.
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