I'm the villaness so am taming the final boss

This light novel is an arc from NetGalley. Aileen D'Autriche's world is coming to an end. Crown Prince Cedric, her fiancé, has just announced his intention to end their engagement. He plans to marry Lady Lilia, the daughter of a minor baron, whom Aileen has been bullying while they are all at the academy. This would be shocking for anyone, except Aileen's memories begin to open up and she realises she's been transported into her favourite romance game! And Aileen is the baddie! Aileen takes stock after leaving the scene of her humiliation and decides she needs to change her fate. She doesn't want to die or be cast out, so she has to change the plot. This is what drives her to visit the Demon.The girl is reincarnated as the villain in her favourite video game. Everything in the game is exactly as she remembers it, but she appears to be the only one who knows how it will end. She has to do everything in her power to save the game and act as the villain to prevent her character from dying horribly. This includes attempting to marry the demon prince, who serves as the game's final boss. This book was hilarious which was all I was looking for. The artwork included is stunning. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.

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This is the second light novel I have read, having been drawn in by the delightful title only to be disappointed by the story. I understand these are typically told episodically, online or elsewhere, and each act is fairly self-contained within the novel while undeniably moving the plot forward, but the writing feels very juvenile and it was very strange to have third-person, present-tense narration throughout. I also didn't know what to make of the idea that someone in the "real world" was living out these events and therefor able to remember parts of the game and try to avert them, but they might have been sick or dead or something in the real world. The whole conceit just kind of...vanished after a while?

I’m the Villainess so I’m Taming the Final Boss Vol. 1

I watched the anime of I’m the Villainess so I’m Taming the Final Boss and liked it well enough. The light novel was so much better!

The discussions on classism as well as the importance of infrastructure. How it’s important to provide opportunities to the less privileged populace to help with the growth of the country. As well as how providing only the already wealthy with financial opportunities makes the whole country suffer. The story even touches on how increasing the wealth of the lower classes increases tax revenue significantly more than raising taxes does.

I appreciated reading the story from Aileen’s perspective. You come to realize her villainess reputation is very much the result of a selfish, short sighted prince and a society that doesn’t respect well educated and strong women. Aileen’s prioritized the kingdom and her family over the typical wants of nobility and was punished for it.

Thank you @netgalley and @yenpress for the opportunity to read and review I’m the Villainess so I’m Taming the Final Boss Vol. 1. I have already purchased the next volume and can’t wait to read more of Aileen’s adventures.

Light novels are legit becoming one of my favourite things to read! And this bite sized book features a tenacious heroine, an aloof love interest and 2 societies that are struggling to maintain peace.

Aileen D’Autriche’s world is ending. Her fiancé, Crown Prince Cedric, has just announced his intention to dissolve their engagement. He intends to marry the Lady Lilia, the daughter of a very minor baron, whom Aileen has been bullying while they all attend the academy. This would be a huge shock for anyone, except right as this happens Aileen’s memories start to open up and she realizes she’s been transported into her favourite romance game! And Aileen is the villainess! After leaving the scene of her humiliation, Aileen takes stock and decides that she needs to change her fate. She doesn’t want to die or be cast out, so she’s gotta shake up the storyline. And this is what leads her to venture to the Demon King, Claude’s territory and propose marriage to him.

Ok. If you love a good isekai anime or webcomic or novel then you’ll love this book. An isekai, for those in the audience who aren’t aware, is a trope where someone from modern society dies or goes into a coma and wakes up in another world. They usually play a minor character or the villainess and, since they know how the plot moves, they work to change it in their favour. It’s a fun trope! The plot in this book moves at a decently fast pace and the world building, while not extravagant, is enough to give a clear picture to what’s happening.

Aileen is a girl who knows what she wants and she is not afraid to go after it. After being humiliated in front of the academy when Cedric dumps her, she dusts herself off and basically sets out to charm the demon king. She’s intelligent, thoughtful and has a good grasp on how actions can create consequences. Claude starts the book off as very aloof, but over time his emotions start to show through and the relationship between the two shines through.

The side characters are all interesting, too. Cedric, the former fiancé, seems to get off on humiliating Aileen and cannot accept that she’s over him. Laila, the Sword Maiden, may seem innocent but is actually quite devious. Keith, the demon king’s human aide, is a lively fellow who has made some critical errors in judgement. And it is very entertaining to watch how Beelzebuth, the demon king’s right hand man, slowly gets accustomed to humans.

Like I said above, if you like a good isekai this is for you! Or if you’re looking for a short read that features a neat plot, fun characters and pretty art then definitely check it out!

Thanks very much to YenPress and NetGalley for providing me with this free copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was an ARC received from NetGalley.

This was my first light novel so I wasn’t sure what to expect, however, it reads much like a manga or anime plot-in fact I have read many similar Isekai manga. I did enjoy reading it for what it is, the published book was not much changed from the serialized web-release so it could have been much more polished in further editing. I suppose I am used to novels having less stark cuts in time to move the plot along. Much of it read as a summarization of things that were happen/should happen and not a description of things happening at the time. Such as in the final battle, things were somewhat glossed over and moved too quickly when it would have been more tense-and more moving-to strengthen the scene.

Another thing that kind of bothered me is Aileen and Claude, who fall in together without previously knowing one another, are not much shown “falling” for each other. There are a couple big scenes but the emphasis in the story is Aileen planning and plotting trying to escape her fate.

In the end (which I won’t spoil), which could have been used to show Claude and Aileen’s relationship is again glossed over and told to the reader, instead of watching it happen.

I am glad that this is wrapped up by the end of the book and not just a continuous story broken up over many volumes so at least it does wrap up. It would have been improved with more editing, and expansion of some scenes-and that editing would give those who already read it online something more to discover in the book version. I'd rate it at 2.5 stars, decent enough but not amazing.

I find that reincarnation light novels are always 50/50 with me, but this one really swept me in. The humor was perfectly placed and the pacing of the story and romance were incredibly engaging! Really enjoyed it!

A cute story about a character who wants to change their destiny. The plot follows our main character Aileen who is trying to change the outcome of the game story she is in. This story is a villain gets the girl but the girl is also a villain. The side characters are wonderful and hilarious. I love how this story is a different take on the immersive game genre. The romance is slow burn and Aileen is a strong and capable main character.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun story and I enjoyed myself while reading it. I really liked the few pictures that were included. Now I really want to read the manga.

I loved this book. A girl is reincarnated into her favorite video game but as the villainess. Everything in the game is as she remembers, but she seems to be the only one who knows how the game will unfold. She must do everything in her power to save the game and play as the villainess to keep her character from meeting their gruesome end. This just so happens to mean trying to marry the demon prince who turns into the final boss in the game. This book was hilarious, and had everything I wanted. The art that is included is beautiful. I can't wait to read the next one.

I have been seeing so many reincarnation variations like this one. You'd think by now I would be able to resist one when it came across my plate. You'd be wrong. I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 1 is the start of a new series by Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki.

For a moment there, it looked like Aileen's life was falling apart. Then the memories from her past life started flowing into her. Now, she understands that her new life is part of a video game plot, and she knows how to take advantage of the situation.

Rather than relegating her life to that of a villainess, as the game would have her do, Aileen is going to do something different. She's going to take the story by its horns and tame the final boss herself. Who's going to stop her?

It seems like I've been reading a lot of reincarnated villainess tales lately (there are a veritable ton of them on Tapas, for those wondering). But I'm not going to complain about that. I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 1 was a quick and fun read that once again created a unique spin within the genre.

Personally, I really loved the core concept of this one. I like the idea of a character like Aileen taking ownership of her life – it is such a liberating thought, don't you think? Anyway, it made for a solid foundation here, and I'm clearly going to have to make a point of following this series because I'm too curious to give up now.

☆☆☆☆ /5
(english review below)

Un isekai que j'ai plutôt bien apprécié et que j'ai trouvé original par rapport à tout ceux que j'ai pu déjà lire !
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Les méchants ont aussi leurs propres histoires !

Lorsque ses fiançailles avec le prince se terminent sans cérémonie, les détails de la vie passée de la jeune noble Aileen lui reviennent et l'aident à se rendre compte qu'elle vit dans le monde de l'un de ses jeux otome préférés, en tant que plus grand rival de l'héroïne ! Cependant, de mémoire, cela ressemble plus à de l'intrigue qu'à une mauvaise fanfiction… et la seule certitude qu'elle a est que si elle ne fait pas quelque chose rapidement, sa mort est presque assurée. On ne peut pas compter sur le héros/l'amour principal, alors pourquoi ne pas voir ce que le boss final a à dire ?
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En terme de lectures graphiques, j'affectionne tout particulièrement les isekai. Très souvent, les isekai que je lis commence par l'invocation soudaine d'un personnage du monde réel dans un monde magique ou par la réincarnation d'un personnage mort dans le monde réel dans la peau d'un personnage de jeu vidéo ou de livre. Et là pour le coup, je dois dire que j'ai trouvé ce light novel unique puisque le personnage est déjà intégré dans ce monde magique et que ce sont des bribes de souvenirs d'un passé oublié qui lui indique qu'elle incarne un personnage dans un de ses otome games préférés.
J'ai beaucoup apprécié le personnage d'Aileen que j'ai trouvé débrouillarde et mature. J'ai aimé connaître ses réflexions et ses pensées lorsqu'elle a commencé à voir que les choses étaient étranges et lorsqu'il a fallu à qu'elle réfléchisse à comment survivre dans ce jeu.
L'univers dans lequel elle se trouve est tout aussi intéressant à découvrir. J'ai pris plaisir à imaginer tout ce qui était décrit ! Et le style d'écriture simple et facile à lire, propre aux light novels, m'a beaucoup aidé à cette visualisation pendant ma lecture.
C'est un premier tome et la fin promet d'autres aventures, d'autres embûches quant à l'atteinte de l'objectif d'Aileen pour survivre.

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

An isekai that I quite enjoyed and that I found original compared to all those I have already read!
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Villains Have Their Own Routes Too!

When her engagement to the prince ends unceremoniously, details of the young noblewoman Aileen’s past life come rushing back and help her realize she’s living inside the world of one of her favorite otome games—as the heroine’s greatest rival! However, her memory has more plot holes than bad fan fiction…and the only certainty is that if she doesn’t do something quick, her death is all but assured. The hero/main-love-interest can’t be relied on, so why not see what the last boss has to say?
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In terms of graphic readings, I particularly like isekai stories. Quite often the isekai I read begin with the sudden summoning of a real-world character to a magical world or the reincarnation of a dead character in the real world in a video game. And there for once, I must say that I found this unique light novel since the character is already integrated into this magical world and that these are bits of memories from a forgotten past which indicates to her that she plays a character in one of her favorite otome games.
I really enjoyed the character of Aileen who I found resourceful and mature. I liked knowing her thoughts when she started to see things were weird and when it took her to think about how to survive in this game.
The universe in which she finds herself is just as interesting to discover. I enjoyed imagining everything that was described! And the simple and easy-to-read writing style unique to light novels helped me a lot with this visualization while reading.
It's a first book and the end promises other adventures and other pitfalls in reaching Aileen's goal to survive.

This was a pretty fun read! To be honest, it took me a little time to get into the story, and I don't think I ever really vibed with it fully, but I loved certain twists and turns that happened, and I do love this style of story - people waking up in the game and remembering previous lives. One of my current favourite animes does something extremely similar.

I will admit that this read like...relatively okay fanfiction. I've been back into fanfic lately, and this one read like one that I liked but had issues with the expression and the lack of character development. The romance never really felt that real to me, either. It seemed to move both way too slow and then way too fast at the end, and whilst there were definitely some good points, I just didn't find I believed that there was much of anything *there* between them.

Storyline was pretty interesting, and the ending was quite good, also room for sequels, but I would've just liked a bit more from this one.

* I received an eARC/e-galley of this book via Netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am a fan of the isekai genre, where a character is transported to another world and has to survive (usually a video game) and this novel was a great take on that. The main character started to have random memories of her past life and some of those pertained to her favorite video game in which she is now. The story is great and follows her and the clever decisions that she makes to help herself survive with a little help from those memories. She is smart and beautiful and of course, she doesn’t realize how amazing she is. She realizes the only way for her to live is to make the final boss of the game her alley/love. The story is super cute and smart and the characters are likable but the way it is written is not perfect. It can be a fault with the translation but some parts of the book are a little hard to follow and the conversations don’t say who said what and that was a little confusing at times. I do recommend this to people who like isekai and light romance. I will be reading the following novels.

This was very cute. I really enjoyed this read. I feel like the trope of the villainess becoming the main character and being not so villain is becoming really trendy and I like it. As usual in light novels, the writing style is easy to read and easy to visualise. I think Sarasa Nagase did a great job for the world building here. I quickly got into it and couldn’t stop reading. I enjoyed following the girl who got reincarnated kind of as Aileen and seeing her become one with the game-character.
I cannot say much about the illustration because the formatting did not allow me to see the full image for some reason. But from the little I saw, it looked nice.
I recommend it to people looking for a fun and easy read, with a strong female lead.
4/5

There are two things I’m pretty fond of but never talk about: isekai and light novel. It does not come as a surprise then that I asked to review this. This was a fast read (I read it in a day) and I want to read the sequel(s?); hence, you can guess I liked it. This was the short review. Now, let’s move on to the more detailed one.
Let’s start with the art. On NetGalley – where I requested the arc – there is no cover: it was the title that intrigued me (usually, isekai stories have this kind of titles so I knew what I was looking at). Then I read the plot, searched for the cover – it was stunning – and clicked on “request” without a second thought. Being this a light novel, there is art inside as well. Every chapter (except for the prologue, so 6) has at least one awesome illustration. However, I would have liked even more of those.
I’m not sure which one came first – the manga or the graphic novel (though I suspect the latter, seeing the acknowledgements) – but the reason why I would have liked more illustrations is that I have the feeling this would work better as a manga. Hence, I’ll probably check out that one too.
It’s not the story by itself that would work better as a manga, but for how it is written: the text looks more like the description of a panel that has to be drawn rather than a novel. Actually, not even that, because in the script tends to be written who is talking and what they are doing: here, it seemed like some bits of information were missing. Being familiar with how this genre works in the manga form, I could most of the times fill the blanks; however, some other times, there were too many dialogues without saying who was talking that made it complicated to follow. This is the first problem I had with the writing style.
The second is linked to this, but probably due to the translation. The writing style seemed too simple at times (not in the words chosen – those were quite elaborate sometimes, I confess there are a couple of sentences I still don’t know what they mean), but in the narration. This might be difficult to explain, but I hope I succeed: once again, in a manga format, having different paragraphs is not an issue because you don’t have to link all the panels together, but in writing, you have to link sentences together, each sentence can’t just stand on its own without never being connected. Too many simple sentences; I would have liked more compound sentences.
I would have liked more narration in general: for the majority, the story consists of dialogues. One more reason why it would be great as a manga. While having no narration should make the story fast and easy to read, it actually confuses things: without descriptions (of places or even actions), it’s complicated to understand what is going on and you have to stop and try to reorganize the ideas.
Nevertheless, I finished this in one day. Still, I would have enjoyed it way more if it had been written better. I can attribute the simple style to the translation (maybe English is simpler than Japanese and it was hard to translate literally); yet, I doubt that whole paragraphs got lost in translation.
Aside from this, if you don’t mind the style or want to read the manga, I recommend this story. The backstory is not the most innovative one if you are familiar with the genre. If you are not: a girl used to live in the real world, had a sad and lonely life and played otome games (usually a favourite one with many routes); then, she dies and finds herself alive in that game: there she uses the knowledge of what happens and of the more advanced technology from where she is from to succeed in whatever she decides to do. Sometimes the “resurrection” occurs in the body of the villainess that dies at the end of the story and so she has to avoid that fate, sometimes it’s in the body of a secondary character that, however, catches the interest of the main love interest, messing with the original story. In this light novel, it’s the first case. Hence, the starting point is not very original.
HOWEVER, I loved one aspect of the world-building: the demon king is human and decided to stay as the demon king to protect humans; I loved this conflict (also the demons that were not outright evil). Another characterization I loved was the one of the villainess: while I prefer the stories where all the memories of the games are already available, so I did not like that she had some information missing, I loved that she wanted it all (the power, the money, the man) without being ashamed of it. I hope this still holds true in the next instalment. Perhaps, because my favourite aspect of the story were these twos, I loved their interactions and banters. A couple of times I was left perplexed, but, mostly, I just loved them: the villainess was a bit oblivious regarding the feelings on certain occasions, but overall I liked the two of them as a couple and I hope that no new love interest that creates a triangle appears.
Talking about the characters, the secondary characters are at the same time described and not described. Indeed, whenever the author introduces a new character, all the information regarding that character (a bit of physical aspect, social condition, abilities) are given at that moment. Hence, every character has its own paragraph of description; however, that is: the characters are then limited to exist for that sole role they are introduced with. Even the villainess and the demon king, while having more space, are somehow relegated to their roles. Ironically, the one character which I found had more twists and turns was the heroine: I expected her to be quite basic (she was most of the time, to be clear, but there were also some unexpected but thrilling surprises).
One more thing I loved was the fact that when we discover the main story and how the route of the heroine should have gone, I could see it: I could see that if the narration of the story had been the heroine, I would have supported that ending. Thus, compliments to the author who was able to reverse the perspective. 
In conclusion, because I wrote a lot, let me summarize: it was a delightful story, I’ll read the sequel, but I want to have a look at the manga too.

4.25/5 stars!

When her royal fiancé cancelled their engagement, the heroine remembers memories of her past life. Though those memories are not many, the heroine remembers enough to recognize her own death trap in an otome game. In pursuit of her own survival, the heroine turns to another royal prince for help, the final boss of the game: the demon king!

This first volume of this light novel series is an enjoyable read! I liked the 'voice' of the heroine, who is trying to survive as various death traps surrounds her. The story flowed smoothly and it ended in a nice note. I enjoyed the appearances of the supportive characters gathering around the heroine, including the demon king and his own group of diverse characters. The illustrations that were included in this volume were also a delight to look at because they were definitely very beautiful. Overall I enjoyed reading this light novel and look forward to reading more of this series in the future!

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

This was such a fun read! The protagonist was a little predictable, but still lovable all the same. I thought it was original that the Alieen didn’t have to rely on changing the original harem’s attitude towards her to drive the story. I wish the male lead had more character, but I’m sure the target audience will still get enjoyment out of this quick, funny novel.

Ya'll, I have re-discovered my college era love of manga and NOW there is something JUST as good or even BETTER out there and it is LIGHT NOVELS, basically manga with only a few GORGEOUS pictures and the story written out as a prose book.

It is my book version of dark chocolate. I have an affinity for the "otome isekai villainess" genre, where the MC h is a contemporary Japanese female, usually teen to young adult, who is whisked away to a usually fantasy type European style world that the protagonist realizes is based off of an otome game that she played when she was in Japan and that she is now the villainess of the game and is trying to avoid the "death flags" so she survives to a ripe old age, rather than to be used as the stepping stone for the "heroine" to have her "happy" ending.

This book 100% fit the bill for me. The stories tend to be on the formulaic side, but if written well and made different enough, I really enjoy them. This is one I really enjoyed, to the point that after finishing this, I pre-ordered this and the next one on Amazon.

(Not going to lie, I brought it with me to work to read during my lunch break. I have only ever done that ONCE with another NG book. THAT'S how well this one wrapped me up in it's world. I was SO SAD to hit the end, MOR MONSTER WANT MOR!)

So. Yes, this is similar in structure to other books in the genre, but it does a good job of being distinct and OMG the hero is just PERFECT. Highly recommended if you are interested in this genre.

5, how could I give it anything less and do I want to pauper myself by getting the manga as well, stars!

My thanks to NetGalley and Yen Press/Yen On for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

The team-up between the in-game villainess and the final boss/secret romance route! Worth a read if you like other reincarnated villainess as MC stories!

Hidden away in my book loving heart, there is a special place for light novels. There is something so endearing about them, alongside being easy fun reads.

I didn’t know anything about this series before picking this one up and gosh do I want it to continue. It has a similar feeling to the currently popular Hamefura during the first chapter but separates itself from then on with a villainess who I actually admire, respect and root for. It’s rare that a female character have such integrity and aspiration.

If there is anything you should take away from this light novel, it’s that the villainess is not always the villainous one.

Definitely will be continuing this series once the next one is out.