Reading has just about always been a favorite past time of mine. Ever since I was a kid I loved delving into different fiction series, and getting engrossed in their worlds and characters. Even the “boring” books we had to read during English classes I found to be enjoyable at the very least. Throughout most of elementary and middle school I often spent a fair bit of my down time at school & at home reading. While I still loved to play with my LEGO or play some video games I always managed to find time to read a good book.

However, towards the end of my middle school career I started to really get into anime & manga, and spent most of my time reading manga instead of more traditional books. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that reading manga is a bad thing, it is a fantastic medium which has exposed me to countless breathtaking stories. Hell, I’m reading over 100 different manga at the moment. One might expect that to be quite the challenge to keep track of, but frankly when it comes to stories that interest me, my memory has rarely failed me.

During my high school years I finally got interested in light novels, which are essentially what they sound like. Novels with a relatively short page length usually 200-400 pages. The series that finally got me to start reading light novels would be Overlord, my all time favorite series. I’ve read all of the (currently released) novels, manga, and anime. The anime & manga are fantastic, and they are what convinced me to delve into the light novels, but they really fall behind the light novel in terms of quality. Overlord’s world building, characters, and fantasy elements are all top notch, and it is practically impossible for any type of medium outside of a novel to show that aspect of it. As there are limitations of the anime & manga mediums that simply can’t be easily circumvented.

Besides Overlord, I have also read the “So I’m a Spider so What?” series, or well… the first 14 novels, as the 15th and 16th have yet to be translated to English. While not as amazing as Overlord, this is also a fantastic series that I recommend to just about anyone that is interested in light novels.

It is fairly amusing, while the medium for which I get my reading experience has changed, one factor has stood true: Fantasy remains as one of my favorite genres. Granted I do enjoy most other genres, but we all have our favorites.

While reading will never replace something such as video games for me, I also don’t think that I will ever “quit” reading. As long as there are enjoyable series that I can find you can expect me to continue reading these fantastic pieces of literature.