Review: The Spellbook Library, Vol. 1

The Spellbook Library, Vol. 1 by Uta Isaki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun new manga, set in a world where Spellbook Librarians bind fantasy beasts into books in order to use them (as beasts of burden, messengers or what-have-you; this aspect isn't explored much in this volume) or, in the case of the more dangerous ones, lock them away where they can do no harm.

Two young men want to join the Library staff through its occasional entrance exam, which is fiercely competitive and requires some lateral thinking. (This is the 201st event, and the last one was 5 years before, but it's not clear whether they are always 5 years apart; if so, that would imply the library is more than a thousand years old.) One is a rough-and-tumble lad named Yan who was saved 10 years before by the elite squad who seal the most dangerous creatures away; the other a mysterious boy named Tohru who Yan incidentally rescues from muggers while they are both on their way to the exam. Tohru is apparently a noble, and seems to have strong magical powers, but in the usual way of such things in this type of story, Yan doesn't ask him about it and he doesn't volunteer, so that there's something to be revealed later on.

Thanks entirely to Tohru's intelligence (Yan just happens to be paired with him for the test, which seems a bit unfair), the two pass the entrance exam and get assigned to the Public Relations department, which consists of two people prior to their addition: one of the kingdom's princesses, and another character who's not given much development yet. Through a series of events, they find themselves fighting a powerful magical creature... and the first volume ends on a cliffhanger.

While it's certainly very much in the vein of fantasy adventure manga generally, the setting and premise are fresh and don't retread already well-trodden ground. The art style is clear and dynamic, the story keeps moving forward while also sowing hints of revelations to come, the characters have clear motivations and face interesting challenges, and this small taster gives plenty of reasons to keep engaged with the series.

I received a review copy via Netgalley.

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