AAKIBA Small Bookclub discussion

This thread may contain spoilers.
Please put anything plot-related under Spoiler tag, or if you are not sure just Spoiler your whole post.

"Monica Movalette, the Silent Witch, is the world’s only practitioner of Voiceless Magic, a veritable heroine who single-handedly fended off the Black Dragon of legend. However, the young prodigy is actually...super-duper shy! Yup, turns out she only learned Voiceless Magic to avoid speaking in public. Ignorant of this, Seven Sages have placed her on a top-secret mission to guard the Second Prince. Can Monica keep it together as she contends with both social interaction and the evils targeting the young royal?"

Start Date: September 12th, 2025 | Planned Schedule: 7 chapters per week), total of 13 chapters over 2 weeks.

Chapters Prologue - 6 (Week 1)

I've been watching the currently airing anime so my review is going to be a little skewed based on that. I will say I already really liked the story going into this, which is why I was interested in the LN! I somehow ended up as a bit of a sucker for hisotrical royaltly/high class romances especially with a little bit of fantasy...

It's really refreshing that this is NOT an issekai/villainess type business since those are all the rage now, but I find those protagonists to be more one dimensional. In this story Monica has a real backstory behind her character, and motivation for character development. A lot of people compare her to Bocchi from Bocchi the rock (Bocchi the witch...) but personally I find Monica to be both more relatable and more independant and willing to learn, whereas Bocchi is basically a flanderized pathetic cute girl meant to tug at the heartstrings of a male target audience (maybe I just have a grudge because that show is overhyped...).

Spoilers terriroty now:

Pologue: (view spoiler)[We see some worldbuilding and how strong Monica actually is in-world. Although I consider this a bit of a boring chapter lol. Something sneaky at the end of this chapter though, I wonder if it's hinting at a bit of prior familiarity a certain someone has with "the silent witch", although if he could recognize her up close is another question. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 1: (view spoiler)[More setup but this time for the actual plot we will be reading about. Not much to say. Louis's motivation seems to be presented as a mystery here but I wonder if it is just Monica overthinking things. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2: (view spoiler)[More setup before getting to the school. I did learn something: The order of royalty. I had no idea that the highest noble rank was a duke and the lowest was baron. And Monica is actually an honorary count, quite a high status. I wonder if that will come up later? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[Monica and Isabelle get set up in the dorms. Again I don't have a lot to say, some of these chapters are identical to the anime. We do incidentally meet some of the student council. Just as an aside... I'm finding that I can remember everyone's names better while reading than while watching hahaha. I got to this part and didn't even know who Elliot was despite the fact I should remember. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4: (view spoiler)[During one of Monica's inner monologues (during lunch break) the book says this "Even when she'd gone to Minerva's, she hadn't had anyone there she could call a friend. ...Well, there was one person, but they'd said their final farewells already." I WANNA KNOW WHO THIS IS AND WHAT HAPPENED. I had to highlight this so I don't forget, this is too consipicious of a lore drop!! And then some other exciting stuff happens :) and then Nero..?! This cat is too human-like, it makes me think he's secretly a person that became a cat but has to act like a cat for Monica's comfort. But he does have a cat attitude so maybe it's just as simple as he is a magical cat. His role in the story reminds me of Obi from Akagami tbh. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5: (view spoiler)[Monica is learning how to say thank you, she is so precoius :') And we learn some more stuff about the student council, finally Monica can get involved with the what's going on with the life of the prince, which is why she is here. I love Monica for her hyperfixation on mathematics whenever it gets her excited hehe. Felix is so sweet to appreciate it instead of belittling her for it. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6: Actually I haven't read this far yet but I'm posting anyway

Enjoying the book so far!

6 and 7 (view spoiler)[I see the anime did work to make Felix a lot less creepy than he is in the book... (hide spoiler)]