Spice and Wolf, Vol. 7

De: Isuna Hasekura, Paul Starr

Narrado por: J. Michael Tatum, Brina Palencia

In a break from Lawrence and Holo's ongoing adventures, author Isuna Hasekura presents "Side Colors," a series of short vignettes focusing on the fans' favorite characters.

©2017 Isuna Hasekura (P)2023 Yen Audio

Prequel and “Extended Scenes” from previous books

If you’re reading the series as a whole, then this one should really be labeled as Book 0 or “Extras.” Had I known what this one was, I would have just skipped to the next book in the series to get on with it.

I feverishly binge-listened to the books in this series in a single week up until I hit this one. The total change in context and pacing had me frustrated and I stopped listening for a few weeks before picking it back up.

The first part is a multi-hours long prequel that (at least up until this point in the story) has nothing to do with the main plot. I found myself zoning out because I just didn’t care about any of the prequel characters besides Holo.

The second part was a little better since it’s made up of extended and “deleted “ scenes from previous books that added some perspective and context. For example, one part dives deeper into the dynamics between Lawrence, Holo, and the Shepherdess.

Considering its placement in the series, I felt like this one totally messed up the pacing and the tension built up in the previous books. I was super invested in the main story and this deflated my excitement for what happens next.

Another lovely reading

My only regret is I wish they would bundle two at a time as they are incredibly short, so by time you feel fully invested it's already over.

Very nice side stories

These side stories where great diversion for the main story and gave more information on some of the characters. Helped sure up some assumptions on the characters.

Beautiful prequel story

First half is a prequel event with Holo while the second half is a recap of some events from previous books. Still a beautiful story to listen to.

Loved to

Although I am aware of my bias in have already read the books. I can’t shake the wide grin that grows on my face when hearing the original vas jump back into character and read these books. For those who love the series and for those wanted to get into them I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Great Fun, but should have been placed after vol 3 or 4

Performance was fantastic as always. Fun to hear these new characters who were briefly talked about in the previous volume.

The stories are fun too. This first one leaves you hanging a little at the end, but it was still sweet. The problem is the placement. much of this story relies on keeping up with the current dynamic of the main pair, and knowing *why* the dynamic is such. Volume 6 seems to be a lead in to the "Town of Strife" arc, and volume 5 is the context *for* that lead in. The break in pace and rewinding of context makes it difficult to remember where exactly you left off. I recommend listening to this immediately after the Nora/Shepardess/Gold smuggling arc, even if it may somewhat spoil some of Holo's mysterious inner workings at that point in the story.

it's difficult to say as I haven't listened to all of the volumes yet, nor are they out right now. Perhaps wait until you reach a good narrative pause, say, after a particularly satisfying conclusion to any arc, before listening to these. Like I said, I love it(!) but the side colors volumes should perhaps be treated more as a dessert, or as an appetizer while waiting for the most current volume once you catch up to the most current publication :)

Why, Yen Press?

Story and narration are great. It reminds me of the old anime dubs but even better.

I have no complaints with the audiobook but rather Yen Press. They need to stop striking youtube channels for Spice & Wolf book content. Despite what you might think, community based content does not diminish sales. There were plenty of community made audiobooks before anyone took a notion to making official ones, but the new projects had some collateral damage. I enjoy those as part of a shared community experience but Yen Press wants every damn cent so they DMCA people who aren't taking any money away from them in the first place.

Now I can't decide if I should buy the audiobooks and support future official projects (like the anime reboot) if they just step on fans for no reason. Big corpo energy.