I'm in Love with the Villainess, Vol. 5

Light Novel

By: Inori

Narrated by: Courtney Shaw

THE LOVE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Rae and Claire saved the world for each other. Now they must fight to keep it. As they lead the united forces of their kingdom and its neighbors against the demon threat, they begin to uncover strange and unsettling secrets. The hidden truth of the world has devastating implications not only for the lives of everyone they hold dear, but their very selves. The thrilling conclusion of the second arc!

©2021 Inori (P)2021 Inori

The narrator carried

Ok story with predictable story beats but it was a fun listen and amazing narration

One of the Best WLW Stories

Great narration, superb character writing by Inori, and that twist! I didn't see it coming!

A fantastic story

from what I checked on the wiki this is last volume and it has a amazing ending, the story overall was very solid and the world building was just as good.

A great and unexpected conclusion to a fun girls love story

According to the original author, this is her magnum opus, the story she intended to tell, and honestly it wasn't what I expected when I first got into it back with the premier of the anime. That is to say, it was honestly a pleasant surprise. a subversion of your typical isekai stories for sure, and not actually out of no where. going back and reading/listening to the earlier novels there was always breadcrumbs to suggest this stories twist, without it having been too easily predictable. as far as the audio book itself, just as with all the WataOshi audiobooks Courtney Shaw's performance is wonderful. she gives life to the characters often matching my own inner voice when I first read the manga that was adapted from these novels.
WataOshi is not a perfect story, and there's definitely some controversial elements to it (such as Linae and her brother/husband) but I still think they are worth a listen/read as they are genuinely well written, interesting, and unapologetically open with their queerness (a refreshing thing to have in Japanese media) never shying away to tackle issues such as homophobia, women's suffrage, and even trans issues. As a whole, "I'm in love with the Villainess" is a series that will always occupy my top 10 list, and this novel personaly being a part of that along side the second novel.

tldr; this has been a wonderful series to listen to and read, and I highly look forward to the conclusion of the sequel story as well as other works by authors Inori

I'm sad it's over but it was a fun ride.

Listening to this became a part of my day-to-day schedule; finding time and just listening helped me unwind at the end of my day. This story was truly excellent, and the narration by Courtney Shaw was amazing. I'm not sure what others think of the twist, but as someone who loves science fiction, I thought the concept was really cool. As always, the thing that truly makes me love this story is the characters. I'm going to miss Claire and Rae, but I'm so happy with how their story ended.