The Girl of Sera Field, the first volume of Ogiwara's
The Good Witch of the West, is a
fantasy light novel. I found it at a used bookstore. It was published by Tokyopop, which, unless it has lurched to life again, no longer publishes anything in North America.
My review is
a bit spoiler-y.
Synopsis:
Firiel is excited: now that she's 15, she can celebrate Queen's Birthday by attending the ball at the Count of Rualgo's castle. She has spent her whole life in tiny little Sera Field, cared for mostly by Madame and Master Holy, and now she'll get to wear a bit of finery and dance among aristocrats. Madame Holy has made her a beautiful new dress, but the biggest surprise is something Rune, her father's apprentice, brings her: a beautiful necklace with a blue gemstone. All Rune can say is that it may have belonged to her mother, who died long ago.
The ball isn't what Firiel expected. Her dress doesn't look quite as gorgeous next to the clothing of the aristocrats, and no one seems eager to ask her to dance. Her friend Marie goes looking for Lady Adale, hoping to impress her enough to one day become her lady's maid, and Firiel goes with her. Firiel catches the eye of Eusis (Lord Eusis Roland? Also, the next Count of Rualgo), who is
sure he's seen her somewhere before. Firiel and Marie are both flustered and have no clue what Eusis is talking about. Eusis' friend, Baron Lot Chrisbard, lightens things up a bit and encourages Eusis to ask Firiel to dance, while he dances with Marie.
The evening suddenly becomes much lovelier for Firiel and Marie. Lady Adale's arrival
should make things even better, except that Adale recognizes Firiel's necklace. It's the necklace of Princess Edilene, who disappeared at around the same time Firiel was born. In fact, Edilene was Firiel's mother. However, Edilene relinquished her title, so nothing has really changed: Firiel is still a commoner. The only difference is, she can now consider Adale her cousin (Adale was adopted into the Roland family).
When Firiel goes home, she figures this will be the last of it. Lady Adale may be her cousin, but she'll still have an ordinary life in Sera Field. Unfortunately, her life takes a rapid turn for the worse: someone's been murdered, her astrologer father has disappeared and may be the murderer, and people are after both her and Rune.
Review:
I might have liked this book better if the beginning hadn't been such a slog to get through. The pacing was kind of bad, and Firiel was so very
beloved by everyone. It seemed like the only blemish in her life was her relationship with her father, but, since she barely lived with him, it didn't seem to matter much. Thankfully, the story picked up a bit after Firiel met Eusis and found out her mother's true identity.
