Review: "ROLL OVER AND DIE" Vols. 1-2 by Kiki (Spoiler free)

I have a question for you. Do you like horror stories? If not, do you like love stories, specifically of the gay/lesbian variety? If also no, then, do you like fantasy stories? If no to that as well then why are you reading this, I literally put those 3 things in the subtitle. However, if you answered yes to ANY of the above questions then this book series is right for you. If you answered yes to ALL of the above questions, you have my permission to stop reading this review immediately and go buy this book.

I, personally, am not actually a fan of anything horror. However, I can not resist a good girl's love novel especially one in a fantasy setting, so this light novel caught my eye immediately. At the time of writing this, there are 4 volumes available, and a manga starting, however, I have only read the first 2 novels (I read too many series and fell behind). Like previously stated, this series combines girl's love, fantasy, and horror into one small terrifying bundle. I say terrifying, not because you will be scared reading this, it's honestly more of a thriller, but because of the VIVID and grotesque descriptions you will read in these books and the messed up situations behind them. More on that later in the review. For now, I'll just say you will not miss any of the above three genres in this series, nor will you be bored reading it. It is a constant thrill with the occasional moments of fluff between the 2 female leads. If I've already somehow convinced you to try this series and you want to go into it completely blind, I recommend you stop reading now as I'm going to give a brief synopsis, though it'll be nothing to can't find before actually reading the book.

Despite me saying earlier that there are 2 female leads, the main and true protagonist of this series is a girl named Flum Apricot (pictured above on the left), a member of the famed hero's adventuring party, on a quest to defeat demons. You'd think this is fairly cliché, right? Well, you're right, so it's a good thing literally none of this is shown in the book, it's mostly backstory. Flum, you see, has 0 in every stat category (remember this is a fantasy setting) and an odd power called "Reversal" that has no apparent use or effect. An actual child could beat her up. While this is a departure from your normal fantasy or Isekai story where the main character usually starts off completely over-powered, I find it lends to the horror aspect of the story very well. Flum is basically helpless without and kind of support. To this notion, the beginning of the book has Flum being, ahem, "kicked", out of the party and made to fend for herself with nothing. While on the surface this may not seem like the beginnings of a horror novel, let me tell you, I am leaving out a LOT of incredibly disturbing details and am only touching the surface of the story. Flum "fending for herself with nothing" while true, is only the hook meant to get you interested in the story, the rabbit hole goes so much deeper than that and I hope you are curious enough to delve deeper. As for the GL fans, I feel a love story is better read from beginning to end, so I'll leave that to you. I'll at least tell you the story has enough fluffy moments, especially from volume 2 on apparently, to satisfy you, and that the girls are very cute.

Now, for the best selling point of this series, the imagery and the thrill. These books describe everything in excruciating detail. No spoilers, but for example, somebody getting their arm cut off? You will read every detail, from the sharpness of the blade, the amount of blood, where it landed, and how much pain the character is in. A pile of dead bodies? You will read how decayed they are, how many there are, the smells, how the bodies feel, anything you can think of will be described in the text, and there are things 100 times more disturbing than the examples I just gave. As for the thrills, there's not much I can say other than you will be paranoid almost 100% of the time. Many of the horror scenes and settings are built up and foreshadowed beforehand, while also completely leaving you in the dark setting and story wise (yes, a small contradiction but in this case it makes sense). The story also avoids many horror clichés, as many characters are intelligent and don't voluntarily do something stupid, or are forced into a losing or messed up scenario. This creates anticipation because you as the reader don't know when the proverbial ball will drop and all hell will break loose. The horror scenes are thrilling, the anticipation of a horror scene is thrilling, and, despite a few breaks in the action, you will almost always be on the edge of your seat reading these books.

Overall, with the 2 volumes I've read, I rate this series around an 8.5/10. I do love this series, the characters are well-written and loveable, and the story is very interesting. However, probably because of my aversion to horror, as well as spoiler reasons pertaining to the story's antagonists, I can't give the story above a 9/10. This could change with the following volumes, for better or worse, but this is where I currently stand. Honestly, I'm surprised I can rate a horror story that high.