Review of “Spice & Wolf Volume 3” by Isuna Hasekura
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(Volume 1: Amazon
Check here for a Braille version: https://ko-fi.com/braille
I read this quickly after volume 2, and I can say I enjoyed it more than volume 2. While volume 2 eventually got into a decent plot, it dragged in the beginning (character speaking, explanation of what they said, character speaking, explanation of what they said…).
This volume doesn’t suffer from that, and so it didn’t start with the initial drag that volume 2 did and I found it more enjoyable throughout.
The events in this book occur about a week after the last volume. Lawrence and Holo are continuing northward, and they arrive at Kumersun, a place where both those of the Church and pagans are able to gather. They’re set to arrive just before a big festival and are planning on enjoying the festivities.
Lawrence, still feeling a blow to his pride after the events in Ruvinheigen, has some nails with him to sell in Kumersun and that’s about it – a fairly safe thing to trade. Before they arrive they happen into another merchant, Amati, who is from the same guild as Lawrence, and Amati agrees to help them get an inn room. Though young, Amati has established himself as a fairly successful fishmonger.
Truthfully, he seems more keen on helping them because he has a crush on Holo, though, and he manages to secure them a nice room despite most inns being full by that time.
A few plots begin to play out. Lawrence has an issue: he knows about rumors of Yoitsu’s destruction but he doesn’t know if they’re true. So, he wants to secretly find out more information. Not just about whether the town is still there or not, but where it is exactly, because Holo only remembers vague details.
Because he wants to do this without Holo potentially hearing that her home is gone, he’s off trying to conduct business alone. He happens upon Amati, who is more than happy to keep her company in the meantime. Lawrence figures that will work out because he feels bad about leaving Holo alone, plus Amati can empty his own wallet paying for stuff for her.
Through a wheat seller Lawrence knows, he gets in contact with Gi Batos, a man who knows a chronicler. He takes Lawrence to meet with her where the alchemists are – due to their nature, alchemists are generally avoided and thought of with suspicion, so it isn’t many people who will visit.
From talking with Diana, the chronicler, Lawrence hears again affirmation that Yoitsu was destroyed, but also gets a better idea of where it would be located.
Problems arise when he gets back. Holo has told Amati a tale of woe about how she’s in debt to Lawrence and is praying for his safety during their travels to pay off that debt. Amati, having a crush on Holo and believing Lawrence to be quite the villain in the situation, makes a public bargain with Lawrence: if he can pay off the debt, he will let her go free.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Holo has to go with Amati if he fulfills the contract, and Amati has placed a high price of 1,000 silver coins on it, which Lawrence doubts he can fulfill in the short time they would have. He agrees to the contract because he’s put on the spot and believes it will be fine, meaning he’d basically be getting a bunch of silver from Amati to free Holo, who is free anyway.
However, when Lawrence goes back to see Holo, she has read a letter from Diana and is extremely upset. Lawrence has known that her home was destroyed all this time and hasn’t told her. Lawrence makes some attempt to explain himself, saying that they can’t even be sure if the rumors are true, but Holo is terribly shocked and lashes out. Eventually she offers a weak apology and Lawrence believes that she’s horribly mad at him.
After this he’s terrified she really will run off and marry Amati if the contract is fulfilled and he determines he has to stop Amati from being able to fulfill his end of the deal. Worse, he discovers that Amati has a way to raise the money: pyrite is suddenly skyrocketing in price due to a fortune-teller talking it up and all the women wanting some, and Amati got in on it early.
Not knowing how much Amati has for sure or how much more he needs to raise, Lawrence decides to make another deal with him: he convinces Amati to buy pyrite from him on the margin. If the price rises still, Amati will make huge profit and be able to fulfill the contract. If it drops, Lawrence will successfully stop him.
As it turns out, alchemists generally have a fair amount of pyrite. Lawrence goes to talk with Diana again, but someone else has already been there to buy the pyrite they have, but she won’t disclose who for the safety of the buyer. Diana offers to help him and to try and negotiate with the buyer to sell it to him.
He plans on buying what he can so he can forcefully crash the prices, but without pyrite on hand he has to rely on Diana to negotiate.
The next day is tense as both Amati and Lawrence are watching the prices. Lawrence has only a little pyrite on hand and Diana hasn’t gotten word to him yet. Likewise, Amati is there with Holo, who is dressed as a nun.
Lawrence runs into a bit of luck when his friend, the wheat seller Mark, sends word with his apprentice that someone wanted to buy some wheat with pyrite. It wouldn’t be enough to clear the board of buyers and crash the price by itself, but Diana hasn’t come through yet and Lawrence is getting nervous as the price keeps climbing, knowing that soon Amati will be able to sell it for enough.
Finally a messenger from Diana comes. Negotiations failed. The buyer wouldn’t sell their share of the pyrite.
Lawrence is in despair believing his plan to have completely failed. He can’t crash the price. But then he suspects something. Just when he’s about to give up, he goes to sell the pyrite he has, and with him, Holo puts up the pyrite she bought from Diana. Together they crash the prices, leaving Amati distraught as Holo has suddenly betrayed him.
As it turns out, Holo went to Diana to have her tell Lawrence a new rumor that Yoitsu was still around, believing that if he heard a new rumor he would come back to talk to her again and they would continue their journey. However, Lawrence showed up while she was there asking for the pyrite, and Diana decided it was a good time to test Lawrence.
Lawrence has decided that Holo traveling with him is worth more than money.
They determine to travel to Yoitsu together even if it may be gone.
I think the main reason I enjoyed this one more than the last is because it starts going straight into the character’s stories. Volume 2 was more disjointed with a slow beginning and then a sudden action-based plot. This plot is less action, and the different elements come together more from the beginning to the end. It’s more character-oriented, with Lawrence’s guild acquaintance turned friend, Mark, his apprentice, Gi Batos, Diana and Amati all being good characters.
It isn’t hard to see why Amati would try to do the noble thing and ‘save Holo’. Amati is not necessarily a horrible villain, but a young man with a crush who is offended by what he believes is Lawrence’s poor treatment of Holo. I suppose it could be a bit of a flaw that Holo led him to believe something so awful about Lawrence and then Amati is punished in the end for trying to essentially help her – though Amati isn’t bankrupt at the end so he can continue on in life.
I think the book is stronger for Lawrence than Holo as he tries to figure out what Holo means to him and what he’s willing to do. Holo, for her part, could have definitely communicated better, though it was understandable that she would be distraught learning that everyone she knew was gone.
There is more in the book than I summarized, but people will just have to read it to see for themselves! Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable read, and I suppose I’ll have to continue on to volume 4 at some point.
Next I’ll be reading “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk, Jr. Here’s some links if you’d like to read along!
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24176838M/The_Elements_of_Style
Buy it here:
Amazon: Amazon