Spice and Wolf, Volume 1: 03/07/24

Spice and Wolf, Volume 1 by Isuna Hasekura, Jyuu Ayakura (Illustrator) and Paul Starr (Translator) (2006) is the start of a light novel series that is sometimes sold in an opaque sealed package. It's about hot hot economics in a fictional Medieval Europe.

Kraft Lawrence is a traveling trader who lives town to town with his cart and his horse until he happens through a town at harvest time and picks up a hitchhiker. His unexpected companion is a young naked woman who claims to be Holo the Wise Wolf, the local god of the harvest. She's done being their god and wants a ride north to her homeland. Lawrence is her convenient way out of town.

I think what makes this series get treated like it's pornography is that Holo is a woman with agency. She's with Lawrence because he's convenient. She could leave him at any time. She's naked when she wants to be and does so without embarrassment. The modesty lies on Lawrence who isn't sure what to make of her.

The tl/dr is that the two do ultimately become a couple. There's a follow up series that includes their daughter.

This volume though is their introduction and their first adventure together. It involves an economic scheme with three different forces trying to play the system by devaluing the standard currency. Lawrence is smart about money but doesn't always see the big picture so misses who is ultimately behind the scheme. He also underplays the threat to his wellbeing.

So Lawrence is the POV character and he sees Holo as a potential damsel in distress, he's the one in actual danger. Yes, Holo plays the part expected of her but she is never in danger. Ultimately it she who saves his life.

This first volume also sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. With Holo as a potential monster, she and Lawrence are scarecrow/minotaur travelers (99). Their destination is the city (00). Their route is the labyrinth as represented by the underground path they take in the climax.

Five stars

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