Ascendance of a Bookworm is a light novel series by Japanese author Miya Kazuki. It began as a web series and expanded into print as it gained popularity. For those unfamiliar, light novels are short works of fiction - not unlike novellas - which cannot exceed 50,000 words, and often have illustrations interspersed throughout the story. They have been found to be most popular with college students and adults who, due to their limited free time, want an enjoyable read with minimal trappings.
Split into three volumes, Daughter of a Solider is the first story arc in the Ascendance of a Bookworm series. In it, readers are introduced to Urano Mototsu, who has loved books ever since she was a little girl. Urano is on the cusp of achieving her dream of becoming a librarian, when she dies in an book-related accident and finds herself reborn in another world. She is now Myne, the sickly daughter of a poor soldier. To make things worse, in this new world books are a luxury of the rich. She'd have to pay an enormous amount of money to buy even one. Unable to imagine a life without books, Myne declares, "If there aren't any books, I'll just have to make them!". She sets out to do just that, winning allies by 'inventing' a number of other items along the way, inspired by her previous mother's love of DIY crafts. However, her poor health continues to be a problem, one that turns out to be more complicated than she could have imagined, and between her inventions and her strange illness, she begins to garner the attention of some very important people in the city - not all of whom want to help.
A fantastic read for all bibliophiles! Myne is awkward but incredibly likable. It's very easy to root for her as she encounters challenges in both her health and her quest for books, and watching her grow closer to her new family, make friends, and use whatever she can get ahold of to tackle various projects she schemes up is highly enjoyable. A wonderful fantasy for anyone who feels books enrich life.