Finding your translations online

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Reading translated works is easier with dedicated websites, shops and other resources out there.

In recent years, reading digital novels has become vastly popular amongst the reading community. With tablets like the Kindle and Kobo, you can have your whole library at the tips of your finger.

What’s even more exciting, for the anime geeks out there, is the increase of translated light novels (LNs) made available officially through the web.

Japanese pocketbooks and light novels have been a growing trend. Famous anime such as Sword Art Online (SAO), KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! (KonoSuba), Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World are just a few of the ever growing popular light novel adaptions.

Light novels for these series used to rarely came out legally, but nowadays you can find many types lining the shelves of your local bookstore.

But what about those LNs without adaptions? How about reading for free? Where do you go for your reading delights?

This is where the web has come in and saved the day for me on multiple occasions. Personally, I like to have a physical book to read, but if I have an itch to read a LN that I’ve found online, then it becomes a scrounging fest to find out where I can get my hands on it.

Where can you go to buy light novels?

J-Novel Club, Yen Press, One Peace Books and Vertical Inc., are some companies that sell official translations of your favorite LNs. These companies offer physical and digital copies. Readers can choose to buy through a variety of sellers such as Amazon and the Google Bookstore being two options to choose from. If you want to support those who bring your favourite LN tales to life, I suggest checking out these companies. Translations are top quality and the prices are fantastic buying online for a 200-plus page count.

Actually, just searching in Amazon at all will yield a larger avenue of translated works than you would think. There are many smaller publishers who sell through the site, which does not limit your search for that perfect read.

Do you like to also read other foreign novels, such as Chinese or Korean?

Then have a look at webnovel. com and creativenovels.com. Both websites host a fantastic amount of free content to read that are translated by a lot, and I mean a lot, of people. Translations are posted frequently for most series, especially if they are famously known ones, such as King’s Avatar (Quan Zhi Gao Shou).

Are you also an aspiring author?

Each site allows you to publish your works alongside some of your favorite novels. One of my personal favourites, The Chronicles of the Weakest Wind Mage is an original work that is both hilarious and dramatic, which I highly recommend.

What if you can’t find what you are looking for?

A perfect place to start your search is Novel Updates (novelupdates. com). This handy website is where practically all light novels are listed with information about who is translating it, where you can go to read and with links that will take you to where you want to go. Not only do they list original country publishers they also tell you who is currently translating the series, officially or not, and what chapters are out with links directing to each one. Search the series you are looking for and it most surely will be found. Actually just browsing the site will make you want to read what they have listed and I’ve found a whole slew of LNs by doing so.