The Rampage Of Haruhi Suzumiya: The Novel (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) [Hardcover]

While the first 2 portions of the book have already been addressed in the Anime Adaption, I found the 3rd tale (Snowy Mountain Syndrome) to be one of my favorite SOS Brigade adventures yet! I cant wait until volume 6 gets translated and released in November, and for any fan of the series this book should make an excellent addition to their collection.

Haruhi Suzumiya, everyone's favorite eccentric, reality-warping teenager, returns in The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fifth book in the ongoing series. Like book three, this novel is actually a collection of short stories that first appeared in The Sneaker, a Japanese magazine. And also like book three, the stories contained therein fail to reach the same satisfying, enthralling heights the best of the series has to offer.

The first story, Endless Eight, concerns the SOS Brigade's summer vacation that, oddly, seems to be leaving everyone with a strange sense of deja vu. It's a fun, lightweight little story with some interesting character interactions, but it also fails to provide anything truly groundbreaking or revelatory to the series as a whole. The second story, The Day of Sagittarius, depicts a gaming tournament between the SOS Brigade and their determined neighbors, the Computer Society. As with the first tale, nothing of real weight or significance occurs here, but it does provide some worthwhile character development. Snowy Mountain Syndrome, the final story, sees the brigade thrown into a mysterious and potentially dangerous environment with no apparent means of escape. This tale is easily the book's strongest, featuring a compelling plot, interesting revelations, and important events that will likely affect future installments. Only its anti-climactic, somewhat unconvincing ending (that creates more problems than it solves) is a little disappointing.

As with the other books, the translation quality here seems a little uneven. It's occasionally difficult to discern which character is speaking and whether Kyon (the series' true main character) is monologuing or talking aloud. Furthermore, some lines are simply poorly constructed and structured. On page 131, one particularly egregious sentence reads, "A bubbling ceramic pot sat atop the portable gas stove that was sitting on the long table as we tossed an assortment of ingredients into the pot to serve as our lunch." Whether this is the fault of the translator or the original author is uncertain, however.

Nevertheless, fans of Haruhi Suzumiya will still enjoy this collection. While it's not as brilliant as the original book, and not as engaging and sentimental as the fourth, it still successfully entertains. Final Score: 3 1/2 stars

I started this series half a year ago and its got me hooked. I've seen the anime series before and I must say...the books are definitely better. The anime was alright but the books give you more in depth feeling into the characters.