Natalie Maher‘s second Magical Girl Mechanical Heart novel is a mostly seamless, if initially less dark, continuation of the prequel. I’m not thrilled about the ending confrontation though, which comes across as rather abrupt and features a lengthy combat sequence besides. Throwing all that character development away feels like such a massive waste.
Travis Bagwell‘s Awaken Online series brings to mind a villainous protagonist version of Infinite Dendogram with a greater focus on events outside the game world. And like that series this one also has sidestory novels told from the perspective of a different character mixed into the main series.
Despite what it may look like at the beginning this is not really an overpowered protagonist series, but instead closer to a strategic MC series with battle shounen elements. Most of the time is spent on either training or working through some sort of seemingly overwhelming problem, with the rest focused on how successful the protagonist’s plans/gambles turn out (often as a result of a last minute power-up/development). The series’ main flaw is that every so often the level of believability will just drop straight through the floor, and I ended up deciding to not continue on into the tenth novel specifically due to how the eighth’s ending brought to mind SAO: Alicization‘s (although the descriptions for those later novels also played a part).
As for the sidestories, the third novel focuses on Riley and is easily the weakest of the bunch (to the point I’d suggest completely ignoring it if it weren’t referenced so much). The beginning and end are decent enough, but the vast majority of the questing in the mage city is just incredibly dull/annoying. The next is the fifth novel, which is fantastic but should absolutely be read before the fourth, as being already familiar with Eliza and the water god greatly enhances event development. The seventh and ninth books are the next to focus on sidestories and both end up solid, the former featuring Frank and the latter a mostly new set of characters who apparently become relevant in the tenth novel.
There’s also a sidestory trilogy laying out the antagonist from the eighth book’s backstory, but I originally ignored it because after finishing the third my patience with cultivator-like fire mages had worn out. Then, after reading that eighth novel, the reasoning evolved into simply having no interest whatsoever in that character nor anything related to him.
