Very Brief Thoughts: Haruhi Suzumiya, Books 1 & 2

Haruhi Suzumiya series

by Tanigawa Nagaru
Book #1:  The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Book #2:  The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya

~ Goodreads: Melancholy // Goodreads: Sigh ~

Melancholy Rating:  4.0 Stars
Sigh Rating:  3.0 Stars

**Side note on 3/29/2016:  In light of all the new review posts I'm transferring to this newly minted Ani's Book Abyss, I decided to go back and give a short two-cent opinion on the first two books of the Haruhi Suzumiya series.  So this is a brand new review for two books I read nearly two or three years before.

These two books were read in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

The Review:
To be totally honest, I'm not sure what I'm trying to accomplish with writing this review post that is more than three years overdue for both books.  I first watched the anime series in 2008 and immensely loved it for its humor and laugh-out-loud comedic antics.  After discovering that the anime was based off of a light novel, I subconsciously filed that fact away into a mental TBR.

A year or two later, I came across The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya at the local Borders that was still in business at the time.  I bought it, because I'm a bibliophile and a compulsive book buyer like that.  Maybe a year later, I finally chose to read it and, again, mentally filed the rest of the books into a subconscious TBR while planning on how I would acquisition the rest of the books in the series.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is almost exactly the same stories as presented in the anime series.  And to be frank, while I DID enjoy reading the book, I didn't see that it contributed anything new to my interest.  In fact, it might have even taken me longer than is typically normal of me to read a book of that length.

Nonetheless, I immensely enjoyed it because it DOES do a great job of laying the foundation for the rest of the books and story lines in the rest of the series.  It also kind of helped me understand some things in the anime that I just happened to miss.

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya was of the same caliber as the first book in this series, but it kind of missed the mark.  Basically, the second book, if I remember correctly, just seemed to be a similar formula as the first book, rehashing the same thoughts and actions of each S.O.S. Brigade members, with nothing new to show for it.  In fact, that could explain why the second book wasn't quite memorable enough for me to really recall much except that I had found it a little boring.

Even with Nagato's newly developed personality... there's really not much to develop from a character that has no personality to begin with.


Anyway...

As a part of the series, the first book is quite vital and plays a great role in setting the stage for the rest of the series.  The second book, however, I'm not certain it plays much of a role outside of filler material.