Hakaba is just a student, but when his linguistics professor is injured on his way to field work, he gets pulled in to take over. There’s just one catch: The professor researches the languages and communication styles of the inhabitants of the Netherworld and there’s a lot more to communicating with werewolves, harpies, lizardfolk, and other cultures than Hakaba ever imagined!
His first surprise comes when he meets his guide, half-werewolf Susuki, and the challenges come on quickly as he begins to travel with Susuki and a varying group of Netherworld peoples. Just when he thinks he’s gotten things figured out, there’s always a new language, creature, or cultural practice waiting to surprise him and remind him to put away his human biases and conventions and explore with an open mind.
Seno’s fine-lined art style reminded me of the art of Ryoko Kui, creator of Delicious in Dungeon, and there are several similarities between the two series. Like Kiu’s adventurer Laios, Hakaba is not your typical traveler, a fair-haired young man who is more eager to learn and experience than he is to fight or conquer, spending most of his time observing with wide-eyed interest all he sees around him and keeping copious notes in his journals. Susuki is adorably fluffy, both childlike and puppy-like at the same time. Hakaba’s sometimes abrupt introduction to the different habits and communication styles of the Netherworld peoples often leave him sweating with nerves and bewildered and hurt by what appears to be indifference or anger, but once he’s managed to relax and investigate, he discovers that most of the creatures he meets are simply not that interested in him, or in humans in general. Although Seno focuses on a few specific persons from each group, they’re often difficult to distinguish from the others of their species, letting the reader look through Hakaba’s eyes, trying to see the differences between various lizardfolk, a minotaur, or dragons.
While this is a narrative, with Hakaba traveling towards a definite point, it is much more in the nature of fieldwork than a quest. Each new creature is introduced with an exposition of their communication styles and carefully drawn sketches of things like kilns, food production, and various shelters, make it clear that this is an academic journal. Like Kui’s analysis of dungeon creatures as food sources, Seno delves deeply into the complex communication styles which may include scent, various movements, or even ranges of color that humans cannot comprehend, often shown simply as sketchy shadows on the page, or blurred movements. A little spice of romance and humor is added by the inclusion of notes from the professor’s journal at the end of each volume.
This is a rather dry narrative, with little action and much repetition of Hakaba’s efforts to view other cultures objectively, rather than through the lens of his own human experience and cultural mores. The introduction of different species and explanation of their language and cultures may be of interest to readers who like detailed fantasies and I personally found this a peaceful and interesting fantasy of linguistics, but it’s unlikely to appeal to the teens for whom it is rated. It’s most likely to appeal to adult readers or those who are more academically inclined, as well as serious fantasy fans who like to invent and play with languages.
Heterogenia Linguistico: An introduction to interspecies linguistics Vol. 1-3
By Salt Seno
Yen Press, 2020
ISBN: 9781975318079
| Volume | ISBN |
|---|---|
| 1 | 9781975318079 |
| 2 | 9781975318093 |
| 3 | 9781975324254 |
Publisher Age Rating: T
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Creator Representation: Japanese,
