It kept striking me reading it that Agents is much like Violet Evergarden, except that it just doesn't work as well. VE was a sort of unusual genre mix too, but because it was slower paced overall, the melodrama fit in fine, and the whole thing came together well.

There are other books in the overall series - another duology that follows the agent(s) of summer and a separate story of the agents of dawn and twilight, and I'll undoubtedly read them sooner or later, just to see if they work better. The author has obviously shown that she can tell a good story, and particularly a melodramatic one, and Dance of Spring does have some great moments to it (for example - after Hinagiku - the Agent of Spring - returns after being held captive by insurgents for eight years, she speaks slowly and awkwardly and refers to herself in the third person. That's not an affectation - it's extremely plot-relevant). It's just that, with this one, she apparently reached to create an unusual genre combination, and unfortunately it just didn't work out. Sort of like the cookies I made last week - I'm still convinced that I'm on to something, but they just... weren't good.

But meanwhile, So I'm a Spider is already sucking me in, as I was sure it would - I loved the anime, and was only disappointed that it ended so soon.