The Rampage of Suzumiya Haruhi

Title: The Rampage of Suzumiya Haruhi
Author: Tanigawa Nagaru

What it's about: This is another volume with a couple of short stories. The first, "Endless Eight," is all about the last two weeks of summer vacation and how the SOS Brigade spends them. "The Day of Sagittarius" is a showdown between the Computer Research Society and the SOS Brigade. In order to win back the computer that Suzumiya Haruhi blackmailed them out of, the Computer Club's president challenges the SOS Brigade to a battle using a computer game he and his club members designed. "Snow Mountain Syndrome" is basically "Lone Island Syndrome Part II." The SOS Brigade goes to spend the last few days of December at Tsuruya-san's family's mountain lodge. While Tsuruya-san and Kyon's little sister stay behind to make snowmen, Haruhi leads her brigade out for skiing. However, they get caught in a mysterious blizzard and end up finding an empty mansion. From there, events become puzzling and even creepy.

What I thought: "Endless Eight" was a fun enough story, but the other two stories are the ones I really enjoyed. "The Day of Sagittarius" is a fun story with action and conflict. We get to see some character development for Nagato, and the Computer Research Society is just a fun foil for Haruhi and her brigade. "Snow Mountain Syndrome" is really a good story, though. It includes Tsuruya and Kyon's little sister, for one thing, and for another, it's got plenty of mystery and suspense to it. The abandoned mansion is chock-full of strange happenings, and you're bound to feel just as edgy as Kyon as events unfold. There's also some good development for Nagato and Haruhi in this one, too.

Overall: "Snow Mountain Syndrome" is one of my favorite stories in this series, so for that alone, I rank this novel pretty highly.