Reddit reviews Spice and Wolf, Vol. 4 - light novel

English version Amazon links(keep in mind that the anime covers books 1,2,3 and 5):

• Book 1
  
• Book 2
  
• Book 3
  
• Book 4
  
• Book 5
  
• Book 6
  
• Book 7
  
• Book 8
  
• Book 9 (Rightstuf)
  
• Book 10(Rightstuf)
  
• Book 11
  
• Book 12
  
• Book 13
  
• Book 14- April 2015
  
• Book 15- August 2015
  
• Book 16- December 2015
  
• Book 17- April 2016
  
  

From what I understand, the manga is only nearing the end of the anime at the moment. It is not very far at all. I have not read it myself to confirm though.

The novels are all around better. I actually like reading anime/manga related light novels and have read tons of them. I can say Spice and Wolf is definitely among the better ones in terms of quality. I bought the official Yen Press books. They're translated very well, and they even translate the author's at the end which is nice. You can usually find them on Amazon anywhere between $6 and $11. Amazon's prices fluctuate seemingly randomly and I have no idea why.

If you watched the entire anime, you would have seen novels 1-3, 5, and 2/3 of book 7. To continue the story, you'd want to buy 4, 6, then 8-11 (if you go for the Yen Press official English release). The fan translation has done the whole series though, so if you can't get enough, maybe you'd want to just read it that way. I've read stuff from that group and they do a good job most of the time with all their series. Sometimes the text is a bit weird and occasionally the flow is choppy, but for a free service they do a very good job. I haven't read their Spice and Wolf one, but you could probably ask the other guy who commented.

I would recommend reading just one of the light novels first though before buying or downloading several. Some people just don't like reading or dislike the style of light novels. I personally like them, but they don't have much literary depth which may not appeal to people used to reading higher quality literature. The classification pretty much sums it all up - it's just a LIGHT novel.

Anyways, I'd recommend buying book 4. Support the series, get a nice physical paperback, and see if you like it. If you do, get the rest via Yen Press or fan translation.

Here's an Amazon link to the 4th book

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I've read all Yen Press releases 1-10.