Sick of magical isekai adventures? Tired of high school heroines? Meet Victoria, a covert operative who we meet when she is 28 years old and a new mom. By the second book, she is 33 and married as well. We love a female character who is infinitely capable and doesn't let age, marriage, or motherhood get in the way of being the protagonist of her own adventures! Victoria—who goes by many names in these books, including Chloe, Anna, and Kate—is a master spy with the martial arts prowess, codebreaking finesse, multiple language fluency, and the disguise skills to match. In the vaguely European Kingdom of Ashberry, Victoria must harness every bit of her expertise to evade CIA-like former employers while concealing her true identity and, oh yeah, raising a kid. It's all no sweat for Victoria, and she even manages to pursue romance with a handsome noble, not to mention indulge in her favorite liquor at a local bar in the off hours. As a married mom myself, this is the type of escapism I've been looking for.

Fans of Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto, Ya Boy Kongming!, and other hypercompetent characters will immediately adore Victoria, who relies on her intellect to always choose the exact skill in her impressive arsenal to be her own rescuer. There's no concern about Victoria's adventures becoming dull because she is matched against an equally formidable adversary: the tangled web of international relations between neighboring countries. There are all sorts of factions at work, and sometimes Victoria doesn't realize whether they are enemies or allies until much later. The suspense doesn't come from whether or not Victoria can save herself (she always can), but from the story's intrigue as the mysteries of Victoria's world unravel. Victoria's real talents shine when she's in disguise (hence the many faces of the title), and it's fascinating to follow her as she chooses how much or how little of herself to reveal in different situations.

There is one sour note in the series, and that's how Victoria's adopted daughter Nonna is addressed. In the first book, there's no problem. Nonna is a cheerful seven-year-old, and while she is more restrained and levelheaded than any real five-year-old, these inaccuracies simply add to the book's escapism. The problem comes after the time skip at the beginning of Volume 2, when Nonna is suddenly twelve. When Victoria and her family reunite with the kindly Anderson family, Nonna's childhood friend Clark Anderson, now 18, is immediately taken with Nonna. There's a lot of comedy (which I didn't find funny) about Clark continuously flirting with 12-year-old Nonna, and it going right over Nonna's head. To me, that shouldn't be a joke. Nonna is still a child! It's not weird for her not to be interested in an 18-year-old man; it's normal! Even worse, Victoria and her husband are quietly rooting for Clark to catch their daughter's attention. I much preferred when the story stopped focusing on Nonna's nascent love life and advanced to narrating Nonna's growing skills as a covert operative on her mother's level. Sometimes family time means kicking ass as a mother-daughter team, and I think that's beautiful.

Victoria has the expertise to be anything and anyone she wants to be, so what's most interesting is when she acts on her own desires. After a lifetime spent as an accomplished and glamorous spy, it turns out that what Victoria really wants for herself is to be a wife and mother living on a quiet sheep farm. So far, this domesticity continues to evade our uniquely skilled heroine, whose array of talents is in high demand. What's more, Victoria notes that her unique struggles have left her infertile even as she and her husband try for a baby (and I appreciated this detail of vulnerability, not to mention how rare it is to have a sexually active female main character in a story that has nothing to do with her role as a romantic interest). It can not be overstated how unique Victoria is among light novel heroines, as a fully fleshed out character with her impressive skillset, deeply held desires, and agentic self-reliance in her own life.

On a technical level, this light novel is written in the same dry prose as I've come to expect of the medium. The story is mainly told in first person from Victoria's perspective, occasionally switching to third person as it follows Nonna's adventures or the point of view of one of the story's several other covert operatives—otherwise there would be no way to determine the secrets that only these master spies could obtain. There are no metaphors and very little visual description, keeping the focus on the step-by-step as Victoria deciphers the latest mystery she's gotten entangled with. For example, at one point, she serves as a body double to the princess of Ashberry. Victoria explains how she mimics the princess's mannerisms, the investigations she conducts throughout the palace, and the security techniques she uses to see if anyone has tampered with her room while she is out. There's no magic, just logical reasoning and sheer talent. That alone makes this story stand out from the rest.