With the anime adaption now underway, and two tankoubon published, the manga for this story has had ample time to prove it's place. The funny thing is that it doesn't sit too well at all.
Firstly, characters.
It's probably difficult to to translate print to panels, and it's good to give the manga little bonuses, or treasures for fans, but Kirino's character doesn't come across properly, in my opinion. She's a rose-red tsundere right from the starting gate. I approve of the "what face was she making out of her brother's view" method now and then that the limitations of the novels cannot convey, but we get these little moments far too often.
She blushes far too often around Kyousuke. I mean, there is no character development there, and fans of the series know that
their relationship improves after a few light novels, and she lets down her guard, but I assumed she wasn't smitten to begin with, and that her feelings accumulated with time.
Secondly, the art.
It doesn't fit at all, nor is it effective, I dare say. Almost immediately, I could tell that the artist completely botched Kirino's character design. In most cases, for adaptions from light novels, the artist will directly match the character design and basic style of the novel illustrations. Here, the features are there, but she isn't the right shape, her body isn't as slender, and her facial expressions flicker between pink-faced embarrassment and fuming anger. There isn't any depth in these designs, but it's not a deal-breaker, so I'm not really bothered by it when I read this.