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Sword Art Online #9
ソードアート・オンライン9: アリシゼーション・ビギニング
再び≪抜け出せないデスゲーム≫の幕が上がる。『アリシゼーション』 編、登場！
「ここは……どこだ……？」
目を覚ますと、キリトは、巨木が連なる森の中 ──ファンタジーの仮想世界に入り込んでいた。手がかりを求めて辺りを彷徨うさなか、彼は一人の少年と出会う。
「僕の名前はユージオ。よろしく、キリト君」
この世界の住人──つまり≪NPC≫である少年は、なんら人間と変わらない感情の豊かさを持ち合わせていた。ユージオと親交を深めるキリトだが、その脳裏にとある記憶がよみがえる。
それは、子供時代のキリトがユージオと一緒に野山を駆け回っていた思い出。そこには、ユージオともう一人、金色の髪を持つ少女の姿があった。名前は、アリス。忘れてはいけないはずの、大切な少女だった。ウェブ上で最も支持を得た超人気エピソード！
「ここは……どこだ……？」
目を覚ますと、キリトは、巨木が連なる森の中 ──ファンタジーの仮想世界に入り込んでいた。手がかりを求めて辺りを彷徨うさなか、彼は一人の少年と出会う。
「僕の名前はユージオ。よろしく、キリト君」
この世界の住人──つまり≪NPC≫である少年は、なんら人間と変わらない感情の豊かさを持ち合わせていた。ユージオと親交を深めるキリトだが、その脳裏にとある記憶がよみがえる。
それは、子供時代のキリトがユージオと一緒に野山を駆け回っていた思い出。そこには、ユージオともう一人、金色の髪を持つ少女の姿があった。名前は、アリス。忘れてはいけないはずの、大切な少女だった。ウェブ上で最も支持を得た超人気エピソード！
405 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2012
About the author
Reki Kawahara
252 books926 followersKawahara Reki (川原礫) is the writer of Sword Art Online and Accel World. He also uses the pen name Kunori Fumio. His hobby is cycling.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
September 13, 2012
This book is a total change of pace from the previous books. Like some parts of book #7 "Mother Rosario", Kawahara treats the story in a more classical SI-FI way, going deep into fundamental questions about the implications of the new technological developements, new virtual diving machines, new worlds, the essence of the human conciousness ... that pleased me greatly!
...but the book is somewhat boring. Or I should specify that it's really boring at the start. This book is 2/3 a "Prologue" to a plot to be developed in the next 2 or 3 books, so the elements and context to the story are presented really slowly. The action at the end gets a really nice pace, but then... the book ends xD One realizes at the end that the plot is bigger than it seems, and it's related with some big unanswered questions from even the first book, so I expect good things from the next books.
...but the book is somewhat boring. Or I should specify that it's really boring at the start. This book is 2/3 a "Prologue" to a plot to be developed in the next 2 or 3 books, so the elements and context to the story are presented really slowly. The action at the end gets a really nice pace, but then... the book ends xD One realizes at the end that the plot is bigger than it seems, and it's related with some big unanswered questions from even the first book, so I expect good things from the next books.
December 30, 2025
This is a turning point for the series, I believe. Or rather, it takes on a whole new life, aka, ANY of the LitRPG novels that have come out AFTER this.
Indeed, my interest had been waning for the last couple of novels, but this one makes me feel like it's all brand new again. :)
Revitalized. :)
Indeed, my interest had been waning for the last couple of novels, but this one makes me feel like it's all brand new again. :)
Revitalized. :)
April 16, 2013
This is the first part of the Alicization saga and so there is a bit of a back story explaning the technology involved and sort of goes a little bit overboard on explanations, but I felt they it was pretty interesting. This story takes place in a new world called underworld and this place really reinvents the series.
There are true hardships that take place and the "game" or wherever Kirito is at this point, which is more realistic than Kirito could even imnagine, and takes on several aspects of reality, which by the end of the this book it seems Kirito is just getting acclimated into the alternate reality. With this book as with many first books in series it really leaves you asking yourself many questions like, "how did he get there", or "what is the final goal in this series". This book definitely has a pronounced ending unlike many of Reki Kawahara's other books in the series, but leaves itself open to interpretation on what is going to happen next. I also like how this is formatted from the other books which all seem to be similar where Kirito goes to a new world instantly becomes a "bad-ass" saves the world/game; then the end and then some drawn out explanation/filler." Here Kirito needs to learn the fine tuned nuances in this realistic world and for a while you would think that he may have to settle down for a while to get to where he wants to go or even to explore; and with many twists he is able to complete his task.
There are true hardships that take place and the "game" or wherever Kirito is at this point, which is more realistic than Kirito could even imnagine, and takes on several aspects of reality, which by the end of the this book it seems Kirito is just getting acclimated into the alternate reality. With this book as with many first books in series it really leaves you asking yourself many questions like, "how did he get there", or "what is the final goal in this series". This book definitely has a pronounced ending unlike many of Reki Kawahara's other books in the series, but leaves itself open to interpretation on what is going to happen next. I also like how this is formatted from the other books which all seem to be similar where Kirito goes to a new world instantly becomes a "bad-ass" saves the world/game; then the end and then some drawn out explanation/filler." Here Kirito needs to learn the fine tuned nuances in this realistic world and for a while you would think that he may have to settle down for a while to get to where he wants to go or even to explore; and with many twists he is able to complete his task.
November 23, 2017
It’s quite different from previous books, it proposes questions on what is human, what is consciousness and what is reality, we only have a short time lapse to know what happened after the Death Gun and Mother’s Rosario books with another BoB coming but the story focuses on this new machine that make us think what is real and about the time, it’s a scary thing but a fascinating one. The author tells us that he left behind much of the technical Videogame Slang to focus on telling the story and it paid off.
September 21, 2026
Amazing!! Everything in the Underworld is truly just great writing.
When it came to the real world stuff, and explaining how the STL works… that was the weakest part of the book for me because omg the word dump was just so nerdy I had no idea what this or that meant XD
And it was loooonnngggg
But seeing like, all the things Reki sets up and pays off in the future… along with just the introductions to great characters like Selka & Eugeo.
Is just really well done. And you’re rooting for them by the end of the book.
Along with just the way he balanced Kirito by starting him at ground zero, but also using everything he’s learned in the series up to this point to not feel like it was all a waste… was really impressive.
And seeing things from his POV in this book compared to vol 1, is just much more enjoyable because of how much his character has matured.
And all the childhood stuff between Kirito, Eugeo & Alice is just the heart of the whole book and that was my fav aspect of it.
When it came to the real world stuff, and explaining how the STL works… that was the weakest part of the book for me because omg the word dump was just so nerdy I had no idea what this or that meant XD
And it was loooonnngggg
But seeing like, all the things Reki sets up and pays off in the future… along with just the introductions to great characters like Selka & Eugeo.
Is just really well done. And you’re rooting for them by the end of the book.
Along with just the way he balanced Kirito by starting him at ground zero, but also using everything he’s learned in the series up to this point to not feel like it was all a waste… was really impressive.
And seeing things from his POV in this book compared to vol 1, is just much more enjoyable because of how much his character has matured.
And all the childhood stuff between Kirito, Eugeo & Alice is just the heart of the whole book and that was my fav aspect of it.
January 17, 2018
I finished reading Sword Art Online Volume 9 recently. This is the start of the Alicization Arc, which, as of this posting, has not been adapted for an anime (although one is in the making). This was a novel experience for me as I watched the first four arcs before reading them (technically, I've only read the first two). I will examine Plot, Character, and Polish before assigning a grade.
PLOT
What I like about this arc, and this volume in particular, is the three layers of plots. On one hand is the immediate plot about Kirito investigating the new world, Underworld. There's also the in-universe storyline which he himself is a part of; the history of the Human Empire within the End Mountains. The third is the most far-reaching, the ongoing conflict with Laughing Coffin. It began when he clashed with them in Aincard and continued in confronting Death Gun and now there's a conflict in real life. There are hints of something more going on in real life with Rath and the Soul Translator, but I'm not that far yet.
The beginning is kind of disorienting since it starts in what does not appear to be a virtual world or the real world but a more typical medieval fantasy setting and has a boy named "Kirito" who acts as though he is a native of this world. This is thoroughly explained after the prologue and I found it interesting regardless. It was intriguing even, whether or not this was a role play.
This arc is quite different from previous ones in that it is an ontological mystery. When the story proper starts, Kirito has to figure out where he is and what he's doing there before he can do anything else. He even considers the possibility that he's been transported to another dimension, before dismissing it as ridiculous. He has no idea what's going or what's happening so he has to figure it out as he goes. For a guy once derided as a "beater", this is indeed a new experience.
In every way, he's starting out at level 1; not even his meta knowledge about VRMMORPG in general is useful because this game features real pain, no predictable spawning points, and no level-grinding (at least, nothing that he can track; I think stat increases are based on feats rather than grinding). Criticism about how Kirito is "uber-broken" or whatever has no place here.
There's also humor here, such as jokes about Kazuto being a henpecked husband and some self-deprecation to the general shonen genre and even previous arcs of SAO itself such as Kirito trying to predict the storyline he's been flung into.
There's more focus on Kirito and Asuna's relationship as well, which I think is nice given the perception about the franchise being in the harem genre. It's an understandable misconception that stuff like this volume clears up. An exemplary moment is when, shortly after being stranded in Underworld, Kirito considers himself a "CPU that's missing half its cores" because Asuna isn't around; endearing nerdy for the VR-addict.
There is an excellent split ending - the series' conflict is set up and ongoing but the specific conflict in this volume (centered on the Gigas Cedar) is closed.
CHARACTERS
Kazuto/Kirito continues to be introspective in this volume. As in Volume 4, where he contemplates the difference between physical reality and virtual reality, in this one he thinks about the nature of existence and life itself. Part of this is that Yui, his beloved A.I. daughter, is not fully "alive" in the way he himself and Asuna are because she is mimicking human behavior based on watching the 3,000 SAO players for two years. However, Fluctlight based programs, like the natives of Underworld, are just as alive as he is because they are clearly not limited in knowledge/behavior/expressions/etc. to a limited pre-programed database. This leads to pondering if he is a Tomato in the Mirror, i.e. one of those Fluctlight based programs based on the real Kazuto.
Incidentally, he considers faithfulness to Asuna to be fundamental to his personality and identity.
Several new characters are introduced, such as Euego, Alice and Selka (though I imagine readers will see far more of the first two than the third). Euego is this Beware The Nice Ones kind of character - friendly, helpful, understanding, and also brave, solid and has a lot of practice swinging an axe. Alice strikes me as an Iron Lady in-the-making because of her determination and bossiness, but also has a mischievous streak via Loophole Abuse and some cute traits like asking her friends' opinion of her cooking (and "secretly" getting her mom's help with it).
POLISH
I don't recall any technical errors.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Sword Art Online Volume 9" an A+
PLOT
What I like about this arc, and this volume in particular, is the three layers of plots. On one hand is the immediate plot about Kirito investigating the new world, Underworld. There's also the in-universe storyline which he himself is a part of; the history of the Human Empire within the End Mountains. The third is the most far-reaching, the ongoing conflict with Laughing Coffin. It began when he clashed with them in Aincard and continued in confronting Death Gun and now there's a conflict in real life. There are hints of something more going on in real life with Rath and the Soul Translator, but I'm not that far yet.
The beginning is kind of disorienting since it starts in what does not appear to be a virtual world or the real world but a more typical medieval fantasy setting and has a boy named "Kirito" who acts as though he is a native of this world. This is thoroughly explained after the prologue and I found it interesting regardless. It was intriguing even, whether or not this was a role play.
This arc is quite different from previous ones in that it is an ontological mystery. When the story proper starts, Kirito has to figure out where he is and what he's doing there before he can do anything else. He even considers the possibility that he's been transported to another dimension, before dismissing it as ridiculous. He has no idea what's going or what's happening so he has to figure it out as he goes. For a guy once derided as a "beater", this is indeed a new experience.
In every way, he's starting out at level 1; not even his meta knowledge about VRMMORPG in general is useful because this game features real pain, no predictable spawning points, and no level-grinding (at least, nothing that he can track; I think stat increases are based on feats rather than grinding). Criticism about how Kirito is "uber-broken" or whatever has no place here.
There's also humor here, such as jokes about Kazuto being a henpecked husband and some self-deprecation to the general shonen genre and even previous arcs of SAO itself such as Kirito trying to predict the storyline he's been flung into.
There's more focus on Kirito and Asuna's relationship as well, which I think is nice given the perception about the franchise being in the harem genre. It's an understandable misconception that stuff like this volume clears up. An exemplary moment is when, shortly after being stranded in Underworld, Kirito considers himself a "CPU that's missing half its cores" because Asuna isn't around; endearing nerdy for the VR-addict.
There is an excellent split ending - the series' conflict is set up and ongoing but the specific conflict in this volume (centered on the Gigas Cedar) is closed.
CHARACTERS
Kazuto/Kirito continues to be introspective in this volume. As in Volume 4, where he contemplates the difference between physical reality and virtual reality, in this one he thinks about the nature of existence and life itself. Part of this is that Yui, his beloved A.I. daughter, is not fully "alive" in the way he himself and Asuna are because she is mimicking human behavior based on watching the 3,000 SAO players for two years. However, Fluctlight based programs, like the natives of Underworld, are just as alive as he is because they are clearly not limited in knowledge/behavior/expressions/etc. to a limited pre-programed database. This leads to pondering if he is a Tomato in the Mirror, i.e. one of those Fluctlight based programs based on the real Kazuto.
Incidentally, he considers faithfulness to Asuna to be fundamental to his personality and identity.
Several new characters are introduced, such as Euego, Alice and Selka (though I imagine readers will see far more of the first two than the third). Euego is this Beware The Nice Ones kind of character - friendly, helpful, understanding, and also brave, solid and has a lot of practice swinging an axe. Alice strikes me as an Iron Lady in-the-making because of her determination and bossiness, but also has a mischievous streak via Loophole Abuse and some cute traits like asking her friends' opinion of her cooking (and "secretly" getting her mom's help with it).
POLISH
I don't recall any technical errors.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Sword Art Online Volume 9" an A+
August 31, 2026
This is...new. Definitely a complete change from the previous novels. There are a lot of explanations to set the plot up, so I'm interested to see where we go from here.
Do I dare say it though...I miss Aincrad 😭💔
Do I dare say it though...I miss Aincrad 😭💔
March 27, 2019
Properly written and on the whole profoundly better than any of the volumes that have come before, despite some glaring issues in its setup, Kawahara provides the first truly good piece of SAO literature in Alicization Beginning.
A refreshing change of pace lies within the ninth volume of Sword Art Online. Finally we are stepping away from the virtual worlds and the harems that have been the pillars on which the series have stood for so long. I'll address the problems first: the setup of the new systems makes absolutely zero sense. Sword Art Online has always required readers to suspend their disbelief but this time it's just not possible to do so: the very idea of the Soul Transfer is so blatantly science fiction that it's practically unsalable. For all of the good points of Volume Nine, the idea of fluctlights and the new method by which characters will access the 'virtual-but-not-virtual' world is just, for lack of a better phrase, plain bullshit.
But where this volume truly shines is when it finally steps away from the real world for good and relies solely upon the narrative being told in the Underworld. For the first time ever in the Sword Art Online franchise, Kawahara delivers an intense, interesting story that keeps readers invested in the mystery that is being told. What is the Underworld truly? What are the intentions of the shadowy organisation Rath? Why is the land beyond the End Mountains allowed to exist where it does? Kawahara does not answer these questions and it is a blessing; he gives readers just enough answers to allow them to understand the basis of the new story whilst keeping them hooked for more information in the coming volumes.
I truly went into this volume with the lowest of expectations and it all came from the basis of my friend, a complete Sword Art Online worshipper, telling me to stick with the narrative as Alicization is where it picks up quality. I certainly think it's early days to call the later volumes of the franchise 'great', but I'll grace this volume with the word 'good'. Kawahara, for the first time, has got me invested to see where this goes. Pray that the investment remains.
A refreshing change of pace lies within the ninth volume of Sword Art Online. Finally we are stepping away from the virtual worlds and the harems that have been the pillars on which the series have stood for so long. I'll address the problems first: the setup of the new systems makes absolutely zero sense. Sword Art Online has always required readers to suspend their disbelief but this time it's just not possible to do so: the very idea of the Soul Transfer is so blatantly science fiction that it's practically unsalable. For all of the good points of Volume Nine, the idea of fluctlights and the new method by which characters will access the 'virtual-but-not-virtual' world is just, for lack of a better phrase, plain bullshit.
But where this volume truly shines is when it finally steps away from the real world for good and relies solely upon the narrative being told in the Underworld. For the first time ever in the Sword Art Online franchise, Kawahara delivers an intense, interesting story that keeps readers invested in the mystery that is being told. What is the Underworld truly? What are the intentions of the shadowy organisation Rath? Why is the land beyond the End Mountains allowed to exist where it does? Kawahara does not answer these questions and it is a blessing; he gives readers just enough answers to allow them to understand the basis of the new story whilst keeping them hooked for more information in the coming volumes.
I truly went into this volume with the lowest of expectations and it all came from the basis of my friend, a complete Sword Art Online worshipper, telling me to stick with the narrative as Alicization is where it picks up quality. I certainly think it's early days to call the later volumes of the franchise 'great', but I'll grace this volume with the word 'good'. Kawahara, for the first time, has got me invested to see where this goes. Pray that the investment remains.
January 27, 2021
A new story arc had started from this book. And most fans consider this arc as the best storyline in the Sword Art Online series. Do I agree? Yes. The writing style of Kawahara has improved. The characters are decently written. The story was immersive and fast paced. This book was just a prologue to this massive Alicization Saga and I am already hooked.
This book can be divided in three parts. First part is Kirito testing the new full dive technology, which is so advanced that the difference between VR and reality is very hard to distinguish. In the first part, Kirito is in the company of two new characters, Eugeo and Alice and they try to get in trouble which results in a tragic incident. The second part is Kirito's interaction with Asuna and Shino. Where he reveals about him being paid for testing a new technology and explains the technology in detail. The info dump here wasn't bad, it was mostly interesting to read. Then bidding goodbye to Shino, Kirito and Asuna set out for a romantic walk. This part is one of my favourites. I just love this scene. I don't know why I love this couple so much. Their love story isn't that unique or anything but I just couldn't stop myself from smiling whenever they interact.
She'd played it cool at the time, but underneath, her heart was swirling with disappointment in herself for hesitating, and guilt for having forced that burden onto Kirito. Just as she was feeling that she didn't have the right to be considered a member of the elite front line or to walk at Kirito's side, she heard his voice telling her that he would do whatever it took to get her back to her old world.
In that instant, a powerful drive overtook her. The next time, she would protect him. Not just that time, but every time. In any world.
The third part is where the action starts. The plot after the accident which will keep Kirito away from Asuna for years. Kirito is dropped back in the underworld, the VR world.
Overall, an enjoyable read and an improvement from the previous books.
This book can be divided in three parts. First part is Kirito testing the new full dive technology, which is so advanced that the difference between VR and reality is very hard to distinguish. In the first part, Kirito is in the company of two new characters, Eugeo and Alice and they try to get in trouble which results in a tragic incident. The second part is Kirito's interaction with Asuna and Shino. Where he reveals about him being paid for testing a new technology and explains the technology in detail. The info dump here wasn't bad, it was mostly interesting to read. Then bidding goodbye to Shino, Kirito and Asuna set out for a romantic walk. This part is one of my favourites. I just love this scene. I don't know why I love this couple so much. Their love story isn't that unique or anything but I just couldn't stop myself from smiling whenever they interact.
She'd played it cool at the time, but underneath, her heart was swirling with disappointment in herself for hesitating, and guilt for having forced that burden onto Kirito. Just as she was feeling that she didn't have the right to be considered a member of the elite front line or to walk at Kirito's side, she heard his voice telling her that he would do whatever it took to get her back to her old world.
In that instant, a powerful drive overtook her. The next time, she would protect him. Not just that time, but every time. In any world.
The third part is where the action starts. The plot after the accident which will keep Kirito away from Asuna for years. Kirito is dropped back in the underworld, the VR world.
Overall, an enjoyable read and an improvement from the previous books.
January 16, 2017
Omg. Kirito listens to Asuna. He used the word pragmatic!!!
Now this arc, which appears to be longer then one book, has a new spin on things. I admit the first few chapters had me confused. Their is quiet a bit of science and phycology going on in this arc. And dare I say, a matrix like mode as well. Each of Reki's story arcs seems to be darker then the last as we delve in the mysteries of the online world. While Underworld doesn't come across as dark as GGO or sad as the Sleeping Knights, I would say this story will be double of both pains in this arc. But that just doesn't seem to be the case in the first book.
I've really enjoyed watching Kirito change over the course of the series, the end some what scares me. But I must say, I prefer the stories of Kirito and Asuna together. Though I understand that they are separate people and work together as a team being able to depend on each other without full on dependability. But i still want more Kirito and Asuna moments!!!!
I also am interested in the future GGO comeback. I'm sure it will be very dark!!!
Now this arc, which appears to be longer then one book, has a new spin on things. I admit the first few chapters had me confused. Their is quiet a bit of science and phycology going on in this arc. And dare I say, a matrix like mode as well. Each of Reki's story arcs seems to be darker then the last as we delve in the mysteries of the online world. While Underworld doesn't come across as dark as GGO or sad as the Sleeping Knights, I would say this story will be double of both pains in this arc. But that just doesn't seem to be the case in the first book.
I've really enjoyed watching Kirito change over the course of the series, the end some what scares me. But I must say, I prefer the stories of Kirito and Asuna together. Though I understand that they are separate people and work together as a team being able to depend on each other without full on dependability. But i still want more Kirito and Asuna moments!!!!
I also am interested in the future GGO comeback. I'm sure it will be very dark!!!
October 19, 2017
Ok, so this volume is soooo different from the previous volumes (1 to 8).
Because it's a hole new world and story. If the previous volumes was telling you about SAO, ALO and GGO, now in this volume, it's not. And if i can describe about what i really like the most from this volume is, the harem part of Kirito is not that much, even almost nothing, lol :D . I love it
Actually i'm not really like harem story (even tho SAO is not harem novel, and yeah I know it, but it's like harem in some part for me, *Cmiiw), but i really like fantasy with sci-fi or technology, and Reki Kawahara succeed to make me impress. That's why i really like reading SAO.
The other thing is, you (maybe) need some more time to re-read some part, cuz it's telling you about some theories and it's really interesting btw. You'll really like how Reki Kawahara write it to the story.
So, so far, if i can compare it to the previous 8 volumes, maybe this volume is the best for me.
Can't wait to continue to read volume 10 :D
Because it's a hole new world and story. If the previous volumes was telling you about SAO, ALO and GGO, now in this volume, it's not. And if i can describe about what i really like the most from this volume is, the harem part of Kirito is not that much, even almost nothing, lol :D . I love it
Actually i'm not really like harem story (even tho SAO is not harem novel, and yeah I know it, but it's like harem in some part for me, *Cmiiw), but i really like fantasy with sci-fi or technology, and Reki Kawahara succeed to make me impress. That's why i really like reading SAO.
The other thing is, you (maybe) need some more time to re-read some part, cuz it's telling you about some theories and it's really interesting btw. You'll really like how Reki Kawahara write it to the story.
So, so far, if i can compare it to the previous 8 volumes, maybe this volume is the best for me.
Can't wait to continue to read volume 10 :D
March 17, 2018
My relationship with SAO is very complicated. I either love it or hate it, and this book was more towards the hatred side. Nothing happened!!! I had to wait until the very end for something to start happening, for Kirito to start exploring the world and go on quests. All the first bit nothing happened safe for Alice and the thing with the dark land. Then we have a huge chunk of Shino being Shino and a conversation that was long and seemed pointless. I know the information helps afterwards, but it could have been simpler and easier to digest. It took me ages to read through that.
The really fun part: seeing Kirito attacked. I seriously can't stand this guy anymore. He's always the 'all-so-powerful' and it annoys me.
And then we're back into the world from the beginning, which was fun again because Kirito seems to be going crazy not knowing if it's real or not, but it took forever for something to happen and it just dragged on. It could've been smaller. It could've had more. I hope the other books are better.
The really fun part: seeing Kirito attacked. I seriously can't stand this guy anymore. He's always the 'all-so-powerful' and it annoys me.
And then we're back into the world from the beginning, which was fun again because Kirito seems to be going crazy not knowing if it's real or not, but it took forever for something to happen and it just dragged on. It could've been smaller. It could've had more. I hope the other books are better.
May 25, 2019
I will admit I had a hard time starting this one. Mostly because it starts in media res in a totally different setting than you are used to for Kirito and without him seemingly knowing where he is and what's going on.
As it moves on there is some explanation for it and for me things picked up around that point. There is an awful lot of techno-babble about some new tech and this experience. You might feel it a bit heavy to have it all dumped on you, but I enjoy seeing Kawahara's ideas for where and how the tech might work.
The book ends up on more familiar ground -- not so much because it is Aincrad or Alfheim all over again, but because you know (to a degree) what's going on and it is the beginning of a grand new adventure.
I am curious as to where Kawahara is going to take the story, but more I am curious to see how he will work with the idea of what is real.
Verdict: If you're a fan of SAO -- so far Alicization is okay. If you're considering SAO -- start at the beginning, jumping in here would not be a good idea.
As it moves on there is some explanation for it and for me things picked up around that point. There is an awful lot of techno-babble about some new tech and this experience. You might feel it a bit heavy to have it all dumped on you, but I enjoy seeing Kawahara's ideas for where and how the tech might work.
The book ends up on more familiar ground -- not so much because it is Aincrad or Alfheim all over again, but because you know (to a degree) what's going on and it is the beginning of a grand new adventure.
I am curious as to where Kawahara is going to take the story, but more I am curious to see how he will work with the idea of what is real.
Verdict: If you're a fan of SAO -- so far Alicization is okay. If you're considering SAO -- start at the beginning, jumping in here would not be a good idea.
December 31, 2020
It's taken nine volumes, but I've finally reached a point in the SAO sage that I haven't seen animated. This is aaaaallllllll new to me. I'm not sure how long this arc is going to last—especially since the two prologues that lead this volume actually sets up two distinctly different stories—but I'm buckled up and ready.
Oh yeah, you read that right: There are two prologues. And then an interlude. Chapter One literally starts just shy the midway point.
It's important—and mostly entertaining—setup.
The diciest section is actually that first prologue. And it's not so much dicy because of what is said, but rather what isn't. It launches reading like an AU version of Kirito. He's 11 years old, living in an idyllic town where he and his best friend, Eugeo, serve as woodchoppers. They're tasked with felling a massive tree that impedes the town's ability to farm to its ideal level. However, their world turns upside down when they venture beyond the town and break some rules.
If you've read eight preceding volumes of SAO, this is a very befuddling way to start a story. While we've not seen an 11-year-old Kirito before, we're pretty sure he's never moonlighted as a woodcutter before. In fact, the whole vibe of the area is one absent electricity or anything else we might envision as a modern convenience. Like I said above, it's like AU—taking a character we know and love and placing them in a context removed from the norm, something only a fanfic writer could cook up, you know? Of course, within the context of the series, we can try to make some assumptions: This is a VRMMO world because every major SAO arc has taken place in one. Even within this prologue we can see seams that hint at game world constraints in play. And yet, Kirito's day-to-day is trying to chop down a tree. This is NOT the sort of RPG environment that should appeal to someone who has the VRMMO background he does. (Counterpoint: Maybe this is the EXACT sort of gaming experience one craves with the sort of VRMMO background he has, lol.) Nor does he seem cognizant of this being any kind of simulation or game or anything BUT the world he grew up in and knows. If a stranger walked through the woods, to that tree he's chopping, and told him about the Kirito we know and love—Asuna, his sister, all his accomplishments—he'd think that guy bonkers. So maybe this Kirito is, to an extent, not our Kirito. Shared name? Yeah. Shared likeness? Sure. Someone whose paths will cross with the "real" Kirito? Probably. But not Kirito. Something interesting happens, though. By the end of the prologue I had stopped caring. The story author Reki Kawahara was craft was compelling enough that I was willing to accept the weird AU-vibe, the unanswered questions. (Luckily, it doesn't take too much of the second prologue to answer and contextualize a lot of that.)
Vol. 9 tackles some big, interesting questions, not just about the implications of highly detailed virtual worlds, but about what it is that makes a human truly human. It does this in a way that we see the questions through the worlds, the characters, the decisions. It gets too didactic at times, using dialogue to bruskly serve as a thesis, and sometimes our protagonist lags behind the reader's understanding—someone who should be smarter than we on on these kinds of topics—to a degree that's frustrating. Yet basking in the aftermath, I remember the way the narrative nudges these things, not so much the bluntness.
And good god is there some great prose in here. I'm not sure how much of that to attribute to Kawahara, and how much to the translator, Stephen Paul, but there's some goddamn wonderful turns of phrases and well-conveyed ideas in v.9. Here's some of my favorites:
"The thought that I’m seeing your heart beating just…sends me on a little trip, I guess…” (Asuna, explaining why she has a widget on her phone that displays Kirito's vitals. But how perfectly is "just sends me on a little trip" phrased? Simple, yes, but we innately connect to it because we understand that sometimes, in matters of love, it's the little things that get us through the day.)
'“I’m sorry for losing control.”
“N-no…it’s fine. I think you should cry when you need to,” I said, a pretty weak excuse at consolation, but as Selka wasn’t spoiled by the ever-present entertainment media of twenty-first-century Japan, she smiled and took it to heart.' (Dialogue between Kirito and Selka which highlights something surprisingly profound about how, in all likelihood, being bombarded with narrative media has made honest, simple reactions feel trite or cliche. It makes us cynical of anything that doesn't sound fresh, unique, new. But we're just fucking people, you know? We can't be on-the-spot verbal Shakespeares.)
"With the pain-absorbing functions of the NerveGear and AmuSphere, I lived such a sheltered experience that wounds in battle meant nothing more than a loss of abstract HP. If pain like this existed in Aincrad, I would never have left the Town of Beginnings." (Kirito doing self-reflection. Wow, ok, so this does something so perfect at this point in the narrative. It's one thing for him to talk about "pain absorbing" features and his relatively pain-free real life, it's another to so acutely delineate that into such an intense analogy that makes perfect sense within his history and so vividly shows how different his life would have been with the pain factor.)
"In fact, it produced the illusion that the tree was not falling on top of us but that the ground was tilting forward. Such was the unreality of the sight of a thirteen-foot-wide tree giving in to gravity and toppling over." (What a fucking mental image, holy shit.)
I'll stop there. Honestly, I waffled between 4 and 5 stars. There are some really key flaws here (not all of which I even outlined above), yet so stellar are the high points that I can't convince myself that the flaws matter at all.
Oh yeah, you read that right: There are two prologues. And then an interlude. Chapter One literally starts just shy the midway point.
It's important—and mostly entertaining—setup.
The diciest section is actually that first prologue. And it's not so much dicy because of what is said, but rather what isn't. It launches reading like an AU version of Kirito. He's 11 years old, living in an idyllic town where he and his best friend, Eugeo, serve as woodchoppers. They're tasked with felling a massive tree that impedes the town's ability to farm to its ideal level. However, their world turns upside down when they venture beyond the town and break some rules.
If you've read eight preceding volumes of SAO, this is a very befuddling way to start a story. While we've not seen an 11-year-old Kirito before, we're pretty sure he's never moonlighted as a woodcutter before. In fact, the whole vibe of the area is one absent electricity or anything else we might envision as a modern convenience. Like I said above, it's like AU—taking a character we know and love and placing them in a context removed from the norm, something only a fanfic writer could cook up, you know? Of course, within the context of the series, we can try to make some assumptions: This is a VRMMO world because every major SAO arc has taken place in one. Even within this prologue we can see seams that hint at game world constraints in play. And yet, Kirito's day-to-day is trying to chop down a tree. This is NOT the sort of RPG environment that should appeal to someone who has the VRMMO background he does. (Counterpoint: Maybe this is the EXACT sort of gaming experience one craves with the sort of VRMMO background he has, lol.) Nor does he seem cognizant of this being any kind of simulation or game or anything BUT the world he grew up in and knows. If a stranger walked through the woods, to that tree he's chopping, and told him about the Kirito we know and love—Asuna, his sister, all his accomplishments—he'd think that guy bonkers. So maybe this Kirito is, to an extent, not our Kirito. Shared name? Yeah. Shared likeness? Sure. Someone whose paths will cross with the "real" Kirito? Probably. But not Kirito. Something interesting happens, though. By the end of the prologue I had stopped caring. The story author Reki Kawahara was craft was compelling enough that I was willing to accept the weird AU-vibe, the unanswered questions. (Luckily, it doesn't take too much of the second prologue to answer and contextualize a lot of that.)
Vol. 9 tackles some big, interesting questions, not just about the implications of highly detailed virtual worlds, but about what it is that makes a human truly human. It does this in a way that we see the questions through the worlds, the characters, the decisions. It gets too didactic at times, using dialogue to bruskly serve as a thesis, and sometimes our protagonist lags behind the reader's understanding—someone who should be smarter than we on on these kinds of topics—to a degree that's frustrating. Yet basking in the aftermath, I remember the way the narrative nudges these things, not so much the bluntness.
And good god is there some great prose in here. I'm not sure how much of that to attribute to Kawahara, and how much to the translator, Stephen Paul, but there's some goddamn wonderful turns of phrases and well-conveyed ideas in v.9. Here's some of my favorites:
"The thought that I’m seeing your heart beating just…sends me on a little trip, I guess…” (Asuna, explaining why she has a widget on her phone that displays Kirito's vitals. But how perfectly is "just sends me on a little trip" phrased? Simple, yes, but we innately connect to it because we understand that sometimes, in matters of love, it's the little things that get us through the day.)
'“I’m sorry for losing control.”
“N-no…it’s fine. I think you should cry when you need to,” I said, a pretty weak excuse at consolation, but as Selka wasn’t spoiled by the ever-present entertainment media of twenty-first-century Japan, she smiled and took it to heart.' (Dialogue between Kirito and Selka which highlights something surprisingly profound about how, in all likelihood, being bombarded with narrative media has made honest, simple reactions feel trite or cliche. It makes us cynical of anything that doesn't sound fresh, unique, new. But we're just fucking people, you know? We can't be on-the-spot verbal Shakespeares.)
"With the pain-absorbing functions of the NerveGear and AmuSphere, I lived such a sheltered experience that wounds in battle meant nothing more than a loss of abstract HP. If pain like this existed in Aincrad, I would never have left the Town of Beginnings." (Kirito doing self-reflection. Wow, ok, so this does something so perfect at this point in the narrative. It's one thing for him to talk about "pain absorbing" features and his relatively pain-free real life, it's another to so acutely delineate that into such an intense analogy that makes perfect sense within his history and so vividly shows how different his life would have been with the pain factor.)
"In fact, it produced the illusion that the tree was not falling on top of us but that the ground was tilting forward. Such was the unreality of the sight of a thirteen-foot-wide tree giving in to gravity and toppling over." (What a fucking mental image, holy shit.)
I'll stop there. Honestly, I waffled between 4 and 5 stars. There are some really key flaws here (not all of which I even outlined above), yet so stellar are the high points that I can't convince myself that the flaws matter at all.
December 4, 2025
Not enough words to talk about how I love SAO as a whole. When watching the anime, alicization was closer on par to the first season for me. Rather than Alfheim and GGO, it feels like a fresh start - the beginning of a new world and concept entirely rather than an extension of the initial storyline. While I’m going to be missing kirito/asuna moments for a while, I know I’m in for a good story!!! It’s refreshing to see Kitito develop a true friendship with a boy who is similar to him, it’s a trope we haven’t really seen in the story yet!!! He’s friends it’s Agil and Klein, but you can tell the weight of this friendship is much deeper, so that’s always enjoyable to read and watch develop. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve watched the show, so I’m excited to re-live it through the stories and go on my way to the arcs that haven’t been covered by the show yet!!! SAO is so personal to me and I am so glad it’s a light novel that I can get so deeply involved in!!!!!!
December 30, 2014
I first watched TV adaptation of part 1 and 2 of this series. It wasn't much other than hot-blooded adventures and other RPG story cliches, but certainly was very entertaining.
Then as part 3 hasn't been released in animation, I proceeded with novels in Chinese translation, and found it started to feel different. The tone is a little philosophical, maybe, and the author's ambition to write something with more depth is clear with the exploration of possibilities of soul simulation and duplication, a new type of AI (called bottom-up) and concept of time lapse in virtual world (definitely the preceding of Accel World).
As Japanese "light novel," this is a brilliant work despite being not so qualified as real sci-fi if regarded with western standard.
Then as part 3 hasn't been released in animation, I proceeded with novels in Chinese translation, and found it started to feel different. The tone is a little philosophical, maybe, and the author's ambition to write something with more depth is clear with the exploration of possibilities of soul simulation and duplication, a new type of AI (called bottom-up) and concept of time lapse in virtual world (definitely the preceding of Accel World).
As Japanese "light novel," this is a brilliant work despite being not so qualified as real sci-fi if regarded with western standard.
June 14, 2015
Kirito (yet again) trapped in a VR world due to an unfinished business from Phantom Bullet Arc.
The pacing is great, it doesn't feel rushed at all unlike the 1st couple of author's books. The writer slowly takes the time for world building and trying connect the story with the previous books so the pacing might be a bit slow at first. And since this is the start of a new arc there are many unexplained mysteries which probably will be addressed on future books.
It's also crammed with pseudo science stuffs in it and somehow giving hints about this series connection to Accelworld which also written by the same author. Overall it's a good book and also a good start to the biggest arc in the series.
The pacing is great, it doesn't feel rushed at all unlike the 1st couple of author's books. The writer slowly takes the time for world building and trying connect the story with the previous books so the pacing might be a bit slow at first. And since this is the start of a new arc there are many unexplained mysteries which probably will be addressed on future books.
It's also crammed with pseudo science stuffs in it and somehow giving hints about this series connection to Accelworld which also written by the same author. Overall it's a good book and also a good start to the biggest arc in the series.
January 15, 2017
So I had some difficulty starting this book. The first 50 pages were jarring and I was not interested. Then the story went back to the real world and I got to read what Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon were up to. That got me excited again. Then a main character got injured and then it was back to the new virtual world. Ugh, then I had a hard time continuing. I fell asleep several times reading the next couple chapters. I powered through and finally started getting into it. By then end of the story I wanted more. So this story wasn't a normal 5 star since it was difficult in parts but I enjoyed the story by the end.
January 14, 2017
Sped through in almost one day {had to stop to eat, shower and sleep}. Wish I hadn't finished it that fast because this new narrative arc is a blast! XD I want to read the next one NOW! The other novels in the main narrative series left me a bit "meh" with the exception of the GGO/Phantom Bullet arc. This one's powerful narrative, mind-boggling technology and new interesting characters and story captured my undivided attention. I wish I could read Japanese to get on to the next novel right away. Uhm yes, just in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a SAO fan. :P
September 30, 2026
This Could Be the Start of Something Big
This book was buoyed higher than perhaps it deserved because it came hot on the heels of the disappointing Early and Late short story collection. It now appears Kawahara bunted with volume 8 because he was building up a head of steam for his whopping ten-book Alicization saga. This opening adventure promises nothing but upside potential and with a long runway to boot!
Yeah, being Alicization Beginning the novel is larded with necessary stage setting and technobabble. But Reki punctuates those Dicey Cafe Data Dump chapters with humor and cool character moments with Shino and Agil, the ex-pat Yankee bringing Boston baked beans to Tokyo. Shino is there to invite Kirito to the next Bullet of Bullets, which gives us GGO fans hope this was laying the foundation for a future story.
Speaking of GGO, a dangling loose screw from Phantom Bullet injects itself into this new saga's storyline. I appreciate how Kawahara recognizes real life is not episodic with clean breaks between chapters. Transitions are always fuzzy and oftentimes messy. "There's always something there to remind me," as the old song goes, and as Kirito learns the hard way.
Alicization proper begins with 11-year-old Kirito trying to chop down a tree with his friend Yu-Gi-Oh--oops--Eugeo. I smiled at this wink to the readers, one which Kawahara underscored by having Kirito think, "I rolled the name around in my head... the word was familiar on my tongue for some reason" (p. 140). Yeah, and on the tongues of 90% of this book's readers! A nice touch.
The boys are soon joined by 11-year-old Alice Zuberg, whose appearance was inevitable considering the book's title, her picture on the back cover, and all the earlier references to Lewis Carroll's chronicles of Alice's adventures underground.
The plot brought to my mind the underappreciated 1973-74 Canadian sci-fi series The Starlost, which also featured two men and a woman in an isolated, quasi-religious rule-centric, and rustic setting that was in actuality a high-tech science-fiction simulation. What happens when three country kids venture out into a brave new world?
Close readers will detect connections to Kawahara's other successful series Accel World, which is set decades later in the same world as SAO. For example, the Soul Translator (STL) technology for which Kirito is a test subject boasts the amazing ability to hack the "thought-clocking control signal" in our minds:
"[The Soul Translator is] basically just a VR world that works on dream logic. When you're inside that world, it interferes with the mind's thought-clocking pulse and speeds it up. Then it synchronizes the passage of time within the virtual world to speed it up, too. As a result, the amount of actual time the user experiences within the virtual world is multiplied. That's the greatest function of the STL: Fluctlight Acceleration, or FLA" (pp. 97-98).
So what unfolds as days and weeks for Kirito in Rulid Village may only be moments in his real life back in 2026 Tokyo. But since Kawahara doesn't toggle back to Tokyo--and all of us were wishing he would, right?--we can only guess how much or how little time is passing. (And we really hope time is the only thing that's passing back in Tokyo!)
Random Observations, Questions, and Musings
I recently enjoyed Ordinal Scale and it can't be coincidence that memory theft plays a role in that film and in this novel. What's the connection? What is Kawahara saying?
Are Zink and his old man Doik being set up to play recurring flies in the ointment? (I hope not.)
The village celebration with abundant food and booze--heartily consumed to excess by Kirito--brought on a smile remembering Luffy's similar overindulgences in many One Piece arc-enders.
I loved Kirito the Swordsman's silent apology to Asuna and Yui before kissing another girl (on the forehead). Chivalry is not dead!
The secret origin of (what I safely assume will be) Kirito's legendary weapon is a short scene worth savoring: Kirito borrowed the Blue Rose Sword, cut the branch, and "flipped it up into the air. It came down, spinning, and landed in my outstretched free hand. The weight pushing down against my wrist and the icy chill of it caused me to falter" (p. 259). Wow, a LOT of foreboding and foreshadowing packed into one short paragraph!
Also, while Kirito is often seen as a solo warrior, here Old Man Garitta and Eugeo play pivotal roles in this pregnant-with-profundity development. Garitta's instructing Kirito to have the craftsman Sadore "fashion it into a mighty sword" (p. 260) stirred up good memories of Welf crafting Bell's Ushiwakamaru knife from a minotaur horn (as seen in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 4). Will Sadore someday become the Welf to Kirito?
And finally, what ticking time bomb is Kawahara planting in the Afterword with "it's not a girl who Kirito first runs across... Er, disregard that" (p. 263). Wait, what? If Eugeo is a gender-bended Asuna a la Kirito in GGO I swear I'll... I'll... probably keep reading. I'm hopelessly addicted to Sword Art Online!
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, so onward with haste and high expectations to SAO volume 10, Alicization Running!
This book was buoyed higher than perhaps it deserved because it came hot on the heels of the disappointing Early and Late short story collection. It now appears Kawahara bunted with volume 8 because he was building up a head of steam for his whopping ten-book Alicization saga. This opening adventure promises nothing but upside potential and with a long runway to boot!
Yeah, being Alicization Beginning the novel is larded with necessary stage setting and technobabble. But Reki punctuates those Dicey Cafe Data Dump chapters with humor and cool character moments with Shino and Agil, the ex-pat Yankee bringing Boston baked beans to Tokyo. Shino is there to invite Kirito to the next Bullet of Bullets, which gives us GGO fans hope this was laying the foundation for a future story.
Speaking of GGO, a dangling loose screw from Phantom Bullet injects itself into this new saga's storyline. I appreciate how Kawahara recognizes real life is not episodic with clean breaks between chapters. Transitions are always fuzzy and oftentimes messy. "There's always something there to remind me," as the old song goes, and as Kirito learns the hard way.
Alicization proper begins with 11-year-old Kirito trying to chop down a tree with his friend Yu-Gi-Oh--oops--Eugeo. I smiled at this wink to the readers, one which Kawahara underscored by having Kirito think, "I rolled the name around in my head... the word was familiar on my tongue for some reason" (p. 140). Yeah, and on the tongues of 90% of this book's readers! A nice touch.
The boys are soon joined by 11-year-old Alice Zuberg, whose appearance was inevitable considering the book's title, her picture on the back cover, and all the earlier references to Lewis Carroll's chronicles of Alice's adventures underground.
The plot brought to my mind the underappreciated 1973-74 Canadian sci-fi series The Starlost, which also featured two men and a woman in an isolated, quasi-religious rule-centric, and rustic setting that was in actuality a high-tech science-fiction simulation. What happens when three country kids venture out into a brave new world?
Close readers will detect connections to Kawahara's other successful series Accel World, which is set decades later in the same world as SAO. For example, the Soul Translator (STL) technology for which Kirito is a test subject boasts the amazing ability to hack the "thought-clocking control signal" in our minds:
"[The Soul Translator is] basically just a VR world that works on dream logic. When you're inside that world, it interferes with the mind's thought-clocking pulse and speeds it up. Then it synchronizes the passage of time within the virtual world to speed it up, too. As a result, the amount of actual time the user experiences within the virtual world is multiplied. That's the greatest function of the STL: Fluctlight Acceleration, or FLA" (pp. 97-98).
So what unfolds as days and weeks for Kirito in Rulid Village may only be moments in his real life back in 2026 Tokyo. But since Kawahara doesn't toggle back to Tokyo--and all of us were wishing he would, right?--we can only guess how much or how little time is passing. (And we really hope time is the only thing that's passing back in Tokyo!)
Random Observations, Questions, and Musings
I recently enjoyed Ordinal Scale and it can't be coincidence that memory theft plays a role in that film and in this novel. What's the connection? What is Kawahara saying?
Are Zink and his old man Doik being set up to play recurring flies in the ointment? (I hope not.)
The village celebration with abundant food and booze--heartily consumed to excess by Kirito--brought on a smile remembering Luffy's similar overindulgences in many One Piece arc-enders.
I loved Kirito the Swordsman's silent apology to Asuna and Yui before kissing another girl (on the forehead). Chivalry is not dead!
The secret origin of (what I safely assume will be) Kirito's legendary weapon is a short scene worth savoring: Kirito borrowed the Blue Rose Sword, cut the branch, and "flipped it up into the air. It came down, spinning, and landed in my outstretched free hand. The weight pushing down against my wrist and the icy chill of it caused me to falter" (p. 259). Wow, a LOT of foreboding and foreshadowing packed into one short paragraph!
Also, while Kirito is often seen as a solo warrior, here Old Man Garitta and Eugeo play pivotal roles in this pregnant-with-profundity development. Garitta's instructing Kirito to have the craftsman Sadore "fashion it into a mighty sword" (p. 260) stirred up good memories of Welf crafting Bell's Ushiwakamaru knife from a minotaur horn (as seen in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 4). Will Sadore someday become the Welf to Kirito?
And finally, what ticking time bomb is Kawahara planting in the Afterword with "it's not a girl who Kirito first runs across... Er, disregard that" (p. 263). Wait, what? If Eugeo is a gender-bended Asuna a la Kirito in GGO I swear I'll... I'll... probably keep reading. I'm hopelessly addicted to Sword Art Online!
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, so onward with haste and high expectations to SAO volume 10, Alicization Running!
January 30, 2013
Interesting new take on the series, I feel like there's hardly anything I can say that won't spoil anything. This is one is definitely more cerebral than its predecessors, reminded me of the conversations between the more intelligent characters hashing out reality in Orson Scott Card's Ender universe or the Pathfinder series.
January 2, 2018
A really interesting new arc. I enjoyed the core of it and the theme of going further into "reality" and "perception". the new technology in this book is cool to read about. The beginning was a bit slow for me but picked up after the exposition.
Lots of woodcutting in this one.
I'll be reading the rest of Alicization. Finally, Kirito gets to add a guy to his crew ;)
Lots of woodcutting in this one.
I'll be reading the rest of Alicization. Finally, Kirito gets to add a guy to his crew ;)
April 29, 2026
Yeay
I had started reading this a long time ago and stop because I was soon used to small arc that I could marathon but I didn't now this would be an epic. I had refused to watch the anime beyond the previous story because I knew the light novel were a better story and I will appreciate the anime more afterwards
I had started reading this a long time ago and stop because I was soon used to small arc that I could marathon but I didn't now this would be an epic. I had refused to watch the anime beyond the previous story because I knew the light novel were a better story and I will appreciate the anime more afterwards
January 4, 2017
this arc is very upsetting, and it's going to go on for years. IRL. ten novels long, and this is just the first. the first sao novel to follow the alicization arc is coming out - in Japan - next month. so here's to five actual years of stressing out over this because
ASUNA
this poor girl.
ASUNA
this poor girl.
June 6, 2017
The first SAO novel with never-before-seen content- this marks the start of the beginning of SAO's official 4th arc: Project "Alicization".
(Ugh- just spent over an hour working on a review before accidentally deleting it! Full review to come!)
(Ugh- just spent over an hour working on a review before accidentally deleting it! Full review to come!)
March 7, 2024
I would say, it's much better than anime. A lot of additional insight in the daily life of main characters, a lot more details in their thoughts and some important details that were skipped in animated series. One of the best books in this series until now.
April 5, 2014
Strap yourselves in, it's about to get weird.
April 7, 2021
A good start for the new arc. Lots of explaining was done, yet lots of explaining remains to be done.
March 25, 2022
Sword Art Online was the first anime that I ever watched back in middle school and I’ve been wanting to read the source material for quite some time now. Seeing as there are so many volumes, I decided to start on this one since, in my opinion, the Alicization Arc is the most interesting, besides maybe the Aincrad Arc that started everything.
In general the book is not necessarily amazing. The writing is flawed from time to time and there are occasionally contradiction that made me audibly say, “wait… that’s wrong.” But none of that really matters to me because I am so incredibly blinded by nostalgia and my stupid love for everything SAO that the small inconsistencies mean nothing to me. The small blunders are more than made up for by the elaboration on certain aspects of the world that simply can’t be done in the show. You get a better view into who Kazuto/Kirito is, what goes through his head, etc. In fact, you get this for multiple characters like Asuna and Sinon. Reading this was incredibly fulfilling because while expanding my understanding of the world I just felt so comfortable. It whisked me back to simpler days and my own fantasies of living life in a medieval world. Would highly recommend giving the series a read and this is just the beginning of my adventure reading through the rest SAO.
In general the book is not necessarily amazing. The writing is flawed from time to time and there are occasionally contradiction that made me audibly say, “wait… that’s wrong.” But none of that really matters to me because I am so incredibly blinded by nostalgia and my stupid love for everything SAO that the small inconsistencies mean nothing to me. The small blunders are more than made up for by the elaboration on certain aspects of the world that simply can’t be done in the show. You get a better view into who Kazuto/Kirito is, what goes through his head, etc. In fact, you get this for multiple characters like Asuna and Sinon. Reading this was incredibly fulfilling because while expanding my understanding of the world I just felt so comfortable. It whisked me back to simpler days and my own fantasies of living life in a medieval world. Would highly recommend giving the series a read and this is just the beginning of my adventure reading through the rest SAO.
December 31, 2022
It was cute.
Odd. But cute.
Not really sure what Kawahara is trying to do with all the talk of memories and souls and what not, but it was fun to read. Some of it didn’t make sense though. If this other company is capable of blocking out memories from being formed, then they are already far more advanced than anything else we are currently capable of doing.
I did enjoy that Kawahara actually did address the issue of different kinds of memories being encoded onto the same neurons and whether or not different operating systems would be able to read those memories. It was at least attempted, unlike the Hyperion series. I am getting a bit tired of Kirito’s
Mary Sueness. I must face it…he’s always entirely too good at everything even as he is thinking how useless he is. It does get a bit tiresome.
But, I’m still going to keep reading. Because they are fun little books and I enjoy reading them, even if they don’t cause me to think at all.
This one did teach me that there are microtubules in the brain. Didn’t know that. He talked about how he believed that each microtubule contained a quantum of light and that kind of captured my imagination. Imagine if that was true, that within each microtubule of each cell in our brain was a piece of light. Wouldn’t that bring even more meaning to how light is symbolized as knowledge?
Odd. But cute.
Not really sure what Kawahara is trying to do with all the talk of memories and souls and what not, but it was fun to read. Some of it didn’t make sense though. If this other company is capable of blocking out memories from being formed, then they are already far more advanced than anything else we are currently capable of doing.
I did enjoy that Kawahara actually did address the issue of different kinds of memories being encoded onto the same neurons and whether or not different operating systems would be able to read those memories. It was at least attempted, unlike the Hyperion series. I am getting a bit tired of Kirito’s
Mary Sueness. I must face it…he’s always entirely too good at everything even as he is thinking how useless he is. It does get a bit tiresome.
But, I’m still going to keep reading. Because they are fun little books and I enjoy reading them, even if they don’t cause me to think at all.
This one did teach me that there are microtubules in the brain. Didn’t know that. He talked about how he believed that each microtubule contained a quantum of light and that kind of captured my imagination. Imagine if that was true, that within each microtubule of each cell in our brain was a piece of light. Wouldn’t that bring even more meaning to how light is symbolized as knowledge?
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