Demons' Crest, Vol. 1 (light novel): Reality Erosion

Demons' Crest #1

by Reki Kawahara

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy

248 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2024

About the author

Kawahara 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.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reki Kawahara sure is a one trick pony, but at least he's a pony who's brushing up on his trick. As with literally all of his other light novels, Demons' Crest is a tale of a VRMMORPG gone horribly wrong - it feels more Sword Art Online than either The Isolator or Accel World, which I think is probably a good thing. The characters are all members of the same sixth grade class, invited to test out the first VRMMO ever as a graduation treat. Things are fine until, of course, someone notices the lack of a log out button. The next thing protagonist Yuuma knows, he's waking up in the VR capsule, but the real world and the game world have been horribly meshed...and some people, like his twin sister Sawa and the (former) prettiest girl in class, have undergone transformations...

This is much tenser than Kawahara's previous works, and Yuuma is far from an OP Kirito clone, thank goodness. There are very real questions about what's going on and how it affected the kids versus the adults, and the consequences are very, very real, which basically translates to "if you don't like seeing twelve-year-olds die, don't read this book." Kawahara's inability to write human girls remains an issue and he still gets quite repetitive, but on the whole I don't mind rounding this up from a 3.5. It's not perfect, but it is enjoyable.

[Dark Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. I first read SOA after it came out in 2009 and was immediately hooked by the author, and while this one is an interesting concept similar to it, it just didn't appeal to me as I'm 15 years older now, the kids are even younger (around 11/12), and there is just a lot from the first book that never gets addressed. For example: what was Sawa already demonized? how did she know stuff already? how tf would someone even think to open the game icon once they were back in what they thought was reality and outside of the capsule? Yeah, too many questions with nothing answered in the first book, so I just lack any interest about the second book or further and I'd rather read a spoiler summary of the series now.

[O.Z. Laws · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Definitely veers more into supernatural horror than Reki Kawahara's other works, but I'm fully here for it!

The mystery is very engaging and the characters are a lot of fun so far. I look forward to seeing how things unfold, as right now it definitely has some Lord of the Flies themes going with the class of elementary students trying to work together to survive a hellish situation.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very fun and surprisingly horrifying at times. I am very pumped to read the next, I really enjoyed this.

[Rebekah McPhail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Def lived up to SAO hype!