Log Horizon, Vol. 1: The Beginning of Another World

Log Horizon #1

by Mamare Touno, Kazuhiro Hara (Artist)

Thirty thousand Japanese gamers awake one day to discover that the fantasy world of Elder Tales, an MMORPG that was formerly their collective hobby, has become their cold hard reality. Severed from their everyday lives, they confront a new horizon filled with ravenous monsters, flavorless food, and the inability to die! Amid the chaos, veteran gamer Shiroe gathers his friends, the guardian Naotsugu and the assassin Akatsuki, and together they embark on an adventure to change the world as they know it!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Science Fiction, Adventure, Fiction, Magic

230 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2011

About the author

Name (in native language): 橙乃 ままれ

Mamare Touno real name is Daisuke Umezu (梅津 大輔, Umezu Daisuke).

Blog: m2lade JAM

Reviews

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This light novel is everything I hoped for. Having loved the anime, I had high expectations going into the novel. I was not disappointed.

Log Horizon is, like most of the light novels I've read, a very character driven story. It's also very detail-oriented. Primarily, it follows Shiroe, an "Enchanter" class player who is pretty much the ultimate strategist, though we do see events occasionally through the eyes of Naotsugu, Akatsuki, and others.

The first volume includes quite a few characters, and from watching the anime I know that this cast will only get bigger. Despite the already growing cast, though, you still get a good idea of what makes each character tick. Shiroe, for example, is a brilliant strategist, a bit awkward with other people, and has a strong sense of right and wrong. Naotsugu acts like a goof to cope with bad situations and to try and help others cope. Akatsuki's a little harder to figure out, given that she still seems to cling a bit to her "RP" personality, but she comes across as honest and wants to prove herself. I could go on and on, but I'd probably bring in stuff I know from the anime and spoilers might occur. That, and there are already at least 8 notable characters in this volume alone, and going through them all would make this review unbearably long.

As I said previously, the novel is very much a detail-oriented story. There's a lot of world building to get on paper, since this world of "Elder Tale" is a game even bigger than WoW and has been around longer. Touno is careful not to make background discussions into one big "info dump" by breaking them up with dialogue and action, and Touno makes sure to avoid rambling at these info sessions as well. The focus on detail also lets this story move at a slower pace, making even the battle sequences feel more like a strategy game than an all-out fight. I really liked this attention to detail and to the history of the game. I also really liked that we're following veteran players. Too often these kinds of series focus on growing newbies rather than people who actually know what they're doing, which for a game with as much history as "Elder Tales" would mean missing out on a lot of really cool stuff.

The only thing I want to say, and I've pointed this out with the manga version of Log Horizon as well, is that Yen Press (or "Yen On" in this case) messed up on a particular translation. This is me being picky, I'll admit, but it's "Thorn-Bind Hostage," not "Sewn-Bind Hostage." This doesn't affect anything, really, other than make me sigh while reading. Otherwise, the translation seems pretty good.

If you liked slower, thoughtful, character-centric stories like the various .hack// series, you'll probably like this one. If you want nonstop action, you might want to pass on this one.

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must say I picked this one because I had watched (and liked) the anime series, and I would recommend the latter overall. The book tells pretty much the same thing, only it's not as good, even though the themes themselves remain interesting: waking up in the world of your favourite MMORPG, having to make out what happened and to find out how to live from now on, being confronted to rules that make a lot of things redundant... How do you create a functional society in a world where you cannot die, and where going hungry and poor mostly won't happen, since just about anyone can kill a couple of monsters to earh their board and bed for the day? What happens to standard human rules, how do people keep their dignity and not devolve into doing anything they want, bad things included?

The concept and themes are definitely good. However, there isn't any definite plot (it read more as an introduction than as a real story for now), and while the rules of the "Elder Tales" video game are detailed, allowing the reader to easily discover this new world, they're also repeated a little too often. Granted, I'm familiar with MMORPGs, so I don't need their basic concepts to be explained, but I think even a reader who's never gamed doesn't need to be reminded three times how many magic-wielding classes there are, or that Character X is really tiny. It made me wonder if the story had been published as a serial first, with such means being used to, well, remind the reader of previous episodes. All in all, it felt a little repetitive and boring.

I still think "Log Horizon" makes for great world-building and story arcs. I'd however recommend watching the anime instead. It's much more interesting.

[Niquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Players wake up one day in another world much like the video game Elder Tales with no knowledge of what happened, and after a few days of panicking adapt and focus on living their lives in this new reality.

That’s it, there was this almost apathy about going home, as one character puts it It’s not like I had a girlfriend who’d show me her panties, and I haven’t seen my folks in almost two years…I’d gotten used to my job, but did it really feel like a job worth doing?... Well, no.

Again, there is no real plot. This book is more of an introduction to the world of Elder Tale and the characters. Chapter one is so full of information I’m not ashamed to say I zoned out at times (I’m a visual learning, that was way too much information to process). But what’s cool is the world of Elder Tales is interesting, especially the fact it’s been a part of the character’s lives for years and even before the Catastrophe they had histories with each other.

The thing is, even though the main characters are trapped in the game world of Elder Tales it isn’t the same as say being trapped in Sword Art Online. Elder Tales isn’t a virtual reality game. It’s played on a computer and seen using a monitor. And suddenly while playing the game the players blackout and wake up in a world similar to (but much more 3d and real feeling) Elder Tales with no explanation and no reason to believe they’ll get back home.

In a situation like this it almost makes sense the characters are just trying to live in this new reality, but, and I could be reading too much into this, its like Mamare Touno is making a statement about the kind of people who would play this game and the disconnect between playing this kind of game and living in reality. Or something. Oh and no one dies, which creates even more of a sense of unreality.

Anywho.

Touno put a lot of thought into this world. There is a lot of information about how Elder Tales works, and what would happen if people really were trapped in this game. What would their lives be like, what if their game character looked and was shaped completely differently from the real person, would they have to poop even though they never could when playing the game?

I really admire Touno’s ability to write description and have a main character think logically. Touno’s writing still has kinks to work out, it got a bit repetitive at times and it would be nice if in the next book the information flowed better. And what’s with the random spaces between paragraphs? At first I thought that was to separate scenes, but at times it seemed oddly out of place. Two of the characters felt stereotyped (or one dimensional), but as the book progressed at least one of them felt more developed.

I love that when Shiroe wakes up in this new environment he seeks out a friend. I’ve read too many loner stories where the main character is unable to make or have friends in the beginning, so Shiroe being an introvert and still having real relationships before the story even began was really nice. And even though he gets embarrassed he still puts himself out there when he needs to.

Its tough to really talk about this book since so much was information, again there really wasn’t a plot other than the characters finding out they are trapped and just learning how to fight monsters (while dealing with the actual fear of being attacked by monsters they can see and even smell) and later going on a rescue mission which flew by pretty quickly.

And yet, I enjoyed this book.

Thankfully this isn’t a harem. The typical inappropriate feel my boobs character didn’t turn her attention to Shiroe but Nao (though its referenced she did in the past), there’s even unrequited love mentioned for a character who isn’t Shiroe. I have nothing against harems, but I prefer not to read them. Too many harem stories don’t make sense and make the guy look indecisive or pathetic (not to mention friendless), and side pairings (which I love) tend to be nonexistence.

But moving on, Log Horizon has a lot of potential and a lot to look forward to. There’s the other debauchery tea party members, possible romances, the mysterious she Shiroe keeps referring to, more about the enslaving of npcs, Shiroe's reference to then he was just an Enchanter, zone buying, food tasting good in the future, even possibly answers to the mystery of the catastrophe. I just hope Touno pulls it off.

And the artwork is beautiful. Of all the light novel series I own this and Sword Art Online’s artwork suite my taste the most. And the little descriptions of certain items (shown at the beginning of each chapter) were great (and true).

Final Rating: I was slightly bored, but there’s potential and I did enjoy the thought put into this story, and yeah for characters actually having lives before the events of the book.

[Ilias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the nostalgia feelings I got from reading this manga. After the Sword Art Online disaster, it's good to see an anime actually knowing how a MMORPG works. The nostalgia made me really think about playing MMORPG games again. The feeling was short lived when I looked at my current grades. No thnx

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basic premise of the series: right after the release of a new expansion pack, all players currently logged on to the MMORPG game Elder Tales woke up to find themselves living in the bodies of their avatars, trapped in what appeared to be a blend of the Elder Tales world and the real world.

This first volume introduces Shiroe, an Enchanter who's an incredibly gifted strategist, Naotsugu, a Guardian with a bad habit of talking about panties, and Akatsuki, an Assassin who's really into roleplaying her character, right down to referring to Shiroe as her liege. The three of them figure out how to use their magical and fighting abilities, learn the rules of this new world, encounter player killers, and go on a quest to rescue a young girl named Serara from a town that has turned hellish ever since the Catastrophe that resulted in everybody getting trapped in the game.

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the anime so much that I ordered the first few volumes of the light novel series before I'd even finished it. Based on my feelings about this first volume, that was probably a mistake.

I still love the premise, and that Touno opted to focus on the nitty gritty details of rebuilding a functional society rather than on battles and action, although the series certainly still has some of that. And this book provided some interesting details that either weren't included in the anime or that I'd missed. For instance, I loved the class and subclass table. And the detail about abusive players using the game's "friend" function to aid their harassment of other players made me wince because it was such a perfect example of the ways people will take something that was intended to be a helpful feature and figure out how to use it to hurt others.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love this, it was bogged down by its massive amount of detail and bad writing/translation. The writing problems ranged from unnecessarily obvious statements to just plain awkward phrasing. A couple examples:

"Online games are played over the Internet." (15)

They are indeed. I suspect that this painfully obvious statement was the result of some of the translation issues discussed in Clyde Mandelin's "Redundant Translations in Games & Anime."

Later on, Shiroe was referred to as the "Tea Party strategy counselor" (25). The Debauchery Tea Party used to be a well-known party filled with high-level players who took on difficult enemies. It would have been better, and less awkward-sounding, to refer to Shiroe as their strategist, rather than strategy counselor.

I could come up with other examples, but what it basically came down to was that I much preferred the anime's English subtitling to the book's English translation. Still, I soldiered on, hoping for some good additional content that didn't get included in the anime.

From what I could tell, the anime was actually a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. It inherited the book's pacing problems and initial lack of a decent story, but managed to improve upon the book by cutting down on its panty jokes and level of Elder Tales world details. Yes, the book somehow had even more panty jokes than the anime. And boob jokes, once Marielle was introduced.

I'll continue on, since I already own the next few books, but I doubt I'll end up reading the full series, especially since it looks like nearly all of the currently available light novel content has made it into the anime.

Extras:

A couple color illustrations on a large folded sheet, several black-and-white illustrations throughout, character profile information (Shiroe, Naotsugu, Akatsuki, Marielle, Serara), tables listing many of the various Elder Tales main classes and subclasses, and a short afterword written by the author.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Players trapped in an online game" is a popular subgenre in Japanese anime and light novels, such as this one. In at least a couple of these stories, the body of the player is on earth, incapacitated, while the consciousness is trapped in the game world. If the in-game character dies, the earthly body dies, as well.

This novel doesn't take that particular tack, and, in fact, the status of the earthly bodies of the characters--or if they even exist--is, at present, unknown. When a character dies, they are resurrected in a chapel.

So the main concern of the characters in Log Horizon isn't "how not to die" but, rather, "how to live" or, in its more lite-philosophical moments, "how best to live" in this world. Its origins being a role-playing game, its initial values are increased battle power and monetary profit, and a convincing sensorium to pursue those base goals in. Not much to build a single life, much less a society, on.

I've seen some amount of the anime based on this novel series, and this first volume doesn't get too deeply into the questions above. It's more about introducing the characters and the milieu, with the last chapter or two having a rescue plot.

This novel's informal, quick prose evokes anime's pace and beats and colorful imagery well, and the illustrations are a good complement to it. On the downside of the anime aesthetic, you have a feeling of slightness, which includes the characters. Main character Shiroe himself is nothing more than a brilliant--albeit fairly well-balanced--shut-in. Someone for whom, coincidentally, the novel's situation is set up in a way to reward his talents that are next to useless in our own world.

And then there's the presentation of women. One commonality of the light novels I've read is there's more than enough casual sexism to go around. It's evident the author tried to create lovable and active female characters, but there's also a dude who bangs on about panties, and frequent mentions of women's breast sizes, and a girl's being flattered by an older man saying she'd be a good housewife, and so forth.

The concepts presented are intriguing on the surface, although I have my doubts that "making a digital world work like a real world" is a path worth taking for long stretches at a time. So it's just as well that these volumes are about 200 pages long. 2 1/2 stars, rounded up because of its optimistic attitude toward human nature in a setting that could so easily have drifted into nihilism.

[Brandon Varnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my original review go here: http://pokemaster12.blogspot.com/2015...

The first thing you need to know about Log Horizon is that it's thick, and by thick, I mean there's a lot of world building and in-game mechanics involved. A good deal of the first half is mostly about building the world itself. Now, before you get your panties in a twist, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. While the beginning world building makes this book feel similar to an MMO encyclopedia or the Dungeon Masters Guide, it's a necessary component to understand how this world works.

Log Horizon takes place in a world called Elder Tales, which, before the book started, was originally an MMORPG, the largest one in the entire world. Millions of people played this game, until one day when the new expansion pack came out, and several hundred thousand players found themselves trapped within the game - except, it's not a game anymore. The world is real. You can eat, breath, feel pain, you have to eat now. The world of Elder Tales has ceased being a game and is now their reality. In order to properly understand how this world works, you need to understand the mechanics behind it, which is a combination of real world science and MMO game mechanics. Hence, the reason for it's thickness.

After you get past the world building and MMO mechanics, the game picks up the pace and our characters set off on a journey. To be honest, I felt the mechanics were a little more interesting than the journey simply because of how involved it was. That being said, the journey our characters went on was still interesting and enjoyable. I also love the characters who have been introduced thus far. Shiroe, the main character, is one of those genius types who does well with strategies and making up plans, but isn't so great at interacting. He's not unsociable, he's just socially awkward, which I actually like about him. Noatsugu is kind of his opposite. He's loud, brash and perverted, but a good person all around. Of course, my favorite character has to be Akatsuki. She's the most adorable little assassin I've ever read about. I love her. She's straightforward, kinda blunt actually, and has this stern and upfront personality that I can't help but love. Overall, I felt the characters were great, the world building was excellently done and interesting, if a little on the thick side, and the story was definitely one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys the "trapped in a video game" genre of books.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Adventurer, you whose weight is borne by your winged soul! The mystical world of Theldesia is home to dragons and giants, magical beasts and demi-humans. Fragrant green winds blow across this new yet ancient land that opens before you like a blank page. Fill it with your life!"



Log Horizon book 1 - The Beginning of Another World is not a book you read for prose. If you look at this book on a technical level you will see a book riddled with errors. Errant commas and even the occasional misspelling run rampant. The repetition of information is almost comical at times. Stiff wording and strange cultural nuances are absolutely lost in translation. Even the premise sounds tired. ~30,000 Japanese gamers are whisked into the world of Elder Tales, a Massively Multipler Online Role Playing Game. So, if you take it at face value, you might not see what this book has to offer.

What Log Horizon has to offer, however, is heart. The genre of isekai, or "trapped in another world," stories is oversaturated, to put it lightly. Japanese media especially is drowning in bargain bin power fantasies with sexy girls and tropey nonsense. Take a look at one of the most popular series in the genre, Sword Art Online. It tells you that the characters are playing a video game, sure, but it never actually feels like it. It also introduces these tropey characters (who never feel like they genuinely play MMOs) and doesn't do anything with them, and has a protagonist that to be frank sucks ass.

Log Horizon is not other isekais. At least, not in my experience. For every unnecessary comma or misspelled word, Log Horizon has an actually compelling cast of characters. A fascinating world. A deep love and respect for video games, especially MMOs, and the type of people who ACTUALLY get addicted to them. All wrapped up in an unwieldy package, sure, but a package worth opening.

Led by a college student name Shiroe, the series spends so much time establishing the rules of the video game that the characters find themselves trapped in and the world that they explore in wonderful detail. The mechanics of battle, how their daily lives have changed, what it means to run a guild or own property in the game, little quirks that some players have like his companion Akatsuki who is a person obsessed with role-playing the character she plays, who is the Assassin class, one of the 12 classes in the video game. Everyone feels like someone who, before being whisked away by whatever strange force willed them to the world of Elder Tales, was genuinely invested in the game and their time spent in it.

The plot is slow going but this feels like, after book one at least, a series that is solely character driven. The overarching plot isn't important, basically. The mini arcs and interactions between the great characters is what really takes center stage here, and where the series really shines. And even then, all the plot beats feel earned and important. Unlike SAO, all of the characters take tropes and expectations and kinda play with them, and even when they don't the characters are given enough depth and nuance that they remain interesting throughout.

Take, for example, Shiroe. So many isekai and Japanese fantasy series in general have a protagonist that is obviously an intense power fantasy. Sword users that are overpowered and "badass" and lone wolf types that are fawned over by girls for being "so cool."
Shiroe is a dorky engineering student who plays the Enchanter class, a support type that stays in the backline while the Weapon (damage) and Warrior (damage-soaking "tank") types take to the front lines.

Despite having played the game for almost a decade, he's shut off and a loner. Which, to be fair, is another fantasy series staple. He doesn't want to join a guild and is afraid of commitment in general. He has a network of friends he has met in the game, but they aren't connected by allegiance or crest. He uses his position in battle and his intense knowledge of the game to play the role of tactician, and puts on a facade of aloofness despite being in a lot of inner turmoil. One scene in particular stands out to me where he offers to take on a dangerous mission for one of his contacts, giving a grand speech about being "the best people for the job" while internally he's beating himself up, thinking that it's probably the cringiest thing he's ever done, and is super embarrassed.. Every character has felt like this. A trope that, on its own would be boring, but that has been given a breath of life that makes them feel less like a checklist of traits and more like their own person.

Now, this book is not for everyone, especially if you aren't the biggest fan of video games, but if you can get past the clunky prose I absolutely give it a glowing recommendation. I personally have already ordered the second book right away.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit, the main reason why I started Log Horizon was that I have really been craving playing some video games but didn't really have the time to get into that matter back in August. So instead, I started reading a book about video games - and boy, did it scratch that itch!

I consider books about video games to be somewhat of my guilty pleasure - I remember being fascinated by them from the time I was aware they existed. In fact, one of my all-time favourite novels ever is ".hACK//AI Buster" by Tatsuya Hamazaki, which admittedly was mainly due to the fascinating experience of reading a book about a foreign world that even the author didn't really know that much about (as the video games that the book was intended to serve as a prelude to hadn't been released yet and the directors weren't really allowed to tell him that much about the setting and world of it). But in comparison to other scenarios in which people are stuck in video games that suddenly become real, I always liked the approach best in which the video-game-ness of the world was still intact and people were aware of playing a game, instead of them suddenly living in a new reality that just so happens to have stats and items.

Log Horizon is a really good take on the in my opinion superior scenario, in which people "play" the game they are stuck in: You get respawned after getting killed, you have certain stats and a HUD, skills need time to cast and levels are important. What Log Horizon also seems to exceed at - not so much in this novel but seemingly in later instalments - is politics. People suddenly trapped in a new world will sooner or later form groups and try to use the world and people around them to have the best possible lives. I have high hopes in this series and the complexity of in-game politics that the later novels are said to hold, but I have to admit I was somewhat let down by how these aspects were played out in this first novel.

While the characters are a blast to read about, the humour is on point and the game-ness of the world that Shiroe and his friends are trapped in is superb, I felt like the conflict that arose at the end of the novel felt rather constructed. There was no real purpose behind that baddies doing what they did other than lust or power-craze, which is not really a motivation you can keep up in the long term and use to unify people towards a certain - rather petty - objective, if you think about it, really. Especially since the series was lauded to be known for its rather complex political system, it felt a little bit underwhelming to have a band of outlaws with short-sighted lust as "motivation" as the main villains.

But this is just the beginning of a series of multiple books, so I am open to what the series might bring. The series itself, as Touno states in the afterword, started as a web series, so you can't really expect the highest literary standards from it ... but then again, Sword Art Online started as a web series, too, I believe, and had a far superior first volume story-wise. But as already mentioned, the world-building is fun, the game character of the story very much noticeable, and the characters feel familiar in their tropes but distinct and fresh enough to be novel and endearing.

I will definitely dive into the second volume and can highly recommend this to fellow readers that have a video game itch that needs some good scratching!

[Apothecary · Rating 4 out of 5]

นิยายแนวเ��มออนไลน์อีกเรื่องที่ตัวเอกเข้าไปติดอยู่ในโลกของเกม ส่วนตัวชอบเรื่องนี้มากกว่า SAO อีก ด้วยความที่ระบบเกมวางออกมาได้ค่อนข้างสมจริง ถ้าเป็นแฟนเกมแนว MMORPG จะฟินมาก ทั้งเกมมีอาชีพหลักให้เลือกอยู่ 12 อาชีพ และอาชีพรองอีกกว่า 30 อาชีพ ซึ่งบางอาชีพก็แบบดูไร้ประโยชน์อะ (ฮา) อย่างเช่น อาชีพแม่บ้าน เอาไว้ทำความสะอาดห้องหรือกิลด์ที่ซื้อไว้ เพราะถ้าไม่ทำความสะอาดต้องเสียค่าบำรุงรักษาหัวบาน ความตลกคืออาชีพรองมันเวลตันได้ด้วย คือถ้าผู้เล่นอยากจะอัปอาชีพรองอย่างแม่บ้านจนเวลตันที่เลเวล 90 ก็ไม่ว่ากัน 555555

ด้วยความที่เป็นเล่มแรกเนื้อเรื่องเลยยังไม่ได้มีจุดพีคอะไรมาก เน้นปูความเป็นมาของโลกเกมเอลเดอร์เทล กับระบบเกมให้คนอ่านเข้าใจก่อน และแน่นอนว่าพระเอกเรื่องนี้เทพมากเพราะเป็นผู้เล่นเก่าแก่ เล่นมาตั้งแต่สมัยเกมเพิ่งเปิดใหม่ ๆ จนปัจจุบันเวลตันที่เลเวล 90 แล้ว แต่ก็ไม่ได้เทพไปหมดซะทุกเรื่อง เพราะพระเอกมีอาชีพเป็นเอนชานเตอร์ เน้นร่ายเวท debuff ช่วยเพื่อน ตัวบางมากจนไม่สามารถไปยืนชนกับใครได้ทั้งนั้น ในเรื่องเราเลยจะได้เห็นความเป็นกุนซือของพระเอกในหลาย ๆ ครั้ง ซึ่งมันทำให้ฉากต่อสู้สนุกมาก เหมือนได้อ่านการวางแผนรบของพระเอกไปพลาง ๆ ด้วย

เล่มต่อไปน่าจะมีอีเวนต์สนุก ๆ เพิ่มมากขึ้น เพราะเกมใหญ่มาก เล่มแรกเพิ่งเดินกันไปไม่กี่โซนเอง

[Sherry Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Log Horizon is a formative childhood anime for me, which is why I regrettably find that in this introduction arc, the anime feels smoother than the novel. I think most of this is because the novel has to deliver exposition and explanations of all the game mechanics, though Elder Tales is a pretty standard MMO. The sexual humor with Naotsugu and Marielle is also more prominent in the novels, and it was something I didn’t really enjoy in the show. I think there was a way to make the point about off color humor as a coping mechanism without it taking up the vast majority of Naotsugu’s dialogue. The novel does have more room for inner monologue and we get to see a lot more of Shiroe’s internal self—I liked that we see how he’s fearful in combat and his anxieties about getting close with people. It also has some beautiful descriptions of the game world that makes me wish the anime had a ufotable style budget. When it touches on the particular sensations of the wind or the summer air, the color of the sunset or the sprawling ruins of our modern cities thousands of years from now, it’s absolutely gorgeous and I feel like I’m there.

[aname x · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it hard to rate / review this book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen the anime, season 2 is particularly representative, so that they know what they're getting into. The pacing is very slow and there is a lot of world building which is tedious but I don't mind. The dialogue can be absolutely juvenile especially when it comes to the anime / manga tropes (panties!). It's very unnecessary and unfortunate. Shiroe is very in-his-head / monologuey which is interesting? / a lot

[Erikia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce fut la première fois que lisait un light novel et j'en ressors vraiment conquise ! Je connaissais déjà la trame de l'histoire puisque j'avais eu l’occasion de regarder l'anime il y a quelque temps auparavant j'ai vraiment apprécié de vivre cette histoire quoique j'aie oublié quelques détails car cela faisait longtemps que j'avais visualisé l'anime. J'ai retrouvé tout ce que j'aimais dans ce manga et j'en ressors même avec une meilleure impression surtout au niveau des personnages. Ceux qui me plaisaient m'ont tout de suite embarqué dans l'histoire et les autres personnages que j’appréciais moins à l'époque m'ont permise d'avoir un nouveau regard sur eux grâce à leurs pensées.

Par exemple je trouve que le personnage principal Shiroe était distant et assez froid, mais je ne le trouvais pas non plus mauvais pour autant. Et bien grâce à cette lecture j'ai pu vraiment l'aimer à sa juste valeur car j'ai pu comprendre ses pensées pendant certaines situations et c'est vraiment un point qu'il m'a plu. Après bien sûr j'avais adoré les personnages secondaires comme Naostugu ou Akastuki, ils sont très différents mais leurs complicités apportent de la fraîcheur et de l'humour dans ce roman. Il y a aussi d'autres personnages comme Marielle qui est un petit bout de femme très attachante et dont on a envie de la serrer dans ses bras. Mais bien sur celui qui m'a le plus surprise est Nyanta ! J'ai rigolé plus d'une fois par ces répliques sarcastiques lorsqu'il se bat, et j'ai vraiment adoré avoir un regard nouveau car je ne me souviens pas l'avoir autant aimé auparavant.

Concernant l'histoire, je n'ai pas eu de véritable surprise puisque je connaissais déjà la trame de l'histoire mais comme toujours j'ai adoré voyager avec nos compagnons. Par contre je suis très impatience de découvrir la suite car il me semble que je découvrirais du nouveau contenu. En ce qui est question de la ressemblance avec SAO, je peux comprendre que cela puisse bloquer certaines personnes car personnellement et bien que je n'aie toujours pas lu le light novel de cette saga, j'ai moi aussi d'abord découvert SAO et après Log horizon mais même si le début se ressemble l'histoire n'est pas du tout la même. SAO est plus basé sur l'aventure et les combats alors que Log horizon est aussi une aventure mais il est plus question de stratégie et de politique et c'est en ça qu'il y a une forte différence entre ces deux sagas. Pour ceux qui pourraient être effrayés par les mots des jeux MMORPG, ils n'ont pas de soucis à se faire car l'auteur explique très bien et il n'y a vraiment pas de soucis de compréhension à se faire pour le lexique.

Pour en finir en beauté j’aimerai aussi parlé de l'ambiance du livre, pour ceux qui ne sont pas habitués à lire des mangas ils n'ont sans doute pas dû ressentir la même chose que moi mais j'ai retrouvé exactement l'ambiance lorsque je lis un manga, et j'ai vraiment apprécié le travail fourni par les Éditions Ofelbe pour avoir reproduit cette ambiance car c'est pour moi un des points les plus importants ! J'avais la réelle impression de non pas lire un roman mais plutôt de visualiser encore une nouvelle fois l'anime et j’apprécie énormément cela.

Pour conclure, Log Horizon a été une bonne découverte ! Je n'ai pas découvert une nouvelle histoire où de nouveaux personnages mais j'ai découvert un nouveau style de roman qui me permet de retrouver l'ambiance que j'aime tant dès les mangas. Donc je recommande cette série pour ceux qui comme moi, aiment les mangas et aussi aux fans de jeux vidéo. Sachant que SAO est un manga très cher à mon cœur je ne vais pas tarder à le découvrir en light novel et me replonger dans l'histoire, donc merci aux Éditions Ofelbe de nous permettre de revivre ces histoires que l'on aime tant en format papier !


Chronique : https://erikia.wordpress.com/2016/01/...

[Tani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like so many others, I watched the anime prior to reading this. In fact, I would say that it's one of my favorite anime of all time. Still, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the light novel. I've read a few light novels before, primarily of the BL variety, and I haven't been terribly impressed. They've been pretty mediocre. The ones I've read were incredibly easy to read, but lacked the sort of complexity that would really draw me in. Part of that is just that it's translated from the Japanese, and the Japanese writing style is quite different from ours. Maybe part of that was just a consequence of the type of book I was reading. Regardless, I was nervous that I would find the Log Horizon light novels similarly lacking.

The first thing that struck me when I started reading this book was the level of exposition. Perhaps because it's a fantasy novel and therefore has more to explain, it was much more heavy on the exposition. There are a lot of explanations of MMOs and related terminology here, which is good for someone who hasn't ever played an MMO before, but gets a little tedious otherwise. Still, I was happy to find tidbits about the world of the Elder Tales scattered throughout the more boring bits, and that made things much more tolerable.

The story is also quite slow, with the first half of the book taken up just by getting our three main characters assembled and used to each other. This was quite an enjoyable process for me, as I'm a big fan of Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki. Reading this was a little like coming home. I especially liked that the majority of the book was written from Shiroe's point of view. He's such a reticent character that it was nice to see more of what he was thinking and feeling through all of this.

Despite the general slowness of the story, there were a couple of scenes that I found very exciting. One was the attack by the player killers, and the other was the battle with Demiquas to rescue Serara. In these scenes, I thought that the action and pacing were very well-done, and I found myself completely drawn in during them.

In general, even though this is a very short book, it might be a very rough read for someone who's not familiar with the anime, simply because it is so slow. However, as a supplement for someone who has already watched and loved the anime, I found it to be very enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to reading some more of these and getting even more insight into some of the events that the anime may have skimmed over a little!

[Michael Loring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Log Horizon: The Beginning of Another World is the first in the wildly popular light novel series that spawned a manga and anime adaptation by Author Mamare Touno and Illustrator Kazuhiro Hara, translated for the first time in English from its native Japanese.

Shiroe is a normal college student who has been playing an insanely popular online RPG titled Elder Tales for the last eight years. On the day of a new expansion’s release, over thirty thousand players are sucked into the world of their beloved video game, assuming the roles and identities of their characters. Shiroe, once a normal college student, finds himself a level 90 Enchanter in a world where everything is a mix of the two. Attempting to learn the new rules set for them, Shiroe and his teammates, Noatsugo and Akatsuki, venture out into the world to discover the great adventure they’ve been placed in.

For a short while, I’d been thinking this novel would turn out to be a simple four out of five star read, but by the time the final battle came along and the characters had been established I knew this deserved nothing less than five full stars. It takes some time for you to get a handle on everything that’s going on, and I’m certain there’s still more to be revealed, but once you get the hang of it its smooth sailing.

This is a read for gamers and fantasy lovers only. Without at least some prior knowledge you won’t be able to fathom the depth of this story. It does a great job of explaining everything in terms non-gamers could understand, but there’s still quite a bit you’d miss if you haven’t been immersed in that world. This is a complex story meant for the hardcore lovers of games and fantasy. Non-believers need not apply.

On top of the story, we’re given one page manga extracts of certain scenes from exceptional artist Kazuhiro Hara. The perfect added spice to the story, giving the reader a clear mental image of what’s happening in the book.

By the end of this book, I knew I was hooked on the whole thing. I plan on reading the manga and watching the anime as soon as possible, and you can bet I’ll be right there for the release of book two!

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed the volume one of the manga adaptation of this light novel. I wonder when anymore will be published? Anyways, my summary of the show is in that review, so I won't repeat it herein. I will summarize what I liked.

Basically... everything. The information in the original story fills in gaps that that were left by either choice or medium. Some of the details were not as translatable, I guess, to television. The other details were different as the show aired on a children's network in Japan, so some jokes or other references, not really filthy at all, were censored.

But these references, along with some other areas of characterization, show Naoutsugu in a more positive light and Shiroe in a slightly worse, but still good, one. Also, the world-building was really good. Of course, the last is to be expected, as the anime and manga dealt with these, but the novel goes into more detail about these issues and the ins and outs of how they connect with video games.

I really enjoyed this light novel adaptation and highly recommend it.

[Shyames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo się cieszę, że polski rynek otwiera się na więcej gatunków z Japonii, nie tylko mangi, ale także light novelki. No i najważniejsze, że wydawnictwa biorą się za naprawdę dobre tytuły.
'Log Horizon' zadebiutował jako opowiadania publikowane w Internecie, a na potrzeby wydania tomikowego autor nieco je podrasował (co oczywiście wychodzi na plus).
Przyznaję, że zaczęłam od serii anime, a gdy całkiem niedawno dowiedziałam się, że doczekaliśmy się polskiego wydania postanowiłam, że trzeba to sprawdzić. I nie zawiodłam się. Postacie są prowadzone w bardzo dobry sposób, cała koncepcja jest dobrze wyjaśniona - nie dowiadujemy się co prawda co się tak naprawdę stało, ale co to by była za przyjemność, gdyby wyjaśnili to już w pierwszym tomie. Intrygujące jest wciągnięcie wszystkich zalogowanych postaci w świat gry, bez żadnego wytłumaczenia, i nagle wszyscy muszą sobie radzić sami, najlepiej jak potrafią. Na pewno sięgnę po kolejne tomy i mam nadzieję, że doczekamy się polskich tłumaczeń kolejnych ciekawych tytułów.

[Ceres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je me réjouissais de découvrir LOG Horizon mais je vous avoue avoir eu du mal. Surtout au départ. LOG Horizon est très introductif et donc très narratif. L'auteur prend le temps d'expliquer le monde dans lequel on est, les classes, les sous-classes, le rôle de chacun, bref, tout. Tout est détaillé. Et sans doute un peu trop pour moi, ce qui fait que j'ai avancé comme un escargot. Les 130 premières pages ont été les plus difficiles. Passé ce cap, j'ai mieux accroché, aux personnages, à l'univers.
La seconde partie progresse bien également, on apprend à mieux cerner la personnalité des persos, mais aussi le véritable sens du titre de ce light novel.
Au fond, c'est très intéressant mais ça manquait d'action pour moi. Je suis sure que la suite sera encore mieux, cela dit. Il faut prendre ce tome comme une grosse introduction.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Kieli before it, Log Horizon has the potential to appeal to readers who are simply fantasy fans and may not be likely to pick up a light novel. Touno's original gives us a darker look at what happens when players of an MMORPG are suddenly physically transported to live in its world, with some scary implications of what might have befallen Serara had she not been rescued. There's also better character development for the lead trio than in either the anime or manga versions, with Shiroe coming off as much more awkward. This expands the scope of the series to encompass his personal growth as well as the political challenges of living in a new world and gives the series more potential.

[Michael Sigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps it's the fact that this book was translated from Japanese to English, but each and every character is flat and I never once cared about any of them. Also, the fact that phrases get repeated over and over and over and over again is really frustrating. I honestly didn't know what to expect, having never heard of this series before buying this book on sale from LootCrate, but compared to other Japanese Light Novels, this was a bit of a disappointment. Not sure if I'll be continuing this series.

[Yass Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia ligera pero aceptable y divertida, retrotrae a uno a los momentos típicos de un MMORPG. Recomendable si te gusta el género y las aventuras. He de remarcar que la adaptación al anime es UN CALCO. Chapó. Casi lo mismo que leer la novela.

[Shannon Babb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fluffy little read, but right now a fluffy reads are exactly what I need. The story is well paced and the characters are just starting to really take shape. It also had a nice set up for the next book in the series without leaving you cliff hangered.

[Kimberlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Log Horizon Vol. 1 is a light novel series that was adapted into an anime. I'd seen the first two seasons on Crunchy Roll and wanted to know more about the story. (Plus, I believe that the light novels extend further than the anime itself.) This story follows Shiroe, a level 90 Enchanter/Scribe after he and thousands of other players around the world are mysteriously transported into the world of Elder Tales, a massive MMORPG that has been around for about 20 years. Shiroe is a player that is known throughout the game by other players, but remains unaffiliated with any guilds (this is important later on).

When I say light novel, I mean light novel in length. I finished this thing relatively quickly. However, the world building and "rules" of the universe are surprisingly complex. The first half of the book is dedicated to Shiroe and his companions Naotsugu (a Guardian type character) and Akatsuki (an Assassin) discovering more about their current situation after the "Catastrophe" and relearning the fighting system, now that they are using their own bodies. In this section, a brief history of Elder Tales as a game is given and growing problems arise. Players have essentially been transported into a world with no laws and no order. This dampens moral, but also increases crime. Only after we have this "foundation" does the real adventuring begin.

Think of it as the tutorial level.

Log Horizon Vol 1 does have some problems. It's very obviously a translation. While overall, the translation is good, there was some clunky phrasing throughout the story. That didn't bother me so much as the repetitiveness throughout the story. Several class descriptions are repeated while reading fairly close together. The fact that the food tastes bad in this universe was mentioned during exposition sometimes the exact same way within sentences of each other. It was a pretty common occurrence and I almost started marking them with sticky notes to keep track.

That said, I still enjoyed reading the light novel. I loved how complex the world is. Because I had watched the Log Horizon anime, I had a pretty comprehensive idea of what the scenery and monsters looked like while reading. I liked Shiroe's character. He is able to see what is going on in the world because of the experience he already has. Unlike some stories of the same type, long time players of Elder Tales have an advantage. Also, instead of just curling up and freaking out, Shiroe and his companions immediately start learning about the differences between the game world and the real world. While there are characters that do that, Shiroe immediately begins thinking about long term consequences, because that's just how he is.

Log Horizon Vol. 1 might not be everyone's cup of tea. If you aren't a gamer, or at least familiar with gaming and MMORPGs, you probably won't enjoy this. I recommend watching the anime first to get an idea of what the world looks like. That will really help this novel come to life. Also, be aware that the character development is SLOOOOW. Most of the main characters are already adult, veteran players of the game. The new experience is changing them, but I don't expect we'll see how much until the third novel.

3/5 stars

[Brian Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Log Horizon volume 1

I picked this up after watching the first three anime seasons, and I must say that reading this volume is a much different experience than watching the first few episodes. This volume covers the initial Catastrophe up through the rescue mission to Susukino, and it feels much more like a complete arc than the episodes in the anime.

Now don't get me wrong. The anime does a fantastic job portraying these events. It's a matter of the medium. Here we get to see what Shiroe thinks about all this. It's a third person perspective, but it is still a lot more analytical than the anime.

The first scene is basically Shiroe running to meet up with Naotsugu to talk about what the heck is going on. Then they run into another friend, Marielle, who speaks at more of a guild-level perspective of what the heck is going on. Indeed, there is a lot of figuring out "what the heck is going on" in this volume. More so than the anime, and I really like that, because it involves a great deal of world building.

In this volume, you get a much better sense for just how STRANGE this world is. It's not being transported directly into a game, like in other stories set in this genre, nor is it a cause of the game world suddenly becoming "real" and behaving exactly like a real world. No, It's not either case. Rather, it is a BLENDING of the two, like some outside force took Elder Tales in one hand and the "real world" in the other and stitched them together like Victor Frankenstein. Shiroe spends this time figuring out which part of which applies where, and that's not all!

The light novel goes into his though process for WHY he is doing this. It's not because he's curious. It's not even a matter of survival. In fact, the novel goes on about how simply "surviving" is actually very easy. It's so easy that it is more "not dying". Shiroe does this to COPE.

The player population has no idea why they're here, or how to get back or what they're supposed to do. Most of them just loiter in Akiba because they don't even have any necessary tasks to do, like a job, because, as said, surviving is easy. Some of them resort to player-killing for lack of anything better to do (helped by the fact that players always respawn when killed).

Marielle, for instance, copes by leaning into her "guildmaster" role. That is something that gives her direction. This sense of "I am the guildmaster, so I must take care of my people", and making jokes is part of how she does that.
Shiroe investigating the world is how he copes. It is his "something better to do". When Marielle mentions that one of her members is stranded in Susukino, Shiroe jumps at the idea of making the journey himself. He reflects on how UNUSUAL this is for him; how uncharacteristically arrogant to insist that he could do it better.

Susukino has the same problems as Akiba, but worse. It's like the nadir of the problem. It's also where Shiroe and his party confront the problem.

It's like enjoying the series all over again.

Trickster Eric Novels gives Log Horizon Volume 1 an A+

[LiteratureIsLife · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this review (and others) at: https://literatureislife.com/2018/01/...

Log Horizon is one of those “trapped in a game” stories, kind of like Tron. But there are a few differences from the standard stuck in cyberspace story. For one, the characters have absolutely no idea how they were sucked into a video game. Due to that there seems to be no obvious way to get back home. The rules of this new world do not seem to 100% line up with the game, Elder Tales, either. There are plenty of similarities but also aspects in line with real life, like needing to eat and sleep.

On its own, this first book really does not do too much. Despite being a full book it really feels more like just a prologue. We are introduced to the central characters and get a feel for their personalities. The people stuck in this situation start dealing with the fact that they are stuck in this new world. A fantastic element of the story is the characters ability to fight (or lack thereof). They are all used to playing a video game on a computer. In this new world they have to actually fight, swinging swords and firing bows, and it is terrifying. They are fighting literal monsters with all the sights, sounds, and smells that are present on a battlefield. This is a big change of pace from the many stories where the characters are one-man armies from the start.

Because this is a video game world, the characters cannot die. If killed they just revive in the nearest town like in any other game. This puts a big philosophical question on all these people: if death is not a variable, what is the value of life? These people are all just thrown into a new world together. There is no pre-established society here. No rules, no laws, no government, no stability. Everyone can do whatever they want, for better or for worse.

We mainly just see how all these questions are answered by main character Shiroe and his closest comrades. Standalone, this first book is ok because there is not much plot advancement. A lot of the book is spent explaining things, from the characters figuring out their new world to explanations about how their game (and MMO games in general) work for the audience’s sake. Both these factors lay the groundwork for quite a few things. Many questions are still unanswered by the end of the book, so the story could go in a few different directions. The Beginning of Another World is just that, a beginning. Not a phenomenal start but certainly one with the potential to lead to greater things.

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Log Horizon is a novel about a game, Elder Tale. After a new patch all players suddenly find themselves stuck in the game itself.
This plot on its own isn't anything new. But I'd argue the way it has been depicted is very original. While the story is obviously fantasy, it's depicted in a very realistic way. Our main characters have been playing the game for years, and have reached the maximum level. Yet when they find themselves stuck in the game, they are not suddenly amazing at actual fighting. Sure, their bodies are able to do the moves, but having to actually fight, drawing actual blood, and having to pay attention to your own body and the surrounding area all at the same time, is way more difficuly than pressing buttons while looking at a screen.
Another thing the players discover: when you are in the game, you're unable to check the internet for information and tips. You have to do everything by memory, which is obviously very different from playing a game.
The characters have distinct personalities, and are very different from each other. I watched the anime, so I already knew the characters, but there were subtle differences. (Also, Marielle's hair is green????? At first I thought well, I guess there's a green-ish hue to her hair even in the anime, so that might be it. And then I realised that not a single Japanese person would call light-green 緑green, because to them light green and dark green are both different colours (like to us pink and red, while you could technically argue that pink is just light red xD).
While this novel focusses on an MMORPG, it's not written for people who play a lot of MMOs. Every small term that one might not know is explained in detail, making this very accessible to people with no knowledge of games whatsoever. And while I think this is a very good thing, especially since this is the first book in the series, but it occasionally would disrupt the flow, especially of action scenes. If this is continued throughout the series (especially if things get explained more than once. This wasn't the case in this volume, though, so I hope it won't be the case in later volumes either.) Besides these info-dumps, the pacing was good, there was a good balance between action and character interaction, and the worldbuilding is extensive and interesting. All in all this was a really good start of a series, and I'm looking forward to reading more. I think volume 2 either cements my love for the series, or makes me drop it because of the info-dumps.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

having watched the anime adaptation a few years ago, and remembering nothing other than thoroughly enjoying it, i wanted to give the original light novel a spin, to see if it lived up to my memory.

in short, no.

i think that this novel had a lot of bits in it that were fantastic. the world is clearly well-thought-out, and the descriptions of the action are good, though they can be a little too sparse for me personally. the sensory detail is where this novel really shines. when a scene’s detail is dwelled upon, you can almost imagine being there.

unfortunately, the book isn’t all sensory detail. a lot of it is dull explanations of minor functions of the world. the repetition begins to grate around the third time that the author stops the plot completely to explain that enchanters are the weakest class in the game, or that the food doesn’t have any flavor. additionally, i really disliked how flat the characters felt in this volume. the reader can tell that there’s potential, but it almost feels like the characters were created *specifically* to be flat, and then later be built upon through the initial format of serialization. which is just a slap in the face to the reader, if i’m being honest. their archetypes are to be expected as a feature of the genre, but there’s so little to like about characters like naotsugu or marielle, even though the narration makes sure to tell us that they’re good people. which brings me to my next point: the narration has a SERIOUS problem with telling, not showing, especially when it comes to a character’s traits. i’d rather see marielle work hard to be a good guildleader, rather than *hear* that she is, and then *see* her force people to touch her boobs.

despite any of this, i had a good time. i think the book is a decent little read, and the fact that it didn’t overstay its welcome is a huge bonus on its part. i look forward to the next volume, and hopefully some of my critiques will be solved by either the natural progression of a story or by the author’s growing writing skill. after all, if Mamare Touno took Author as his subclass, he’s just started his grind. but hopefully he’ll hit level 90 soon. :)

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un très grand merci aux Éditions Ofelbe, et tout particulièrement à Guillaume, pour cet envoi et pour leur gentillesse. J’ai reçu cette petite merveille avec des étoiles dans les yeux. L’objet-livre est splendide, truffé d’illustrations de scènes et de fiches personnage, c’est un vrai plaisir pour les mirettes ! Rien que pour cela, ça vaut le coup d’oeil, car on sent que la maison d’édition y a apporté beaucoup de soins, à l’image de la trame qui fait de Log Horizon un roman sensationnel.

Log Horizon, c’est l’histoire d’un jeu en ligne, Elder Tale, qui réunit depuis vingt-ans des centaines de milliers de joueurs, pour la plupart japonais. Ils contrôlent leur avatar derrière leur ordinateur en quelques clics de souris, et interagissent avec d’autres joueurs sans jamais les avoir vus. Sans que l’on sache vraiment pourquoi, la dimension de Elder Tale prend un virage totalement inattendu, suite à la douzième extension installée par les programmeurs du jeu. Les fans connectés à cet instant précis se retrouvent alors littéralement immergés dans le jeu. Leur corps physique prend la place de leur avatar, sans possibilité de s’échapper. Et mourir ? Ne comptez pas trop là-dessus pour fuir cette plateforme, vous revenez inlassablement dans ce jeu grandeur nature, même si on vous coupe la tête !

Shiroe joue à Elder Tale depuis de longues années. Enchanteur confirmé, il est une véritable légende du niveau 90 (le plus haut que l’on puisse atteindre), mais garde néanmoins la tête froide en toute occasion. Et ce n’est pas cet événement surprenant qui le fera sourciller, non, non ! Dans ce nouveau monde soumis à des lois encore imprécises, sans espoir de s’enfuir en se déconnectant, le jeune homme ne va pas perdre son sang-froid, à l’instar de son ami Naotsugu. Ensemble, ils vont faire de leur mieux pour avancer et se bâtir une vie meilleure.

Loh Horizon se subdivise en plusieurs parties, eux-mêmes subdivisés en quêtes que Shiroe devra mener à bien. Les embûches seront nombreuses, car même dans ce monde de MMORPG, certains n’agissent que dans leur propre intérêt, quitte à écraser les plus faibles. Le jeune homme croisera bien des personnages et nombreux seront les dangers qui se mettront en travers de sa route.

Je ne m’attendais pas à un univers aussi fourni, foisonnant de détails et surtout intéressant sous tous ses aspects. Des joueurs de la vie réelle qui se retrouvent catapultés dans un jeu vidéo, avouez que c’est très original. N’ayant jamais lu ce genre de roman, j’en attendais énormément. Je craignais d’être perdue avec tout le jargon propre à ce milieu (disons que je suis novice, voire même totalement inculte, soyons honnêtes). En vérité, c’est un roman très accessible où tout est expliqué avec habileté, de façon à ce que l’on comprenne les enjeux sans jamais avoir besoin de revenir en arrière. Moi qui ne suis pas très branchée jeu vidéo, je me suis prise au jeu et j’ai adoré suivre Shiroe et ses amis dans leurs multiples aventures. Pour moi, cette idée de mêler la littérature à l’effet MMORPG, c’était brillant et ça s’emboitait très bien.

J’avais l’impression de plonger dans ces dessins animés japonais, avec des personnages un peu caricaturaux par moment, mais un humour toujours contagieux. C’était à des lieues de ce que j’imaginais, mais ma foi, je ne savais tellement pas à quoi m’attendre que j’étais sans cesse bluffée par cet univers innovateur.

De plus, la plume est tellement bien rodée, tellement expérimentée, que l’on remarque à peine la vitesse à laquelle les pages se tournent. Moi qui aime souvent beaucoup les dialogues, je me suis surprise à rechercher plus avidement les récits qui nous expliquent avec une grande adresse les rouages de cet univers. Ces récits rythment l’histoire, la rendent plus vaste, plus fascinante. C’était l’occasion de mieux comprendre toutes ces subtilités.

Shiroe est le héros de l’histoire (un peu antihéros au début, mais il évolue si vite…). Mon avis le concernant a fait les montagnes russes. Solitaire, plutôt asocial et même souvent effacé par rapport à Naotsugu, il n’en demeure pas moins très intéressant sur le fond. J’ai adoré creuser sa personnalité au fur et à mesure que l’histoire s’épaississait, car quand on gratte un peu la carapace qui le recouvre, on s’aperçoit qu’il est altruiste, brillant et déterminé. Il nous surprend sans arrêt et se remet souvent en question. Ce qui m’a un peu dérangé (et ce sera sans doute la seule remarque négative que j’aurais à faire dans cette chronique), c’est que j’avais la sensation qu’il ne réagissait pas de façon assez naturelle face à ce qui lui arrivait. Un humain lambda paniquerait, angoisserait à l’idée d’avoir laissé derrière lui sa famille, son travail… bref, sa vie. Shiroe est anormalement stoïque et ne se retourne que rarement sur ce qu’il a perdu dans le vrai monde. Je l’ai trouvé tellement au-dessus de tout que je n’avais pas l’impression d’avoir affaire à une personne normale.

Heureusement, il se laisse progressivement apprivoiser et nous dévoile un visage pour le moins inattendu. Il n’est pas le plus beau, pas celui que l’on remarque tout de suite, mais il dégage quelque chose de peu commun qui n’a rien à voir avec son expérience dans le jeu ou son statut d’Enchanteur. Il cache des ressources extraordinaires en lui et c’est avant tout pour cela que j’ai dévoré la toute dernière partie du roman. Car c’est là qu’il nous montre l’étendue de son potentiel. Je n’en dirai pas plus à ce sujet, mais avec cette fin plutôt bien goupillée, j’ai frôlé le coup de coeur !

Nous découvrons aussi Naotsugu, grand amateur de petites culottes, qui m’a beaucoup amusée avec son humour chevronné et sa bonne humeur qui laisse bien souvent échapper la vapeur dans les moments tendus. Il est le parfait antagoniste de Shiroe, mais aussi le meilleur de ses amis. Akatsuki accompagne elle aussi Shiroe et Naotsugu dans ses quêtes et se montre particulièrement dévouée à leur cause (malgré ses… quelques divergences d’opinions avec Naotsugu).
Il y a de nombreux autres personnages: Marielle, les jumeaux, Nyanta… J’ai eu plus de mal avec Henrietta et son obsession (un poil malsaine) pour Akatsuki, mais ce n’est vraiment qu’un détail, car ils apportent tous une dimension nouvelle à Log Horizon et font de ce nouveau monde quelque chose d’à la fois burlesque, épique et ahurissant.

En résumé, c’est une excellente surprise et un très gros coup de pouce ! Log Horizon est un véritable délice qui se savoure jusqu'à la fin. Tout est mis en place de façon méticuleuse, jusqu’à un dénouement qu’on n’aurait jamais cru possible. J’en ressors impressionnée par la diversité de ce monde, ainsi que toutes les valeurs que l’histoire véhicule. J’en redemande !

Ma chronique : http://april-the-seven.weebly.com/fan...

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

First -- I have neither seen the anime nor read the manga.

I enjoyed Log Horizon vol. 1 and will certainly be reading more. It doesn't get overly far into the story, but it is a fairly solid beginning. Getting stuck in a video game, especially an MMO was not nearly as common an idea when it started and it does a pretty decent job of telling the reader that it is more than just playing your character in person. All the display things you have on a screen aren't there without concentrating. No mini-map to show where nearby enemies are. No health or mana bars for your or your comrades... at least not easily seen ones and other such issues. Not to mention combat is up close and personal so even low level monsters can freak people out at first. And then there's the 'societal breakdown' that seems to occur. All in all a decent start for world building.

As a player of these sorts of games for decades now the explanation of what all the terms were was a bit of a speedbump. For those never having played it may have helped, but for me, I felt that to be the weakest part. But it is impossible for me to say how beneficial they are to someone who didn't know them.

The cast of characters is somewhat interesting and I certainly want to see more.

Verdict: if you like Isekai, this one may be a bit older but it is still interesting. Worth looking into.

[skygem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the anime and I decided to read this series because in my experience the light novels always give a more detailed version of the plot and the characters' thought processes. Unfortunately, though the world is beautifully crafted, the writing style leaves a lot to be desired. The writing is awkward and clunky, and the constant infodumping on the mechanics of the world is really jarring and serves to take you out of the narrative. From the way this story was written, it's obvious the author's end goal was for it to have an anime adaptation because a lot of the techniques he uses are much better suited to a visual medium.

(I'm not even going to get into how problematic Naotsugu's overbearing "pervert" persona is, especially when directed at the underaged girls in the cast, like Serara and Minori. Keep in mind that Naotsugu is in his mid twenties while Serara and Minori are approximately 14. This aspect of his personality seems to be shoehorned in for the express reason of filling the show's mandatory pervert character quota and is rather incongruent with the rest of his caring, polite, and gentlemanly personality.)

Overall, this light novel was pretty lacklustre, and the only reason I'm honestly continuing with the series is because season 3 of the anime is nowhere in sight and I just want to know what happens next.