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Sword Art Online #9
Sword Art Online, Vol. 9: Alicization Beginning
Kirito awakens in a vast, fantastical forest filled with towering trees. In his search for clues to the truth of his surroundings, he encounters a young boy who seems to know him. He ought to be a simple NPC, but the depth of his emotions seem no different than a human. As they search for the boy's parents, Kirito finds a peculiar memory returning to him. A memory from his own childhood, of this boy and a girl, too, with golden hair, and a name he should have never forgotten--Alice.
264 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2012
219 people are currently reading
2593 people want to read
About the author
Reki Kawahara
285 books911 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 94 reviews
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 20, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
February 7, 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.
August 21, 2014
Strap yourselves in, it's about to get weird.
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+
March 30, 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.
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?
January 2, 2023
Alicization is a new direction for the series which is a fact that is evident from the cover alone. The previous series focused either on Kirito as a soloist or Kirito with a female companion, for example recall how Aincrad involved him and well many girls on their individual quests, and then Alfheim Online with him and his cousin, and then Gun Gale Online with him and Shino. So to me having Kirito finally experience the friendship between boys idea and honestly a childhood friend considering everyone's he's known before this was someone he recently met, this was different, in a good way.
He and Eugeo have excellent chemistry and are written in an authentic and charming way, they know their quirks, confide in one another, and are two sides of the same coin in a good way. It will be nice to see how Eugeo affects Kirito in subsequent entries.
Plot wise the volume presents a compelling idea of the VRMMO space without the trappings of a videogame. With lifelike AI, living souls, the world feels nearly realistic (silly visual oddities aside). Characters feel real in how they think and emote. Honestly, beyond the scope of the save Alice plot, I think there is something special here about the evolving world. I'm interested in it and how it will play a role in what Rath is after. Further, just how does it tie in to Kirito's tragic outcome.
Overall it is a great volume.
He and Eugeo have excellent chemistry and are written in an authentic and charming way, they know their quirks, confide in one another, and are two sides of the same coin in a good way. It will be nice to see how Eugeo affects Kirito in subsequent entries.
Plot wise the volume presents a compelling idea of the VRMMO space without the trappings of a videogame. With lifelike AI, living souls, the world feels nearly realistic (silly visual oddities aside). Characters feel real in how they think and emote. Honestly, beyond the scope of the save Alice plot, I think there is something special here about the evolving world. I'm interested in it and how it will play a role in what Rath is after. Further, just how does it tie in to Kirito's tragic outcome.
Overall it is a great volume.
October 10, 2017
¡Qué buen inicio de saga, señores!
Al principio es un poco difícil saber hacia dónde va la historia y en el medio se pone un poco lenta, pero la tercera parte narrada por Kirito es simplemente abrumadora y para mí corrije cualquier error que haya visto a lo largo del libro.
Me salté los otros 7 porque ya los había visto en el anime y sé que no me pierdo mucho (aún así pienso leerlos pronto) pero este me llamó porque sé que el anime basado en este arco se estrena pronto y quería ir adelante.
En fin... Kawahara construye un nuevo mundo virtual en el que Kirito termina involucrado, ese mundo medieval tiene relación con Alicia en el país de las maravillas y quienes viven ahí parecen ser humanos con sentimientos reales, y no los típicos personajes estándar creados por el sistema del juego.
Disfruté mucho las peleas y el personaje de Eugeo se convirtió en mi favorito, este man promete mucho y quiero seguirlo leyendo. Amazing!
Quedo satisfecho y sigo enganchado con el estilo sencillo y ligero de este tipo de novelas, que aunque no es que estén escritas de la mejor forma, son emocionantes y enganchan como nada. Ni Aincrad me gustó tanto. 😍✨
Al principio es un poco difícil saber hacia dónde va la historia y en el medio se pone un poco lenta, pero la tercera parte narrada por Kirito es simplemente abrumadora y para mí corrije cualquier error que haya visto a lo largo del libro.
Me salté los otros 7 porque ya los había visto en el anime y sé que no me pierdo mucho (aún así pienso leerlos pronto) pero este me llamó porque sé que el anime basado en este arco se estrena pronto y quería ir adelante.
En fin... Kawahara construye un nuevo mundo virtual en el que Kirito termina involucrado, ese mundo medieval tiene relación con Alicia en el país de las maravillas y quienes viven ahí parecen ser humanos con sentimientos reales, y no los típicos personajes estándar creados por el sistema del juego.
Disfruté mucho las peleas y el personaje de Eugeo se convirtió en mi favorito, este man promete mucho y quiero seguirlo leyendo. Amazing!
Quedo satisfecho y sigo enganchado con el estilo sencillo y ligero de este tipo de novelas, que aunque no es que estén escritas de la mejor forma, son emocionantes y enganchan como nada. Ni Aincrad me gustó tanto. 😍✨
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
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.
May 2, 2024
Comecei a ler o Alicization, em vez de começar pelo início da novel, porque uma amiga me recomendou especificamente esta parte há uns anos. Agora, muito tempo mais tarde, ela nega-se a ter-me recomendado "esta novel de merda, eu alguma vez ia recomendar isto a alguém?" Enfim.
Gostei do setting de fantasia clássica, em que a coisa efectivamente se opera como um jogo mas em que não sabemos as regras do jogo. Mas a meio do livro, a coisa fica profundamente CHATA, com uma explicação sem fim sobre o sentido do universo, que é aborrecida até à morte, e deu vontade de atirar o Kobo para uma pira sacrificial. Pobre Kobo.
Mas logo a história volta ao mundo de fantasia, e isso é um alívio, porque é muito mais divertido. Não precisamos do contexto das novels anteriores (ok, ajuda ter visto o anime), e embrenhamo-nos de imediato nesta aventura. Ainda assim, não fiquei muito excitada para continuar a ler o resto do arco.
Vamos a ver.
Gostei do setting de fantasia clássica, em que a coisa efectivamente se opera como um jogo mas em que não sabemos as regras do jogo. Mas a meio do livro, a coisa fica profundamente CHATA, com uma explicação sem fim sobre o sentido do universo, que é aborrecida até à morte, e deu vontade de atirar o Kobo para uma pira sacrificial. Pobre Kobo.
Mas logo a história volta ao mundo de fantasia, e isso é um alívio, porque é muito mais divertido. Não precisamos do contexto das novels anteriores (ok, ajuda ter visto o anime), e embrenhamo-nos de imediato nesta aventura. Ainda assim, não fiquei muito excitada para continuar a ler o resto do arco.
Vamos a ver.
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!!!!!!
October 2, 2021
Già conoscevo la storia per aver visto l'anime ed è davvero incredibile la realtà che Reki Kawahara riesce a immaginare! Il mondo di SAO, in generale, e di Underworld, in questo specifico caso, sono qualcosa di straordinario!
Unica nota dolente (molto, molto dolente): la pessima traduzione in italiano, soprattutto nella parte iniziale, scritta in terza persona. Ho fatto una pausa di mesi prima di riuscire a riprendere in mano la light novel e a sopportare la totale assenza di consecutio temporum, i tempi verbali sballati e le parole tradotte a caso. Sicuramente leggerò il prossimo volume in un'altra lingua, perché davvero mi sanguinavano gli occhi.
Le 4 stelle ovviamente non tengono conto del dramma della traduzione.
Unica nota dolente (molto, molto dolente): la pessima traduzione in italiano, soprattutto nella parte iniziale, scritta in terza persona. Ho fatto una pausa di mesi prima di riuscire a riprendere in mano la light novel e a sopportare la totale assenza di consecutio temporum, i tempi verbali sballati e le parole tradotte a caso. Sicuramente leggerò il prossimo volume in un'altra lingua, perché davvero mi sanguinavano gli occhi.
Le 4 stelle ovviamente non tengono conto del dramma della traduzione.
October 26, 2022
Oh boy, it’s time for Alicization! Easily the longest, most in-depth, and most praised arc of the whole series (so far), this arc starts off with bang after bang. This is the fourth major story-arc in the series, and comes after two detours with Mother’s Rosario in Volume 7 and short stories in Volume 8. Not that those were bad (far from it), but the buildup for this new volume has been amazing. Little breadcrumbs have been dropped here and there about this massive story, and I’m excited for it! The story takes place in a much more traditional fantasy world instead of the VRMMORPG that we’ve gotten used to from SAO. This allows Reki to really flex his world-building skills. Seriously, this volume gives a single village with a big tree more depth than a lot of other stories can muster. I’m so excited to see what he does with the rest of the massive world and how he chooses to develop his characters!
June 22, 2017
Once again, Kawahara does a very nice job of putting together a science fiction/video game world with an entertaining story as well as a thoughtful background which leaves one thinking. The characters are well done, with decent development throughout these novels. Overall, I felt this book had an underlying message: What is reality and what is not reality? However, I think the story of this series is getting a tad repetitive in its scope (but they should still start making this new arc into a season 3). Due to its thoughtful content and characters, I give it an overall 3 stars.
November 7, 2017
When I started reading this I had to go back and check if I was really reading SAO, In this volume almost everything we have come to expect from SAO is changed. It is not a bad change! I quite liked it once I got used to it. And it reads just as easy as the other ones.
Another thing that changed is the cast Of course we have our trusted hero Kirito but the rest of the group will not be in the spotlight. fortunately we get some great characters in return
It being the first of an new arc a lot of world-building is going on. And I for one can't wait for the next one!
Another thing that changed is the cast Of course we have our trusted hero Kirito but the rest of the group will not be in the spotlight. fortunately we get some great characters in return
It being the first of an new arc a lot of world-building is going on. And I for one can't wait for the next one!
October 16, 2018
I love it!
This is my second time reading this book. I actually have the paperback versions, but because I have been reading more and more Kindle, I decided to get it again.
I love this series so much! The characters, detail to writing, and storytelling is amazing. Spoilers for those who haven’t read farther (or maybe not?), this story arc ties in all of the other ones. It is by far my favorite of the main arcs. I’m looking forward to rereading it!!!
This is my second time reading this book. I actually have the paperback versions, but because I have been reading more and more Kindle, I decided to get it again.
I love this series so much! The characters, detail to writing, and storytelling is amazing. Spoilers for those who haven’t read farther (or maybe not?), this story arc ties in all of the other ones. It is by far my favorite of the main arcs. I’m looking forward to rereading it!!!
September 16, 2020
I give this 3.5 stars. It took me awhile to read through, mostly because of how the story started out. No spoilers, but fir anyone that feels the same way while reading this, keep reading. The story picks up, explains what's happening and why, slows down briefly, then pick up again. I'll probably give Vol. 10 a try, but it was hard getting into this one. Hopefully the story moves more after this book.
August 20, 2022
Un véritable coup de cœur. Mon premier light novel, et celui qui m'a redonné l'envie de lire. Malgré toutes les critiques que l'on peut faire à propos de SAO, ce tome est selon moi le début du véritable génie de Reki Kawahara : un monde unique, relié à tout ce que l'on a vu précédemment, avec de nouveaux personnages attachants, et une ambiance de fantasy que l'on croyait perdu pour sword art online. Incroyable, et ce n'est que le début.
August 5, 2017
The last half of the book is great, but the first 100 pages which act as a prologue for the whole Alicization story are plain boring!
Focus is back on Kirito, and the setting and story are cool. No harem, also great. No OP Kirito to a certain extent. So, all in all, not bad at all. Looking forward to the next one.
Focus is back on Kirito, and the setting and story are cool. No harem, also great. No OP Kirito to a certain extent. So, all in all, not bad at all. Looking forward to the next one.
July 2, 2020
Just as enjoyable as the other novels in the series so far. If you like Kirito and you want to explore another new world with him, this will be right up your alley. The new characters are well developed and have a lot of depth already that I expect to only increase as the story continues in the next book.
September 8, 2021
Explorando de forma mais direta conceitos como IAs, digitalização de consciência e ainda assim explorar um reino de fantasia que, embora genérico, se diferencia por seu retrato de uma teocracia autoritária, este arco novo de Sword Art Online usa de atmosfera e mistério para criar uma leitura interessante. mesmo com os problemas já antigos de ritmo e caracterização de personagens.
February 6, 2017
Absolutely loved this! I was not able to put this down; everything from the new world being described to new characters makes me want the next volume asap! This story arc looks like it's going to be a long journey and I can't wait for it!
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