五番目のピエロ

悪ノ大罪 #4

by 悪ノP（mothy）, 壱加 (イラスト)

レミー＝アベラールはルシフェニア共和国、ロールド市で暮らす少年だ。彼は孤児だったが、五歳の時に女性貴族ジュリア＝アベラールに引き取られ養子となった。可愛がられ、何不自由なくアベラール家の子供として育てられたレミーは七歳の時、悪戯で家の蔵に忍び込み赤いワイングラスを見つける。しかし、グラスに興味を惹かれ手に取ると同時に気を失ってしまう。その日以降、レミーの中にもう一人、「ネイ」と名乗る少女の人格が現れるようになる……。

303 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2015

About the author

See also: mothy_悪ノP, stylized when it comes to other works adapted from his concept.

ニコニコ動画、YouTube等にて「悪ノＰ」の名前で
ＶＯＣＡＬＯＩＤ曲の発表をしています。

Reviews

[Ana ★ Tesserell · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 because most stuff has been happening off page AND OFF SONG TOO for the past 6 NOVELS:
-the three heroes arc
-the deaths of Arth and Anne
-the Riliana's possession by Banica
-the insurection that led to Allen being raised by Leonard
-still no explanations for how babies are made without sperm
-a whole century of plot between the Pride and the Sloth arcs
-the whole Apocalypse gang happenings from year 510
-what was Irina's plan for when her own son would start to catch up with her own age
-Erluka was in possession of 4 out of 5 vessels last time around (sword, glass, mirrors, doll, minus the spoon), now suddenly Irina has stolen them from her off page between Prefazio of Blue and Gift from the Princess who Brought Sleep?
-the plot is suddenly both too thick and not thick enough. things are going back to just being listed off instead of incorporated in proper storytelling
-why do we have so many Ayn and Bruno called characters?
-the point of there permanently being a Bruno character is a whole another mess
-all of the retconning
-the fact that he got so lazy with the songs in the sloth era
-lemy and margarita have literally zero interactions, they are NOT each other's "most beloved person" like the misinformation that circulated the internet back in 2017
-no explanation as to why Meylis/Banica/Germaine would be clones of Meta, who in return is the female clone of Seth
-is it twincest if Meta had sex with Pale, with both being clones of the same person? of course it is
-everyone is in love with their sibling or cousin if they're an only child - Irina is in love with Kiril, Allen is in love with his twin Riliana, Adam and Eva are twins in love with each other, Meta and Pale are twins who slept together, Gumilia and and her Gakupo man first cousins, Kayo and her Gakupo man, pretty sure Nemesis and her Gakupo man were first cousin too, and so on
-the no justice for Germaine - she never learns of her own identity and she has an awful end
-the whole Duel alone needs at least 1 10-minutes long

[Lumberland · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a lot. It was all over the place, but the action was very high paced and consistently interesting. I always felt hooked reading it. While I personally don't find Lemy to be a very interesting protagonist, the second half of the book was wildly enjoyable despite that.

This is the book where Mothy concretely gives answers to his audience, albeit in very abstract language. Honestly I think the reveals here work really well. For the most part the characterization is consistent, and even if the important lore drops still use the language of the Levin religion internally it has logical sense.

I feel like thematically a lot of stuff is thrown at the reader, especially regarding mother/child relationships, free will and religion. Which was fun but I definitely need to read more of the series to figure out what was going on here. It felt like a mishmash of themes, culminating in the Duel at Merrigod Plateau (which itself is a mishmash, so I guess it works.) Levia, Behemo, Irina, Eve, Gumilia, Hansel, Adam, Seth, Gretel, and Banica are the most powerful and important characters in the series at this point, and it all culminating in one intense, insane stand-off was fun to read. I'm glad the duel got a book since there never was a song.

[Weronika Sawicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well.. the book is uneven. I think the beginning is pretty bland and uninteresting, but it shines when it comes to more "unnatural" and "complicated" elements - that is in the second part of the novel.

Of course even in those parts it has some problems... for example very direct exposition - the characters explain things that they already know for people who, I guess, didn't read the previous novels and don't know the songs, but I would say that reading this without knowing any Evillious lore is a very bad idea.

I recommend it for readers, who are deep into Evillious lore, because I think it clears a lot of confusion and, also, is a nice read.

[I read fanmade English translation, and such is a version this review is based upon]

[Emilien Pillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

L'un des trois tomes les plus incroyables de la saga. Une énorme surprise. Alors qu'on s'attend à un tome simple et sans grand changement, c'est ici que tout se passe.