Fairly disappointed in this volume. For being so short it took me more than a week to read. I grant that the new Jim Butcher Peace Talks came out during that time. Of course I read that overnight so all the more reason why taking so long to read this Asterisk reveals it's inadequacies.
The Lindvolus is here. My first reaction is *whoop-dee-doo* -- seriously, I don't care (yet?). We get a few fights from the prelim matches and miss out on others. But each one we do hear about the participants are so OP and have trained up to be so ridiculously strong that these fights should be a lot more destructive. Sadly they weren't all that interesting.
The Golden Bough Alliance bits were the second most interesting. I still found the Akari chapters to be the most interesting. I hope the next volume brings something interesting to the fights and has more to the other plot that's been brewing.
Verdict: Now awful, but not what I have come to expect from the Asterisk War. You could probably read a summary and know what you needed to know to keep reading.
As other people mentioned, this volume was entirely dedicated to the preliminary fights for the Lindvolus. I appreciate the introduction of more interesting characters and abilities, making this Festa the most compelling best far. Nevertheless, this volume works more like a preamble, so you can almost skip it completely if not for some information of the main villain and the somewhat forced revelation of Yabuki..
Little happens in this book. Could easily have been skipped with a sentence “these guys made it to the last 8 in the tournament”. All major players are keeping their best moves secret for the last matches. Should pick up speed in the next volume
The development of the lindovus is riveting and keeps you engaged wondering, when a certain someone will strike, and how they are going to navagate the tournament against friends and foe. A lot is on the line for all involved and I cannot wait to continue in volume 14