A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 20 (light novel)

とある魔術の禁書目録 [Toaru Majutsu no Index] (Novel) #20

by Kazuma Kamachi, Kiyotaka Haimura (Illustrator)

A certain unlikely hero...


October 18-World War III has begun. As the flames of conflict between Academy City and Russia spread further, the rest of the world suddenly finds itself pulled into the fight. Fiamma, the only remaining active member of God's Right Seat, attempts to control everything from the shadows while others run straight into the heart of the firestorm to do what the can!


Kamijou will travel as far as he must to revive the magically comatose Index. Accelerator won't let even a war stop him from saving Last Order. And Hamazura must find a way to heal Takitsubo's stimulant-riddled body. Though their goals are different, fate will force these three to cross path in Russia where something sinister lies in wait for them...!

Genres: Light Novel, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Manga

264 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2010

About the author

Kamachi Kazuma (鎌池和馬) is a Japanese-born light novel author and the original creator of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel series and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, its spin-off manga series.

Reviews

[Jojo Yamoah]

Awesome.

[Abel Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time - [02h 27m 05s]

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, the paths of our three heroes begin to converge. Finally, the magic and science sides head to war. Finally, the World War III arc takes the stage. In the first of this three-part arc, we are introduced to a new location: Russia and the bordering Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations. While you might think that a new setting would slow the pacing of the story down, it does not, thanks to Kamachi's excellent choice of narration. As with the previous books, he switches point-of-view, but this time he switches between the three main characters after every part. Kamijou's story focuses on comic relief with Lessar and the magic side of the conflict. Hamazura's story follows the lives of Russian commoners that he and Takitsubo take refuge with as they are all pursued by the military. And Accelerator's story continues with his internal struggles as he searches for a bargaining chip to save Last Order. I found Accelerator's to be the most interesting narrative, and Hamazura's the least. However, the transitions between the three stories were so fast and smooth that I never got bored.

This keeps the story suspenseful, while doling out the details of another one of Kamachi's vibrant settings. He also adds in point-of-views from soldiers fighting on either side of the conflict near Britain and Japan to ground this story in realism. War battles are not my cup of tea, but I had no trouble getting through them in this book. And as expected with the To Aru series, there are many conceivable plot twists that will make you thirst for volume 21.

[Lils · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Third World War is quite interesting to see unfold within Russia and how the differences in military and weapons play out between Academy City and Russia. But what I really enjoyed in this volume was the switch in perspective between the three protagonists. Whilst Touma is nice to follow most of the time because of the person he is, Accelerator and Hamazura's stories are definitely much more engaging and "desperate" considering their situations with Last Order and Takitsubo. Honestly, even though Takitsubo is "sick" most of the time, I find her relationship with Hamazura sweet, and I also think they work well together and complement each other by Takitsubo I guess being the more "brainy" one whereas Hamazura is a realistic but unrelenting guy who thinks outside of the box (from his street fighting ways I guess) when it comes to fighting. My favourite parts were definitely Hamazura protecting the village for Takitsubo and their kindness towards them, alongside Accelerator facing off against Misaka Worst and finally finding a sort of peace with himself by fighting with Touma. This is probably my favourite volume for this series!