Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 1

Reign of the Seven Spellblades Light Novel #1

by Bokuto Uno, Miyuki Ruria (Artist)

FROM A CLASH OF SWORDS, AN UNSHAKABLE BOND
Springtime at Kimberly Magic Academy brings a new batch of first-year students, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they begin their journey to become full-fledged mages. Among these newcomers are Oliver Horn, a studious boy equally skilled with the wand and the blade, and Nanao Hibiya, a strong-willed samurai girl from the distant nation of Yamatsu. The wheels of fate bring these two souls together at Kimberly, where they become both comrades and rivals in equal measure. However, lurking within the academy's halls are countless dangers and dark secrets guaranteed to threaten not only their friendship-but their very lives...

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Fiction, Manga, Magic, Mystery, Japanese Literature

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2018

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the book for me. It somehow seemed like a combination of a low-grade pastiche of Harry Potter magical boarding school tropes combined with overly dramatic Yu-Gi-Oh! style anime characters. Every decision was fraught with false-seeming drama which wore on me fast. The world building was lush in terms of the magic dueling and sense of history and culture but facts were dropped on you seemingly randomly, including important facts and aspects of the school and magical system. I think there are good stories to be told in this setting but this wasn't the one for me.

**Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel does a good job of playing its cards close to its vest but still implying enough that when the twist is revealed, it's surprising without coming out of nowhere. It'd be easy to write it off as "dark(er) Harry Potter knock-off," but I think it's got more going for it than that - plus not-so-stealth political commentary, which I'm sure will be more to my taste when 2020 eventually ends.

[Iroha Miyumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

小説の設定は残酷な魔法学校です。。卒業前に、八割学生を死んでました。そして、先生達を学生たちの死は無視しました。なぜなら、彼らは魔法使いでした。

主に、主人公の達はオリバー＝ホーンとナナオ＝ひびやです。オリバーは不思議に強くて優し方です。ナナオは戦いが好きですから、とても強い剣術があります。そして、主人公達はたくさん仲間が出会っていました。名前はピート＝レストン、カテイ＝アルート、ガイ＝グルリーンウッド、ミシエーラ＝マクファーレン。最初から、大きいキャストがあるので、個人的にキャラの覚え方はちょっと難しいです。けど、少しすづにキャラが把握から、明白に各自の性格は愛しいの魅力があります。そして、クライマックスはとても意外でした。小説の中は素敵な絆と戦いがありますので是非チェク下ください！

The novel's setting is about a cruel magic academy. Before graduation, 80% of the students die, and the teachers ignore their deaths. This is because they are all magicians.

Mainly, the protagonists are Oliver Horn and Nanao Hibiya. Oliver is mysteriously kind and strong, while Nanoa considerable sword techniques because she loves to fight. Both of them have a lot of friends: Pete Reston, Katie Aalto, Gai Greenwood, and Michala McFarlane. Because there were a lot of characters in the beginning, it was hard for me to remember the characters. However, as I grasped the characters little by little, it became apparent to me that each one has their own attractive charm to them. Then at the climax, something unexpected happens. The novel has plenty of precious bonds and fights so please check it out!

[Rowena Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really enjoyable and not at all what I was expecting. The first half was light-hearted, but the tone darkens especially towards the end, and there were some unexpected turns that were very well done. A well-imagined plot and world, with wonderful characters that you can't help but fall in love with. This is very much a story that I will be following in future volumes.

[Lucien Welsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to YenPress and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the ARC. Also be sure to check out my full review over on lucienwelsh.ca.

Right away, this light novel wasn’t what I was expecting. Really cute and funny right off the bat, it gave me Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya vibes with how ditzy but determined Nanao was and Oliver’s exasperation with all of his new friends was very much like Kyon. However, the comparison is more of a personal one, and each of the characters is honestly so much fun and I loved all of them right away. Then we get to Kimberly Academy, a magical school where death is damn near imminent at all times and the risk of losing your mind to the darkness of magical studies is a constant threat. As fun and light-hearted as the first half of this book is, it does get dark around the half-way mark as the true dangers of Kimberly begin to show themselves and hidden traits are revealed in the students themselves.

[CatSidhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had put off starting that series because of all the reviews describing it as an "dark and edgy Harry Potter knock-off", but it turned out that those reviews were highly misleading : It was far more goofy than edgy, in a "chuuni battle shonen anime" kind of way, and it had little in common with Harry Potter besides the magical school setting.

If I may go on a tangential rant here, am I the only one getting really tired of the way every book with a magical school gets compared to Harry Potter ? Magical school stories existed a long time before Harry Potter (the oldest example I can think of is A Wizard of Earthsea published in 1968, but I would not be surprised if there are older ones), and so did magical boarding school stories (a typical example would be Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz, a story which is literally dark and edgy Harry Potter - except that it was published in 1988, almost ten years before Harry Potter). Harry Potter may have helped popularized that trope, but it was already a trope long before that. And there have been a lot of magical school stories written since then, both in Japan and in the West. Some people really need to read more books. End of the rant.

So what makes this particular magical school story different from Harry Potter ? Well, for a start, this is secondary world medieval fantasy, set in what seems to be an dystopic alternate history 16th century Europe ruled by wizards, with non-magical humans being second-class citizens and sentient magical creatures being third class citizens at best and slaves used for magical experiments at worst. But we don't really see that world, since the story is actually set in the evil magical university of Kimberly, the most famous magic school of the country of Yelgland. And here we have another difference, because while Harry Potter is set in middle school and high school, Reign of the Seven Spellblades is set in what looks like a magic university campus, with older students and professors doing research on magic. Those professors are all insane, evil, or both, in a mad scientist kind of way, there is a dangerous magic labyrinth under the school full of weird monsters that takes over part of the school at night, and the Faculty believes that since magic is supposed to be dangerous, having 20% of the students dying before graduation (in a world where magic healing exists and can cure anything except death) is a small price to pay to form the best wizards in the world. The whole setting actually reminded me a lot more of the comic book series Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio than of Harry Potter.

It is a great setting to have a zany battle shonen anime in though, which is what this series is at its core, except in written form. Our protagonists are Oliver Horn, a 15 year old new student at Kimberly with a dark secret (which I won't spoil), and Nanao Hibiya, a samurai girl from alternate history Sengoku-era Japan who was rescued from death on the battlefield by one the rare non-evil Kimberly Faculty member, and their various friends. Oliver and Nanao are an interesting duo, with Oliver being a jack of all trades that uses his brain to analyze and win battles, while Nanao is a battle-crazy OP samurai warrior who always rush into trouble. Oh, and have I already mentioned that all those wizards and students use magic swords instead of wands and keep challenging each other to duels like 16th century aristocrats ? They do that too. But Nanao is battle-crazy even by those standards.

This volume was very action packed, from the prologue about a mysterious wizard being hunted by a bunch of eldritch monsters, to a surprise fight with a troll right at the beginning, to gladiator style fights in the magic labyrinth, to run-ins with insane older wizard students, to the dark twist in the epilogue that I won't spoil. Most of it was hilariously over the top as only battle shonen anime can be, and I am not sure all of it made sense, but I had a lot of fun reading it and immediately started on the second volume afterwards, which is always a good sign. But it is definitely a dumb fun kind of series, and it makes no pretense of being anything else.

[m · Rating 2 out of 5]

Until the epilogue, I was reminded of Log Horizon. Basically the sort of media that has so much promise but diverts its attention to the least interesting stuff and spends half their time explaining things that you could just show. This is that sort of book. The characters are fine... they have their quirks, but to me none of them are really likeable, except for maybe Guy and Michela, who are not the people who were important in this book. Instead there's this focus on Katie, who I can't really like.

Also it's basically Harry Potter but we add blades. There's no inherent problem with that, but then it tries to be a bit more woke than Harry Potter in all that social problems shenanigans which is fine and all, but light novels tend to shoot themselves in the foot with that because a few pages later we immediately switch channels to typical anime comedy. Which is fine, but it makes it hard to take seriously. And the Harry Potter parallels sound okay initially: "Oh, magic school? Broody black-haired youngster who lives with his relatives and not his parents? Set in a Western country? Botany? Potions? Shifting school with a dungeon sealed underneath? Bullying?" To me those were fine, really, because they're standard for magic school stories. But when we started seeing a troll and Katie was the one getting attacked... and then we have the professor with hair like Snape. And then we have funky drinks (not jelly beans!). I got a bit tired. There are some stuff that are novel like the talking flowers and SwordsTM but I was really sitting there wondering if the author can get away with so much.

The last part is intriguing, but I can't say it saved the book for me. To its credit I'll probably attempt the next book for it alone, thought I don't expect much. We have the whole romance stuff also in book 1 which I am really not a fan of- because I am not a fan of Oliver (yet?). Seriously... Guy is right there, guys! Even after the last part it's not that he became likeable or anything; he just became someone with trauma and poor coping mechanisms. It's less black and white than Harry Potter, but somehow not in a good way.

We also don't have a compelling or permanent opposing character yet; so far when Katie's being somewhat bullied it's just a mob of other characters, or they're not significant in the long term. Aside from a few seniors and professors (and even these professors you can easily sort them into will-help-you and will-be-killed-in-the-following-volumes, which was cemented by the ending). The problem with this is that the problems become very nebulous and the way the characters deal with them seem overly dramatic. And besides the main cast while it's great they're friends and all, they aren't as close-knit or nice to read owing to their size. The easiest to compare this with would be Eighty-Six which has a similarly-sized main cast, which to me are much more compelling in their setting, and they also have the advantage of having a character separated from them but as important in the story, whereas Seven Spellblades hinges almost entirely on this friend-group and is lacking any outside colour.

Some parts were just mind-numbing to read, seriously, but I don't know why that was the case. Everything just felt very draggy, even the action scenes where the characters were fighting. Gosh damn, that's a mean feat I must say.

[Layla Crowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/4 stars.

Fast paced action, endearing characters and magic galore.

I really enjoyed the murderous magic school of Kimberley and all the outrageous events that occur in this light novel. I feel that it would make an amazing anime series though, as a lot of the writing was very descriptive of actions, and there were quite a few repetitive sentences, that would translate better to an onscreen adaptation.

But I loved the characters, the fight scenes and the magical creatures. I can't wait to see how this story develops, especially after that cliffhanger ending!

[Pablo García · Rating 3 out of 5]

First volume is big 250+ pages, illustrations, chapter pages, information page, cover page and blank pages with only 4 chapters (20+ pages per chapter). This fantasy novel series, first published in 2016, deals with students that are taught swordsmanship and magic. With typical bullying, discrimination and negative competition, the first year students deal with a series of conspiracies from unknown antagonists. Although there is a lot of dueling and action by the group of six friends that the author unites from the very first day, there are little to no classes, moments of the students coming together to eat (except for the illustration drawn by Miyuki Ruria. Author is not funny. Conversations with group of students seem somewhat forced and unnatural. Group of students know a lot of different magic spells, but never did author explain why and how they already knew all of that magic. It's as if, this Martial and Magic Academy only accepts students that are already proficient in swordsmanship and magic. But then, why go to school? To constantly duel against each other? What is the point if they do not gain any prizes?
The group of students (Oliver, Pete, Guy, Katie, Nanao and Chela in Spanish Chela is a nickname for a beer. It means nothing but a nickname to the author) So this group of first year students are together just because, and the main plot arcs or secondary arcs are up in the air. Is it to become stronger? Is it to learn more, without having any classes? Is it becoming friends? Is it dueling and fighting all of the time without purpose?
Positive: Not an isekai and writing style is designed for longer volumes and a long light novel series. Negative: Author lacks variety in his story, main characters go to a school but author doesn't talk about dorms, lockers, classes, books, library, cafeteria, etc. It is missing definition and a lot of school like things (tropes maybe?)
Spellblades are sword moves that conclude in the fatality of the opponent. So the reign of the 7 spellblades describes, the seven people who are at the top of the sword and magic fighting prowess in this alternate reality fantasy world.

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oliver Horn is a new student at the magic academy of Kimberly Magic Academy, a boarding school in a fantasy world that has some vague similarities to RL Earth (mostly geographical; a difference is for example that non-mages are well aware of the magic world). He befriends a group of fellow students when the girl next to him is cursed to walk straight into a rampaging troll that just splattered a dire wolf. Mage politics can get lethal, and when it comes to the rights of magic creatures the debates gets very heated.

It is a well-written story with interesting characters in which I got invested rather quickly, both the "heroes" and the "villains" (and I use those terms loosely). Which is good, because the story is mostly character driven. We get to see very little of the world beyond the fact that magic apparently has a tendency to twist the mind of its practitioners, 20% of the students die before graduation, there is a political struggle going on about the right of magical creatures and children from non-wizards can apply to magic school after taking a public exam. Still, what little we see got me intrigued. It is a rather dark version of the magic academy trope with some very interesting characters and events (calling it a dark version of Harry Potter is doing both books a disservice, for one thing HP was hardly the first story using the sorcerer school tropes).

In the end I thoroughly enjoyed the book, so why 4 stars? The twist at the end has me weary. Apparently there is an overarching theme to the series, and while that at least shows the series is working towards an end goal, it is a theme I myself am not a particular fan of. I will continue read for now and see were things are going. After all, it only showed up in the prologue and epilogue while the rest of the story did not truly deal with it.

[Ichinose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook.
Piacevolissima lettura da una delle mie seiyuu preferite - Yumiri Hanamori.
Fantasy ben scritto con una cospicua quantità di battaglie sanguinose e drama.
Leggendolo molte cose mi sembravano familiari (sono appena passati i film di Harry Potter in tv) e infatti l'autore stesso ammette di aver scritto questo libro come un "Harry Potter per adolescenti". Ci sono molti aspetti simili come il setting dell'accademia per maghi e le caratteristiche principali dei personaggi, ma alcuni elementi, soprattutto riguardanti la trama, si discostano molto e lo rendono un'opera interessante e originale.
Inconsueto per me il focus sui "diritti degli animali fantastici". Anche la scena della stand-up comedy magica è stata curiosa ma divertente. Il tono è di default serioso e drammatico, ma l'autore offre ogni tanto momenti di distensione e battute divertenti che fortunatamente non cadono nella solita allucinante stupidità e volgarità di certa "commedia" giapponese che ho dovuto sopportare in altre serie.
Libro piuttosto lungo e con trama che si sviluppa lentamente, ma consiglio assolutamente di leggere fino alla fine perché la conclusione è davvero soprendente e mi ha convinto a leggere il seguito.

[Tomcat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly executed story.

The book starts quite well, with a suspense scene that´s suppose to set the pace for the book. Unfortunately, the the story goes about social problems in a magic academy, which is so similar to the famous HP books. Magical creatures, class and social divisions, strange teachers and even the famous Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in the form of drinks. The battles are boring because the action is interrupted every time with someone giving a lengthy explanation of what is going on, this is absurd as in each battle someone is talking and explaining while in combat. One of the main villain, after trying to dissect the characters just gets a reprimand, one of the main characters with a cool and traumatic background just tell everything in a couple of pages and gets done with it. All this makes the main plot just boring and quite predictable. To be honest, the ending is quite good, and is a shame the author didn’t exploit this secondary story further throughout the book.

[Hoshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

‏كان طويل والمحتوى نفسه ثقيل
اربع فصول ,الفصل الواحد مدة كتاب صوتي من ساعة الى 5 ساعات.
‏واحد من افضل لايت نوفل الي قرائتها..خيال وقتال و بالنهاية هدف البطل واضح.
‏رواية ركزت في بداية على حياة مدرسية تشبه هوجورتس
لكن فيها قتالات بالسيوف واستعمال السحر من خلاله
ايضا دموية به شديدة
‏بطلات العمل هم شيرا ناناو كاتي
بطل قصة هو اوليفر .
مجلد 1 اخذ عن كاتي وناناو ثم ركز على ريتشارد اندروز
اوليفر ماحسيته بطل اكثر من شخص داعم الى النهاية المجلد والي كانت صادمة بالنسبة لي وفعلا ماتوقعت.
‏ايضا عجبني ترابط الاحداث من كيف والى توضيح اسباب
حتى كلام شخصية معينة يطلع له معنى مخفي!
عموما حتى البطل وجميع شخصيات ناناتسو نو ماكين عبارة عن سحرة مجانين ومن ناحية هذه ذكرتني بشخصيات هاري بوتر

[Namelessfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Wow ok that summary on the back didn’t prepare me at all for what i was diving into! The majority of the book is pretty much Harry Potter with swords. The plot revolved around essentially politics. Just when ok we resolved things - BAM! There came that twist at the end! (Where did that come from??)

After seeing that twist, I guess the cover was a good foreshadow of what’s to come at the end of this series.

Looking forward to reading the next book - if only to figure out wtf is gonna happen!

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best magic academia story I have ever read. It made it easy to ship characters (take notes Brandon Sanderson, recently read Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and Stephen King, recently read Fairy Tale) because the author understood how to have intimate moments which those other two books severely lacked.
The world, the characters, the magic system. All of them fun. Throw in a little philosophical tidbits and you have the spell for an amazing book. I recommend you pick this light novel up.

[Enzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've gotten into a kick of Light Novels after reading Solo Leveling its entertaining and the subjects are as expected light but fun.
Reign of the Seven Spellblades tells the story of a group of students entering a mage academy. Don't go thinking Harry Potter here. This one is full of treachery and mischief. The students come from good families that understand that cutting someone off before they can beat you is always a good option.
Its a first book and it shows all sorts of powers by the characters. Its entertaining and we will check out the second one soon enough.

[Emma Stallwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will not lie, I went into this book thinking I would be reading a manga and that automatically made me dislike it. However my reasoning for the low rating is purely because I couldnt get on with the authors writing style. It confused me at times and I felt like I was reading a book in a series. A lot felt like it was left out or unexplained. I only managed to read a few chapters before I DNF'd this. Again not the authors fault, just not something I could get on with.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too sure about this book. I found the first part somewhat confusing in regards to getting to know the world itself. I found this part somewhat annoying. The second part of the book was better and since I got to know the world and the characters were a bit more fleshed out. Not too sure if I should try the second book though.

[Ashley F · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Katja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more interesting going forward, as epilogue seems to promise.

[Xander · Rating 5 out of 5]

cool

[Ikku Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 It was decent enough for me to finish. This is harry potter + hunger games .. the world building is kinda flat if you're not familiar with the genre then you'll miss the experience. Haha..

[Kavatarapu Kun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hogwarts with swords

[Edgar Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas inside. Probably I would like more if the settings wasn't a magic school

[Seth M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much darker and more appealing take on the magic academy set-piece, with an appealing group to match

[ferrari╰☆ ⊹ (laufey’s version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

sword ppl go brrrrrr

[Rafaela (dragonsandpaperbacks) · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Arc received through Netgalley*

Real rating: 2.5☆

Reign of the Seven Spellblades vol. 01 is a short but enjoyable introduction to this world, characters and a perilous magical academy where you can only rely on your friends and wits to make it through the day.

The magic and all the magical creatures were interesting to read about, and the exciting shenanigans the characters get into were fun, but this book is not without its flaws.

The slow pacing of the plot in the beginning and the writing style (or translation, I suppose) were some of the aspects I disliked the most. That and, true to form, whatever beautiful moments and meaningful themes were short-lived, giving way to simple comedic relief.

Overall, it wasn't my kind of book, but it was enjoyable enough and it seems the series will only get more exciting from here, though I personally will not be continuing with it.

[Eilidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok book loved the characters will but vol 2

[Riri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit hard to rate.

For the first two chapters, it was more of a 3.5★ read. The first chapter is understandably slow because it serves as an introduction to our cast and Kimberly Magic Academy. The world gives off massive Harry Potter vibes, but with athames, madness, and a lot of politics right off the bat. An accident occurs during the welcoming parade, so that was interesting as far as introductions go. The second chapter, however, dragged on endlessly. It was such a struggle to go through, even though it's showing us all the magic-related classes in the academy. Even the action scenes felt draggy, and Nanao's long flashback made it even more so. I feel like it's so unnecessary long, with quite a few moments of telling instead of showing.

That being said, the latter half of the book is a lot better. It's fast-paced and action-packed without a moment of boredom, and it's where all the fun finally unfolds. For the first volume, a lot of focus is given on Katie and her struggle to adapt to the academy and its people, who aren't exactly kind to her. Of course, Oliver and Nanao are really dominant as the leading characters, and they can be found at the center of most—if not all—battles taking place in this book.

My reason for bumping this up to 4★ is definitely because of the twist at the end. I did guess the culprit behind the troll incident easily, but this one took me by surprise. The prologue is pretty intense, and I was waiting for the story to link back to it eventually… but that was not what I expected LOL. In a good way. Not only it got me curious as of where this story is going, but it also makes Oliver a lot more interesting as the main character. He spent the majority of the book hiding his true nature and objective, and as it turns out, I like his secrets quite a lot. Will definitely be following the series.

[Dabeer Amir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Real rating 2.5 starts but I’m rounding down. I’m definitely not someone who’s into light novels, but I’d be lying if I said this book didn’t grow on me a little. I got used to the prose and got emotionally moved by some of the characters. I do like Oliver Horn and his relationship with his friends is heartwarming, though I think this book lacks quite a bit of nuance. I feel as though the relationships aren’t made well enough as in to say they’re “synthetically fabricated,” and I myself wasn’t that much of a fan of the dark twist at the end, however there were some interesting and unique concepts in this story, such as debating the rights for “Demi-humans” and seeing them more than just tools.

If you’re a light novel connoisseur, this book is a recommend, if you’re not but willing to give light novels a try, I’d suggest starting this book.