Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I

Sword Art Online #21

by Reki Kawahara

READ THE NOVEL THAT IGNITED THE PHENOMENON!

A year has passed since Kirito and Asuna’s return from the Underworld. With them is Alice, who has been given a physical body. But their peace is quickly broken when the three are suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar game, Unital Ring. This new world is a survival MMO that fuses together every VRMMO created with the Seed program. As soon as it starts, Kirito finds himself with nothing but his underwear. Now, he’s got to challenge a mysterious VRMMOSVG under desperate circumstances!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Manga, Young Adult, Romance

202 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2018

About the author

Kawahara 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.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 21 books, I’m so getting used to Reki’s stunts. This was good, it’s a good story, I can see how the tech he’s presenting us is moving forwards little by little, so the next step he took in games was a rather logical one... but its also starting to sound a whole lot like Accel World, so I wasn’t that surprised. The tech in both worlds eventually has to catch up (or so I think).

***SPOILER ALERT***

It was nice seeing a change to full survival game, because honestly, there’s nothing that will ever get to the level of the ‘Underworld’ again (other than full time living on an alternate VR world), and going back to regular ALO adventures wasn’t going to cut it with Alice now in the picture. I still don’t know how long we can pull games anymore though, because now I want to see how Alice will affect the real world and the interaction with humans and AIs, but it seems I’ll have to wait on that.
As for this ‘Unital Ring’ world, it’s nice knowing they are all on level 1 (even if just for half the book, because Kirito had to pull one of his stunts). And the whole ‘let’s-replicate-SAO-without-the-deadly-consequence’ well what can I say? The consequence for dying this time was what reminded me of Accel mostly, for the rest, feels we’re back on Aincrad but with the need of food and water now, which seems more realistic. It could be interesting, I’m definitely curious to see where this will go, specially with Yui, so I’m keen on keeping reading the books.
Other than that, this particular book constantly reminded me on how it feels to play ‘Valheim’ in real life, but with Kirito as a super God, of course (and yes, I’m complaining on his ‘sudden’ level up, because had I killed a bear or something, I would have gone up a level at most, and after dying three times, so not entirely realistic there, but I’ll ignore it for the sake of the plot). So yes, I know he’ll be fine, he always is... but I’d love to see if his whole party will survive. I’d really like to see one of them die just so that we can explore this interesting new consequence more closely.

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how Unital Ring volume 1 offered us a glimpse of what Sword Art Online would have been liked if we removed the trapped in a game aspect to it but maintained the death results in the loss of a character stake. Indeed, a similar level of tension and suspense is present in Unital Ring since once players die in game, they can never log in again. Considering the attachment to the items and friendships the characters have, as well as the innate gamer mindset of wanting that feeling of progress and accomplishment, there is a great loss to be experienced once their character is gone.

I liked how the new game additionally feels as if it is the culmination of every game Kawahara imagined for this series. The base Fantasy MMORPG elements from Aincrad make an appearance in the base game with the skill, progression, and sword art system. The diverse array of races of organisms from ALFheim online are here too. From Gun Gale Online guns and the system of being encumbered make their presence known. All thats lacking are elements from the Underworld, which I can only imagine will probably make an appearance later.

Overall, the new world we are plunged into along with characters that we know and love having to get a feel for it while having no "BEATER" knowledge is vastly compelling. I additionally enjoyed the survival RPG aspect to it as well as the new hunger and thirst system characters have to worry about. Finally, one of the most incredibly things are Yui and Alice both being present in this world and acting as if they are no different from the human characters.

[Niijishima · Rating 5 out of 5]

SAO Unital Ring is the start of a new and promising arc. Kirito, Asuna, and Alice suddenly find themselves in an unknown game and must first figure out how the game works, but at the same time, they are faced with other unexpected problems. It feels very refreshing, especially compared to Underworld, Unital Ring is once again a game like SAO or ALO, but it introduces a completely new gaming genre to the series. Nothing against Underworld, but I prefer the game setting.

The plot is still being built up, so not much happens in terms of the story, but instead, the game mechanics are extensively explored, which I already liked in the Progressive novels. Speaking of Progressive, the events from the series are actually referenced in some ways, which, in my opinion, is huge. Additionally the Ordinal Scale film is mentioned, where I've known for a while that it's canon, but it's still cool that Reki incorporates the film into his book series.

Definitely a good start to a new arc.

[kerrycat · Rating 5 out of 5]

in which Kirito spends almost all of his in-game time wearing just his underwear, much to the amusement of his female companions.

will the vaguest mention of anything related to our sweet angel blue sword boy ever NOT reduce me to tears? nope, never. and the mention of Asuka Empire? sigh (Kawahara breaks my heart for the xxxxth time)

but I'm sooooo happy and excited over a certain SAO girl who shows up at the end - finally, IRL.

BUT

is the other new appearance really who I think it is? as a crazy Accel World fan, I'm going to be foaming at the mouth waiting for V23 (v22 is side stories) because THIS IS WILD.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps it is unfair to mention Underworld, but I was more than ready to leave it behind and start something new. And did we ever. I also happen to have a proclivity toward crafting in MMOs and have chosen to play some and not others specifically because of this so this new survival game requiring it sounds like it'd be right up my alley.

We get to see a lot of old friends, but not all of them so we're still left to wonder what some of them are up to. Though Kirito and Asuna should be able to contact them in real life since they're not stuck in the game.... no, this time they aren't stuck, but if they happen to die they can't go back.

I am looking forward to some more Unital Ring.

[GRAYS345 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to the arc, while its not as captivating as the start to Alicization, it definitely sets up great potential for it. I also enjoyed Kirito’s struggles in having to deal with separating himself from the Underworld which he considers his home, and it’s nice to see him and Alice experience the same struggle and supporting each other.

[Irongretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the concept for Unital Ring and the survival aspect but for me personally, the restoration of the house took too long. I had hoped for the story to cover more about what’s going on in the game itself. Also, I was a bit disappointed about the lack of information on the Underworld. But I‘m nevertheless looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

[anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comenzamos un nuevo arco, el cual nos lleva a un mundo el cual tiene más dificultades y situaciones reales. Muchas preguntas por resolver y pocas respuestas luego de la transformación a Unital Ring. Y un final el cual nos dejan con más inquietudes y un sentimiento de nostalgia muy lejana.

[Joses L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

How did we go from the awe-inspiring UW to Ark on Hardcore... The author better be cooking something damn good, because we're spending too much time on the "normal" VRMMOs instead of other things. 5/10

[Yan M Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Ehm! ¿Hoolaaaaa?
Los hilos argumentales empiezan a unirse después de 21 novelas.
¡Yo solo necesito respuestas! 😨😨😨

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new world for Kirito and company is definitely different. I’m intrigued to see where it goes.

[JotaroKujo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly amazing

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gostei mas eu realmente não gostei dos traços desse livro, bem mais cartunesco do que eu preferiria

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is it. This is the feel of the first Sword Art Online. Its just the story seems like Only Sense Online, no strength, but only perks.

[ReadingFrog · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

[Ricardo Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure about this arc… let’s see. 3 stars, a neutral rating

[Angela Auten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this volume.
I have been in such a slump all month. All the books I'm reading is taking me a long time to get through.

[Scott Mattson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was getting ready to give up on the SAO novels. There are a lot of them, and the whole Alicization arc took way too long. But this volume gives me hope. I should check and make sure that this Arc doesn't take too many novels.

Everything starts out Ok. Kirito, Asuna and friends are playing their regular MORPGs, when suddenly all the games based on the seed platform get combined into one new game. It's a survival skills game. You get hunger and thirst points. If you log off your character can still get killed. Kirito and Asuna have to repair their Cabin with material at hand.

This volume gives me hope that future volumes might be more interesting.

[Cameron Mclendon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!!!

This new arc is so great! I really enjoyed it and it’s hard to explain why with our giving always too many spoilers. I’ll just say this. It feels like seeing them learn for the first time again.

[Kevin Yee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun premise.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

New storyline and it is already going in a odd direction. The game has turned into a survival game. I am interested to see where it goes.

[Matthew Gilboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

can't wait for English translations of next volumes

omg. I'm sure some folks are annoyed but I'm super excited. once this gets going I'm sure it will be a great new start

[OtakuReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to it

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

[Nishes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Welcome aboard Argo! New Arc here we go. So far thoroughly enjoyed the story. It brings the nostalgic vibes of Aincrad but with slight difference.