The Sorcerer of Atlas

スレイヤーズ [Slayers] #2

by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi (Illustrator), Elizabeth Ellis (Translator)

At last, Atlas City! Time to put our feet up and enjoy that urban life. You know, some good food, a bar brawl or two, beating up assassins, intervening in politics, solving a kidnapping... Wait, what?! No! This sounds like work! Great, and now we’ve got demons stalking us and spike-shooting wolves pouring in through the windows! Guess I’ll have to clean up this mess before I get my R&R...

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novel, Manga, Humor, Fiction, Adventure, High Fantasy

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 20, 1990

About the author

Hajime Kanzaka (神坂一) is a Japanese novelist and manga writer.

Reviews

[The Crimson Fucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hajime Kanzaka is a lazy writer! I can safely say that! I’ve consulted a higher power regarding some stuff that happens in this book… and the verdict is lazy fuck! Apparently when Mr. Kanzaka uses Gaury stupidity to explain any fantasy element of the story he is being lazy! He is braking what according to my higher power a really important rule of writing… something called “show don’t tell”. so… every time somebody who since to be a really important element of the Slayers universe shows up Gaury will immediately ask “who’s that?” and Lina proceed to explain… it was kind of cute at the beginning… but now is kind of annoying! If it wasn’t for the fact that Mr. Kanzaka recognizes at the end of every book in a really silly way… what a crappy writer he is, and how thankful he is to his readers. I will be pissed off and stop reading em. But since he is being really honest, and not taking any of it seriously I think he is cool…


Now let’s talk about the book! After you manage to bypass the writer’s laziness this is really a fun book, Lina is still Lina… meaning you still get that funny as hell redhead megalomaniac that we all know and love! And not only that… this time Mr. Kazaka actually did manage to put some plot twist that actually surprised me!!! It is still a 5! Can’t wait to see what the third installment of the series have in store for me…!





p.s. the phrase “butt lover” is used in several occasions in this book… it made me smile each and every time!

[Anthonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about your mayhem this girl has a serious appetite. Plus her partner Gourry can eat just as much as her. They have been recruited by a council member for protection. Strange turn of events this series is a great read. A must read for any and all manga lovers everywhere.

[Jolly Ann Paciencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short book, but it didn't fail to show various emotions to the readers and made the reader also play with their adventurous imagination while reading the book.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 The Slayers are really light novels, less than 200 pages, but they are a lot of fun. Great humor and easy to get into for fantasy fans especially those who enjoy swords & sorcery.

Volume 2, The Sorcerer of Atlas, was better than the preceding volume. No giant big bad easily wiped out with one overpowered spell this time. Actually the author mentions this in the afterward. How he had not intended to make Slayers into a series but now that he was how did he tell a story without having Lina, the all powerful mage and main character, blast things away instantly with a Dragon Slave spell.

Gourry and Lina are an excellent buddy duo and while I missed Zelgadis this time around his absence wasn't really felt.

New big bads are introduced. A new mystery to solve. Just the right amount of slapstick and you have another fun time with The Slayers.

[Piotr Nowak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slayers vol 1:


Slayers vol 2:
The curse transforms a human into a giant chunk of flesh. The flesh then gains immortality, but it undergoes infinite pain and torture as snakes spawn from the flesh and eat it constantly. The curse can only be broken by destroying the demon who cast it. Those affected somehow retain the ability to speak, but the anguish they experience often makes it impossible for them to hold a conversation.

[Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s Slayers. I don’t know if the writing’s good or bad. The simple existence of this audiobook makes me too happy for any kind of objectivity. I have lived enough to have gone from watching random episodes of this story in Betamax, subtitled in broken Spanish, to owning an official release of its audiobook version. What a time to be alive.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today's post is on The Slayers and The Sorcerer of Atlas by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi (Illustrator). It is 137 pages long and is published by J-Club Novel. The cover has Gourry on it with the sword of light. As it is the second novel in the series, you need to have read the first one to understand the world and characters. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this novel. The intended reader is someone who likes high fantasy, humorous stories, and light hearted adventure. The story is told from third person close of the main character, Lina. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
Blurb- At last, Atlas City! Time to put our feet up and enjoy that urban life. You know, some good food, a bar brawl or two, beating up assassins, intervening in politics, solving a kidnapping, wait, what?! No! This sounds like work! Great, and not we've got demons stalking us and spike-shooting wolves pouring in through the windows! Guess I'll have to clean up this fore I get my R&R...

Review- I had a really great time with this Slayers novel, it is more of a mystery than the adventure story from the first volume. Lina and Gourry are just trying to relax and get some good food when a bar brawl happens to them and Lina is not one to let a good fight get in the way of her food. Then they get pulled into a fight between sorcerers trying to become the next head of the local guild. Of course it is not that simple and the more that they discover, the more the city of Atlas looks like big trouble. I had so much fun with volume, because it happens in a city Lina has to think outside of the box. She can't just Dragon Slave everyone into the ground, even Lina knows that's a bad idea. So Gourry and her have to think on their feet and discover the truth about what is happening and try to survive it themselves! I think we see the best parts of Lina in this volume, her brains and we see how much the relationship between her and Gourry has grown. They trust each other now and can work together as a good team. I look forward to the next volume and the return of my favorite character!

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for this review and I bought this book with my own money.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aha, a certain plucky sorceress isn't around to gank my keyboard at the moment, so you'll be getting a rather normal, toned-down review this time! First let it be said, this particular story arc is way more gruesome than I remember it being in the anime, but that could be more of a my-memory-recall-sucks-when-I've-not-watched-something-in-a-while issue rather than a the-light-novel-goes-balls-to-the-wall thing. Or it could be both, you never know.

This particular light novel takes a departure from the first, where we met our two main characters and enemy-turned-ally Zelgadiss. Lina and Gourry make it at last to Atlas, and immediately get wrapped up in a conflict between two sorcerers, which may be more complicated than it initially appears...

I won't say more than that, because we'd hit spoiler territory really fast, but I love how this light novel gets gruesome shortly out the gate and doesn't apologize for it. It's still got that comedic undertone, but this installment is way grimmer and more serious in nature than the previous, and I think it's nice to see that aspect of the series in addition to the humor. I think my only major grievance is with the ending of this light novel, because it does feel a bit...quick and dismissive, in a way.

Side note, trying to hunt down a copy of this book was a nightmare. There must not have been many of this particular installment printed, because I sat on several waiting lists for a while, just hoping a used copy would show up, and when one finally did, I paid a little more than three times the original list price. It's worth it though, because the copy I got is in excellent condition, and I'm happy to have it in my collection.

[Rafael Yamano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another sword and sorcery tale from Hajime Kanzaka. This feels more like a S&S tale, with less fate of the world stakes, and more "two protagonists get hired as mercenaries, and then enter a terrible adventure".

This story was adapted to the anime (in Slayers Next season), but in a very different form, unlike the first book. So Lina and Gourry have much less people to talk to, the four people team hasn't been assembled yet. Lantz isn't much of a character, so no wonder he didn't make it to the anime.

Regarding the story itself, it's darker than the anime, with more gore. Also, I didn't remember how it ended, so I was as surprised as Lina with the twists. It's not the greatest literature, but it's a good sword and sorcery tale, what else would you want?

One of my favorite antagonists from the anime makes his debut here, Seigram the Formless. What a piece of a mazoku he is. In the anime he had a very good design.

Also, a word about the humor. Gourry is getting more like his anime counterpart in this book, with more jokes about him being dumb, not paying attention or not having the common knowledge other people have.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I paid for this so I decided to read it as well, even though I was kinda down on the first volume. This one suffers from a lot of the same problems I had with it too. It's overly simple at times, and honestly not a very engaging story, at least for me. On the up side, I want to say this was never adapted to the anime (at least that I can remember), so it's new content for me, which is kinda neat. And again, having Lisa Ortiz narrating this in the voice of Lina Inverse is just a good way to do these, even if it does feel like a gimmick to sell the books a little bit easier. Actually, I wonder if they've got the original Japanese voice actress doing this for their editions of the books, because that would probably be pretty cool for them.

But yeah, it's not bad, and I'd probably call this score a 3.5 out of 5. It's not the most amazing thing I've ever read though and it relies maybe a bit too much on it's narration gimmick. Oh well. The hardcore fans will probably love these as they slowly come out. Volume 3 should be here at the end of the month.

[Francesco · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sorcerers of Atlas

Questo racconto prende avvio pochi giorni dopo la conclusione del precedente.

Lina e Gourry sono giunti nella città di Atlas, dove si ritrovano, loro malgrado, invischiati in un insolito intreccio tra giallo, thriller e fantasy.

- Che fine ha fatto Halcyform, il capo della gilda degli stregoni?
- Chi ha evocato i demoni Seigram e Gio Gaia (il cui nome sembra più quello di un boss mafioso che di un demone)?
- Quali segreti nascondono Tarim e Daymia, i candidati al seggio di capo della gilda?

La trama di questo episodio è leggermente più intricata rispetto alla precedente, ma l’ironia tagliente di Lina e i surreali battibecchi con Gourry continuano a rendere la storia vivace e coinvolgente, degna del capitolo che l’ha preceduta.

[Patrick Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the Slayers series was less familiar to me that the first. Unlike the first, it was never directly adapted into an anime. That said, it's the same setting and characters. Gina and Gourry are still our protagonists, the setting is still based on AD&D with some homebrew rules, and it's still an action/fantasy/comedy hybrid.

This stuck pretty close to the Slayers formula. There are a couple of plot twists, and a memorable villain with one big departure from villain tropes. The violence is more explicit than the show, but this could have easily been an OVA special.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen a few bad reviews for this series that say it's 'stupid' or has too much 'weird' comedy. So I'm going to clear one thing up right now, this is more or less Japanese Monty Python. Yes there is a story here, are we supposed to take it seriously? Maybe for one chapter at the end. The rest of it is some plot with gratuitous shenanigans.

[Blaine K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun entry in the slayers series

Very fun adventure story. Interesting to compare to the anime version of this story which had zelgadis and Amelia while this story is much more violent. Both versions are still very humorous

[Jose Luis Meza Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great and easy to read story. Don´t remember watching this animated though.

Lina and Gourry this time confront 2 mazokus (demons). As usual expect the humor only Slayers can give.

[Quill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but nothing special.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little more polished than the first one (which makes sense. The afterward mentions that the first volume was written as a one off for a contest.) it was a quick read and I like Lina's narration.

[Lina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the first book remains my favourite, this one's fun to read too. However, the plot is a bit more obvious.

[Tina L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and found the writing to be more consistent than the first one in the series.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming to think of it, I had read the Chinese translation of this, but now that I’ve read the English, I finally realize I’ve greatly misunderstood it when I read the Chinese. Again, a quick, short read. It was cute while it lasted. I think the story of Rubia could have been explored a little more… as it seemed like these details were just skimmed over. But it’s a light novel for a reason.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here be another book I read solely to unhaul it from my shelves.

I vaguely recalled reading a Slayers novel years ago, and thought this was the book.

It was not. I've never read Slayers: The Sorcerer of Atlas before, on top of having no idea how it landed on my bookshelf to begin with. And yet, I was already vaguely familiar with the story, as the second story arc of the anime drew direct inspiration from this novel. Though, it having been years since I last actually watched the anime meant I only vaguely recalled certain scenes and plot points and not much else.

So it was a rather confusing reading experience of jumbled memories from the animation and vague recollections all rolled into one. So much so, I can't exactly say diffinitively if I actually enjoyed the contents of the book itself.

It was easy to read, with a sort of juvenile dialogue and wry sense of humour that in places aged poorly, and yet was perfectly nostalgic to me due to it echoing the style of the anime I love when I was a teenager. It was also pretty fiercely paced with the action hitting our two heroes fast and frequent as they ping-ponged from one adversary to the next.

As for the big twist in the main plot of the story, I want to say that it was a predictable outcome, but would not be an impartial assessor having prior knowledge, however vaguely it is recalled, of the story via the anime.

One thing I can say with some certainty however is that this particular story arc was one of the weakest in the first season if not the whole anime series, especially when you consider the arc that came before and after involving Rezo the Red Priest. Sure it introduces some important mazoku (demons) that figure into later seasons, but they lack the story-telling punch of other enemy arcs as well as the emotional significance for themselves and our heroes. Add to the fact that the whole arc plays out with only our two main heroes and without the larger supporting cast signals the sort of small stakes this story holds in the wider universe.

It's not filler, but it isn't far from that kind of story arc either. Which may work somewhat to this one book's benefit as the story can stand alone in the grand scheme of things without needing other volumes for context.

And so, here I let go yet another lingering remnant of my past self that managed to survive multiple moves and a couple of small unhauls to haunt my bookshelf until I could exhume it from the collection. Now it goes into a free little library where maybe someone better suited to the age group this was written for and is new or unfamiliar to the world of Slayers can discover the fun of Lina Inverse's chaotic magic.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The adventures of 15-year-old traveling genius sorceress Lina The Goat, err ... Lina The Pink ... err, Lina The Great and her dense but equally genius swordsman companion Gourry continue as they reach Atlas City and get involved in a local conflict between the most powerful magicians of the town.

This second book is pretty much more of the same. It has the same strengths and unfortunately the same weaknesses as the first installment. Again, it is very difficult for an author to be constantly funny (hello Skulduggery) and the humor really has to work for you. For me it did maybe half of the time, the other half it was too flat.

I still like Lina. It is awesome that she is really a super strong sorceress without feeling like a Mary Sue at all. Her character is way too normal and ruthless for that. She eats a lot, she kills people if necessary, she acts egoistical to ensure her survival (or enrichment). All in all I think she is a very unique heroine.
Gourry's simplemindedness is getting a bit old, but he is also at the origin of a few funny scenes.

The story itself was less interesting than that of the first book for me and I can see why it was never animated for the TV series – it's just not that good and doesn't have many interesting secondary characters. But it is a fast read, so you don't waste your time too much either.

The sorcerer of Atlas is also quite a bit more violent than its predecessor. In book 1 Lina maybe killed a few bandits, but here things get downright gory. The book deals with chimeras and research on immortality, and therefore you get lots of body part transplantations and experiments on living beings.

Nothing in Slayers, apart from Lina herself, stands out for the moment. It is neither very creative nor complex. Even though I think a lot of that is due to the format this story is being published in. As is typical for the so called "Light Novels" this book is awfully short. The author seems to have created a much more complex magic system and setting than he is able to show for now.

Slayers is worth reading if you enjoy books a la Skulduggery Pleasant, like a crazy heroine with a unique, sarcastic narrative voice or something very short. These books can be read as stand-alones.

[Jane Lebak · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to see what Kanzaka did with Lina and Gourry now that he's done the "boring" work of establishing who they are and what they can do. Gourry is more interesting in the book than in the anime, and there's more romantic joking around than I remember from the show. (They're more aware of one another as male/female, that is). She's also more restrained and less likely to whip off a monumentally inappropriate spell for a small provocation.

I thought the plot hung together a bit better in this book than the previous one, but it strikes me that overall there's not much character development going on. Lina is the same at the end of this book as at the beginning of the first. There are another 10 novels in the series, so that may change.

Having said that, it's enjoyable, and I really like hearing her voice as she tells her own story.

[Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was far darker and more visceral than it's corresponding Anime segment: akin to Alfred and Alfonze attempting alchemy on their departed loved ones dark. Not as much humor, but the story acquires a good deal of meat that the first novel was lacking. While Lina remains the self-assured smart-arsed sorcery genius, both she and Gourry come into the serious side of their natures and remind us just how dangerous they can be.

[Kate (Looking Glass Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lina Inverse, sorceress extraordinaire, is going to take it easy in Atlas City. After the events of the first book, she and her partner in crime, Gourry Gabriev, deserved some good ol’ R&R. But the chairman of the local Sorcerer’s Guild has been missing for some time and things are growing tense between the two sorcerers vying for his position. When Lina is approached for assistance in the matter she initially wants to turn it down. But something doesn’t feel right, and with so many people – both humans and demons – telling her to turn around and walk away, Lina knows that something is going on. And besides, Lina Inverse doesn’t back down to anyone.

Now, for those who have watched the anime, this book roughly coincides with the Atlas City arc in Slayers Next. However, the majority of the story was altered to fit the more overall lighthearted theme of the anime. The sorcerers Lina meets are all competent instead of bumbling, and the overall tone grows progressively darker.

I feel that Slayers is a series readers will either love or hate. The story is told in first person from Lina’s point of view, often breaking the fourth wall as she speaks to the reader. She can be a bit of an abrasive character. Lina is has a bit of an ego, but the talent to warrant it. At least to a degree. If you like the sort of humor found in the first few pages of the novel, you’ll probably enjoy this series. This sort of humor is found not only in this book, but the series.

I will be honest. The beginning of the book, while humorous, didn’t really keep my attention the same way the first book did, nor did I believe it held the same sort of weight or stakes. However, it is absolutely worth it to stick with this book. The story takes some twists and turns as it progresses, not all of which are completely unforeseen. The plot moves faster as the story continues, with a few fight scenes along the way.

Thought it certainly doesn’t begin this way, the book does become quite dark later on. There is more blood and gore than the first book in the series by a good amount. Despite the lighthearted tone in the beginning, this didn’t feel out of place. Things ramp up in the story quite a bit. What begins as a simple enough job turns into a mess of massive proportions and the tone shifts throughout the novel to reflect this.

One thing which certainly is poised to annoy many readers. A lot of world building and explanation is given to the reader via Gourry’s less than stellar intellect. This can grow very old very fast, and it happened quite often throughout the first half of the novel. I do have to say that Gourry does poke fun at Lina for doing this, especially when her long theories and explanations don’t turn out to be entirely correct, but it does feel a bit too little a bit too late.

While The Sorcerer of Atlas by Hajime Kanzaka didn’t start out terribly strong, it certainly finished on a high note. I do recommend this book. If you are a fan of the anime series or are looking for a quick high fantasy novel this is a book you will want to check out. If you don’t like the humor found within the first book or if having characters stop for a chat dripping with exposition drives you a little crazy, this one might not be for you.

This review and more can be found on Looking Glass Reads.