The Shirone Kingdom summons Zanoba home, saying they need more manpower to weather a recent coup d'etat, but Rudeus doesn't buy could it be a trap from the Man-God? He and Roxy travel with Zanoba as protection, only to come face-to-face with the fifth of the Seven Great Randolph Marianne, the Death God. It'll be hard work to best the Man-God's machinations, especially when Rudeus never quite knows who to trust!
I honestly loved the friendship between Rudy and Zanoba. I noticed a side of Zanoba that hadn't been shown until now. The Shirone brothers did have it bad. The battle at the forth was amazing. Can't wait to read the next volume.
There were some interesting discoveries towards the end of the book. We learnt more about the Man-God, some curious things about Badigadi and even the events with Pax were quite impressive. However… most of the book is random information and more day-to-day stuff. Not that that is unimportant, but I’ve had a couple books like this and I would really like more action now.
Vasito de esperanza. Es un buen volumen, de los mejores. Hay un poco de todo, se muestra cómo cambian y maduran los personajes, se ganan y pierden batallas, compartimos alivio y sufrimiento con los protagonistas.
Si la anterior novela era lo peor esta es un ejemplo de cómo un ejercicio literario mínimo, bien dirigido, puede llegar a exponer la complejidad y la épica de las relaciones humanas en un mundo.
the Zanoba popoff. This volume did wonders for my man's development, and the entire volume felt like a fun wild goose chase. Fun fight, and finally someone from the Seven Great Powers that is actually friendly despite his looks. The conclusion to this is gamechanging, though. Rudeus acknowledging that all he can do is spend the rest of his life building a strong force, including his family, to fight another war with Laplace and Man-God. I so hope it all concludes in time. I'd love to see his son and daughters destroy the Man-God with Orsted. Godspeed, Greyrats.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Zanoba, Rudeus and, after a loud fuss from Lara, Roxy set out for the Shirone Kingdom to help it in it war on orders of the new king Pax, an old enemy of the group. Orsted wants Pax alive to keep the timeline favourable towards Orsted's goals. Of course, they are expecting a trap. Pax was never a friend, and the Man-God is likely involved as well. Still, things are not as they appear to be.
The volume is more or less a stand-alone story, paying some much-needed attention on Roxy (even if it was not as much as I had hoped) and showing that nobody is truly black or white in this series. As always, the book shines in character development even that of the 'villains'. I was less impressed this time with the world, not as much Orsted and Man-God's influence on it, but the way the war was fought felt off. The numbers sounded kind of low and you would expect warfare to look much more modern with the addition of mages and warriors powerful enough to fulfil the role of modern artillery and tanks even if they are somewhat rare. Don't get me wrong, military doctrine cannot count on people the strength of Rudeus, Roxy or the Death God, but even the "regular" mages operated very much like cannons. Nothing too major, but still eyebrow raising.
For how impactful this story was supposed to feel it really didnt connect with me. Honestly it felt kind of anticlimatic for Pax to kill himself, and I dont like how the plot just kind of drops Shirone immediatly after Pax's death as if the whole story Zanabou was'nt saying his life belonged to Shirone. Which I know is explained in his POV chapter how he came to I guess feel empathy through rudues but I feel the shift is still jaring and not really foreshadowed or explained until after the event. I think this arc suffers from very similar issues to the princess ariel arc were theres this big build up and dick happens. Like yeah he's dead but nothing really cool or note worthy happens. Even the battle between the death god has the chapter labeled like misunderstanding or something so you know its not gonna be important. Honestly I feel like this entire story would be better as a side plot for another book. Because nothing was fleshed out or felt important. I think the best way to describe this book is the author had these ideas on what he wanted the characters to do and he just sort of had them move there if that makes sens. MY faviorte part of the book was honestly the extra chapter with Pax and benidcte which I thought was really sweet and tragic knowing what happens. Still other than that this book was kind of a nothign burger. 3/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Pax might have taken a little stroll through the arduous path of self-improvement, sure. But your Highness, please remember to take off your nostalgia goggles before spouting such nonsense about the time you were tutored by God Herself. Were you really hoping for validating comments because of your progress in magic, or is that a delusion of higher order than the Man-God could ever provide someone? 10 years since then might have made you forget it, while for me just a few weeks have passed since I got to know that rather than positive remarks from Roxy, you must have demanded her to submit to your wicked desires. No sympathy for you, the positive outcome was Zanoba and Rudeus realizing the need to improve their respective familial ties. I do not condone gaslighting Roxy into a self-apologetic state while she was actually revered by the Shirone Knights for such valuable lessons, while you kept your power trip enabled by noble birth from however small Shirone was in the grand scheme of things. Papa Randolph will do a better job as Benedikte's child's guardian. LET HIM COOK.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I feel the series has been stagnating over the last few books. I've been reading chapters that could of been sumerised in a paragraph or 2 without any loss of information and have felt like I 'got through' some books but I've persisted as I loved the first few books so much. This book didn't feel like that. It was nice to step away from the now far too familiar home town. We got a lot more depth into some familiar characters and I wouldn't of been able to predict the end of the story even 3/4 of the way through what was nice. All in all I enjoyed this one a lot more that I expected and I hope the series continues to improve.
Ah, volume 19. I have been looking forward to reading this volume since I originally read the web novel equivalent nearly 8 years ago now. The character development, the lore implications, the writing itself, volume 19 has cemented itself as one of my favorite individual volumes from this series. This is definitely one where you have to expect the unexpected, yet at the same time every reveal and action feels so obvious you can't imagine it going any other way. Also, of course, the impact this volume has on the future of this world cannot be understated. Aside from maybe one or two (or maybe 5) other moments, this is the most consequential trial Rudeus has faced yet.
Honestly the saddest book in the series so far, I feel the Author was pushing the harrowing experiences onto Rudy to allow him to grow, and Grow he did.
All you can do is become the best version of you, if no one recognises your growth, grow for you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This continuation was so thrilling and awe inspiring I simply couldn't put it down! Absolutely amazing series, planning to gift a set of the books to my children when they get a little older.