What do you think?
Rate this book
Sword Art Online #26
Sword Art Online, Vol. 26: Unital Ring V
On the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice have a reunion with dear friends, but Kirito is pulled away to Planet Admina to investigate the approaching threat to the Underworld. Meanwhile, in Unital Ring, Sinon, Silica, and company are putting up a good fight against the field bosses, but the conflict intensifies in a way few could have predicted…
216 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2021
21 people are currently reading
307 people want to read
About the author
Reki Kawahara
284 books911 followersKawahara 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 16, 2023
I’ve been reading this story for 26 books, I know what Reki can write, and this doesn’t hold up. This is one of those weird books in the saga where nothing happens. I spent almost 200 pages just to kill a boss and wake someone up. There’s a little action yes, but things are also going out of control. This whole Incarnation business instead of being this amazing and unique art, now suddenly became a convenient plot device for everybody.
Probably the biggest issue was that since this time we spend one chapter in the Underworld and then one in Unital Ring and so on, the story feels broken. You’re never in one place so I could never get into the moment with all the interruptions. I know this author has amazing stories, but right know he probably just needs to focus in what he wants to tell here. And in the meantime I’ll take a break.
Probably the biggest issue was that since this time we spend one chapter in the Underworld and then one in Unital Ring and so on, the story feels broken. You’re never in one place so I could never get into the moment with all the interruptions. I know this author has amazing stories, but right know he probably just needs to focus in what he wants to tell here. And in the meantime I’ll take a break.
July 5, 2024
Unfortunately this volume was rather weak: not much at all happened, incarnation seems to have been rendered a little silly, and there was a limp cliffhanger (with the cutoff being mid-sentence!). On the bright side, I’m quite enjoying the UR now, even if it is moving at glacial pace! And we had some nice [albeit brief] reflections on the past, and future, by our characters.
Oh well! Let’s hope the next one is better!
Oh well! Let’s hope the next one is better!
May 14, 2023
Unital Ring Volume 5 is a bit more focused than previous volumes in that most of the action takes place in largely two theaters of war.
1. Kirito and Eolyne reach the space base where they face off against a traitor of the Stellar Unification Council
2. Sinon and Silica taking charge of their allies, including Friscol, a remnant of Mutasina's forces, to find a way to advance to the next level of Unital Ring.
The Kirito and Eolyne action hearkens back to the times of the first half of Alicization when it was a Kirito and Eugeo love story of them doing all that they can to make their way to becoming Integrity Knights so they can save Alica. Indeed, there were some moments where Kirito even got Eolyne confused with Eugeo. Interesting there are times where I wonder if Eolyne does have some of Eogeo's thoughts within him as he seems to act as familiar with Kirito as Eugeo did even if he is the highest ranking officer in the Space Force. I like it and I like their bonding and it only adds more weight to my thoughts that what was going on between Kirito and Eugeo was far more deeper and intimate that what goes on between Kirito and Asuna.
That said, the developments here were pretty fantastic showing that miraculous things that can happen with Incarnation as well as that Incarnation is actually not the greatest force around, and typical elements were. Overall the conclusion of the battle sets the stage nicely for some eventual revelations.
The Sinon and Silica action was pretty compelling on account of showing that everyone can really stand on their own when Kirito and Asuna aren't around. I honestly came away with the thought that Sinon is practically the female iteration of Kirito, both in her abilities but also in her gameplay style. The way she serves as the powerhouse and also the adventurous gamer is fantastic and I'm honestly glad that she had moments to shine in this arc. I can only hope that continues in the future.
Silica is definitely a pretty awesome character as well and I was glad to see her come out being a background character and serve as a key character in the arc. How she excels with beast taming is amazing as well as using her small rapier.
Overall this was a fantastic volume of both accounts and makes me incredibly hopeful for the next volume to come.
1. Kirito and Eolyne reach the space base where they face off against a traitor of the Stellar Unification Council
2. Sinon and Silica taking charge of their allies, including Friscol, a remnant of Mutasina's forces, to find a way to advance to the next level of Unital Ring.
The Kirito and Eolyne action hearkens back to the times of the first half of Alicization when it was a Kirito and Eugeo love story of them doing all that they can to make their way to becoming Integrity Knights so they can save Alica. Indeed, there were some moments where Kirito even got Eolyne confused with Eugeo. Interesting there are times where I wonder if Eolyne does have some of Eogeo's thoughts within him as he seems to act as familiar with Kirito as Eugeo did even if he is the highest ranking officer in the Space Force. I like it and I like their bonding and it only adds more weight to my thoughts that what was going on between Kirito and Eugeo was far more deeper and intimate that what goes on between Kirito and Asuna.
That said, the developments here were pretty fantastic showing that miraculous things that can happen with Incarnation as well as that Incarnation is actually not the greatest force around, and typical elements were. Overall the conclusion of the battle sets the stage nicely for some eventual revelations.
The Sinon and Silica action was pretty compelling on account of showing that everyone can really stand on their own when Kirito and Asuna aren't around. I honestly came away with the thought that Sinon is practically the female iteration of Kirito, both in her abilities but also in her gameplay style. The way she serves as the powerhouse and also the adventurous gamer is fantastic and I'm honestly glad that she had moments to shine in this arc. I can only hope that continues in the future.
Silica is definitely a pretty awesome character as well and I was glad to see her come out being a background character and serve as a key character in the arc. How she excels with beast taming is amazing as well as using her small rapier.
Overall this was a fantastic volume of both accounts and makes me incredibly hopeful for the next volume to come.
August 8, 2023
Page countwise this book is not long but subjectively it seemed to go on forever due to the bite-size chapters that alternate between concurrent stories in the two virtual worlds. Kirito’s group is attempting to unfreeze Selka and Silica’s crew is trying to advance past their first boss battle. That’s as much as this volume can handle and the Underworld story still ends on a weird cliffhanger, just because. It was fine for the most part.
March 8, 2025
Honestly, I just want to read about the Underworld, I don't give a flying squirrel about the Unital Ring part, even though I'm pretty sure they will connect to each other at some point. I simply don't enjoy those parts. Show me more Underworld, more more more!
March 22, 2023
the Great Kawahara continues to torture our Kirito emotionally with Eolyne - just send the two into outer space alone together so Kirito can just think about Eugeo all the time, willya?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews