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Overlord #15
Overlord, Vol. 15: The Half-Elf Demigod Part I
The Nation of Darkness continues to expand its territory, and in preparation for a potential looming war, the Slane Theocracy plans to overthrow the elven king. Unaware of this plot, Ainz heads to country of elves for vacation with Aura and Mare in hopes of helping them make new friends only to get caught in the political crossfire!
246 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2022
125 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
About the author
Kugane Maruyama
107 books360 followersMARUYAMA Kugane
Name (in native language): 丸山くがね
Name (in native language): 丸山くがね
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 11, 2023
Not a big fan of releasing half finished books, my honest impression is that this is a money grab and makes me reconsider continuing the series. I will probably pick up the next book (which should hopefully finish this part of the story) and then reconsider if its worth reading at that point.
As for the story itself, nothing worth reading actually happened and just when things started getting interesting it just ended.... Abruptly... Seemingly without even considering a good transitional moment/giving us a reason to pick up the next one. Even the intermission at the end of the book just kindof fell off without a payoff.
TBH, you can probably skip this book entirely.
As for the story itself, nothing worth reading actually happened and just when things started getting interesting it just ended.... Abruptly... Seemingly without even considering a good transitional moment/giving us a reason to pick up the next one. Even the intermission at the end of the book just kindof fell off without a payoff.
TBH, you can probably skip this book entirely.
December 17, 2023
no literature value, but fun to read regardless
October 12, 2023
There was a lot of good in this volume and a lot of bad; sad to say – to me at least – it was mostly just too tepid and lukewarm in its comic-levity this time of the way Ainz handles his management of everything around him (including Mare and Aura); his behavior at once more than has managed to infuriate me this volume than provide with some satirical sense-of-humor I could vibe and mock with as per usual when was the case with all prior volumes. Of course, all that being said, I could plainly just be being cynical since this was the set-up volume for the second part of this arc, and hence hopefully there will be better closure through each successive-chapter than the others.
The good news is that, eventually as you get right near toward the end, things pick steam back up again and start veering in that good ol' Overlord style; where things have been fashioned, expanded upon and developed enough that what may or may not happen to the characters you've been introduced to starts making you want to devour the next dozen pages; but that's the issue as well, because by the time that happens the book ends. After the aforementioned, I also believe it's the most bare-bones volume that we've gotten so far, and at times the writing (yes, I know this isn't Cormac McCarthy, and we don't read it for the excellent prose, but still) is so, so plain and mundane it hurts; there's practically no usage of connection in the exposition with the environment besides a few times here and there, and it really did feel like I was reading some unofficial fan fiction instead of an honest to God canon-work. Another plausible claim is the translation sucking heavily: in the previous volumes we've gotten Emily Balistrieri to do that enormous task, and in this one we've gotten Andrew Cunningham; nothing against the latter man, but we've either gotten a sleazier rendition of the text in English or Kugane Maruyama is collectively starting to run out of fuel to finish this series and is winging it somehow till he can finish in one fell-swoop.
All in all, it feels quite rushed and dejectedly unfinished with barely any love given, and that shows in the effort involved. I'm still going to give it a 4/5 because it was pleasantly entertaining enough because of the story contents, but it doesn't live up to the same wire as Kugane's previous work. Honestly, the first book I felt like where if you skipped it, it wouldn't even matter.
Oh well, the Japanese do love their filler as I know from primary first-hand accounts from native-friends and what I had to face in watching Dragon Ball and Naruto growing up (please God, no more filler)… so I suppose there's something that exists for every sort of individual enough to warrant even this.
The good news is that, eventually as you get right near toward the end, things pick steam back up again and start veering in that good ol' Overlord style; where things have been fashioned, expanded upon and developed enough that what may or may not happen to the characters you've been introduced to starts making you want to devour the next dozen pages; but that's the issue as well, because by the time that happens the book ends. After the aforementioned, I also believe it's the most bare-bones volume that we've gotten so far, and at times the writing (yes, I know this isn't Cormac McCarthy, and we don't read it for the excellent prose, but still) is so, so plain and mundane it hurts; there's practically no usage of connection in the exposition with the environment besides a few times here and there, and it really did feel like I was reading some unofficial fan fiction instead of an honest to God canon-work. Another plausible claim is the translation sucking heavily: in the previous volumes we've gotten Emily Balistrieri to do that enormous task, and in this one we've gotten Andrew Cunningham; nothing against the latter man, but we've either gotten a sleazier rendition of the text in English or Kugane Maruyama is collectively starting to run out of fuel to finish this series and is winging it somehow till he can finish in one fell-swoop.
All in all, it feels quite rushed and dejectedly unfinished with barely any love given, and that shows in the effort involved. I'm still going to give it a 4/5 because it was pleasantly entertaining enough because of the story contents, but it doesn't live up to the same wire as Kugane's previous work. Honestly, the first book I felt like where if you skipped it, it wouldn't even matter.
Oh well, the Japanese do love their filler as I know from primary first-hand accounts from native-friends and what I had to face in watching Dragon Ball and Naruto growing up (please God, no more filler)… so I suppose there's something that exists for every sort of individual enough to warrant even this.
November 18, 2024
This is easily the *worst* volume of "Overlord". And it's not even close.
My least favorite thing about Maruyama'a writing is the way he over explains every little thing. The way scenes that could have easily been a couple pages long go on for over twenty. The way character explain their plans and plots over and over again without pause. The way everything gets drawn out to make that page number go higher. It can drive me nuts. Normally, it's something I can either appreciate in a good volume, or at the very least, ignore in a bad one. But here? It's completely unbearable.
This *entire volume* is just that: overexplaining. It takes so *damn* long for anything to happen! Characters just talk and talk and talk about nothing, building up to something that has no payoff whatsoever. It was genuinely painful to read this one because of this. I actually found myself zoning out at almost every page, absolutely bored out of my mind.
The only reason I'm giving this a two star instead of a one star is because the ending is actually pretty interesting, and I actually found myself caring about what was going to happen. Too bad it cuts off out of nowhere and left me hanging with tears in my eyes.
I just can't wrap my mind around why Maruyama decided to write something like this when there's only going to be a few novels left after this one. If nothing changes, "Overlord" is going to be ending at volume 18. If volume 16 is just going to be the second half (or rather, the actual story) of this one, then what the hell could volume 17 and 18 possibly be? How is Maruyama going to wrap the whole crazy narrative up after focusing on this mostly meaningless side narrative? Is it going to be worth reading at all? I hope so, but I have my doubts...
Overall, this volume didn't need to exist at all. It's basically one chapter worth of content (at best) stretched out into an entire 200 page book, and it *does not* work at all. I've heard people argue that Maruyama has lost all interest in "Overlord" as a series and is just sort of going through the motions with these last final volumes. I wasn't willing to believe that at first, but when you consider that he's been working on this series for over a decade, and that he couldn't even be bother to put an afterword in this volume, it paints a pretty clear picture. I'll keep reading this series with some naïve hope, but I won't be surprised if it all gets dashed away by the end.
My least favorite thing about Maruyama'a writing is the way he over explains every little thing. The way scenes that could have easily been a couple pages long go on for over twenty. The way character explain their plans and plots over and over again without pause. The way everything gets drawn out to make that page number go higher. It can drive me nuts. Normally, it's something I can either appreciate in a good volume, or at the very least, ignore in a bad one. But here? It's completely unbearable.
This *entire volume* is just that: overexplaining. It takes so *damn* long for anything to happen! Characters just talk and talk and talk about nothing, building up to something that has no payoff whatsoever. It was genuinely painful to read this one because of this. I actually found myself zoning out at almost every page, absolutely bored out of my mind.
The only reason I'm giving this a two star instead of a one star is because the ending is actually pretty interesting, and I actually found myself caring about what was going to happen. Too bad it cuts off out of nowhere and left me hanging with tears in my eyes.
I just can't wrap my mind around why Maruyama decided to write something like this when there's only going to be a few novels left after this one. If nothing changes, "Overlord" is going to be ending at volume 18. If volume 16 is just going to be the second half (or rather, the actual story) of this one, then what the hell could volume 17 and 18 possibly be? How is Maruyama going to wrap the whole crazy narrative up after focusing on this mostly meaningless side narrative? Is it going to be worth reading at all? I hope so, but I have my doubts...
Overall, this volume didn't need to exist at all. It's basically one chapter worth of content (at best) stretched out into an entire 200 page book, and it *does not* work at all. I've heard people argue that Maruyama has lost all interest in "Overlord" as a series and is just sort of going through the motions with these last final volumes. I wasn't willing to believe that at first, but when you consider that he's been working on this series for over a decade, and that he couldn't even be bother to put an afterword in this volume, it paints a pretty clear picture. I'll keep reading this series with some naïve hope, but I won't be surprised if it all gets dashed away by the end.
January 7, 2024
These books are my guilty pleasure, just a nice quick break which are normally finished within the day. Unfortunately this is the first time that this series has disappointed.
The vast majority of the book is filled with the mundane prattle of the main character where whole segments are dedicated to essentially nothing. They simply flit from one ordinary escapade to another, which ends up giving the impression of soulless diary entries.
The novel does not move forward in any meaningful way until the last quarter, and even then is an example of lackluster writing.
From what I can tell this book has not been separated for the reader, as there is neither cliff hanger or hook. The book itself ends jarringly with a strange information dump of a previously unknown group that has had no relevance for the last 14 volumes.
I would find it hard to recommend this novel as it really has not added anything to the story as a whole. The following part has a lot to make up for and currently I get the impression that it will not be able to make up the ground lost in this addition to the story.
The vast majority of the book is filled with the mundane prattle of the main character where whole segments are dedicated to essentially nothing. They simply flit from one ordinary escapade to another, which ends up giving the impression of soulless diary entries.
The novel does not move forward in any meaningful way until the last quarter, and even then is an example of lackluster writing.
From what I can tell this book has not been separated for the reader, as there is neither cliff hanger or hook. The book itself ends jarringly with a strange information dump of a previously unknown group that has had no relevance for the last 14 volumes.
I would find it hard to recommend this novel as it really has not added anything to the story as a whole. The following part has a lot to make up for and currently I get the impression that it will not be able to make up the ground lost in this addition to the story.
September 30, 2023
Wow I usually love this series but this book was waaaayyyy toooooooo sloooooooow. It took 50 pages to get some elves to the cafeteria. Preparations to get the twins to the dark elves village took forever and were uninteresting. The cover is just a bear and the bear was the saddest and most boring thing about the book. I know that there's a part two but gosh this barely builds up anything. The author's style is still present, and I'm continuing on to the next part where something SHOULD happen but gosh I couldn't wait for this one to finish.
January 11, 2025
With 16 books in the series, set-up books are inevitable, so much is happening on such a grand scale. At this point in the series, it was bound to happen. It was still a good read and had some funny moments. Kugane's works are still quality every time. The elf king seems like a (hopefully) powerful opponent. Seeing Aura and Mare get more screen time is great, especially since its their own people they're dealing with now. The next book should have some really fun combat.
Cerebus and Fenrir are the goodest bois.
Cerebus and Fenrir are the goodest bois.
March 27, 2023
Finally to the Elf kingdom, but the adventure passes to fast.
After 14 volumes of hinting at it the MC finally drags the twins to find the dark elf's in search of friends. Though it takes forever to get there, and the book ends shortly after. This one is more of a build up to what is to come in volume 16 and probably 17. Hopefully there won't be a year or two wait for the next volumes...
After 14 volumes of hinting at it the MC finally drags the twins to find the dark elf's in search of friends. Though it takes forever to get there, and the book ends shortly after. This one is more of a build up to what is to come in volume 16 and probably 17. Hopefully there won't be a year or two wait for the next volumes...
December 28, 2023
Hmmm I am not very sure about this book, despite that I really love Overlord.
I am not saying that this book is boring or something, but yes, is SLOW, is not bad either, I enjoyed but... feels like this book lacks inspiration from Kugane Murayama, feels like that he wrote just for write something...
I am not saying that this book is boring or something, but yes, is SLOW, is not bad either, I enjoyed but... feels like this book lacks inspiration from Kugane Murayama, feels like that he wrote just for write something...
April 26, 2023
a bit of a filler but fun overall
Very little action. Ainz just doubting himself throughout the whole book. There are some really funny moments between aura and a beast she tames but I cannot wait until volume 16.
Very little action. Ainz just doubting himself throughout the whole book. There are some really funny moments between aura and a beast she tames but I cannot wait until volume 16.
July 12, 2024
Parte 1 de 2 de un libro que es mucho lo mismo, ya este lo leo por completitud, por eso se me hace un poco molesto, es la misma fórmula, ya que ahora está muy gastada, cumple si, como siempre sin embargo le faltó mas ocurrencia a mi parecer, y encima, termina sin solucionar nada
January 25, 2025
Too short. Not enough happens in this one. I love this series but this book should have been twice as long to get to the heart of the story. I know these are novellas but considering the writing style, there aren't enough pages to get to the point.
February 15, 2025
It feels like nothing happened the entire book. Spoiler alert: the book begins and ends with them going to the dark elf village and just having discussions along the way. I am being quite literal when I say that's the only thing that happens
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2025
I really liked getting more focus on Mare and Aura, they were a lot of fun. But I definitely feel like this and Part 2 could’ve just been one book. There wasn’t a real reason to split it up like that.
September 8, 2022
Rede
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2022
The first part of the rescue of the elven kingdom. Well, many filler here.
March 21, 2023
A fairly disappointing volume, it's basically filler and setup for the next volume. Guess we have to wait another year for Slow Press to release volume 16 before anything of consequence happens.
March 24, 2023
It was good but not much happened as it is obviously only half the story.
March 28, 2023
It had some parts that I was excited/curious about and wished it was longer. But this was definitely the slightly boring setup for the next book, which could not come sooner!!
April 3, 2023
not much happening, filler-episode volume for my taste
April 14, 2023
The first half of this book was excruciatingly boring.
April 16, 2023
Seems a bit short
Could of at least combined both vol 15 & 16 together, this whole volume seems like an introduction to the main story
Could of at least combined both vol 15 & 16 together, this whole volume seems like an introduction to the main story
May 7, 2023
Filler episode
May 16, 2023
I can't wait for part 2!
June 26, 2023
Underwhelming
This feels like it was written to fill out a word count. So much reiteration, so much pointless musing, it just feels like it's being dragged out.
This feels like it was written to fill out a word count. So much reiteration, so much pointless musing, it just feels like it's being dragged out.
August 30, 2023
I really liked the first half, then when they got to the Elf village I somewhat lost interest.
September 30, 2023
Honestly I really didn't enjoy this one...
Hopefully part 2 will be better.
Hopefully part 2 will be better.
November 4, 2023
Ainz is such a little goof
December 15, 2023
Pacing was slow, it felt like a chore reading compared to the previous books
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews