The Silver Beast

スレイヤーズ [Slayers] #5

by Hajime Kanzaka (Writer), Rui Araizumi (Illustrator)

When Lina loses her magic, she travels to Mine where she meets a mysterious priest who agrees to help her restore her magic provided that she help him recover the Clair Bible.

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novel, Manga, Fiction, Adventure, Japanese Literature, Humor

239 pages, Paperback

First published July 13, 1992

About the author

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

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, Xellos, the self-proclaimed "mysterious priest!" Knowing who he really is (or rather, what) makes meeting him in the novels an interesting proposition; I feel like he's much more menacing here than in the anime adaptation. Still, he's one of my favorite characters, if only because my middle sister did a particularly amazing Xellos cosplay during an event in college.

[Anthonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you do when your magic is sealed. Go find a powerful sorcerer that can undo it. Lina's powers are gone thanks to an enemy now she has to deal with some serious enemies that want her dead. A must read manga.

[Rafael Yamano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story starts slow, but speeds up in the second half.

Some parts of it made it into the anime. Xelloss, of course, makes his appearance here. Also the full gang finally teams up here (Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadiss and kind of Xelloss). Lina buying the magic amplifiers from Xelloss appears here, as does Mazenda and the Claire Bible. But all the other stuff is different. Here the heroes have to deal with a Shabranigdu cult that in the end tries to revive Zanaffar, the silver beast of the title. We learn here that it is some kind of symbionte or parasite, since it consumes people after they put on a suit of armor. To defeat it, we see Lina use the Ragna Blade for the first time, something as well that appears in the anime.

The tale is kind of disjointed and we don't learn what's at stake until near the end. But lots of pluses for putting Xelloss and his mysterious ways!

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 We’re finally introduced to Xellos another super powerful sorcerer and one of the final members in the Slayers.

This time Lina loses her magic early on which gives some of the other characters some time to shine. In particular Amelia and Zelgadis.

Still humorous and trope following like the previous books but still a good time to be had. My only real problems come when convenient incidents just happen to pop up and save the day. But that’s really a minor complaint.

[Bob Mackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been slowly working my way through these since they started being re-released in 2020, and at long last, the Slayers series gets to the Xellos factory (about one-third of the way through). These novels are a challenge review since they're a bit frivolous—though aware of that fact—and it's hard to not compare them directly to the anime. Sometimes the novels handle things better, but in this case, Lina losing her magic powers comes off as a temporary inconvenience and not a serious obstacle to overcome. Still, they're fun, the illustrations are great, and I'm looking forward to powering through the next three to get to the stuff that wasn't adapted for television in the '90s.

[Marc Tinent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una nueva aventura, con apariciones de personajes nuevos muy importantes y reapariciones de antiguos. La trama funciona bien y es muy entretenido, y los personajes ya están perfectamente definidos (especialmente Ameria, que en el anterior libro tenía una personalidad algo distinta a la que se le queda al final). Peca de demasiadas escenas de pelea seguidas que hacen algún trozo algo repetitivo, pero como agranda la mitología del mundo de Slayers es uno de los libros importantes de la saga.

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

This is the book that introduces us to Xelloss, a fan favorite and the search of the Claire Bible.

This book is as good as the previous four and by now I´m sure all the books will have that quality.

If toy have seen Slayers Next or just enjoyed the previous books then for sure read this one.

[Tina L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has a similar tone to the others, so if you like them then you'll like this.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually was worried that I was starting to find it a bore to read the series (by book 4), but, this book 5 has revived things up pretty nicely, and I'm itching to read the next instalment already!

There are parts which I hoped could have been elaborated more... such as the backstory of Mazenda and how she got involved with the Klotz group. Also, I thought Lina's disability would be a bigger feature since it happened, but the resolution was rendered to merely a background story....

I really think the Slayers books can have so much more potentially if they were proper novels and not light-novels. There's so much happening that's just being skimmed through.

[Jane Lebak · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are so much fun. :-) Gourry didn't have a lot of play or a lot of character in this story, but it was otherwise really neat.