Sword Art Online 13 (light novel): Alicization Dividing

Whew! Where to begin? Obviously, if you're a fan of the SAO series, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Pick this up right away! (Considering you've read the prior 4 novels). Each installment of this series is just getting better and better. I can't wait to see this animated this October! Anyway, back to the main point, reviewing the book itself. In this volume, we have two main story points. Since Kirito is separated from Eugeo, we often go back and forth between the two point of views. Kirito with Alice, and Eugeo with a very important person ( I won't spoil it, of course). If you've been keeping up with the books up until now, you'll know that the last volume left off with a cliffhanger. Kirito and Alice fell off the 80th floor of the Axiom Church, and now we pick back up with them hanging by Kirito's sword (which managed to get jammed into a crack in the wall). The next section is interesting because you get to see Alice (who, we've been searching for up until this point) and Kirito talk one on one based on the dire situation they are in. I won't spoil anything, but seeing Alice battle between what she has been told was real and what she actually knows is one of the main themes of this novel. Kawahara definitely focused on her coming to terms with everything. I'm being really general here, to avoid spoilers, but I am telling you, it's an amazing thing to read! Then we have Eugeo, who is still inside the church and makes his way up to face yet another integrity knight. The battle between them is extremely important and a game changer because up until now, Eugeo and Kirito have always fought together. Seeing Eugeo reason his way through the battle by his own wits was great. Also, this battle was another game changer because something troublesome does happen, but I won't spoil that much. This novel introduces the Senate and a particularly annoying villain character, however, I don't see him as being much of a real threat. More annoying than anything, but who knows. One last amazing thing about this novel was we got some internal monologues of Kirito that were particularly well written and gave us insight on how Kirito TRULY felt about himself. This isn't a spoiler for alicization, so I shall direct quote: "I couldn't help but grimace. During SAO, my lifeline as a solo player was my flashy dual blades style, but I'd hidden that skill for so long, I still felt anxious about showing off a two- sword approach in front of others. Or maybe that wasn't entirely it. Perhaps I was somehow afraid- even sick- of the ostentatious description of dual bladed Kirito, The hero who'd beaten the game of death. I never wanted to take on that particular role again, no matter what anyone said about me" and there was another, longer passage that described how Kirito felt about being called a hero for clearing the game, and why he was never good at making friends with boys. He never really wanted to be known as the hero, and because of this he always felt that he needed to live up to expectations. But when he met Eugeo, he had no expectations to fill, so he could be himself. He also stated multiple times that he did not feel that he was that special in any way. Such this gives us the more real side of Kirito, the personable, the more human side that people seem to think Kirito does not possess. I guarantee you this definitely shows us Kirito's true personality, but I digress. (Hey, that rhymes haha) The most unfortunate thing about this novel was that it ended on a cliffhanger AGAIN. Also, this cliffhanger is particularly more irritating than the last one because of how dire the stakes were at that moment right before it ended. I just want to know what happens next!

Love this series.

Loved this series since I first watched it. The light novels are a joy to read. Thanks for all the hard work.

I haven't read this. My son reads them all and has loved each of them

Item as described

Amazing

Cant stop reading

Wish the other book were in English so I could read them all at once ha ha kinda like binging reading

Another solid continashen to Sao

How reading the English version of these novels feels: Get hooked, read the entire book in a day Immediately jump online to find the sequel Pre-Order Sequel Wait 4 months for the sequel to release Receive book Repeat indefinitely.

Whew! Where to begin? Obviously, if you're a fan of the SAO series, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Pick this up right away! (Considering you've read the prior 4 novels). Each installment of this series is just getting better and better. I can't wait to see this animated this October! Anyway, back to the main point, reviewing the book itself. In this volume, we have two main story points. Since Kirito is separated from Eugeo, we often go back and forth between the two point of views. Kirito with Alice, and Eugeo with a very important person ( I won't spoil it, of course). If you've been keeping up with the books up until now, you'll know that the last volume left off with a cliffhanger. Kirito and Alice fell off the 80th floor of the Axiom Church, and now we pick back up with them hanging by Kirito's sword (which managed to get jammed into a crack in the wall). The next section is interesting because you get to see Alice (who, we've been searching for up until this point) and Kirito talk one on one based on the dire situation they are in. I won't spoil anything, but seeing Alice battle between what she has been told was real and what she actually knows is one of the main themes of this novel. Kawahara definitely focused on her coming to terms with everything. I'm being really general here, to avoid spoilers, but I am telling you, it's an amazing thing to read! Then we have Eugeo, who is still inside the church and makes his way up to face yet another integrity knight. The battle between them is extremely important and a game changer because up until now, Eugeo and Kirito have always fought together. Seeing Eugeo reason his way through the battle by his own wits was great. Also, this battle was another game changer because something troublesome does happen, but I won't spoil that much. This novel introduces the Senate and a particularly annoying villain character, however, I don't see him as being much of a real threat. More annoying than anything, but who knows. One last amazing thing about this novel was we got some internal monologues of Kirito that were particularly well written and gave us insight on how Kirito TRULY felt about himself. This isn't a spoiler for alicization, so I shall direct quote: "I couldn't help but grimace. During SAO, my lifeline as a solo player was my flashy dual blades style, but I'd hidden that skill for so long, I still felt anxious about showing off a two- sword approach in front of others. Or maybe that wasn't entirely it. Perhaps I was somehow afraid- even sick- of the ostentatious description of dual bladed Kirito, The hero who'd beaten the game of death. I never wanted to take on that particular role again, no matter what anyone said about me" and there was another, longer passage that described how Kirito felt about being called a hero for clearing the game, and why he was never good at making friends with boys. He never really wanted to be known as the hero, and because of this he always felt that he needed to live up to expectations. But when he met Eugeo, he had no expectations to fill, so he could be himself. He also stated multiple times that he did not feel that he was that special in any way. Such this gives us the more real side of Kirito, the personable, the more human side that people seem to think Kirito does not possess. I guarantee you this definitely shows us Kirito's true personality, but I digress. (Hey, that rhymes haha) The most unfortunate thing about this novel was that it ended on a cliffhanger AGAIN. Also, this cliffhanger is particularly more irritating than the last one because of how dire the stakes were at that moment right before it ended. I just want to know what happens next!

Love this series.

Loved this series since I first watched it. The light novels are a joy to read. Thanks for all the hard work.

I haven't read this. My son reads them all and has loved each of them

Item as described

Amazing

Cant stop reading

Wish the other book were in English so I could read them all at once ha ha kinda like binging reading

Another solid continashen to Sao

How reading the English version of these novels feels: Get hooked, read the entire book in a day Immediately jump online to find the sequel Pre-Order Sequel Wait 4 months for the sequel to release Receive book Repeat indefinitely.

Another cliffhanger, but so good! A lot of great story progression with Alice the Integrity Knight, an excellent battle between Eugeo and another Knight, introduction of the administrator, and a new Knight....it's a lot to take in! Excellent addition to the Alicization arc.