Sword Art Online

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-This is a SpoilerFree review-

First of all I want to tell you that I'm not an english native so sorry for my poor english and for the eventual errors.

Sword Art Online, the novel behind one of the most discussed anime ever. Someone says "it's the best, omg nothing can be compared to that", someone else says "it's just the worst story ever with the worst character ever".
So that point of view gave me a lot of curiosity, I just wanted to start reading the novels, and after reading all the 14 that are out up until now I feel ready to explain my vision over ... this series.

We have our main character: Kirigaya Kazuto (much more well known as Kirito) who will "travel" trought many different virtual reality worlds, with just a sword as his neverchanging companion, and every time he will deal with different kind of lifethreatening dangers.
Let's begin.

I will devide the various arcs, and than tell an overall small personal point od view.

Aincrad Arc - Volume 1+ Spin off (2 and 8)
I think I never read something with so much potential and nothing that wasted that much potential. The story is good, the setting is just insane and anyone who loves MMO would love that kind of setting. The ending is actually well done as well, the problem is what's in between. I felt like I was reading a black hole. We have no clue on what's happening during those 2 years, and I was dissatisfied. If the main problem is with the plot development the second major problem is with the characters. Expecially with the spin offs. We have a whole lot of characters over those 3 novels but just a couple are actually useful for any development, and even those aren't well explained, well characterised and we don't know nothing about their background. For me, who likes to analyze the character behind, was annoying. Anyway it's still a quite interesting story and it's enjoyable, overall rating for this arc: 6.5

Fairy Dance - Volumes 3 and 4
If the first arc showed how the autor can fuck up with the potential, here he just showed how he can create a story with basically no potential at all. I mean, I think this arc is completly useless. I didn't like it and that's just my tought. On the good side he created an actual story involving some more characters (...) out of nothing. It feel forced.
Overall rating imho:5.5

Phantom Bullet - Volumes 5 and 6
I like to think the author realized that the previous characters were just too much and not well explained and that the story had too many loops in between. So he created the GGO arc. We have just one character, and for the first time she has a background, a personality and a development. Sinon isn't static, she is interesting and well done. You can like her or dislike her, but you can't deny she is the first complete character ever in this series (it took only 5 books though), and for the story he resolved the loops by lowering the lenght of the period descripted. I personally liked the change of setting with the futuristic style of weapons (lightsaber-snipers-lasers weapon etc), but that's up to a personal taste. I preferred much more the light novel than the anime for this arc. First because we don't have all the shots on Sinon ass, second because it explains the move of the characters (I felt that the people who didn't read the novel couldn't get at all the meaning behind the move Kirito did in the episode 13... anyway) Overall score: 7.5

Mother's Rosario - Volume 7
A short spinoff with Asuna as our main character instead of the usual Kirito. It's not needed for the main story, as it won't leave anything actually important for the next arc, but it's a really enjoying volume. Finally Asuna get background, finally we can know her better, and finally we gat back to see the "new" Aincrad, which I liked (the idea of a floating castle with 100 floors). We got a new co-protagonist, Zekken Yuki, or "Absolute Sword", and she is quite amazing on both the personality and skill in game.
As I said, it's not needed to read this volume, but I personally loved it. Overall score: 7.5

Alicization arc - Volume 9 to 14 (up to now, it will go on)
That's the real thing. Finally we got an actually long story, which is set in a long period of time, and which doesn't present any gap. The character are well developed and finally our protagonist show some colours. It takes place in the new world "UnderWorld", an hyper-realistic world where magic (called sacred arts) is a normal thing and everything has his own HP (named Life).
Kirito after his long journey in the previous world was quite too overpowered, here he start from the beginning, not being able to lift an high level sword.
The story is quite simple, but it doesn't present any bad gap, everything is explained in a really detailed way, from the rules of the world, from his hierarchy... I found it interesting, sometimes the fight present too much description but well, that's what the whole series is about, swordfights.
The only thing that I hated is the beginning of the second volume (volume 10) where we have over 100 pages of description of the new fulldive technology, but you can feel free to skip them, there is nothing so important there.
Overall rating:8.5

It was a quite long journey to go throught this series, and I feel like you should give it a shot despite all the badmouthing that's around the animated series. If you want feel free to read the first arc and than skip to the arc that more interested you, because the only thing that's quite similar throught all the arcs are the references to the Aincrad arc, while the others are just quite disconnected.
I enjoyed the series and I give it a 7.5, just drop any previous heard stuff about it and think with your own mind!
Thank you for reading my review.

Sword Art Online is about a virtual reality MMORPG. It is set on 2022, where humanity has finally for the first time able to completely go inside the game world using virtual reality technology.

At first I didn't really put high expectation to it, since it's genre is quite mainstream, like .hack G.U. or Yureka, but with a tint taste of darkness; Death is real here.

But the more I read it, the more I find myself enjoying the proggress of the story. The writer, Kawahara Reki gives a really realistic system and surrounding of said VR game, and it makes us able to completely drowned ... ourselves to the story.


-Story is 8/10. Volume 1 is an extremely solid story, and the best foundation for a series. One would feel really attached to the series 'SAO' just by reading volume 1, even those who initially did not like reading (I have my friends as living proof). Plus, dat damn cliffhanger ending would hook everyone to keep reading this series. The story also pull you in it deep, making you feel really experiencing the MMO Sword Art Online. There are plotholes, but those are covered and well-explained as the story progress.

Oh, and don't forget the vanilla taste, one of my favorite genre in this novel.

However, after volume 4, one MIGHT feel the story is being dragged on and on and making you feel the story has no purpose, by getting further from SAO itself. Several of my friends dropped SAO after volume 4, saying "it's pointless to read further, the story is as good as ended" to me. But the hell with it, I enjoyed reading SAO.

Alicization Arc is where most people dropped this series, as several of my fellow reader did. Nearly all old chara's was thrown away, so to speak, and new charas popping up here and there. Only our protagonist and heroine has major plot. I can see why most people would hate this.

My argument is: each arc can be said as different series. I would hold my opinion considering Alicization until it is finished, but each of SAO arc is like a different series for me. There's no need to forcefully include one arc's chara in other arc. Each arc has its own solid ground and story, so the whole SAO novel is like several different series. Not all people would agree to me on this, and it's fine since everyone has their own cup of tea.


-Art is 8/10. Art rarely shows up on novel, unlike manga, but the art for this novel is drawn really nicely, hats off for abec-san the illustrator. Both the design and the drawing are really nice, mainly the character design, they really fit the characters.


-Character is 8/10. Chara amazing as well. Kirito, the unsocial but headstrong protagonist is depicted as nearly perfect guy, but in the inside he is not. He actually felt a bit like Gary Stu, but at the same time also not. He's not the character who suddenly went badass together with a turning point in the story, he's a reliable guy through and through. But the perfect sides of him is only on net. His other face, the reality side is practically a social nerd, one who don't get over his problem and haunted by it. Kawahara Reki managed to succesfully give the main character Kirito almighty-but-not-overpowered. Some flaw is also given to this MC , but they blend nicely with the positive sides and creates an anti-hero-but-still-hero of a character (at least for me).

The mainly 'main' heroine, Asuna, is 'Mary Sue' at first impression. Yes, the perfect girl and the perfect waifu, one may say she is a boring character. She's not. She had her flaws. She is a social reject, pretty much, with family rejection issues and such. Yet those blend with all her aspect too.

The qualities are told together with the story, not just with narration power, making them and the chara felt real.The readers are slowly given and made understand about the chara, making them realistic. And that's what I like from SAO's chara.

Even the supporter side charas is designed greatly, each with redeeming qualities and flaws fitting for their roles for each arc.

Then again, there are several people who will argue me on this and said 'no chara development' 'old chara is one use only' and such. I had my arguments for this. Kirito is the sole source and focus in whole novel, yes. Everyone else is purely secondary. Every arc was focused only to him. And I say he got a lot of character development in each arc. For other chara, their development is only on their own arc, but those development exist as well. So what I meant to say is whole SAO development is about the main protagonist Kirito. Other side-charas is truly side charas.


-Enjoyment 9/10. This. THIS. THIS is the most important thing for a novel. Many people dislike reading novel because seeing only writings and letter can be boring. This is the biggest hurdle for a novel. A novel must be able to give enjoyment to the readers and pull them into the story itself, so not only the reader read the story, but also imagining them or even live them. Even the simplest of stories can be a great story if told with great enjoyment. And SAO has really gives me enjoyment to maximum when reading it. Kawahara Reki has succesfully narrate SAO with no Deus ex Machina and amazing detailed writings, yet it only draws the reader more. It is my most important aspect for reading and grading a novel.

Now, it's too bad Alicization latest volume, volume 13 felt really, really rushed, and that made me enjoyed it less (that's why I change my rating from 10 to 9). Alicization started strong, but latest volume has left me quite confused. It is definitely not one of my favorite arc/volume. I myself would hold my opinion concerning Alicization Arc, but I do hope that the ending won't be disappointing.


Overall, I gave 9 out of 10 for SAO. I appreciated enjoyment the most out of all novel qualities. SAO has really make me enjoy the story and pull me into it. Not to mention other aspects is also enjoyable. It has flaws, but it doesn't make SAO less enjoyable, some even give a unique quality to SAO. 9 it is.



P.S.: I effing hate the anime adaptation. Made a revies (ranting) of it too.
(END)

I've read the baka-tsuki version of every main story up to Alicization, which I won't start until the translation is finished. This review is for every non-side up till then, not just the first volume.

The series is very good. Poorly written, but very enjoyable. You can tell the author was younger when he wrote it and each arc is vastly different from the others as he progresses as an author.

Story 7/10
Every arc is different here. Vastly.

First arc Sword Art Online
the story basically serves as a medium with which to explain the world to you. The romance factors are a bit exaggerated since the ... main characters are extremely plain. Still a very fun read.

Second arc Fairy Dance
Lots of fun if you exclude the incest bits that are made blatantly apparent early enough for this not to be a spoiler. The series could have easily take a Luke/Leah approach to make it less gross... but it didn't and the story suffers as a result. The villain is also much more despicable than I'd like. I know you're supposed to want the villain to lose, but rarely does a villain disgust me as much as the fairy king wannabe.
Easily has the weakest story of any of the arcs barring the bits they cut from the animu, which were cool.

Third arc Phantom Bullet
Actually has an interesting story in its own right. Neat world, and basically a mystery novel done kinda well. Kirito munchkins out in full form here though, so brace yourself. Aside from that it's fairly solid.

Fourth Arc Mothers Rosario
Arguably a filler arc, but in my opinion the best in the series. It focuses on Asuna instead of Kirito, which is the first plus. And the other plus is that it actually makes the characters matter in the story. I cried when sad things happened because they mattered and felt good when good things happened.

Art. NA/10
It's a book. Letters are still letters and are usually of similar prettiness.

Characters. 7/10
Again, this is largely on an arc by arc basis.
First arc the characters are fine. Kirito and Asuna aren't quite so munckiny and it's nice.

Second arc had only 2 likable characters, Asuna and Yui. Everybody else, including Kirito, was bland. Yui is actually probably bland too, but she's adorable and makes up for the bland by the sheer force of cuteness.

Third arc characters are alright, but not good. Kirito goes full munchkin, making hm a bit less cool.

Fourth arc, again, is the best. Characterization is a bit lacking in all the previous installments of the series, here it isn't. You don't get to know the characters on a personal level per se but they matter.

Enjoyment. 9/10
Loved it. I can't really explain why, but it was a fun ride. Bland characters, sub-par plots, and poor writing in the earlier bits should make for a not-fun story. They didn't. I had lots of fun reading it.

Overall 8/10
Something I'd recommend reading if you like japanese books and aren't a literature snob that demands perfection. Not super deep, but it brings up some interesting world ideas and pays good homage to video games in a way that doesn't feel like nerd fanservice. And the fourth arc just blew my mind.

PS. The secret H chapter is so cheesy it will make your computer smell funny.

And because every review on this site needs this line and I know you all care deeply about this fact. First review.

Volume one probably the best so far that I've read in the series known as Sword Art Online, the characters are deep, and you end up developing an equal sentimental attachment of virtual world it all takes place. The romance may come about a little fast pace but you quickly forget about it as you find yourself quickly rapped up in how intimate and deep it is. By the end you definitely will get emotional, I won't say any spoilers but its a proper end to the whole story.

But wait theres more, I skipped over the side stories and went right to the essential ... continuation of the story which is fairy dance, where you are now picking up about 2 months since the end of volume one, where Kritio's sister/cousin is struggling over her feelings for him, while he only has one thing on his mind and that is saving the girl he loves. Don't want to say too much as it'll spoil the moment at the end of vol. 1 as it probably goes against what you'd want to happen. But anyways Kirito is pretty reminiscent of his time in SAO, to the point you can say its not completely over for him as can be understood by the main plot of the story arc.

Couple chapters in you get introduced to ALO a new VRMMO from a company that took over the servers of SAO as the company running them went bankrupt due to the whole death game incident. Anyways kirito jumps in the game that is very similar to SAO except that its based around fairies, thus the ability to fly and use magic are available in the game. You'll notice pretty soon that Kirito's character is quiet abit different then when you last saw him in SAO which only just ended two months prior, hes alot more reckless jumping into situations without hesitation, alot more talkative and gutsy when compared to the SAO version you wonder what the hell happened in those two months to cause such a change if anything I'd expect him to be a lot more on a one track basis of saving Asuna rather then being a laid back do gooder who is overly confident he'll win given any situation.

The emotions present in the first vol. seem to have really disappeared as hes hardly the same guy he was in SAO, its like he developed a massive superiority complex after becoming the hero in SAO, at least while in a VRMMO.

I left out alot of the plot specifics as I'm not fond of giving away too much information that you'd know what will happen in general before even reading, since the greatest part about reading is wondering what will happen next. Fairy dance spans 2 volumes although the total chapters is a lot less then vol. 1 its a good read, although its a lot less emotional as Vol. 1 was.

Now getting to the next arc Phantom Bullet which already I'm getting annoyed at as the prologue and chapter 1-2 is a whole lot of long winded crap that I don't think a reader really cares for as they try and compare certain experiences and limits of the VRMMO to real life. A lot of it coming from Kirito too, personally from what I know of Asuna from reading I would think she wouldn't care two hoots of all the stuff Kirito is going on about. It takes place roughly 1 after Asuna is freed and yet Kirito has become this all knowing and understanding, charismatic individual as they make him come off as a kid with the IQ of 200. Sure they hinted here and there that hes a smart guy but now hes all of sudden a genius.

To be honest Vol 1. is 10 which my scoring relates to.
Vol. 3 & 4 I'd give an 8 although I have qualms with the change in character of Kirito its still a good story.
Vol. 5 I haven't got much into but so far I'd say a 5 or 6 since what I have read has put a pretty bad taste in my mouth as the characters are getting farther and farther from who you knew in SAO that it they should really be different characters entirely.

Weather or not I continue to read this story is very much in the air as its drifting too far from its foundation for me to enjoy it.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be inside a game? people everywhere have always wanted to be inside a game or at least considered what it would be like to live in one. In this day and age there are games like MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing games) where people can customise their very own characters and travel the online fairytale worlds where they can participate in adventures, quests, they can conquer dungeons, fight monsters, meet new people, just about anything but you can't actually experience this firsthand because it is limited to the fact that you cant actually live ... inside the game, only watch it through a screen.

However this story is set in 2022 where technology has advanced to the point where virtual reality is possible, where people can travel into a created world and experience things just like in reality. Nerve Gear helmet, helmets that connect your brain and receives your 5 senses and relays them to an online world, are used by gamers in this age however not many games have been released yet until a genius by the the name of Kayaba Akihiko, the man responsible for the invention of nerve gear, creates a new generation MMORPG by the name of Sword Art Online (SAO) which revolutionised the MMORPG genre, and created a completely different genre for games called VRMMORPG (virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing games) in these games the dream of living inside a game became a reality, but that reality was more than they had bargained for.

The story follows Kirigaya Kazuto, an anti-social game addict who jumps at the idea of the brand new game, when the game was released he bought the game and immediately logged in to this new virtual world, creating the online ID Kirito (*Kiri*gaya, Kazu*to*) , there he sees a brand new world in front of him, in this game the main objective was for players to cooperate with each other and clear the levels of aincrad by defeating the boss at each level, sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, they all applied in this world everything was realistic, there he meets a newbie to the game by the name of cline who he-despite having trouble getting along with others- befriends and teaches him the basics of the game, everything was fine until cline realised he couldn't log out, at first they thought it was a bug but suddenly they were both teleported to the town centre where suddenly everyone had declared they had the same problem, suddenly a figure appears in the sky (Kayaba) declaring that they could not log out until they had cleared all 100 levels of the game castle Aincrad, and that if they perished in the game they wont be able to restart as microwaves would fry their brains instantly in the real world and kill them if they were killed in the game or if someone interfered with the helmet in the real world, Kayaba had also declared this in the real world to prevent people from pulling the plug on the players...suddenly the virtual reality became a reality, as 10,000 people found themselves trapped, and as the appearance of the characters the users had created in the game suddenly changed to their actual appearance in the real world, people denied this reality and thought that help would come but none came, some tried to escape by committing suicide but whether or not it succeeded was unknown which not many players risked, this story follows Kirito on a journey to clear the levels of Aincrad and to save the online world where the harsh realities of the real world are depicted in this virtual world.

Would you like to live in a virtual reality? where you could live as a hero? where you could do anything you ever wanted that you couldn't in reality? even when death is also a reality?

the story for me is 10/10, anyone a fan of MMORPG can enjoy this, it starts off somewhat light hearted but it becomes a lot more serious as the story goes on with people trying to clear the levels, forming guilds, a police and forming an actual society in the game but this society doesn't just come with good guys who want to clear the game, in a struggle to survive and gather resources thieves emerge which leads to muggings, which leads to PKing (player killing) and with the cruel fact of dying in this world is real, many go crazy

the art...well this is a light novel so there aren't many pictures however the artwork is still very good and nicely drawn 9/10

characters 10/10 i can relate a lot to the main character Kirito's personality so i may be a little bias on this, the characters are brilliant as they all have their own goals and unique personalities, they all have their own opinions and points of view and each have their own unique past and lead different lives in the SAO game, Kirito leading one of the the most tragic lives......

enjoyment/overall 10/10, when i began reading, i couldn't stop (im on volume 6 now) , this is my first light novel and im glad it was my first as it has been very interesting and has a very unique story, i recommend it to those who like MMORPG's and people who want an adventure story with action with a slight bit of romance

first review so sorry if i made slight errors :P

Alright so first, this is my first review and never less I'm doing this on a phone, so hand with me here. Do let's get started,
First, the story, the story has a great plot line while being the smartest novel, I've read. It goes into full Detail behind how the virtual reality in the story works.the theory on sword art's VR is plausible and bring a the reader I on a whole new level.add the story goes on the plot line gets even more smart and interesting in the alicization arcs,( I think I spelled that right) which introduces more technology and goes ... more in depth in the world were the protagonist lives in. In general the story is a good 9.
Secondly, the art in the novel it's great but there is not a lot of it, it's done by a didn't person them the author, which goes the name of "abec".the art is great but not consistent, which is expected of a light novel. All in all the art is a good 8.
Thirdly, the characters. The characters have a mix review because only the main characters have a deep personality, side characters that only show up for a couple of chapters don't show much personality. enemies of the protagonist are an exception as they sometimes will have background sorry. The main characters on the other hand have at least an individual trait that makes them who they are. kirigaya kazuto aka kirito (the protagonist) has a trait of not showing off and keeping everything a secret unless asked about it or when it process top be useful. In the end the character eating is a fair 6.
Next, my personal enjoyment. I enjoyed this series very much and hope to continue that the next book will be on par our better then the last. the series had by far kept me joined the longest from it giving me a picture of what's happening and appeals greatly to the five senses. Over all this has been a great and fun ride so far which deserves a 9.
Lastly, the over all grade I give this series of novels is a nine for a intelligent plot line and for a stores that produces great sensory images.this sunni and I recommend this novel to anyone who wants to see some action and intelligent story.

Let me just say I am not reviewing the entirety of the light novel series. Although I have read almost all of them, I am writing primarily on the fourth arc of the LN; Aliciziation.

Most people have seen at least the first season of the anime, maybe even the second season. However; after the second season/volume 8, begins the best part of the entire series.

I am unwilling to provide a quick overview because you must experience the entire journey for yourself. The plot is so well executed, and the two main characters on the cover of volume 9 or the focal point of this journey. ... Words can't explain how fond I am of this arc.

The only thing that may seem as a bother is that there is a good amount of plot exposition. But it can't really be avoided in a sense; as there is a lot of explanation of how this new device, the "STL," works. At points it could seem like it's dragging, and it may be quite confusing at the beginning, but one the ball starts rolling; IT DOES NOT STOP. Just wait for the feels trip of a lifetime.

I just finished volume 15 and can't even wait for volume 16. By far THE BEST arc in the whole series, and one of my favorite stories EVER. Do yourself a favor and read it.

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

This is probably going to be the longest review so far. The Sword Art Online franchise has left a questionable mark on the anime community. Some love it, some hate it and there doesn´t seem to be anything in between. To fully dive into the series, i started collecting and reading all of the localized original light novel over the course of two years. This is not the end of the franchise, but for a while it will be the last bit that i will read. This review will cover everything from the Aincrad Arc up to Alicization. I will go ... through this review arc by arc and i will include all the short stories from later on as a part of it´s respective arc ( + ). The „Sword Art Online Progressive“ series is NOT included in this review.

My ranking of the arcs goes as follows:

1. Alicization (Volume 9 – 14) (5)
2. Phantom Bullet (Volume 5 – 6) (3)
3. Aincrad (Volume 1+ 2,8) (1)
4. Mother´s Rosario (Volume 7) (4)
5. Fairy Dance (Volume 3 – 4 + 8) (2)


1. Aincrad - (8/10)

The legendary first arc of the franchise is definitely one of the most iconic and famous anime arcs of all time. But what a lot of people forget is that originally, this arc only consisted of a single novel. Back in 2002, this exact novel won the author, Reki Kawahara, the Dengeki Bunkyo Light Novel award.
Looking back at it you cannot deny how important Aincrad was to the franchise. It was the perfect arc to start of the story and i still think it´s good parts outweigh the bad ones. The world of SAO is genuinely exciting, the setup felt fresh and new, especially when the novel came out originally and the fights were exciting to read. Kawahara put a lot of time into describing the way the sword-skills work, how they feel, how battles work and how to immerse yourself into the scenario. His writing, while not as refined, is calm and slow-paced and he manages to pack a lot of lore and information into every sentence. Like many other Japanese writers, Kawahara uses a lot of inner monologues which might not be for everyone, but i really enjoyed it. I also have to note that this arc by far gets referenced to the most in the following arcs, especially in Alicization.
But there are also very obvious downsides to this first stretch of the story. A big reason why this novel feels so stacked is that to enter the contest, the work could not surpass a certain lenght and it had to be a self-contained story. This led to the first novel essentially speedrunning through plot points. We get introduced into the world very quickly, but only after a few chapters we timeskip our way up 72 floors which feels very inconsequential and rushed. The characters suffered the most in that regard. Aincrad has by far the weakest set of characters, especially if we count in the side stories (which involve Kirito helping out cute girls with his superior skill). The romance between him and Asuna felt right, but was also rushed and underdeveloped. All these problems were exactly the reason why Kawahara returned to this setting with the „Progressive“ series, because a lot of potential was lost here.
This arc has glaring faults, but the entertainment value is just incredibly high. Although i think Volume 2, which contains the side-stories involving Silica, Lisbeth etc. is by far the worst novel in the series, the side story in Volume 8 („A murder case in the area“) was fantastic and showed Kawaharas improved writing later on.
This is the perfect gateway into the franchise. If you like this arc, you will most likely enjoy the rest of the franchise too.

2. Fairy Dance - (6/10)

To be honest, after finishing this arc i thought it was absolutely incredible, and for a long time i held it higher than Aincrad. But looking back at it, this arc had a lot of little flaws that i kind of just forgot about.
I think the tone shifted quite a bit after the dramatic Aincrad arc, in which the characters die if they are killed in the game. Here, there is almost no sense of urgency for most of the first volume. Asuna getting pulled out of the story, serving merely as a damsel in distress was already disappointing for me, because she hasn´t even had a strong character arc of her own up to this point. Also, the weird romantic subplot between Kirito and his cousin(!) interrupted the tension a lot. The fights, although pretty entertaining, were harder to follow than before. The implementation of flying hurt the precise description of the action taking place, making it harder to keep up while reading. I also think that the magic system in Alfheim Online is not thought out well enough, especially comparing it to later arcs (Alicization). There is also a very high amount of Deus Ex Machina moments especially in the final fight.
In retrospective, this arc falls a lot lower than it was after my first read. But we cannot forget how it still included memorable fights and a completely new world in which a big portion of the rest of the series is set in. I think the different areas, the towns and the different races make this world a lot more interesting and the final book included a really memorable section towards the end which i cannot get into without spoiling.

2. Phantom Bullet - (9/10)

This arc completely subverted my expectation in almost every regard. From the very start, this story line had my full attention. Kawahara has always told his stories from the perspective of multiple characters. But whether it was Asuna, Leafa or someone else, these sections were lackluster because their respected character wasn´t build up very well before. The big difference in this arc compared to the previous ones is the amount of depth that was given to it´s supporting characters. Sinon feels complete, well rounded, with her own goals, fears and ambitions and is in my opinion a way better female lead than Asuna.
The world of Gun Gale Online, combined with the fantastic tournament setting gave this arc a sense of urgency and suspense. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi scenario was a nice change of pace from the medieval vibe of Aincrad and Alfheim .I also think that this arc has the best pacing of all the arcs in SAO. The absolute nerve racking reveals later on in the story were incredibly well set up. There are no random subplots like in Alfheim and no unnecessary side characters or filler like in Aincrad. The story focuses solely on Kirito, Sinon and their respective goals.
The fighting here is of course extremely different to every other arc, but Kawahara delivers on the action. With a few notes taken from „Star Wars“ and „The Hunger Games“ he made every fight fun to read. Another great thing is the villain we got in this arc. Kawahara does not have a good track record when it comes to his villains personality, so here he decided to completely avoid that by making him an anonymous killer. He doesn´t have much depth, but the way the story flashbacks to his origin, as well as the new reveals about Aincrad really help with building up the tension. Volume 6, which covers the second half of this arc, was my favorite novel in the whole series, probably the most fun i had reading in a very long time.

Mother´s Rosario - (7/10)

This is a special arc, because 1) Asuna takes the role of protagonist from Kirito and 2) It only consists of a single volume.
Having Asuna as a lead finally gave her more of a background as a character. The pacing is dense and the story takes a lot of time off the action to focus on her family situation, her relationship with her mother, insights to her feelings during the Aincrad arc and her building up a bond with someone else than just Kirito. Speaking of that, the story line about Yuuki was a complete turnaround for the series and felt more small-scale and personal than other arcs. But the tone was consistent and the ending was especially well done. Still, this arc of course lacks the adventure and action of other arcs which led to some calling it forgettable, but I think it still stands as a nice little change of pace before entering the next story line.

Alicization (9/10)

Which of course leads us to Alicization. In my opinion the single best arc in the whole series. Spanning more than 5 whole novels Kawahara rejects almost every rule and every character we knew before and sets up a completely new world. Not just a video game, but a true alternate reality.
The scope and scale of the plot is enormous. Underworld truly feels like a complete world with it´s own history, people, laws and boundaries. The whole setup for the story and the complex build up of rules is done phenomenally. The action is some of the best in the whole series as well. We get a completely new magic system, which stayed consistent for most of the time, as well as a completely different approach to sword-fights.
The pacing of the novels is extremely slow. Every little rule of the world gets explained for multiple pages, there is an ongoing mystery which kept me on edge and the inner monologues are even longer, rivaling the ones from classic Japanese literature like the “Koten-Bu” series. Kawaharas approach to worldbuilding is extremely interesting and highly unique as well.
Another plus for this arc are the characters. The authors improved writing talent really shows here. Eugeo is a fantastic character and stands as an equal lead character besides Kirito here. Alice also got an immense amount of characterization, especially in volume 13.
So why is this arc not a 10 out of 10?. Well, the strongest element in this arc, the worldbuilding, is also holding the actual story back quite a bit. The pacing feels extremely fractured. The lore of the world, while being extremely well written, logical and interesting, is not evenly spread out throughout the arc. A good storyteller can seamlessly feed the reader with little bits of information over a long period of time without interrupting the flow of the story, which by the way, was the biggest strength of the Phantom Bullet arc. But with the insane scale of this world, i think Kawaharas fantasy simply outran his writing skills. He fills up page after page with important lore, which makes it really hard to keep up with the flow of information. Volume 12 is the biggest culprit of that, with over 100 pages in a row that are filled with nothing but info-dumps, lore and dialogue.
But still, this arc stands as the greatest one in the series, and may as well be one of my favorite anime/manga arcs period.


Summary

I really enjoyed collecting and reading this series and consider myself as a big fan. Every new arc brings something fresh to the table, the characters are memorable, the worlds are exciting and the action is a blast to read. I am really eager to get into the newer arcs, especially Unitial Ring, but who knows if it ever gets localized in Europe.
If you like Light Novels, this is a must-read in my opinion. If you never read one, or only watched the famous (or infamous) anime adaptation, i´d say this is a great starting point to the medium.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 9/10

Note: I will only be talking about Project Alicization arc (volume 9 to 18), which isn't in the anime. I found the previous 8 volumes not much different from the anime.

Story (10):
The setting is unique, different from the other settings in the first 8 volumes. It's more similar to an alternate universe, than a virtual world. The virtual world isn't for entertainment uses, which makes the functions within the virtual world which is called Underworld, different from the other three virtual worlds. The Project Alicization arc is set in 2026, after the Mother's Rosario arc. It introduces new technology, and it's not just going from ... the NervGear to the AmuSphere. This new technology made the virtual world incredibly different and realistic. There are many things that happens throughout the 10 volumes, and is separated into two sub-arcs - Human Empire sub-arc (volume 9 to 14) and War of the Underworld sub-arc (volume 15 to 18).

Art (9):
There isn't much to say about the art. It's just the art is drawn very well and the scenes which are drawn makes sense.

Character (9):
Kirito - Unlike the first 8 volumes, Kirito doesn't seem to be as much as a Gary Stu. Even though he does defeat enemies by himself, he does require help to overcome challenges. It's true that there are females who likes Kirito, but there isn't as much as a harem.
Eugeo - Eugeo is a likeable character, and is the one who is very different from Kirito's reckless behavior.
Alice - Unlike Asuna, Alice isn't just there to be shipped with Eugeo. She's pretty strong, dependable and actually fights throughout the whole story.

Enjoyment (10):
With all of the events which you wouldn't expect happening, it's hard to not like it. Especially from volume 14, every volume has a main event happening, and it's not Kirito being a Gary Stu.

Overall (10):
I highly recommend this to people who are interested in watching the anime or have already watched the anime before.

As a native speaker of mandarin, i am lucky enough to enjoy the novels without needing to wait the long translation time or the english translation of the book. Although the first story about Aincrad have seem to be unorganized and messy in structure due to its original purpose is for a novel contest, the story construction skills of Reki Kawahara is something that is definitely worth praising. Both the ALO arc and GGO arc provided a thorough and organized storyline, that are easy to read, understand, and enjoy. Kawahara together with his incredible skills of building tensions and setting the mood while reading, shown ... in book 7 (mother's rosario) cause the story to be attractive for readers that doesn't reject sci-fi or fantasy stories since the whole timeline is based on future with currently undeveloped technology.

The illustrator abec's work is fantastic, with each page of illustration builds up and add on to the feelings or mood that Kawahara wants to present, like the illustration for return of Kirito at the near end of the UW arc, and the scene of Yuuki laying in Asuna's lap at the end of Mother's Rosario.

For english readers that are still waiting for translation of the Alicization/UW arc, the story is definitely worth the wait. The whole arc could be a master piece in the category of light novel. The complicated yet understandable setting and plot connected with the illustrations of abec is just pure enjoyments when reading.

Reading this arc was so enjoying that i wouldve want a brain wash so i can re-read the series again.