WARNING:
1) There will be light spoilers from Alderamin On The Sky Volume 1 or Episode 1-4.
2) This light novel is dark.

For anyone who does not know about the author, Bokuto Uno. He also wrote Alderamin On The Sky. I have already written a separate review on it, suspecting he is a Gundam fan when the series go into Turn A Gundam in Volume 12. I really enjoyed his writing, such as his plot twists and likeable characters. And therefore, I decided to pick his new work, Reign Of The Seven Spellblades. Before I go deeply into the review, I will share the aftermath of Alderamin On The Sky.

Last 5 paragraphs of Alderamin On The Sky Volume 14 Aftermath (credit goes to SkyTheWood for his translation):

… And after reminiscing about the after taste of this series, please
turn to the next page.

Starting from here will be a completely different story. I, Bokuto Uno,
who spent seven years to complete 《Alderamin》, will use the
confidence I have accumulated over these years to start a new story.

I’m certain that everyone who reads this far will be intrigued.

The settings of the story will be different, from the war torn world of
Sprites and Science, to a world of sword and sorcery filled with
supernatural and mysteries… However, since it’s a story I wrote, it’s
nature will still be the same.

Come── Let’s start a story about humans.

---- End of aftermath ----

Which means that this story is about humans~
My reaction in Volume 1: Nice illustrations! Garuda in a story about humans! :)

I will now explain the sypnosis of Reign Of The Seven Spellblades.

The story is set in Kimberly Magic Academy. Basically Hogwarts from Harry Potter, not those typical magical academy we see in light novels nowadays.

The male protagonist, Oliver Horn, enrolls into Kimberly for a reason that will be explained in the epilogue of Volume 1. When Oliver enrolls, he made new friends, Nanao, Guy, Pete, Katie and Michela.

However, Kimberly Magic Academy is different from most magic academy we see nowadays. The professors do not care if the students are injured or killed. The curriculums are dangerous. Students getting injured during practical lessons are a norm.

Like Harry Potter, the types of lessons includes alchemy, magical biology (griffin, succubus), magical engineering, curses, riding on a broomstick and even swordsmanship.

The school is dangerous at night. If the students are not in the dormitories, they might be tranported into the labyrinth. There is a labyrinth under the castle, which is dangerous filled with monsters. There are wyverns, dragons, skeletons in the labyrinth. In the labyrinth, there are older students dueling inside. Some of the older students capture younger students for human experimentation. Hence, first-year and second-year students are encouraged not visit the labyrinth. Prefects are patrolling at night to ensure younger students do not get trapped in the labyrinth.

Now to the characters, there are 6 major characters, just like Alderamin On The Sky:

Oliver Horn. Male protagonist of the series. He is a jack-of-all-trades, masters-of-none. Oliver does not specialise in anything, his intelligence makes up for his lack of specialty.

Hibiya Nanao. Female protagonist of the series. She is a samurai from Azia, fictional Japan. Nanao is a strong swordswoman and has high magic aptitude, but she is an airhead. Her intelligence is so bad that Oliver has to look out for her reckless and stupid actions. Nanao wants to duel with Oliver to the death. Nanao enrolled after being scouted by one of the professors.

Guy Greenword. Guy is from a magical farmer and knowledgeable about magical flora. Guy is the second airhead. Guy is the friendly guy in the group but does not get along with Katie. Quite similar to Ron from Harry Potter.

Pete Reston. Pete is born in a nonmagical family, kinda like Hermione from Harry Potter. Pete is a tsundere and a hardworking loner who vists the library regularly, similar to Hermione. >_>

Katie Aalto. Katie is from a foreign country and her parents are activists advocating for demi-humans rights. Has passion in magical biology. Katie personality is similar to Chamille from Alderamin, can be naive at times. Katie has a crush on Oliver.

Michela MacFarlane. Michela is a noble. Her father is a professor in Kimberly Magic Academy. He is also the one who scouted Nanao into Kimberly. Michela is similar to Yatotishino from Alderamin, excelling in everything.

Who do I recommend this light novel to?
1) Harry Potter fans. Kimberly is more similar to Hogwarts than most of the magic schools we see in recent anime / manga / light novel.
2) Made In Abyss fans. The labyrinth is as exciting to the one in Made In Abyss.
3) Full Metal Alchemist and Berserk fan. This light novel is dark.

Who do I not recommend this light novel to?
1) Young children. This light novel is too dark for young children. Read Harry Potter to them instead.
2) People who wants overpowered protagonists. None of the major characters are overpowered. Oliver gets heavily injured in fights.

My thoughts on it? I enjoyed it.

What I like:
1) Great plot twists. It is written by Bokuto Uno, so I am not surprised.
2) Likeable characters. Hopefully none of them gets killed off. A lot of characters have been killed off based on Volume 5.
3) Great worldbuilding. Combination of Harry Potter and Made In Abyss.
4) Beautiful illustrations. I will never pick up the manga after looking at the beautiful illustrations in the light novel.

What I dislike:
1) Fights can become too battle-shounen at times. Well, students get killed off in fights. There are students who can turn into werewolves.
2) Pacing can be slow at times. Especially between Volume 2 and Volume 4.
Overall, I have a lot of fun with it. I will continue reading this light novel and update this review. Hope that this review helps in deciding if you should pick up this light novel. :)

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Ignore typos..

Story : 5~6

The story here is pretty solid at some parts but otherwise convoluted and boring. We have the whole animal rights vs old school storyline which is quite interesting. Normally I would have found it horrible but some plot twists made it alright. The whole noble vs commoner thing is not approached in a very creative manner but is still solid. The main issue is that they spend 90% of the first two books helping this one girl with all of her problems due to her mindset. Aside from her the mc has the most interesting storyline by far and carries, unfortunately, he has like 15 pages of content.

Art : 6

The art is your generic LN art. The mc and fl characters are good designs, the rest of them not so much.

Character : 4

MC has the best character and is interesting. Fl has an interesting character but gets not a lot of spotlight.. Katie's character is surprisingly annoying. Develops from being silly to naive. Guy has no change at all, and the author just randomly makes the glasses kid a reversi. sure he changed but as far as im considered he didn't develop at all.

Enjoyment: 7

I actually enjoyed this because of the mc and fl, otherwise, for me it was all throwaway. still good work by the author if some issues are rectified it can certainly improve.

Overall: 6 --> 8

Overall good enough to read, I only mildly regret it. If the author really improves it could become a 8 in the future

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