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May 28, 2016
In terms of plot, I couldn't enjoy its fullest because I don't read hardcore literature as much, but if you're someone who does, I highly recommend this novel to you.
STORY & CHARACTER
Each volume of the novel is kind of like a spin-off of some famous Western or Japanese literary work, and the story progresses in the same general direction as the original work it is based on. Most characters appearing in the novel have their own motivation and resolve, but as the story develops the author will slowly reveal to you how he/she resembles a certain character in the original work. She adds her
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own spin to the stories so it doesn't matter if you read the original work before, but perhaps it'd be interesting for someone who knew the original work.
ART & ATMOSPHERE
This may be a subjective opinion, but the author was able to nurture this tranquil, immersing school-life atmosphere that I've never felt before. It was similar to the feeling I got when reading spice and wolf, except calmer and sweeter, in the high school way. That feeling is super amplified when you look at the pictures. If you look at some of the covers, especially volume 6, hopefully you'll get what I mean. This just goes to show how well the artist was able to depict the scenes in the novel.
THIS NOVEL IS NOT GOD TIER AS PEOPLE SAY
This novel is not perfect. The level of sophistication often goes beyond what one would expect from a light novel, which fundamentally is supposed to be "light". Due to the way it was written, the literary components are too big of a fraction for the overall enjoyment, in the sense that I had put in too much effort to get through the reading. Sometimes it feels more like I'm doing an assigned reading from school rather than reading an anime-like novel during spare time. Other times there are some pretty depressing plots, which I really wouldn't want if I were trying to relax. Does this take away anything? For me yes.
Finally I should mention that the author is extremely good at writing. period. My only regret is that I couldn't get the full experience since I read this novel in Chinese.
Overall, great story, beautiful art, unique setting, heavy writing. I give this an 8/10.
On a side note, I've heard people say the anime is shit. So just read the novel.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 27, 2016
I view the story and plot twists as sprinkles on ice cream - they're not bad, but they're not good. Just ordinary and dispensable.
The setting of accel world and the game design is quite spectacular, even better than SAO, but most of the plot significantly lacks novelty. Eventually every player enters this battle arena and starts killing each other with their unique super powers. That's pretty much it. Oh, and your girl was once the leader of this epic guild, but now everyone in this whole world fucking hates her and suddenly you're alone with her to learn her techniques and try to build
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another super epic guild? Seems legitly cliched. The first few times you encounter such sprinkles, you get excited from the sugary taste, but after awhile it gets dull. The author mitigates such triviality starting at volume 6, where he introduced this dangerous central palace and a hypnotizing armor. This was quite interesting, but even if I ignore some of the obvious plot holes, the feeling I got from this is similar to when a game company releases a new patch for a boring game. First it seems as a breadth of fresh air, but immediately you get tired of it again because there were no fundamental change to the backbone.
I think I am too critical. But it is just difficult for me to seriously consider the situations of these characters, no matter how bad, because the setting of this entire story is that they are playing a "game". Maybe it's because of this reason, sometimes I feel like events taking place are depicted too seriously and the characters are doing stuff way too insane like they're some fat otaku. There's just too much drama in the real world. Sure it is on me to read it as a novel, but it is on the author to present a convincing and appropriate setting.
Despite everything I said, I actually like accel world. In fact I read it very quickly, in just a couple of days. The stories of some side characters were pretty good, and the art is great. But the fact that I never went back to re-read the novel or re-watch the anime speaks a lot. Did I mention it's still ongoing?
I give this a 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 26, 2016
This was one of the first light novels I read, which is why I was able to finish it in the first place. I don't really remember the details since I read a while ago, so I'll speak mostly of my impression.
The first 13 volumes of this novel are pretty dull (well, except for sister's arc). The author sets up a magnificent stage where magicians and higher technology coexist, but emphasizes only the magic part until about volume 16 for whatever reason. I'm fine with him writing about what interests him, but personally I find the science side to be much more interesting. He
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also invented some of the most creative physic powers I've seen. However, all these have greatly gone in waste due to immature writing and a lack of a central plot. He manages to turn everything around at around volume 16 and really sets up an epic final battle, but that happened too late.
Other than its wasted potential, I'd like to address 2 additional problems with this novel. Firstly, the author likes to tell many different stories simultaneously, which I call immature writing. The problem with this becomes particularly conspicuous during the later quarter of the novel where 4 or 5 groups of people are trying to do things at different places at similar times. The author simply writes a few pages for a group, and immediately jumps to the story of another group which, for the most part, were unrelated. These mini side-stories do tie up in the end, but I easily lost track of the characters, what was happening, why they were trying to do what they're doing,... etc., and is in general a big minus that only dilutes my interest.
Secondly, the author creates a massive dichotomy between magic and science, where the magicians earn everything through hard work while the espers were just gifted. However he never truly develops this theme in depth. He sort of just told you, "here's something to think about..." and left it like that. In addition, the power of the MC pretty much defies any meaning he does manage to squeeze in, because it is just way too OP and out of place for the setting of this novel. I mean, almost every battle the MC was involved in boils down to he shit talking a bunch of crap, then he punches the villain. This in and of itself is a rather boring pattern for fights, not to mention how most of MC's shit talking was very idealistic.
Finally, if you're thinking of reading this because you saw the anime, expect shit art. don't even.
Overall, this story was interesting but too much potential wasted. I give this a 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 26, 2016
Despite the dumb and cliched premise of this novel, the author manages to put his unique spin on this genre and develops a surprisingly interesting setting and plot events that captures the intricacies of both moe and history.
In my opinion, the author achieves a very well balance between the true history and fantastical parts he adds, which I've rarely if not never seen in other time leaping novels. Unlike other time traveling themed fictions, the MC in this novel can and does let many characters know about his origin and how he can tell their future. He uses his knowledge, secretly or not, to
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push forward historical plot events, guide the growth of Nobuna, and attempts to "correct her" when she falls into some historically predetermined shithole. You can see how those corrections accumulate and how they slowly take away his ability to fortune tell. Even if you know sengoku history very well, you will still be often surprised (in a good way) by how the author tells its story.
On the other hand, even though the story contains future telling drama, it's really not a story about that. I believe the overarching theme is embedded within the ultimate goal of Nobuna. Though the dream itself is extremely beautiful, its elegance truly shines when she were trapped between pursuing it or giving it up for her romantic relationship with the MC (and yes, unlike some trash harem novels, legit romance DOES happen and Nobuna IS the clear heroine.) Most notably, the MC tries very hard to help Nobuna fulfill her dream, but ironically he often employs methods that neglect her feelings. This creates a strange paradox where even though the MC is the only person who can truly understand and acknowledge her, he often serve as the most unforgiving character contributing to Nobuna's internal sufferings.
Overall, if you can temporarily forget about the stupidity of transgenderism by which this novel is based, you can expect a fair share of moe, history, and fantasy combined with nice writing and lots and lots of awesome pictures from Miyama sensei.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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