A review by absentminded_reader
ソードアート・オンライン 3: フェアリィ・ダンス [Sōdo āto onrain 3: Fearyi Dansu], by Reki Kawahara
3.0
I was a little nervous about this book before starting it. The TV series was a bit soft hentai, and it featured an incestuous sub plot where Suguha pined for her cousin while developing a crush on “Kirito” (both the same man) inside the video game. That’s a bit of a spoiler, but after so many years, probably not.
This is not as strong a book as the first two. Having read the author’s comments, I can see where he struggled to find a new direction for the series. There was more emphasis on the gaming world mechanics in this story arc than in the Aincrad story arc. Parts could be very dull. Reki Kawahara’s real life gamer influence roared strongly. This was something I didn’t feel happened in the first two books despite copious world building. Asuna had been turned into a damsel in distress. Extremely disappointing because I loved her character. She was so strong and feminine—an influential force in Kirito’s life—now just a girl stuck in a cage. I’ve played 8-bit video games with more depth of motivation.
The brother/sister fixation in Japanese media is something that puzzles me. I didn’t have any sisters, but I don’t see how incest gets sexy. It’s a trope that continues to live on. Fortunately, there was just a lot of pining and angst, and no uncomfortable scenes. Although the game mechanics aspect of the story could be overpowering, the world building was solid, the characters were interesting, and even though Kirito was vastly OP, it was still a fun read.
I read the Baka-Tsuki fan translation. This one had tons of mistakes, so I definitely plan on buying the big collection and rereading the professional Yen version at the beginning of 2021.
This is not as strong a book as the first two. Having read the author’s comments, I can see where he struggled to find a new direction for the series. There was more emphasis on the gaming world mechanics in this story arc than in the Aincrad story arc. Parts could be very dull. Reki Kawahara’s real life gamer influence roared strongly. This was something I didn’t feel happened in the first two books despite copious world building. Asuna had been turned into a damsel in distress. Extremely disappointing because I loved her character. She was so strong and feminine—an influential force in Kirito’s life—now just a girl stuck in a cage. I’ve played 8-bit video games with more depth of motivation.
The brother/sister fixation in Japanese media is something that puzzles me. I didn’t have any sisters, but I don’t see how incest gets sexy. It’s a trope that continues to live on. Fortunately, there was just a lot of pining and angst, and no uncomfortable scenes. Although the game mechanics aspect of the story could be overpowering, the world building was solid, the characters were interesting, and even though Kirito was vastly OP, it was still a fun read.
I read the Baka-Tsuki fan translation. This one had tons of mistakes, so I definitely plan on buying the big collection and rereading the professional Yen version at the beginning of 2021.