Why are we doing this...?
When Haruhiro came to, he was in the darkness. Not knowing why was he here, or where "here" even was. With him were others who also remembered little more than their own names. What they found when they came out of the underground was a world that was "just like a game." In order to survive, Haruhiro forms a party with others in the same situation as him, learns skills, and takes his first steps forward into the world of Grimgar as a trainee volunteer soldier.
Not kno...
Everything I've been hoping for
This was by far the most exciting and enjoyable of any of the books so far!! The party has to split up into groups very early on, and it opened up a lot of narrative doors. Not to mention the supporting characters were interesting, enjoyable, and not conceited assholes for once (well the past characters haven't all been like that, but you get the idea). Anyway at different points you get Haruhiro, Ranta, Merii, and Kuzaku's narratives - not to mention some exciting romance (not in the main party).
Speaking of the main party, they finally start to have a lot of the intra-party conversations they should be having, and it actually feels like they're bonding rather than just being awkwardly distant for once. Thanks to last volume, and various things in this one, Haruhiro starts to grow up, and cut out the constant gloomy self-deprecation and despairing thoughts a bit - which makes him much more interesting and enjoyable to read. There is a major event that is partially responsible for all this, and it's the best thing that's happened in the series so far (purely selfish reasons on that one). Given the nature of that, it was written very well.
The only thing I was mixed on was the obligatory, overly long battle scene that takes up the final 20% of the book. It was well written tho (even with various narrative conveniences). Well also (major spoiler) I don't care for the fact that Merii stopped Haruhiro from killing Ranta - and not just bc I dislike him). On the other hand, I'm really enjoying how the author has been developing other species as intelligent and civilized, with their own stuff going on. It's so much more interesting than "they're just monsters to fight".
Anyway I'm really, really, really looking forward to seeing how things develop now - bc this book opened up a lot of potential!!