In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online-a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other-opens its virtual doors, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in the game world by manipulating their brain waves to create a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as ...
This was my least favorite SAO novel I've read, which is disappointing and surprising, bc I've absolutely loved Unital Ring arc up until this point.
My first problem was that literally the entire first half is spent on the battle with the new antagonists who showed up. While there are some interesting moments, the antagonists are imo the least interesting antagonists in all of SAO (they're just a bunch of spoiled brats really), and the battle just really drags on. The only redeeming quality is the exchanges between Alice, Fanatio, and the newly introduced Eydis Synthesis 10 (a character incorporated from the game Alicization: Unleashed Blading). Eydis really adds a lot to the story, especially in her exchanges with Alice, and I think it was great to incorporate her. In the second half, she and Alice are sitting side be side, holding hands, in a sweet and intimate moment. The later exchanges with Kirito and Asuna are also enjoyable.
After that, the book splits between the real world, Unital Ring and Alicization. The Unital Ring parts are my favorite, since they involve unexpected developments, and the supporting cast feature much more prominently. It's been great to see them have more time in the spotlight. The real world portion takes the opportunity to introduce the newly incorporated Mito (from the Progressive movies)... Who shares literally nothing in common with the movie Mito, but is instead an SAO survivor - Ashley, the tailor who's made Asuna's and Kirito's outfits later in SAO - who's briefly been mentioned elsewhere in canon. Apparently she was the original basis/inspiration for movie Mito - so we have this pointless reunion scene with Mito (who's Ashley, but also Mito, but has nothing in common with movie Mito, besides her appearance), Asuna and Tomo (Argo). It does seem like she'll be around in UR in the next novel. Unlike Eydis, who adds to the story, this was basically just poor fanservice.
Seeing that aside, the Unital Ring developments are great, and I enjoyed Eydis' fondness for Alice... While I don't see it turning romantic, I'd love it if it did. By the end of the book, we start to get a bigger picture of what's going on in Underworld, and what else it might connect to.
Overall, so much of this book felt dragged out though, and I really hope that doesn't end up being the case next volume too.