MIXED SIGNALSDruid seems on edge these days. First, he senses a disturbance in the forest, but Ivy doesn't feel anything amiss. Then, they meet Zephyr, a party of adventurers. Sora insists they're safe, but Druid has a bad feeling about Zinal. So, just who is this guy? And does he have anything to do with the disturbance in the forest? Or is her father just being a worrywart?
Ivy and Druid arrive in a new village. While exploring they realize something odd is going on, not as obviously as in earlier villages they visited, but that doesn’t make it less sinister. Quiet the opposite actually. With the help of her powerful slimes they decide to dig into it before something bad happens to them or the village and its inhabitants.
The Weakest Tamer v8 is the start of a big arc, ending right in the middle of the story, not exactly a cliff hanger since nobodies lives are threatened, but the tension is certainly rising with rising scopes and no answers.
For the me the story shines with its characters, including how the isekai part is depicted. It is good we get a bigger plot this time around, makes for a more intense story, although admittedly the heart of the plot does use a trope that is difficult to pull of in a way I like.
I will say, the stories about food are a bit repetitive, they tend to follow the exact same plot beads just with different food types. Luckily that is just a side plot, and somewhat expected considering how often food takes a central role in light novels. World building also raises some questions in regards to economics, in this volume food situations and how a village stays alive if locked within its walls for days or with the many slowly failing attempts at agriculture and odd dependency on adventurers gathering resources. It is nothing story breaking, and it doesn’t disrupt my enjoyment of the story, just something the world builder in me keeps wondering about.
All in all, a solid addition to the series which I really enjoyed reading. I am a bit worried in if the current plot manages to pull of the landing though, but the author has build some trust in that regards so I am cautiously optimistic.
This is the first (kind of the second) of a bigger arc, like the kidnapping arc before which spanned several books. There was a lot of tension compared to other books in the series, but somehow the whole thing still comes across as cosy and cheerful. It's great to see Ivy finding more trustworthy people, but it's a pain to keep track of all these characters. I just know she's going to be trading faaxes with these too, and I'm not going to remember any of their names a few books down the line! All the new characters were really well written; they were all very human. They make mistakes, have personality flaws, and don't know everything. One of the bonus story's at the end is hopeful for the future - I'd like to see more of the 'normal' tamers being nice to their summons. Overall a super good read as usual. I sped through the book in a day, just couldn't put it down.
To be honest, I'm getting /really/ tired of the different variations of the "new strange man is a PDF file, sike!" shtick in every other book and I would love to see a more mainstay woman for a change.
These are very much nitpicks, but as with every light novel, too much of the same "gags" can get tiring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Kind of got bored with this one. It is getting pretty repetitive at this point, and I have very little interest in any of the "major" issues going on with these towns.