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Sword Art Online #25
Sword Art Online 25: Unital Ring IV
Kirito’s chance encounter with Eolyne, a man who bears a heart-rending resemblance to Eugeo, shakes him to his core. But now is no time to be sentimental. The fires of interworld war are being lit one by one, and the peaceful days in the Underworld may be numbered. Elsewhere, the decisive battle against Mutasina of the Virtual Study Society looms, and to make matters even worse, she’s used her powers to take a battalion of one hundred mages under her command! Can Kirito and company devise a strategy to defy their overwhelming disadvantage before time runs out…?
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2020
16 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Reki Kawahara
284 books911 followersKawahara Reki (川原礫) is the writer of Sword Art Online and Accel World. He also uses the pen name Kunori Fumio. His hobby is cycling.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 26, 2022
I feel that this book told me nothing new. All this Unital Ring stuff mostly feels boring and repetitive at this point, there’s even the same monsters as in SAO, the villain is way too OP, and I really couldn’t care less about her. What I really want to read is about this Underworld suspicious activity and Eolyn and how exactly he’s connected to Eugeo. There’s so many mysteries here that have so much potential. I remember a person being missing from the Ocean Turtle, my guess is that has something to do with this new presence now.
I’d really like Reki to focus more on the plot. This book was a lot of information of the characters, which I don’t tend to love, but not a lot of plot movement. I wonder how many books it’ll take for both worlds to merge. That sounds interesting, guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’d really like Reki to focus more on the plot. This book was a lot of information of the characters, which I don’t tend to love, but not a lot of plot movement. I wonder how many books it’ll take for both worlds to merge. That sounds interesting, guess we’ll have to wait and see.
June 30, 2025
Heres the thing, the Unital Ring stuff, complaints aside, is getting pretty good and a solid story, 9/10 stuff (maybe 7/10 due to the constant reminders 25 books into a series about things that have happened previously.)
the underworld stuff has potential, i don’t mind going back there, though i wish it was the save file/light cube of Kirito’s memories doing so, and not our now bumbling hero.. perhaps his newfound extra sillyness is related.. anyway i suspect the worlds will collide which is why it isn’t being told after the UR story.. however its the weaker aspect, and brings my overall enjoyment of the book down to 3/5.
the underworld stuff has potential, i don’t mind going back there, though i wish it was the save file/light cube of Kirito’s memories doing so, and not our now bumbling hero.. perhaps his newfound extra sillyness is related.. anyway i suspect the worlds will collide which is why it isn’t being told after the UR story.. however its the weaker aspect, and brings my overall enjoyment of the book down to 3/5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2024
Well, I felt things were moving forward a bit more rapidly in this volume! To where they are moving, I do not know! I’m still not super-excited about UR game tbh tho; it just doesn’t seem to have much in the way of anything at stake. Let’s see what happens, I guess!
May 14, 2023
In typical Kawahara fashion, the cliffhanger that marked the end of a previous volume is not the place where a successive volume starts. While we were introduced to Eolyne as well as descendants of familiar faces in the previous volume, we were quickly yanked out of the moment by a self-imposed timer and hastily blocked from venturing back to the Underworld for several days. And to add insult to injury, we, just like Kirito, were left with more questions than answers at the identify of Eolyne. Sad.
That said, the true start of the volume featured a return to form, starting off right where we left off with Kirito and other members of Kirito Town or Ruis na Rig facing off against the Life Harvestor. We expanded our protagonists forces with the American players of Insectisite joining up with the NPCs, the Bashin and Patter who were also new residents of the town. The battle was amazing and felt like the same sort of thing that I enjoyed in Aincrad and makes me hopeful for more of these battles in the future. If there was one thing the Underworld and GGO didnt have, it was these, the boss fights of Aincrad and Alfheim that are trademarks of the genre.
Beyond that the Mutasina developments were very encouraging and helped to show that the drama and intensity can be pretty high when we have human enemies, and even more so, when such enemies are resorting to playing by the rules, not doing as some antagonists have done with harassment or holding characters hostage in the real world or in other precarious scenarios. It is perhaps one of the best parts of having Mutasina and her Virtual Study Society as antagonists and based on how it ended as potential antagonists in the future.
Finally, the return to the Underworld was fantastic and really hyped me up about the future. The future take of it as well as the characters involved, their reactions to Kirito aka Star King, Asuna aka the Star Queen, and lastly Alice, the Osmanthus Knight, was a blast. The Journey to Centoria Cathedral as well as ascending it to the upper floor, and lastly to seeing Tiese, Ronie, and Selka, was suspenseful. The ending was pretty bittersweet and really made me want to get to the next volume immediately.
Overall this volume struck a nice balance of action, mystery, and suspense, and really makes me really hyped for more to come.
That said, the true start of the volume featured a return to form, starting off right where we left off with Kirito and other members of Kirito Town or Ruis na Rig facing off against the Life Harvestor. We expanded our protagonists forces with the American players of Insectisite joining up with the NPCs, the Bashin and Patter who were also new residents of the town. The battle was amazing and felt like the same sort of thing that I enjoyed in Aincrad and makes me hopeful for more of these battles in the future. If there was one thing the Underworld and GGO didnt have, it was these, the boss fights of Aincrad and Alfheim that are trademarks of the genre.
Beyond that the Mutasina developments were very encouraging and helped to show that the drama and intensity can be pretty high when we have human enemies, and even more so, when such enemies are resorting to playing by the rules, not doing as some antagonists have done with harassment or holding characters hostage in the real world or in other precarious scenarios. It is perhaps one of the best parts of having Mutasina and her Virtual Study Society as antagonists and based on how it ended as potential antagonists in the future.
Finally, the return to the Underworld was fantastic and really hyped me up about the future. The future take of it as well as the characters involved, their reactions to Kirito aka Star King, Asuna aka the Star Queen, and lastly Alice, the Osmanthus Knight, was a blast. The Journey to Centoria Cathedral as well as ascending it to the upper floor, and lastly to seeing Tiese, Ronie, and Selka, was suspenseful. The ending was pretty bittersweet and really made me want to get to the next volume immediately.
Overall this volume struck a nice balance of action, mystery, and suspense, and really makes me really hyped for more to come.
December 16, 2024
There are two plotlines in this story. Which makes it a little tough to follow, if you don't remember if you read the previous volumes. First Kirito and friends are fighting a giant monster in a online game where if you die, you don't respawn. Then they get attacked by mind controled minions. In the other plot, Kirito and Asuna are trying to keep peace in the underworld.
I had a tough time following the story. I don't recall if I read the previous volume or two, and was kind of lost. Otherwise it was enjoyable. AS usual with this series, a lot of just leading to the events of the next volume.
I had a tough time following the story. I don't recall if I read the previous volume or two, and was kind of lost. Otherwise it was enjoyable. AS usual with this series, a lot of just leading to the events of the next volume.
October 1, 2022
Not as good as I thought it would be. I miss the sword and fantasy world that the Underworld was. As for the Unital Ring parts, I’m not really getting the point of it. For me, I want to know more about Eolyne and his ties to Eugeo. I hope this is pursued in future books. It seems rotten that all the characters except for Eugeo magically were frozen. As if there weren’t too many girls already 😑
September 29, 2022
Great story.
The action halfway through the book was great and the ending was great too. The structure where Kirito is going to two different worlds is odd. I feel we get two short stories. I can't wait for the next book.
The action halfway through the book was great and the ending was great too. The structure where Kirito is going to two different worlds is odd. I feel we get two short stories. I can't wait for the next book.
September 27, 2022
"but I had to accept it already. not a single one of the people I loved was still alive in this world."
how was I even able to breathe at all during this?
how was I even able to breathe at all during this?
September 28, 2022
At least now I catch up with the latest official translation of this series. As mentioned by the author at the end, this story really not fast, but the story now begun rolling.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews