Review: #498
Title: Sword Art Online 6: Phantom Bullet
Series: Sword Art Online - 6th volume
Author: Reki Kawahara
Read Before: no
Comments: The second part of Phantom Bullet, which also completes this story arc. After the set up that was Volume 5, this volume gets into the meat of things. The mystery of Death Gun and how he kills players in the real world by shooting them in the virtual world is revealed. However, the truth isn’t that spectacular, it’s practical and probably the best it can be while still being plausible but it doesn’t blow your mind. This is a huge volume, the longest novel yet in the series so far. Most of it covers the Bullet of Bullets Tournament in which 30 players take part in a battle royale and whoever is the last left standing wins the competition. It is in this tournament that Kirito and Sinon will team up against Death Gun. The final showdown against Death Gun was intense as was all the other skirmishes and encounters along the way. One of the annoying things is that the author constantly repeats or recaps past events. It is understandable if this was only isolated to the first chapter but every so often, we would be reminded of facts or events in the past that we already know, it felt like a waste of text. The battle against Death Gun ends at around 300 pages and the remaining 100 pages is wrapping up, which seems a lot. Despite that, the novel feels like it ended abruptly. A fun story even if the plot seems bloated.
Rating:
6.5/10
