Review: #909
Title: Accel World 16: Snow White’s Slumber
Series: Accel World – 16th volume
Author: Reki Kawahara
Comments: Continuing straight after the previous volume, it focuses on a lot of action. By the end of the novel, you feel as if the plot hasn’t gone forward too much and that’s because the arc takes place over the course of a few days, yet it spanned over multiple volumes over a year. That being said, it finalizes most of the plot points and no “to be continued” message at the end. The battle focuses upon the rise of the Armor of Catastrophe Mark II and the protagonists’ desperate attempts to suppress it before it became too powerful. It ends up becoming a cycle of pulling additional powers out of nowhere. The Armor does attack after attack, and with Metatron’s help, Silver Crow pulls out stronger and stronger abilities to counter, it gets a bit ridiculous and unbelievable at times. More information regarding the nature of Brain Burst is touched upon and this is what hooks you, even though it has a sort of amateur feel to it. While it goes for an angle where it tries to be sad, it doesn’t quite work, and then undoes it by the end anyway. This makes it appear as if the author doesn’t have a proper handle on how to steer the story. While there are plenty of flaws with the storytelling and pacing, nevertheless it is intriguing.
Rating: 6/10