Reki KawaharaFairy Dance, Vol. 3 (Sword Art Online) (Sword Art Online, 3) (Volume 3)

After testing the waters with writing from the perspective of other characters, Kawahara appears to have decided to make that his focus from here on out. Seeing the story from the perspective of Asuna trapped in a cage, or the sister who’s watched firsthand her brother lying in a comatose state for two years, was compelling. I think Kirito perspective is the strongest, the sister, Leafa/Suguha, is second strongest and Asuna is the weakest, though I also just think Asuna isn’t that interesting of a character and everyone else provides something deeper and rounder, like they feel real while she just feels like the helpless love interest.In any case, Asuna is indeed trapped in this volume and just a plaything for the antagonist, while Leafa takes the stage as the strong female character, even at times better than Kirito. Kirito, meanwhile, is doing all that he can to find her, and Leafa is the one guiding Kirito in this new game. Yui has a role her providing some moments of comedy to the Kirito Leafa dynamic and some explanation of the new games mechanics.Overall, I love this new arc, this new game, and the mini-story in the games world. Adding magic to the sword art online universe was a great addition and seeing Kirito as an agile illusionist whose epic at swords is cool.Great volume.

The LN does a excellent job at helping me see the beauty in what is probably the one arc in SAO I didn't much care for. It expands on characters feelings, motivations, descriptions, and purposes way better than the Anime. How Kirito describes his sister to me doesn't match up with how the art work or anime shows her. The main reason for me, that it drops a star, is how Asuna's character goes from being the co-star to a damsel in distress simply for plot device.

Book Three was definitely a bit jarring at first. The perspective of the story shifts from Kirito to a new character.At first I wasn't a fan of this but as I kept reading I found myself enjoying it. Honestly I think keeping it in Kirito's perspective would have been a mistake.The first story worked because it was claustrophobic. Keeping the perspective in first person made sense and complemented the world of sword art online very well.In this story we lose that claustrophobic feeling, switching perspectives suits the story much better.The book takes place directly after the fall of sword art online. But everything isn't peachy keen.The fear of death may be gone but the stakes are still high.A very solid read, I look forward to continuing the series!

A wonderful story continues, with characters that you care about: they’re like family (“Ohana”, as the Hawaiians say), and you want to know that not only are they going to be okay, but that they’ll achieve their goals and become happy. So, you keep reading.Along the way, you learn what it’s like to become involved with a virtual person, to care about him or her, even though you may not have actually met them IRL (In Real Life). Learning that, you also learn that it’s your feelings acquired from shared experiences that bind people together. Whether those experiences are in the real world or they occurred in a virtual world, shared experiences can be the foundation of a lifelong relationship.You should start reading the series, if you haven’t. I’m off to the next book.

I love this series! I originally read it on deployment when out at sea to the pacific and it kept me completely busy. It’s great to read at night before bed. My little 10 year old sister is now obsessed with manga and I thought this would be a good read for her. I got for her birthday and she is already telling me how much she loves the characters. The quality of the book is good, it’s paper cover. I’m not worried of any damage when she received it. It arrived in great condition!

Kirito's story continues in this volume. Some great elements include his loving adoptive family, the intriguing world of ALO, and the return of Yui. Less great is the whole pseudo-incest vibe going on with Suguha, and the way Asuna mostly gets sidelined. The villain of this arc, Sugou, is a bit over the top, but at least he's easy to hate. Not perfect, but I enjoyed it overall.

It was great

There’s more detail that the anime cuts outIf you like the anime then read the book

It feels good to be back. The last SAO book I read about two and a half years ago, so there is of course a bit of weird nostalgia going on in this review.Although this volume was a good one, I have to deduct one star from my rating, because it felt really short, not page-wise, but it felt like nothing realy happened. Granted, this is the first half of the overaching ALO-story, but even the volume-intern strory line about Leafa's party could have been handled a bit better.I liked the first half of this volume more than the second, because this was more a depiction of the real world in a post-SAO status, where things have to be settled and you need to re-adapt to real life. This part was handled rather good, but felt a bit impactles to me. Baybe that is because "the SAO-incident is not finished yet", to give you some teasing foreshadowing, so maybe I`ll have to wait for the next volume to see things getting wrapped up.

It's SAO...nothing more needs to be said!

Ceci n'est pas un manga...😡 c'est pourtant bien ce que je croyais...Par contre, il est très bien fait, Et livraison très rapide malgré Noël! Mon erreur...j'en ai commandé 3 mais sont tous en anglais!...faudra vraiment que je sois plus attentive, c'est la seconde fois.

Item arrived in the mail as described and within the specified time. Very pleased with the book.

Eine sehr tolle Story, ich liebe die Serie und ist für jeden Fan der Serie geeignet! Die Story ist sehr interessant und fesselnd!