Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI continues broadening the vast world of the series, weaving it in compelling threads through our characters’ journeys.
Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI, compared to previous volumes, adopts a more lighthearted tone. The last volume, given its traumatic content, was challenging to read. So, it’s a refreshing change of pace to see the Sword Roses have some fun and cut loose on trips to various members’ homes. While light in tone, there is an undercurrent of sorrow for Oliver. It peeks out on their journeys and a heightened fear for Kate. Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI continues broadening the vast world of the series, weaving it in compelling threads through our characters’ journeys.
Penned by Bokuto Uno, illustrated by Ruria Miyuki, and translated by Andrew Cunningham, the volume opens with the aftermath of Oliver and his secret crew’s murder of Demitrio Aristides. For the remaining Kimberly faculty in the Yen Press light novel, the professor is missing. They have not located his body. Still, Oliver’s plot to kill the Kimberly faculty, who killed his mother, chugs right along. But this volume also presents a much-needed break to delve into the story’s world, its politics, and other threats. Simultaneously, it fosters the closeness of these friends. They are more like family, building fear for what’s to come and who might survive.
Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI Gives Kate Some Necessary Focus While Building Up Her Cause
The Sword Roses’ first trip in their journey is to Kate’s homeland and parents. Thanks to the fantastic world-building of the series, it’s a believable world that sadly, at times, mirrors our own. While getting to know Kate’s parents, readers learn more about their family’s fight to give beings like trolls and ogres rights. It’s a sad truth how one of them learned to speak human language to help fight for their rights. But to do so they sacrificed their own language. It’s forced assimilation to ensure survival that parallels many of our histories.
Kate’s future remains uncertain, adding a layer of anxiety and intrigue for the readers. Her friends and parents’ fear is not unfounded. This is a girl who, as a child, sacrificed parts of her body so that baby animals would not eat their mother. As the group, progresses through the grades at Kimberly, the risk of being consumed by a spell increases. However, with Kate, that danger is far higher. Even her parents understand that. Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI hints at a potentially tragic future for Kate, but it does not guarantee it. The narrative is fraught with risks, not just for Kate’s possible destruction but for the survival of all the characters.
The Volume Teases Awareness of Oliver’s Trauma
While no one, save for those who were present, knows Oliver’s past fully, more people notice Oliver’s trauma in this volume. It’s like a take one to know one style. Given how many people Oliver and his friends encounter, it stands to reason they’d meet those with combat experience. Naturally, they’d recognize the look in Oliver’s eyes. Most of them prefer that their kids maintain a distance from Oliver. Now, with additional dangers and battles, including the Tir threat and Kate’s self-destructive-for-the-greater-good nature, it’s anyone’s guess what may happen in the future.
Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI keeps it fun while interspersing action, character growth, and new friendships. It remains one of the best magical school series that resonates with larger issues of identity, trauma, and acceptance, naturally weaving it into a compelling story that rarely, if ever, drags. The heavier subject matter gets impossibly heavy, but there is so much more to the series. There are different families, combat styles, spellblades, the old guard Oliver seeks to destroy, an other-worldly threat, and so much more within the pages. Reign of the Seven Spellblades XI builds momentum for the next volume with an exciting cliffhanger of what’s to come.
