Goblin Slayer Vol 3
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
It's fall, and the village's harvest festival is under way. The adventurers spend the time in their own ways: Priestess busy with her duties at the temple, High Elf Archer pouting over a certain turn of events, and Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest helping with festival preparations. Goblin Slayer also spends the days without incident, but what is lurking behind the dwindling requests to exterminate goblins, his three visitors, and the upcoming festival?
Okay guys, we're slowing down a bit for this volume. Volume three has us meandering through the daily life of our characters, checking out some romance, checking out a Fair...it's the calm before the storm. Most of this volume is quite quiet, there's not much action for the majority of the book and I didn't feel like the mystery element in this volume was as pronounced as the others.
Like I said, we do a couple of loops around the fair, see some romance developing between a couple of characters and our dear Goblin Slayer has two potential relationships. Towards the end of the volume everything comes together as the tension rises and there was an epic battle scene! I wasn't sure how I felt having such a quiet volume, but the build up towards the end was fantastic, right before it explodes in to action!
Goblin Slayer is becoming more hilarious to me with each volume. He's so obtuse and oblivious, and so focused on his goal he doesn't really see anything else. It makes for an interesting romantic situation in this volume in particular and I was face palming at him more than once. I mean...he ends up going on two dates with two different girls and not realising quite what was happening, I'm fairly sure. If something he said was anything to go on.
The interludes provided some intrigue featuring a famous Sword Maiden in trouble, before swiftly getting more and more creepy, and then morphing in to being interesting again. There's a great link to the previous volume, and the Priestess is really starting to come in to her own! I'm loving her more and more and rooting for her to become a complete badass! I'd love to see more of High Elf Archer too, she's the source of most of the humour in the volumes for me!
Goblin Slayer vol 3 gives us a calmer journey, as our heroes take a break to enjoy a fair, there's some romance in the air that most likely won't end well, and there's mysterious goings on in the Interludes. I did find this a bit slow in places, but the plot threads came together to break the calm as we exploded in to action and our group had quite the epic battle. We got to see more of Priestess this volume as she grows more and more as a character and GOBLIN SLAYER TOOK HIS HELMET OFF. Yep. You read that right. We even get an illustration, not that it showed his face! But still.
Goblin Slayer Vol 2
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
One day, a certain person arrives at the Guild to ask for Goblin Slayer by name. The request comes from the Water District, a neighborhood in the prosperous capital of the Supreme God, and the Arch Bishop that hails form there. The Arch Bishop was once a Gold-ranked adventurer known as the Sword Maiden who defeated the Demon King, a true hero. Now, she comes forward with the details of goblins somehow appearing within the Water district...
Goblin Slayer, alongside his companions High Elf Archer, Priestess, Lizard Priest, and Dwarf Shaman, enter the catacombs beneath the Water District to get down to the bottom of the goblin disturbance!
The thing that strikes me about this series, is that it's fantasy and there's swords and goblins but there's nothing to do with gaming in this book. It makes a nice change, don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against them, I love them, but it's nice to get a good old fantasy without the gaming thing. I liked how we see how the goblins and their attacks effect the villages and the people. We see how it effects the Sword Maiden in this book as a person, as well as the village, which was very well done and very interesting.
I love the lore to this world, and I love how the magic works, as well as the incantations! I like the different types of Goblins and I really like all of the battle tactics and we get to see more of the battle tactics in this book! I really enjoy the writing, it's vivid and paints the settings very clearly as well as an atmosphere. I can't read Japanese, but I feel like this is a really good translation. In this volume, it's a much larger, dungeon story throughout the volume, and there's a great mystery element as to whose summoning the goblins and what the Sword Maiden knows. Because she knows something, so I was wary of her for most of the volume!
Goblin Slayer has these great little interludes, and in this volume they're all relevant to the plot, and have little tidbits that add to the plot and provide another little aspect to it, which is a nice touch. This volume has more cute art, and I love the chapter headings, it's a nice little touch to make them stand out.
As for our characters they continue to be an interesting bunch. I love the banter and the dynamic between the group, and I love watching them all interact together. Goblin Slayer is hilariously stoic and blunt, like he had to actually say he had made a joke after he said the joke, and watching him deal with Priestess and the others makes me chuckle sometimes. I don't know if he's emotionally awkward or what, but he's definitely something. I'm enjoying getting background on Goblin Slayer and why he's so obsessed with hunting goblins...the lowest of the low. He's literally the only adventurer that goes solely after goblins, most don't bother.
The Lord of the Rings is strong with this one. Maybe it's just me because I'm completely obsessed with LOTR, but I really got such strong LOTR vibes from this book, there where so many...elements that really struck me as LOTRish. The bickering between High Elf Archer and Dwarf Shaman really reminds me of Legolas and Gimli. There's a scene involving riddles that was reminiscent of the Bilbo and Gollum scene, especially when the last riddle was "What have I got in my pocket". Then Goblin Slayer mentioned something his master did that was very Bilbo-y, I'm not going to lie. Some of the swords have distinctly LOTR sounding names too, and then there's an actual chapter called There and Back Again and I did squeal a little bit at that!
I'm so intrigued by this series, and to see where it's going to go and end up. I love the characters, they're an interesting and colourful bunch. I enjoy the writing, and the intrigue and magic and fighting. There are some gorily vivid battle scenes, and some excellent battle tactics that are intriguing to read about. Plus I really enjoy the cute art and illustrations! You all know I love fantasy, so it's not really a surprise I'm enjoying this series, is it?!
