Light Novel: Sword Oratoria Vol 2

Sword Oratoria Vol 2 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

A room bathed in crimson red blood, the air choked with the smell of iron, and a shattered skull atop a dead adventurers corpse...
Thanks to Aiz and crew, the tumultuous events of Monsterphilia ended without incident, and they were finally able to relax-but only for a moment. Soon, they find themselves embroiled in a suspicious case of murder. As they begin to investigate, the ladies soon realize that they're getting involved with a killer that's more horrifying than they thought. 

"What, is this...?"

In the midst of all this, they find a mysterious jewel that may connect to everything else. These events taking place above and below the surface will rock Orario to its core as the darkness lurking in the city bursts forth!

I don't know about you guys, but I am loving this spin off series! I haven't read the light novels of Is It Wrong, I've only read the manga and now I feel like I'm hugely missing out?! The writing in these novels is some of the best I've seen and I might have to go back and pick up the original series! 

As we all know, I love some Greek and Norse mythology and in this series we have actual  Greek and Norse gods, as well as various others floating around. Doing their thing. I love it. I also love seeing how they all interact with each other! 

In the first volume we got to see the first two volumes of the manga (I'm guessing the first volume and possibly second of the light novel?) from Aiz's point of view and had some gaps filled in. In this volume, it's the morning after Monsterphilia aka vol 1, and as our group ventures in to the dungeons it turns out that a member of the Ganesha Familia has been murdered (I spent most of the book being so sure I knew who'd done it and then you know....I was so wrong) and Aiz along with the Amazonian twins Tione and Tiona, Finn, Lefiya and Riveria are all drawn in to the investigation down in the dungeons. They need to find out who did it and why...and what's going on!? Up on the surface, Loki has enlisted Bete (who's still in the doghouse with everyone) to help her do some investigating of her own. Loki is determined to find out more about the plant monsters that attacked her children during Monsterphilia and who's responsible. Not going to lie, a certain someone looked mighty suspicious at the end of the first volume, but in this one...I'm not so sure. 

Things have definitely gotten more intriguing! In the first volume there was a lot of information we already knew about the world and various different things but in this volume we get all the action, tension and drama! I love the contrast we have in narratives between Bell in his story and Aiz in hers. Bell is quite anxious, and isn't all that confident, he's trying to claw his way up as we all know. But Aiz is already powerful, and she has an entirely different personality to Bells, although at times she can be a little uncertain. I love getting to know Aiz better, to get a good look in to her character and how she thinks, and what motivates her. Looking back at the manga for Is It Wrong, and knowing what I do now about Aiz...it puts a different light on things. The same could be said for Bete who I had pegged as one thing, and who I spent most of this volume feeling marginally sorry for. 

But there is soooo much intrigue about Aiz and her past and I have questions and I need answers. Now. Please. I'm also really enjoying getting to see her in action, and see her abilities more! Speaking of, I love how the battle scenes are written, you're right there with the characters getting lost in the action! I have a pretty good mental image of what's going on when I'm reading too. 

That's what for me, makes this light novel series so enjoyable and so above the rest. The writing. I love the writing, I feel like it's so detailed and has depth to it that some of the others lack. The writing creates an atmosphere. Like the prologue for example, it draws you in and gives you the chills! 

There's a lot less Bell in this than there was in vol 1, but there was one little scene that I really liked at the end. Just saying! It made me smile and kind of roll my eyes because c'mon Beeeelllll! 

Sword Oratoria gets better with each volume, and along with Aiz, there are plenty of other interesting characters that we get to meet and know better through her. It's fast paced, there's humour, there's heart warming moments and you're right there with Aiz as she struggles with what to do, with how to get stronger. There are some brilliant fold out, colour pages at the beginning, not to mention the other illustrations throughout to bring life to the words, and I don't know what else I can say! I feel like this is a really great extension to the world and the main story, it adds more to it, fills bits in and lets you get to know characters better, if you've been debating read this....well...you really need to get started! It's necessary reading!