This volume marks a change from previous volumes. It shows in the character focus, the selection of chapters and the overall arc of the story. It is fun. It is interesting. It is a change of pace.
For character focus, Komoko is not front and center. This is actually a breather volume for her. She spends it traveling with Ariel, Sophia and Merazophis and the puppet spiders, and she passes time by experimenting with Divine Thread cloth weaving. It is basically a road trip with her grandmother while she plays with her cousins. That is heartwarming. It is nice to see her not have to fight for her life every minute for once. That is not to say she DOESN'T have a terrible challenge to face before the end.
For the selection of chapters, this is the first volume that doesn't switch between time periods. Yeah, prior volumes would switch between Spider chapters, focusing on Komoko, and Shun chapters that take place about 20 or so years later. All this volume's chapters take place in the "Spider" time period, which is not to say that there is no differing of viewpoints. Indeed, this volume has several viewpoints, all developing several characters. In fact, all of Komoko's party members get viewpoint chapters, as well as Rondandt. All of them have their own character arcs. It really is impressive how the author manages to develop and bring to completion so many character arcs without bloating or dragging the narrative.
For the overall arc of the story, more of the myth arc is revealed. Remember some volumes ago when Komoko maxed out Taboo and learned the truth of the world? Yeah, it was an Unreveal at the time, and now we get to learn more of what is going on behind the scenes. Beyond the human-demon war of the Shun chapters, we see more of what is truly happening during "the present". Not everything is revealed, because the discussion takes place from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't have the frame of reference for it, but the reader can piece it together.
This ties into the terrible challenge which Komoko must confront.
It is a nice change of pace and another homerun for the author.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "So I'm a Spider, So What? volume 6" an A+
Click here for my previous book review: "Valkyrie" by Katie O'Hearn (read for fun)
Click here for my previous book review: BOFURI : I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense volume 3 (read for fun)
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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