I found this at a used book sale put on by The Friends of the Plymouth Library in Minnesota. I had already watched two seasons of the anime, and so I was curious about what the book series would be like. This book takes place in the midpoint of season 2, Diablo challenging his own dungeon to retrieve an item that can cure a magical disease.
By and large, the anime is a faithful and straightforward adaptation. One does not miss much by only going the anime route but you will miss something if you don't read the book. The book uses Diablo's perspective, and so the reader is privy to more of his thoughts and motivations.
In this story, one gets the thought processes behind the design of each level of the dungeon. In the anime, they're just weird things, basically Big-Lipped Alligator Moments. Here, one learns their origins. For instance, the maze level was designed to be a survival-horror type experience, and the Idol-Genre themed level was inspired by a cross-promotional event between Cross Reverie (the in-story video game) and an Idol-Genre game produced by the same company. Diablo made the second one to stay current with trends.
There is also a significant context present in the books that is missing in the anime. In the books, Diablo is low on MP when starting his dungeon challenge. This is due to lingering fatigue and exhaustion of supplies during the events of the previous volume. He is weaker than normal. Indeed, his knowledge of the dungeon is more valuable than his magic power, because he can rely on his party members for assistance. Then an event happens where he loses his top-ranked gear, thus making him more vulnerable than he's ever been thus far.
Finally, it is a lot easier to play-out Horn's Sweet-Polly-Oliver in text format than visual format. When watching the anime, I was unaware that Horn was ever pretending to be a boy. I thought Horn was just a girl wearing practical adventurer clothing. So, the reveal is more significant.
The fan-service is still present, but only when the book specifically chooses to focus on it which, fortunately, isn't often.
Trickster Eric Novels give "How Not to Summon a Demon Lord - volume 5" a B+
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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