Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin

Volume 12: Century Colours! Million Colours! The writer, Bokuto Uno has to be a Gundam fan. >_> I will write a better sypnosis for Tenkyou No Alderamin. The story is set in India/Burma/Tibet. There are 3 countries, the Katjvarna Empire, the Aldera Holy Church and the Kioka Republic. The Katjvarna Empire is currently in a losing war against the Kioka Republic, because the Empire is corrupted. Aldera Holy Church is considered neutral in the conflict. The Katjvarna is ruled by an emperor, which is an absolute monarchy, the Kioka Republic is a democratic country. The Aldera Holy Church is the Vatican City State. In this world, people owns pets known assprites, which helps them in their daily lives. There are 4 types of sprites: Light, Fire, Wind, Water. The Aldera Holy Church worships them.They are also used by the Empire and Republic as weapons of war. The plot is set in the Empire. A group of teenagers (Yatori, Torway, Matthew, Haro) are travelling to an island for their military examination. To attend the examination, they have to travel by ship. Yatori suddenly meets his long-lost childhood friend, Ikuta, who eventually says he has returned to abduct her. Ikuta then joins the group in the boat. A shipwreck suddenly occur, which leads to a girl falling overboard. Ikuta saves the girl and she revealed to be the Chamile, the princess of the Empire. They were stranded in the Republic's territory. They eventually made it back to the Empire and became Chamille's knights. Chamille noticed that Ikuta is an excellent tactician and asks him about the Empire's future. Ikuta replies that the Empire is hopeless and doomed to fall. Chamille then gives a Ikuta a new mission. Climb the ranks of the military and intentionally loses this war. I will now introduce the major characters: Ikuta Solork/Sankrei - He is the lazy tactician who fights the war in a lazy and scientific method, calling his squad to be lazy and scientific to fight a war. He used to be in exile nad returns to abduct Yatori to Kioka Republic because he dislikes the Empire, thinking that it is hopeless to stay there. His childhood dream is to be a scientist, inspired by professor Anarai, who is a close friend of his father, Bada Sankrei. Bada Sankrei is considered a traitor and forces Ikuta and his mother to be in exile. His mother died and Ikuta survived with a hatred to the Empire. Before his mother's death, she told Ikuta to be lazy, not to join the military and joins up with his childhood friend, Yatori. Yatorishino Igsem - She is the childhood friend of Ikuta. She is a noble of the Igsem household, who is famed for their dual swordsmanship and their service to the military. Her father is the Field Marshal of the Empire and is a close friend of Bada Sankrei. She is loyal to the Empire and joins the military as it is her duty for being part of Igsem clan. Torway Remeon - A noble for the Remeon household, famed for their marksmanship. He is a nice guy who is afraid of shooting people in close range. Respects both Ikuta and Yatori. His father is a General of the Empire and has rivalry towards Yatori's father. His father is also a close friend of Bada Sankrei. Torway eventually becomes an elite sniper. Princess Chamille - A princess of the Empire but grew up in the Republic. She is quite mature for her age and is aware that Empire is in ruins. She knows that Ikuta is a capable man and entrusts Ikuta with mission to fix the Empire. Not going to explain too much about her background as there will be spoilers for the plot twists later. Matthew Tetdrich - A noble from the Tetdrich. However, the Tetdrich family is not as powerful as the Igsem or Remeon faction. They are neutral to the rivalry of the two factions. Matthew is not as talented as Ikuta, Yatori or Torway. But works hard to keep up with them. He eventually develops into a great military commander. Haroma Bekkel - She claims to join the military to support her family. She becomes a medic. Not going to explain much as these are heavy spoilers for the plot twists in the second half of the Light Novel. These are the the summary of the six major characters. Well, there are some more important characters such as professor Anarai, etc. Who do I recommend this LN to? 1) Likes plot twists. Example: Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion, Mobile Fighter: G Gundam. 2) War Story. Example: The whole of Gundam outside Build Fighters and Build Divers. If you are interested in the sypnosis I have written, feel free to pick the Light Novel up. :) But do not get too attached to the characters, you can see other reviews when people take a break after Volume 7. The writer has the guts to kill off characters in the middle of the plot. Here are my overall thoughts on it: I had fun with it. This is not the type of Light Novel showing the protagonist outsmarting this opponents. This Light Novel shows that people are hurt when they lost their loved ones in a war. It focuses more on the horrors of war. There are no winners in a war, only victims are remained. I also enjoyed the number of plot twists throughout the LN. Do I have complaints? Yes, I do not understand why the writer made this type of ending, not going to explain too much due to spoilers. What I like in this LN: 1) Plot twists 2) Character Development 3) Great Setting. I like war stories. 4) Good politics 5) Interesting military strategies. What I dislike in this LN: 1) The ending. Getting back on topic why I feel that the writer has to be a huge fan of Gundam. Tenkyou No Alderamin shows the horrors of war which is exactly what Universal Century Gundam did. There are times it focuses on diplomacy, such as volume 11, Turn A Gundam is more focused on diplomacy to avoid a conflict. Volume 12 is when it explains the past and the Sprites, similar to Turn A Gundam explains why things like Ball and Zakus existed. Because war has always been occurring throughout history. Ikuta even asks "Can we stop fighting?", which means it also asks the question "Can there ever be true peace?". Hope you likes my review! :)

Alderamin is the tale of several young and brilliant military officers who must use strategy to survive battlefields--whether they're fought with bullets or politics. The story doesn't glorify war, nor does it overemphasize its traumas, but it never shies away from the reality of the character's positions as commanders who carry the heavy burden of their unit's lives on their shoulders. They have to think objectively about sacrifices, follow orders they don't like, plan ahead, watch soldiers die by their own orders, and be ready for whatever counter-strategies the enemy throws at them. But with their heads together, they are much more capable of seizing victoryfrom the jaws of defeat. The characters are archetypal and their personalities may not be as natural or complex as those in other series, but they're passable. The characters have simple exterior personalities, but each of them harbors inner conflicts that guide their interactions with one another and create unique relationships, the most prominent of which being between the lazy Ikta Solork and the dedicated Yatorishino Igsem. If you're looking to immerse yourself in a detailed fantasy world, Alderamin will likely disappoint you in this regard. While the fantasy setting is interesting, the series is written in a really bare style that is low on description--as if it's narrating the story as historical nonfiction to someone who is already familiar with the spirits, cultures, environments, and technologies that are foreign to us. In lieu of details, the writing prioritizes what is happening, why, and how. This works well for keeping the reader invested in the strategies at play and the inner monologues and conversations among the characters, but it comes at the cost of immersing readers in the world around them. Alderamin is clearly well-researched. Some strategies seem to be reminiscent of real battlefields from history and frequently include technical details like naval maneuvers or how the human body acclimates to high altitude. This research is crucial to immerse the reader in the mindset of these strategists. One of the most impressive facets of Alderamin is how it writes strategy, as without it the story would have little merit. As the reader, you'll consistently be given enough information to formulate a strategy that might get the characters out of their predicament, but still be surprised by what the characters come up with. When writing strategy, it's important that the strategist doesn't come off as 'omniscient' or always knowing exactly what his or her opponents will do, and this is an area that Alderamin handles extremely well. Characters make intelligent mistakes, sometimes crucial ones that haunt them, and have to live with the consequences of their decisions. If you're interested in military strategy, Alderamin fills that niche extremely well, but it's not without its shortcomings.

Ahhh... Where to start... Story: 6/10 - The plot overall is a "OK" at best BUT, the ending left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth, many intelligent characters reaching stupid conclusions, the author in my view uses "science" in a very distorted way, furthermore he tries to approach about "religion" but I can't expect so much from a Japanese when the subject is "religion" and his distorted way of dealing with the subject, I won't go into too much detail, the other topic addressed in the LN is his view on "technology" it is very distorted, as much as the work wants toconvey a message of hope, seeing the characters go through a lot of despair, this for me was very unbalanced, with the sides (Empire & Kioka) that it addressed in the story. Art: 5/10 - I found it very inconsistent, the anime did a great job, and the novel as it went along, it was very different from the age of the characters with the art shown. Character: 8/10 - For me what carries the LN on his back are the characters! And how charismatic they are, their interaction and their "evolution as a person" were great, but we have the problem at the end of the story. Enjoyment: 5/10 - I was loving it until I got to the last 3 volumes, I read it forward, I felt that the author was completely lost in his story. Overall: 5.5/10 - Quoted the points above, and how pissed off I was with this LN, which had considerable potential, left me pissed and sad at the same time, sad for what has already been mentioned, and pissed at having seen this story played in garbage.

First off I would like to say that I likes this series and would recommend it if not for a few key story beats. There are aspects of these books that I love, mainly the characters and their development, and this holds true for the majority of the story. The setting and overall plot is also quite good and well executed. I could go on about every minute aspect about this series that I liked but it would become rambling very quickly, so instead of that I will go into the bad/controversial things about this series. There is an event at the end ofvolume seven that drastically changes the direction of the story, and this caused many people to take a break or stop reading entirely. And while this event wasn't necessarily what I wanted to happen I appreciated the new direction of the story and characters spurred by this event. But I can't forgive what happens at near the end of the story near the end of volume 14. One of the characters resolves themselves to accomplish a specific task. And while I can follow their logic in staying true to their goal it feels somewhat forced by the hand of the author. To me it's not the event itself that is problematic, as it was something that I expected to happen from earlier in the series, but the way the it feels that the author forced the event to happen. Overall, if you rewrite part of the 14th novel I would recommend this series, but as it stands I can only recommend this to people that go in with the understanding that, while the overall story is great, the ending will be a disappointment.