Title: Volume 1: Infection
Author: Miu Kawasaki
Series: .hack//Another Birth
Publish Date: June 13, 2006
Publisher: TokyoPop
Format: Paperback
Goodreads Summary:
In order for Akira to save her younger brother, who suddenly loses consciousness in the middle of playing The World, she enters the online fantasy game as the Heavy Blade-wielding BlackRose. While heading toward the area where her brother’s consciousness was stolen, BlackRose meets the Twin Blade fighter Kite. Written from BlackRose’s perspective, this adaptation of the popular .hack series of games is the first installment of yet another hit .hack novel series!
Review: I was in the mood for a bit of a nostalgia trip going into the weekend, and so I picked up my old copy of Infection. It’s been a long time since I read through this light novel, about five years according to Goodreads. For a bit of backstory, I only ever played the first game (I was late getting a PS2 and none of my friends played RPGs beyond Kingdom Hearts and some Final Fantasy. But I liked the associated anime and read the books to understand the world a bit. Since then, I have also watched some Let’s Plays of the games, and I have a passing knowledge of the storyline of this side of the series.
As for Infection, I still think it holds up. Akira is a young teenager dealing with the trauma of discovering her brother’s comatose body, on top of the normal issues with school life. She has to deal with bullying, her intense sense of pride in her favorite sport, helping out her family more than ever, and also working to discover exactly what happened to Fumikazu while inside The World.
There are flaws in the story being told. Some of the writing doesn’t land right, some of the dialogue shared between BlackRose and Kite are flipped (as the story is told from BlackRose’s POV and she comes off pretty harsh in the game), and some scenes feel rushed. A passing knowledge of the series helps, though you can probably figure out what’s going on without much extra googling (though it is fun to do so).
For a nostalgia read, this was a fun little read down memory lane. I’ll probably finish the other three volumes over the next few days.
Rating: 3.5/5 (Rounded up for Goodreads)
Goodreads Goal 11/52
[Edit note:] For the sake of length (and posts), I’ll be combining the reviews for the other three volumes of this series into one post on Sunday. But right now I’m pretty sure I’m on a reading spree, so don’t be surprised to see a lot more book reviews in the coming weeks. <3