Slayers: Volume 1

I already had most of the original print of the English translation of "The Slayers" series, but not volume one. I was happy to find a copy that didn't cost an arm and a leg. This edition is much better than the more recent translation!

…or so Lina says about herself. Most of the people who get to know this bandit-robbing sorceress just think she’s just in love with her own voice. But there is magical talent to Lina, and she’ll need it. An idol she recently “recovered” from a bandit stronghold holds the key to reviving the dark lord, and trolls, chimeras, and a suspicious wandering priest all want it. And they’re all prepared to take it from Lina, along with her head.I haven’t come across as strong a 1st person character voice since Kei’s in The Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair. Sometimes a little too strong, as you may have guessed if you’ve seen the anime. But translation hasn’t dampened Lina Inverse any, nor has it tempered her self-absorbed attention-seeking. It’s curious that those aspects tend to get cranked up in male-written light novels, and suppressed in female-written ones. Guess the obsession with the manic pixie crosses cultures. Your tolerance for the narrative voice of the Slayers, by Hajime Kanzaka, will vary, depending on how willing you are to tolerate attention-seeking teen-aged girl.Slayers is humorous sword and sorcery, at turns poking fun and embracing the conventions of fantasy and swashbuckling action. The narration is heavy on the banter, whether it’s between Lina and the reader or Lina and her self-professed guardian, the swordsman Gourry Gabriev. Gourry tends to get Flanderized into idiocy in later adaptations, but the original is perceptive and witty when he’s not being used as a device for Lina to explain the magical chess matches she gets wrapped up in. Besides, Lina is the definition of unreliable narrator.As for the conventions, Slayers seesaws between peril and comedy. The peril is always real, whether from unkillable trolls to the resurrected Dark Lord. If anything, the anime tended to tone down the stakes to life, limb, and virtue. The humor comes from the responses, usually played against type. Lina is the type of action girl to save herself, but, given the right rescuer, she’ll gleefully scream like a damsel-in-distress–and love every minute of the change in pace. It’s these surprise reactions, consistent with characterization, that keep the gristle and gloom at bay. And by keeping the humor to banter and response, the peril does not get undercut by irony. The sincerity of pulp fantasy is preserved.

Ages ago at my local video store, I came across the small anime section. There were several tapes of a series called Slayers. Needless to say, when I was allowed to borrow a movie, I was eventually able to finish the Ruby Eye arc. Fast forward several years, and Tokyopop released the first eight novels in English. The English versions of their books often tended to play fast and loose with accuracy, as readers of .hack//AI Buster found out. The first two volumes of Slayers kept riverfront color pages, but sadly dropped them from the rest of their run. Poor sales ensured that the remaining books were never released (officially, anyway).Fast forward to a few months into 2020, when J-Novel Club announced that like fellow Tokyopop rescue Full Metal Panic!, they were reissuing the Slayers series in a new edition. Anyway, fans rejoiced, and now we can finally go back to adventuring with Lina and the gang!The Slayers series is a comedic fantasy heavily inspired by RPGs. Lina is a genre savvy sorceress that funds her travels by blowing up bandit camps. Gourry is a master swordsman that isn't quite right in the head. Together, they stumble upon a plot to revive a dark lord, and hilarity ensues. This new edition is quite different from the previous adaptation. The dialogue isn't as embellished, and there's one scene that can rightly considered a trigger warning, though played for laughs. The afterword has been changed, as this release is based on the Japanese 2008 reissue. I imagine that the premium release you can get from J-Novel Club may have it, among other things. Overall, this is worth checking out.

I am so thrilled! I love the anime series 1-5, and these characters are some of my absolute favorites of all time! This series has adventure, romance, friendship, mystery, battle all the things a story needs and I'm so glad I'm getting to read the novels that inspired the anime I adore! Lina Inverse is a top notch female character, a perfect mix of brain, talent and sometimes damsel in distress without ever feeling over the mark! She's an entire person and the cast are too, each character has multiple facets and the series has some great quotes! Slayers is a treat!

WARNING: THIS IS A SPOILER IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THE ANIME OR KNOW THE PLOT TO THE STORY.This novel is based on the first season of Slayers where Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis face off against Rezo and Shabranigdo. It is very well written in a style I have never seen before. The narrator is Lina but it goes far beyond that. We are not only in the mind of Lina, but she is actually telling the story, as if we were sitting down while she talks about the whole story. You have to read it to know what I'm talking about but it really is a fascinating look at the story.The novel is almost exactly as the show with a few risky details that may have been censored for the show. There are a lot more facts that have gone unnoticed in the show that fans will find interesting to learn. (Lina is the daughter of a merchant?!)If your a fan of the series, take a look at this book. It's a great read and a look into the psyche of the main star. If your not a fan of the show, read this book anyways. It is a good introduction to one of the best anime out there.

Didn't expect to find a good copy after all these years, this seller was a big help.

Não gostei do livro porque imaginava que era alguma estória em quadrinhos, e o mais desapontador foi saber depois que não conseguia devolver para reembolso .... uma obra digital ! Muito desapontado

『自分が日本人で、原作のスレイヤーズが好きで、英語の勉強を兼ねて海外版スレイ小説も見てみたい！』という方、結構いらっしゃるのではないでしょうか。でも英語の勉強を重視している方には不向きです。日本語版を読んでも分かるように、くだけた表現が多い小説のため学校で習わない言い回しが多く使われています。だからと言って、日常会話に使うにはあまりに失礼な表現でもあります。純粋に英語を勉強したい方には向いていません。スレイヤーズを楽しみたい方にはお勧めです。が、やはり英訳される過程で微妙に原作の言い回しが変更されています。これは対象読者が外国人のため、それにテンポを合わせての事だと思います。細かいことが気にならないスレイファンの方、是非買ってみてはいかがでしょうか？

アメリカ英語であったため、理解が難しかったです。内容は日本の小説のままですので、興味ある方は買ってみては？