To get right to the point, Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey, Volume 1 was good. Like, really pretty decent.

Rhuys Ferme is a cleric with an important, but secret, mission. The Hero’s Party is out hunting the Demon King, and she needs someone with serious skills to help achieve her goal. To that end, she commissions Araignée Les, an adventurer with a reputation for having mad skillz.

Unsure and terrified, Rhuys undertakes this dangerous mission with Araignée, whose nonchalance confuses Rhuys. As they travel together, they begin to open up to one another. They find they share a lot of similar baggage; both women having a past filled with rejection and exile. They draw closer, as they move towards a climactic battle with a powerful foe. Will they have enough trust in one another to achieve their goal? 

The story was reasonably well-constructed with characters one could sympathize with. This included some of their opponents, a tack I appreciated. The way contracts and commissions were serious business in this world gave it a bit of “real life” flavor. Araignée’s story, while interesting, was the most predictable, with two important reveals, one of which was telegraphed from the beginning of the book. She was still a solid character. Rhuys was a more complicated character. Her backstory made her actions and beliefs stand out as fully fleshed out. By the end of the book, I was wholly behind these two as a partnership, both in adventuring and life. 

The writing was, for a light novel, rather decent. Hachigatsumori clearly thought things through. All of the fighting was both interesting and sensible, as well as being clever at times. I love when writers get creative within their own rules. An extra point for the bad guy pulling the strings in the background actually just being punished. That was novel.

 NAT’s illustrations had our protagonists fully clothed, with armor that made sense! Points off for Araignée wearing shorts, but I’ll allow it. since her armor covered her chest in a way that might actually protect her.  And! the art is not moe. It was a nice change of pace, having characters that look as they are described. Thank you, NAT.

Ratings: 

Story – 9
Characters – 9
Art – 8
Service – 2
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

Overall, I found Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey, Volume 1 to be an entertaining read, with strong characters, good action, some clever touches and a nice bit of Yuri. Volume 2 is headed our way in August, I’ll definitely be reading it.