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Kanata Yanagino, Kususaga Rin, James Rushton: The Faraway Paladin: The Torch Port Ensemble (EBook, 2018, J-Novel Club) 4 stars

After returning from the battle at the Rust Mountains, what awaited Will was not a …

The End (For Now)

4 stars

After the high points of the last volume, it’s pretty funny to have Will and Meneldor open this volume like they’re on a clip show episode of an 80’s sitcom. “Remember when you did that thing?” “Oh boy, do I. Roll the clip!” Inherent silliness aside, despite this series’ multi-year ‘hiatus,’ this volume feels like it’s just tying up a couple loose ends before truly saying goodbye. The story came full circle last time, and I appreciate a series that knows when it’s time to pack it in as opposed to serializing itself into oblivion. While the previous volume is definitely “the end,” I’m glad that I got to see a bit of the aftermath and some smaller adventures with these characters one last time. This remains one of my favorite fantasy isekai series for how well it used the ‘second chance’ part of its theming, and if the author comes back with a continuation that builds further on that idea, I’ll be happy to give it a look.