I feel like there's nothing I can say that I haven't already without spoiling this for people. It's just so incredibly fun and well-written and I love every second of this series. ( )

A really great entry in the series, where a lot of elements come together in really great ways, and some really awesome stuff happens. The art is as gorgeous as ever. ( )

I'm honestly worried about Falin.
No, no, it's better to say that Falin has me really worried now, because of the bit of lore in the beginning. The lore makes sense, if you take a minute to think about it.
So now it feels like the doom is near. Especially with that shady bit at the end.

Well, now there's no way I drop it here of all places! ( )

I grew up on CLAMP so I am accustomed to manga that spends about 20 volumes faffing around without progressing the plot much, or at all. I honestly expected a good 10 volumes to pass, minimum, before we got to the Red Dragon from volume 1.

Color me pleasantly surprised!

The fight feels pretty hopeless and exciting throughout. I really expected something like "It turns out being eaten by a dragon makes the dragon sluggish and the person takes 1000 years to digest, much like in the Sarlacc."

Instead, it pulled no punches. She is dead and digested and what's left of her skeleton is trapped in a dragon-size owl pellet of fur and bones, mixed with that of some war dogs. Its gross and dark and far more realistic than I would have expected. The long time to get to this point was taken into account. ( )

This starts with Namari and the Tansus' party, along with an ominous reminder that resurrection spells don't always work. Also, there's a bit of fantasy politics: the elves say the dungeon belongs to them and they want it back. Mr. Tansu tells the local lord to stall. Meanwhile, Laios' party has finally caught up to the red dragon. Although they're woefully outmatched, desperate and risky moves help them win. Unfortunately, Falin has been reduced to mere bones. Marcille uses dark magic to revive her, which may have pissed off an elf (the one from the painting back in volume 2?).

This was a fun volume, with lots of action (and, of course, more cooking). I really liked Kui's artwork - not only is this a delicious-looking food manga, the action scenes are clear and easy to follow.

I was really surprised that Laios and the others came across the red dragon so soon. I figured that particular storyline was going to be dragged out for at least another few volumes. It'll be interesting to see where the series goes from here. It bugged me a bit that not a single person from the party asked Marcille why the spell she performed is considered dark magic and what its drawbacks are. I have a feeling that's going to be extremely important in the next volume or two.

I loved the revelation that Senshi has cookware that doubles as high-quality shields and weaponry.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series. I want to see where the elf storyline goes, and I'm sure that the dragon's presence on the fifth floor, an area where it isn't usually found, is important in some way. And hey, the entire party still has to make it out of the dungeon somehow.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )