Heroic Legend of Arslan Volume 3 By Yoshiki Tanaka

 Heroic Legend of Arslan Volume 3

By Yoshiki Tanaka

I've covered Volume II and Volume I recently enough that I think we can just leap into it. If you haven't read those reviews please check last month and the month before. Anyways let's just jump into it.

With the capital city of Pars under occupation and Arslan being the only member of the royal family still free and running loose, the nation of Lusitania seems on the verge of complete victory. However, the war ain't over yet and like a lot of overconfident powers, the Lusitanians are making a series of brutal and serious mistakes. While they had taken the capital in part by inciting the Gholam slave class to rise up and tie up the defending forces, this was done by loudly promising freedom, land, and money to anyone who rose up. Well, the Gholam did their part only to find themselves still treated as slaves. Worse they are mocked for asking the Lusitanians to keep their word. With one soldier comparing them to livestock.

This isn't the only mistake that the Lusitanians are making, they're also publicly burning cultural works of Pars and abusing the free population (It takes modern militaries one soldier per twenty civilians to occupy with minimal internal resistance.  This is not going to create minimal resistance.). By doing so they're making enemies of the common men and women of Pars who could have been lulled to indifference or at least nonresistance. Of course, the common folk could have been made irrelevant by an alliance with the Gholam but that ship is also being sunk as I mentioned. Meanwhile, the elite classes of the occupying force are being split due to the King, Innocentius VII, falling in love with the Queen of Pars, Tahamine. This is causing horror and disgust in the other members of the high church and nobility but the King seems rather blind to this we'll discuss this more in a future review.

On top of this, the traitor Kharlan and his master Silvermask are clearly pursuing their own agenda  (Traitors usually do…). This volume is actually fairly important in revealing a lot about Silvermask. I won't go into spoilers but frankly, it means Kharlan's motivation was relatively straightforward. This only increases my irritation at his insistence that no one would be able to understand from the last volume. That said, neither one of them has taken their eye off the ball and are throwing everything they’ve got at the search for Arslan because they know this game isn't won until every member of the royal family is off the board. Which is more than I can say for anyone else on Team Antagonist

Speaking of Arslan, he's been using this time wisely, getting Narsus onside and escaping the armies hunting him. He's also gathering more allies and information. We see two more members get added to this troop of retainers to our aspiring heroic royal. One of which is the priestess Farangis, a drop-dead gorgeous, intelligent, and deadly woman who seems to have ice in her veins and nerves of steel. Seriously, we're introduced to her riding through a recently conquered territory wearing something that seems more in place in swimsuit illustrated magazine (WTF? {Look man, I just review the stories okay?}). When she encounters a squadron of Lusitanian cavalry, she simply rides right through them and when they chase her, she starts shooting them all dead from horseback. I know this is a heroic epic but man everyone is ridiculously lethal here but then I suppose those who aren't don't live long enough to get an introduction scene(Yes, in stories like this, it ends up being a study in armoring long-range bombers.).

Of course, Farangis brings her own baggage in the form of Gieve, the minstrel from Volume II. Gieve had done his own looting during the fall of Pars' capital and made a run for it. Now I don't blame him for that, it wasn't his country and it wasn't his fight(And in a situation like yeah, yeah, you loot.  Because you’ll need that stuff to survive later.). I even appreciate his skill and willingness to throw down with a squadron of Lusitanian cavalry to help Farangis. What has me rolling my eyes is the fact that he talks himself into it for a chance to get into her... err... Swimsuit(Men.). Even then I could let it pass if he didn't continue trying to trot out every tired lie and pick up line to try and get into her good graces. Maybe I'll warm up to Grieve but honestly, as a character, he falls flat to me (You just don’t like him, buddy.  That isn’t falling flat.  It is just being a shit.  Unfortunately, a lot of men are just shit. {I can point to a good number of women who are shit, I don't think it's a gender-specific trait}). Maybe I'm just cold to that archetype. I'm way more enjoying the by-play between Narsus and Daryun. Thankfully, Farangis doesn't put up with his crap and makes it clear that she only tolerates him hanging around as long he's useful but toleration is all he'll get.

While the revelation of Silvermask's motive and true identity is kind of a big deal, the introduction of Farangis is something I think is going to be important to the series. I won't discuss my thoughts on the revelation until another review because I do want to avoid spoilers. That said, most of this volume feels like setup. We're seeing a lot of story and plot elements being set into play that don't pay off in this volume. It's good that Mr. Tanaka isn't rushing but I kind of wish we got Arslan moving, the boy needs an army if he's gonna have an impact; if nothing else so that Daryun can take breaks when he gets tired of plowing through large groups of armed men like they're small children with sticks. I'm still enjoying the series, however. Still, this is better than average. Heroic Legend of Arslan Volume III gets a B- from me. Read it but maybe read Volume IV right after.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s review. If you did, consider joining us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidread Where for a dollar a month you can vote on upcoming content. I have two polls active right now! Hope to see you there. Our next review is The Star Wars, based

on a rough draft of A New Hope. Until then, stay safe and keep reading!

Red text is Dr. Ben Allen, your editor

Black text is Garvin Anders, your reviewer.