Manga Review – Claymore Vol 14 by Norihiro Yagi (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Release Date: March 3, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1421526683
Stand Alone or Series: 14th book in the Claymore series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the 14th volume in the Claymore series. The Claymore manga series is supposed to wrap up this year with Volume 27. This book was much better than the last few books in this series. I feel like the last few volumes have really slowed down and been tough to follow; this volume was an improvement.

In this installment Miata and Clarice get orders to go to the holy city of Rabona to take out the rogue Claymore Galatea. When they arrive they find that a fierce awakened named Bloody Agatha (a former #2) is attacking the city. A fierce battle ensues.

Then there is a brief section between Isley, Rigaldo, and Priscilla in the North in which Isley founds out he has vastly underestimated Priscilla’s powers. This is followed by another brief interlude where we see a short story about Clare when she was training to become a Claymore.

As you can tell from above the story is a bit all over the place. The majority of the time is spent with Miata, Clarice, and Galatea in Robona. Right when things get to a really awesome spot, the story switches over to the North.

This series continues to have excellent and detailed illustration throughout. The book is packed with awesome action scenes that are easy to follow and fun to look at. This series gets back to some of the really interesting characters in the series and finally starts moving the story in a solid direction again.

My biggest complaint is how fractured this story is getting. We spend a little time here and some here and because of that you don’t make a lot of progress in the plot. I am still curious to see what direction this whole story is taking.

Overall this was a great installment in this series. The story seems to be picking up speed again and I continue to enjoy the illustration and action throughout. I am curious to see where the story involving Miata and Clarice ends up. It looks like Clare and crew will be joining the main story again in the next installment, so I am curious to see where that goes as well. Recommended to fans of shounen fantasy or action-packed fantasy manga.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge