Manga Review – Claymore Vol 16 by Norihiro Yagi (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Teen and Up
Genre: Fantasy/Manga
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Release Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1421534152
Stand Alone or Series: 11th volume in the Claymore series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the 16th volume in the Claymore series. This series is expected to wrap up in 2015 with volume 27. This was a well done continuation of this action packed shounen fantasy manga.

The story starts with Clare running into her old handler from the Organization who feeds Clare some interesting news. After that there is a quick scene between the captive Claymore Renee and Riful. Then we jump to Helen and Deneve who meet a new and powerful Claymore named Dietrich. Together they journey South where they run into Isley and have a disturbing encounter with some deadly new creatures called Abyss Feeders. Lastly we jump to a bit with the Organization; they have decided to send the current numbers 1 and 2 (Alicia and Beth) to the West to help the Abyss Feeders take out Riful.

As you can tell from the above the story continues to jump around like crazy. However “the story thus far” is still included at the beginning of the book, so that is very helpful. I continue to enjoy the illustration style and all the action scenes.

This book continues building on the absolutely insane revelations of the last book about what the Organization really is. This also is the first time we meet the Abyss Feeders, they are super creepy. Believe it or not by the end of the scene between the Abyss Feeders and Isley I actually felt bad for Isley.

Clare continues to be one of my favorite characters in the story. Although she started out weak, she has developed into a powerful character in some interesting ways. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see Raki in this book. With him being reintroduced in volume 15 I was really hoping we would see more/any of him. Hopefully in volume 17 that will happen.

Overall I have really been enjoying this series a lot. I would definitely recommend the whole series to those who love action packed fantasy shounen.

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