As a newcomer to Slayers who was just checking this out on a whim, I wasn't too interested. This is a light novel that leans very hard on trying to be the novel equivalent of anime for its appeal. However, as I've gotten older, I've come to find the aesthetic of cerebral anime where they explain everything about the battle system constantly to be more annoying than entertaining. Due to the format and the fact that there is a significant amount of lore for this world, much of this prose was that sort of in-character exposition. I certainly don't object to having the original voice actressfor Lina do the audiobook. She did an admirable job for what it was. But delivering this exposition with the tropey delivery of English anime dubbing made it all the more uncomfortable.

Happy for the people who this release is for, of course, but it's not for me.