A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 2 - light novel (A Certain Magical Index, 2) (Volume 2) Paperback – Illustrated, February 24, 2015

:)

This a great book. Really great series overall. Does anyone know who publishes these?

This marks the second entry in the "A Certain Magical Index" series, and though this is one of the more overlooked entries in the series, it provides a crucial look into Touma's first foray into the world of magic and science since his memory wipe. The plot twist at the end also provides a critical clue as to just what the power within Touma's right hand is. Yet despite all of this, the anime adaptation cuts this book in half, excising one critical fight completely in the process, and the manga adaptation skips over it in its entirety. To those who found the arc nonsensical and/or boring in comparison to the more popular science-side arcs in the anime and manga, I would wholeheartedly recommend reading the source material.

I like this book

Great book!

Now onto the 2nd volume of A Certain Magical Index.This time, the setting is Misawa Cram School and the enemy being the alchemist, Aureolus Isard. Tonally, the book takes a completely different turn than the first one. While I would describe volume 1 one filled with hope, volume 2 is far more dark and suspenseful. The idea of a failed hero and heroine are the primary themes and a little bit of identity crisis for our protagonist, Touma, who's trying to reestablish his life after the events of volume 1.Kamachi does it again. There's some big twists and what looks like quite a few plot points foreshadowed for the future. I liked how he showed Touma struggling to get his normal life back and went into detail of what his memory loss entails. Touma's current relationship with Index is also explored in depth and the bond they share in comparison to her other partners. But also the strain due to the memory loss from his end.This is especially a must-buy for those who felt let down by the Deep Blood Arc in the anime. The anime cut out nearly half of the books content and it makes a lot more sense. One example is a big change in Touma temporarily during the middle of the novel, which I felt would show the depth in Touma's character that the anime struggled to portray. Same with Aureolus where you realize just how sad of a character he is due to the middle story. Himegami also gets some much needed expansion in her character and you really feel for her.Personally, this seems to be one of the volumes that has important foreshadowing to later events of the series than the Sisters Arc, so I wish it got as much love in the anime, but it's understandable due to the popularity. Overall, it's a great novel with some thoughtful and thrilling moments. The end is especially great.Yen Press again does a great job on the translation. However, I wish they'd fix "Ms.Miki" as funny as it is, he is male.

I'm marking the rating down mostly in comparison to volume one, which I would put at 4 stars. In the afterword the author admits to being pushed to finish the work in 17 days (the length of this work is about that of a novel done for NaNoWriMo, a writing contest which treats completing a novel in 30 days as a huge feat, so I can only imagine doing it in 17). Unfortunately the speed shows.There's way more exposition about minor plot details than there needs to be, and even with the large amount of details it can still be confusing as many passages aren't written particularly smooth. This could be a translation issue, but it's still an obvious detriment to the work. The exposition dumps seem to take a greater focus than the comedy or character relationships like we all loved in the first volume. Don't get me wrong, there are still some golden moments, but it's fewer and farther between. I found the second half of the light novel better than the first, so if you can make it to that point you'll find yourself duly rewarded.A few questions/concerns after finishing, minor spoilers ahead:I do wish they had given Deep Blood a greater role in the story beyond what we learn about her history. I'm also a little dubious about Kamijou pretending to have amnesia. Sure, Index would be sad for a little while, but she would get over it and would probably be more than glad to help him adjust to his new life. Finally, why exactly don't they try and tell Index about all the things she's forgotten? They go on and on about the smile she'll never give her "caretakers" from the past, yet none of them ever try to make her understand that she lived these past lives (so to speak). Sure, she won't look at Stiyl and company exactly like she did before, but it's still some sort of relationship beyond total stranger. If these former caretakers are going to keep sticking around and feeling bad about it there's really no reason for them not to strike up one conversation with her on that subject.Is it still worth a read? Yes. There's much here worthy of praise. But don't go in expecting a repeat of volume one. I'm still looking forward to starting volume 3 soon.

I love this book, seeing as its the story that started it all. I like the world of Science and Magic as created by the author and collect the book in hope of an on going story past whats been animated so far!

einer der besten Serien

Like i said with volume 1 more details and better than the anime version . The writimg is really well done .

tutto ok

No es la mejor de la serie pero muy buena, recordando los inicios con ella.El tamaño enorme en comparación con la japonesa.

Good - enjoyed reading.