Reviews for the Week
1. MisterJB:
Hari Michiru has done all the grammar editing already. The Isley vs. Thelmus fight is perhaps quite a twist that late in the chapter, but it seemed pretty expected after Isley had his chat with Miria.
There's 1 small plot hole: if Thelmus could sense Deneve, why couldn't he sense Isley's surprise sneak attack? This plot hole becomes a bit salient considering Isley jumped in on them in his fully awakened form.
2. Yosei: Chapters 33-36
At the end of Chapter 36 you end with a weird kind of semi-expository take on the battles. Unconventional tactic, but it works for me.
The battle with Luciela, while looking like a well-thought through scene, betrays 1 consistent issue with characters: there are just too many to keep up with. Clarice's appearance sort of throws the seriousness of the sisterly duel to the death on a sardonic note (Luciela's comment).
Then there's the episode when Jean successfully wounds Beth. I consider any elaboration on Alicia & Beth's characters to be a step forward for any author - and what made me think more about how the Dark Ones fit into your story much better is not their appearance, or their unusually close relationship with Xu Chang, but rather the image that Alicia could get burnt by dissipating yoki. Its a creative image & weakness which none of us have thought up. Brilliant & original.
It seems that in
Imperial Fire the mark of character maturity is to get hooked to a Chinese male character - Cao Cao & Galatea, Flora & Zhao Yun, Cynthia & Zhou Tai - and now Alicia, Beth & Xu Chang.
None of the other Claymore characters who stand by themselves get this much coverage, except maybe Rafaela.