Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke Vol. 7 Review

Tags: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, School Life, Isekai

Synopsis:

A rift runs deep between mother and daughter—not just any mother and daughter, but the queen and crown princess of Daryth. The queen has taken the first steps towards Princess Carina’s ascension to the throne by staging a ceremony at Kirsch Mage Institute, but behind the pomp and circumstance lurks a heartless plan to gamble with Carina’s life. The queen means to use the young princess as bait to lure the witch out of hiding. Carina, meanwhile, can only grin and put on a brave face for her country. The fate of the nation rests on the bridging of this rift—how could Slowe possibly in good conscience sit idly by? Slowe intends to intervene by wreaking havoc on everyone’s plans. After all, he has nothing left to fear…for he’s the invincible hero who finally manages to confess to his beloved retainer! (Source: J-Novel Club)

A Battle of Love Conquers All!

Finally back to Piggy Duke and this instalment has Slowe in all sorts of trouble (although when is he not). After his loss against the Dream Dealer Witch, Slowe won’t have to wait long for a rematch. The witch’s next target is Daryth’s queen and her daughter, Princess Carina. They’ve now both come to Kirsch and are planning to use Carina to bait out the witch for a final battle that could determine the fate of nations!

Volume seven sees Slowe in a similar predicament to the previous, feeling powerless, cowardly and bouncing from one extreme to the other, this time deciding to become a cyclops. Lucky, this time his complete 180 serves a purpose and an ending worth waiting for with one of the best action scenes of the series so far.

Slowe ends up taking quite a few L’s throughout this volume from losses in battle with the royal knights to striking out in “love” with Lorraine, giving him quite the confidence knock. I think in a way this mirrors his relationship with Charlotte throughout the volume, shaky and hesitant to move forward at first leading to a wonderful conclusion and confession – one of my favourites within the light novel genre and was worth the seven-volume wait.

It seems that confidence in love leads to confidence in battle, as the good old cheesy power of love comes through in the end. The witch’s defeat is slightly ruined by the Queen’s Guardian knight’s actions, but Slowe had a plan for that as well, so all’s well that ends well.

Carina and Charlotte get some good development throughout the volume as well. The secrets they share and the different lives they lead create a true bond of friendship, one I hope will continue throughout the narrative of the final three volumes.

Unfortunately, whilst the relationship between the queen and her daughter is fixed by the end of the volume, I feel like it’s less deserved. Only getting the queen’s perspective from second-hand accounts creates a disconnect and I would’ve preferred a point of view from her perspective specifically addressing the issue.

Overall, the seventh volume is the shining jewel in what is an otherwise disappointing arc. With Slowe and Charlotte finally facing their feelings and some great development other than from the queen, I’m glad I stayed on after volume six.

Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke Vol. 7

My Rating: 8/10

I hope you enjoyed my review and would love to see what you thought of the volume in the comments! The next light novel review will be on World’s Strongest Rearguard Vol. 7.

You can read the seventh volume of Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke in pre-pub format on the J-Novel Club website.