James Nicoll Reviews

2024’s Magus of the Library, Volume Eight is the eighth tankōbon in Mitsu Izumi’s secondary-universe fantasy manga series (Toshokan no Daimajutsushi in the original Japanese). Magus has been serialized in Good! Afternoon since November 2017. The English translation of Volume Seven appeared in 2025.

Volume Eight begins with the heartening tale of how, when the continent was faced by an existential threat, the warring nations and their great magi united to defeat the threat. 

This is but a prelude to a crisis in which unity is very much absent, unsurprising as the inspirational tale related above is revealed to be a well-meant lie. 

Note: series protagonist Theo is present, but the plot is much less Theo-centric than in previous volumes.

A Kadoe¹ visitor, masked according to the custom of their people, fends off displays of anti-Kadoe prejudice while doling out helpful advice. Elderly persons cheerfully embrace learning to read, while assuring younger people that life is much nicer now that one baby in two does not perish in the crib.

All this is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a vast entity, a mountain spirit, that towers over Aftzaak, City of Books. Such spirits do not normally stray into cities. Someone — that seemingly amiable Kadoe or one of their minions — has used a Kadoe magical technique to force the entity into the city.

Aftzaak has many protectors, from civil forces to the Great Libraries’s magi. However, these groups each have their own beliefs about how best to protect the city and what to prioritize. The civil forces, for example, focus on people and buildings, while the librarians focus on precious books.

The mountain spirit could, if the person controlling it so chose, level much of the city. It does not. However, its presence kindles chaos and violent overreaction from the defenders. Things are going as planned. The spirit is just a distraction for a daring theft.

~oOo~

This is a volume in which a lot of pieces are moved into position, and the lines between (and identities of) various factions are made more obvious. Quite a lot happens, but Theo is mostly at the periphery, reacting to events.

Theo does have an extended sequence during which he and the leader of the group responsible for the mountain spirit manifesting in the middle of the town cooperate to rescue people from the rubble left in the wake of one poorly considered attempt to defend the city. The two make a great team… until the Kadoe begins musing about how it would be better to just let the older, unproductive people pinned under the wreckage die. It’s possible the Make the Kadoe Empire Great Again² group is not entirely benevolent.

This volume is a testament to how much havoc one can cause simply by having a ten-story being appear in the middle of a town and stand in place. The mountain spirit does not do much beyond loom… but the reactions leave buildings in rubble.

In part, the chaos is thanks to a lack on the tools available. While magic can supply improved hygiene and medicine, the magi have not thus far provided anything like ubiquitous telecommunication. Therefore, there is considerable fog of war³, as various groups mount defenses while unable to compare notes with their counterparts.

Empires come and go in this setting. In a sense, the Great Library is just the latest in a long series of polities trying to control the great continent. The representatives of the various fallen empires make the librarians seem benevolent by comparison… not that that stops local factions from wanting to rid themselves of what they see as onerous interference in their god-given right to persecute minorities and conquer their neighbors.

This was an action-filled volume. As events are not plot, the plot is a bit thinner than previous volumes. Nevertheless, the reader will emerge with a better sense of society’s fracture lines, and the various players and their goals⁴.

Magus of the Library, Volume 8 is available here (Kodansha), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Bookshop US), here (Bookshop UK), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: The Kadoe ruled over a vast empire… until it fell. There seems to be at least one group determined to Make the Kadoe Empire Great Again. This group wields some impressive magical techniques. However, they lack impulse control in some cases and they don’t seem to be the sharpest crayons in the box. Smarter conspirators would have checked to see if the package they were stealing had the contents they expected.

2: USA delenda est.

3: One wonders how often non-Kadoe have donned Kadoe masks before causing havoc. It seems like an obvious gambit.

4: This volume is also an extended illustration of the dangers of using destructive spells in inhabited neighborhoods.