What do you think?
Rate this book
とある魔術の禁書目録 [Toaru Majutsu no Index] (Novel) #7
A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 7
(Volume 6)Accelerator has killed thousands of Sisters--clones of Mikoto Misaka designed as cannon fodder to bring out his true abilities. But when a stunted Sister calling herself "Last Order" asks for his help, is this a chance for the Academy City's most terrifyingly powerful esper to redeem himself?
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 10, 2005
19 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Kazuma Kamachi
239 books153 followersKamachi Kazuma (鎌池和馬) is a Japanese-born light novel author and the original creator of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel series and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, its spin-off manga series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 1, 2019
Initially, with how the first third of the book went, I honestly thought it was going to be a bore with the usual Touma dealing with another situation from the magic side with some crazy magic person lol. I'm not exactly wrong, but it definitely went better than expected, mainly because Touma is being shown a deeper and more intricate side to the magic side of things. The churches are different just as they are numerous, and I think he was really enlightened to it with personal experience. By being tricked, being betrayed and being exposed to Orsola who is a person with pure beliefs yet would be treated so cruelly also shows a glimpse of the powers of the churches as well as the extremities of them. I think the volume really showed Touma's personality but also his growth by nearly having to give up on saving Orsola because of the sensitivity and power balances, but also showing that Touma has always been a person who wouldn't care about such things and would save people who are seeking his help. I think it was really good to see Touma find out that the people he was helping (Roman Catholic Church) actually used him, and then he using his own judgement and thinking to decide whether to believe in the Amakusa. A lot of the previous volumes naturally gives the assumption that Touma would always be on the side of "justice" when it comes to saving whoever needs saving that time around, so I think it was cool to see that Touma is still young and naive, and that not every decision he makes is right, but he will make sure to rectify it.
I think it was really nice to see how Kanzaki's ex-group (Amakusa) were doing and how although it seemed like they were possibly fighting to gain more power, the truth was that they instead built upon their principles and never strayed from their path, they fight to protect and continue as that. Also nice to see them be a part of the Anglican church with Kanzaki now that they've gained the ire of the Roman Catholic church after this fiasco with trying to save Orsola from them. I also found the way the Anglican church got an excuse to save Orsola (she was wearing their cross that was given by Touma) was expected but played out very nicely. I also enjoyed seeing Index playing a more active role by distracting a lot of the nuns using her limited abilities; apparently the more united they are in their faith, the more she is able to use one of her skills to kind of contradict their sayings etc and cause disruption to their beliefs in itself. I have to admit though, them piercing their eardrums so that they couldn't hear her words of disruption shocked me too, that was just painful... It's saddening but also good that Orsola's deciphering method of the Book of Law wasn't correct. The ruthlessness of the Roman Catholic Church displayed in trying to kill Orsola (since her decoding could cause change in power balances) even though she was a part of them was saddening for her, but a good eye opener for the rest of the story by delving more into the interests of the different churches and their people.
I think it was really nice to see how Kanzaki's ex-group (Amakusa) were doing and how although it seemed like they were possibly fighting to gain more power, the truth was that they instead built upon their principles and never strayed from their path, they fight to protect and continue as that. Also nice to see them be a part of the Anglican church with Kanzaki now that they've gained the ire of the Roman Catholic church after this fiasco with trying to save Orsola from them. I also found the way the Anglican church got an excuse to save Orsola (she was wearing their cross that was given by Touma) was expected but played out very nicely. I also enjoyed seeing Index playing a more active role by distracting a lot of the nuns using her limited abilities; apparently the more united they are in their faith, the more she is able to use one of her skills to kind of contradict their sayings etc and cause disruption to their beliefs in itself. I have to admit though, them piercing their eardrums so that they couldn't hear her words of disruption shocked me too, that was just painful... It's saddening but also good that Orsola's deciphering method of the Book of Law wasn't correct. The ruthlessness of the Roman Catholic Church displayed in trying to kill Orsola (since her decoding could cause change in power balances) even though she was a part of them was saddening for her, but a good eye opener for the rest of the story by delving more into the interests of the different churches and their people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2016
If you would like to watch my Youtube review, please click on this link: A Certain Magical Index Volume 7 Review!
All right! So, our story starts, not with Touma Kamijou and his unfortunate set of circumstances, but with Stiyl Magnus talking to Laura Stewart. Laura has a task for Stiyl. Apparently, there is someone among the Roman Orthodox Church who is able to decode the Book of the Law. Stiyl is being tasked with finding this person.
Now, here's a little info dump for you. The Book of the Law was written by a man named Edward Alexander, who was hailed as the greatest and worst sorcerer of the twentieth century. The Book of the Law was his most infamous creation. It's said that the Book of the Law would end the reign of crossism if it was ever decoded.
I've got another interesting fact, and this is a spoiler if you haven't already read the series. Alexander Edward also goes by the name of Crowley. Does it sound familiar? It should. If you've watched the anime or read the previous light novels, then you'll know that there is a character named Aleister Crowley. You'll know him as that dude who was floating upside down in a tank.
This is an interesting bit of foreshadowing. We already knew from the previous novels that Aleister was an important member of the science side. However, it looks like before he was stuck in a tube, he was an important figure in the world of magic. As to what this could mean for the series, well, that's anyone's guess.
And now that we know the back story, I bet you're all wondering where Touma Kamijou fits into all this. Well, you see, our hapless main protagonist basically ends up being dragged into this because Stiyl decided to kidnap Index in order to make Touma cooperate with him. Of course, had Stiyl could have just asked Touma and he'd have gladly helped, because that's what main protagonists do, but I guess asking for help was just too hard.
So, the mission is to save a woman named Orsola Aquinas. Strangely enough, Touma has already found Orsola, and he even brought the woman to Stiyl. Sadly, Orsola gets kidnapped by the group who is after her. Known as the Amakusa, the group who kidnaps Orsola is a small group of Japanese crossists. Supposedly, they've kidnapped Orsola because they want her to decode the Book of the Law.
Also, while it's not that important to the overall story right now, the Amakusa was actually once lead by Kaori Kanzaki, who, if you've read the previous books or watched the anime, you'll know is another member of Necessarious and a saint of nearly godlike power.
In order to rescue Orsola, Touma, Stiyl, and Index team up with a group from the Roman Orthodox Church. A lot of strange shenanigans happen before the rescue takes place, including naked loli fanservice.
If there's one thing about this series that I don't like, it's the awkward fanservice. I just... don't understand the appeal of lolis. It's worse in A Certain Magical Index because Index is only 14 years old, and Agnes Sanctus, the leader in charge of saving Orsola, is only, like, 12 or something.
A rescue mission is concocted thanks to Index's knowledge of the Amakusa's magic. Here's a little bit of magical knowledge for you. The Amakusa have an ability known as Miniature Copy Pilgrimage. This is a form of teleportation magic used exclusively by the Amakusa.
The miniature copy is actually a reference to the Great Japanese Coastal Map, which is an atlas filled with all the survey work made by the cartographer, Tadataka Ino. Now, in this atlas, Ino plotted 47 portals.
Now, according to Idol Theory—which has nothing to do with Japanese idols by the way—when an object is created in imitation of another object, the two objects will influence each other. This theory postulates that duplicates retain the properties, attributes, and power of the original object. The greatest example I can think of right now is the Shroud of Martin.
Let's say that someone creates a duplicate of the shroud. According to Idol Theory, that duplicate will hold the same magical properties as the real shroud. However, because it's just a duplicate, the powers and affects are lessened.
You're probably wonder how all this mumbo jumbo relates to the Amakusa. When Ino created the Geat Japanese Coastal Map, he created the 47 portals. These portals were not originally there. However, Ino plotted them on his map, and this made the 47 portals realize themselves unto Japan. It's a form of reversal, essentially taking the Idol Theory and flipping it around.
It's because of these portals that the group is able to find and rescue Orsola. Sadly, we don't learn until after Orsola has already been taken into the custody of the Roman Orthadox Church that the Amakusa are actually the good guys. It turns out the Book of the Law was never in Japan. That was an excuse used by the Roman Orthadox Church to persecute Orsola for being able to decode the Book of the Law.
Outside of the creepy 12 year old nudity, the story wasn't bad. I enjoyed the action. I enjoyed the conflict. I do feel like the story contained a lot of redundant banter, and there was some trouble with the writing containing too much tell and not enough show. That said, there were enough surprising twists, interesting fight scenes, and emotional moments that I can forgive the few problems this volume had. If you're a fan of light novels in general, or even if you're just a fan of the anime, I'd highly recommend getting this volume.
So, that is my review of A Certain Magical Index Volume 7. If you enjoyed this review, please don't forget to give this a thumbs up. Also, be sure to let me know how I'm doing.
All right! So, our story starts, not with Touma Kamijou and his unfortunate set of circumstances, but with Stiyl Magnus talking to Laura Stewart. Laura has a task for Stiyl. Apparently, there is someone among the Roman Orthodox Church who is able to decode the Book of the Law. Stiyl is being tasked with finding this person.
Now, here's a little info dump for you. The Book of the Law was written by a man named Edward Alexander, who was hailed as the greatest and worst sorcerer of the twentieth century. The Book of the Law was his most infamous creation. It's said that the Book of the Law would end the reign of crossism if it was ever decoded.
I've got another interesting fact, and this is a spoiler if you haven't already read the series. Alexander Edward also goes by the name of Crowley. Does it sound familiar? It should. If you've watched the anime or read the previous light novels, then you'll know that there is a character named Aleister Crowley. You'll know him as that dude who was floating upside down in a tank.
This is an interesting bit of foreshadowing. We already knew from the previous novels that Aleister was an important member of the science side. However, it looks like before he was stuck in a tube, he was an important figure in the world of magic. As to what this could mean for the series, well, that's anyone's guess.
And now that we know the back story, I bet you're all wondering where Touma Kamijou fits into all this. Well, you see, our hapless main protagonist basically ends up being dragged into this because Stiyl decided to kidnap Index in order to make Touma cooperate with him. Of course, had Stiyl could have just asked Touma and he'd have gladly helped, because that's what main protagonists do, but I guess asking for help was just too hard.
So, the mission is to save a woman named Orsola Aquinas. Strangely enough, Touma has already found Orsola, and he even brought the woman to Stiyl. Sadly, Orsola gets kidnapped by the group who is after her. Known as the Amakusa, the group who kidnaps Orsola is a small group of Japanese crossists. Supposedly, they've kidnapped Orsola because they want her to decode the Book of the Law.
Also, while it's not that important to the overall story right now, the Amakusa was actually once lead by Kaori Kanzaki, who, if you've read the previous books or watched the anime, you'll know is another member of Necessarious and a saint of nearly godlike power.
In order to rescue Orsola, Touma, Stiyl, and Index team up with a group from the Roman Orthodox Church. A lot of strange shenanigans happen before the rescue takes place, including naked loli fanservice.
If there's one thing about this series that I don't like, it's the awkward fanservice. I just... don't understand the appeal of lolis. It's worse in A Certain Magical Index because Index is only 14 years old, and Agnes Sanctus, the leader in charge of saving Orsola, is only, like, 12 or something.
A rescue mission is concocted thanks to Index's knowledge of the Amakusa's magic. Here's a little bit of magical knowledge for you. The Amakusa have an ability known as Miniature Copy Pilgrimage. This is a form of teleportation magic used exclusively by the Amakusa.
The miniature copy is actually a reference to the Great Japanese Coastal Map, which is an atlas filled with all the survey work made by the cartographer, Tadataka Ino. Now, in this atlas, Ino plotted 47 portals.
Now, according to Idol Theory—which has nothing to do with Japanese idols by the way—when an object is created in imitation of another object, the two objects will influence each other. This theory postulates that duplicates retain the properties, attributes, and power of the original object. The greatest example I can think of right now is the Shroud of Martin.
Let's say that someone creates a duplicate of the shroud. According to Idol Theory, that duplicate will hold the same magical properties as the real shroud. However, because it's just a duplicate, the powers and affects are lessened.
You're probably wonder how all this mumbo jumbo relates to the Amakusa. When Ino created the Geat Japanese Coastal Map, he created the 47 portals. These portals were not originally there. However, Ino plotted them on his map, and this made the 47 portals realize themselves unto Japan. It's a form of reversal, essentially taking the Idol Theory and flipping it around.
It's because of these portals that the group is able to find and rescue Orsola. Sadly, we don't learn until after Orsola has already been taken into the custody of the Roman Orthadox Church that the Amakusa are actually the good guys. It turns out the Book of the Law was never in Japan. That was an excuse used by the Roman Orthadox Church to persecute Orsola for being able to decode the Book of the Law.
Outside of the creepy 12 year old nudity, the story wasn't bad. I enjoyed the action. I enjoyed the conflict. I do feel like the story contained a lot of redundant banter, and there was some trouble with the writing containing too much tell and not enough show. That said, there were enough surprising twists, interesting fight scenes, and emotional moments that I can forgive the few problems this volume had. If you're a fan of light novels in general, or even if you're just a fan of the anime, I'd highly recommend getting this volume.
So, that is my review of A Certain Magical Index Volume 7. If you enjoyed this review, please don't forget to give this a thumbs up. Also, be sure to let me know how I'm doing.
September 7, 2021
A good story in the series, spoiled by unnecessary and excessive fanservice.
This entry is slowly breaking away from the formula of Touma doing everything himself. We now get more involvement from the person whom the series is named after. And others that he has met along the way.
While this series has its doses of fanservice, which are somewhat tolerable, the instances here felt too many, pointless and thoroughly convoluted. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fans exist that are demanding this kind of service.
This entry is slowly breaking away from the formula of Touma doing everything himself. We now get more involvement from the person whom the series is named after. And others that he has met along the way.
While this series has its doses of fanservice, which are somewhat tolerable, the instances here felt too many, pointless and thoroughly convoluted. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fans exist that are demanding this kind of service.
January 31, 2021
There are some interesting aspects to this volume, it is always fun to see Stiyl and Touma go on a magical adventure together where they constantly insult each other, and the introduction of the Book of the Law, which is a real life book that Crowley wrote, is really cool. However, Kamachi was a bit too heavy on the fanservice with this volume, and it felt a bit dragged out.
August 2, 2025
While this delves deeper into the magic system and politics of the greater magic world, it does very little else. There are many twists to the story, but none of them felt deserved or built up. The new characters for the story really don't have anything going for them either since they're not physically present for most the story.
December 24, 2017
this only remotely works if you accept that we're in a completely different world
April 25, 2020
Reading about the various occult ways of these religious orders was very fascinating to learn.
March 3, 2025
Time - [02h 03m 55s]
November 3, 2016
Volume 7 of Kazuma Kamachi's A Certain Magical Index brings us an adventure of political intrigue and betrayal that pits Touma and his allies against some really wacko forces bent on murder and revenge.
A young nun named Orsola Aquinas has figured out how to decode the perhaps most powerful Grimoire in the world and different forces seek to capture or save her in order to gain the immense might of the angels for themselves and their faction. But Orsola has more benevolent plans. Benevolent plans she can not exercise if she is dead. Which she will be, by the by, if Touma and friends can't save her.
Of course, as always there is a fair bit of action and some really meandering explanations for how things work, whether it be powers, politics, religion, science, so forth. The author does tend to a) be long-winded, but also to be reduce complicated subjects to a bit simplistic notions in his effort to make the story work. But he does succeed. He makes the long explanations and info-dumps somewhat interesting and makes the all too simple generalizing work for the fictional world it is in. In other words, it is a part of the world-building.
This arc is one of my favorite from the anime a few years back, with Orsola as one of my favorite secondary characters. So I obviously enjoyed it. As well, while the fictional stand-ins for the Catholic Church took a beating, the religious guys in general looked heroic in this volume, which is a) nice to read as a Christian myself, and b) kinda goes against those who have this image of the series as anti-religion. It's not anti-Catholic either, for those who might be wary of it for that reason. Other than a few similarities to real-world groups, these are obviously fictionalized and not Kamachi's views (at least I don't see any concrete statement of them being so) on any of said denominations.
I thought the characterization was quite good and showed us the actual thoughts of Touma, Stiyl and others in a way that made them easier to understand and to grasp where they are coming from. They appeared more "human" if you will, in other words.
Great volume and Highly Recommended.
A young nun named Orsola Aquinas has figured out how to decode the perhaps most powerful Grimoire in the world and different forces seek to capture or save her in order to gain the immense might of the angels for themselves and their faction. But Orsola has more benevolent plans. Benevolent plans she can not exercise if she is dead. Which she will be, by the by, if Touma and friends can't save her.
Of course, as always there is a fair bit of action and some really meandering explanations for how things work, whether it be powers, politics, religion, science, so forth. The author does tend to a) be long-winded, but also to be reduce complicated subjects to a bit simplistic notions in his effort to make the story work. But he does succeed. He makes the long explanations and info-dumps somewhat interesting and makes the all too simple generalizing work for the fictional world it is in. In other words, it is a part of the world-building.
This arc is one of my favorite from the anime a few years back, with Orsola as one of my favorite secondary characters. So I obviously enjoyed it. As well, while the fictional stand-ins for the Catholic Church took a beating, the religious guys in general looked heroic in this volume, which is a) nice to read as a Christian myself, and b) kinda goes against those who have this image of the series as anti-religion. It's not anti-Catholic either, for those who might be wary of it for that reason. Other than a few similarities to real-world groups, these are obviously fictionalized and not Kamachi's views (at least I don't see any concrete statement of them being so) on any of said denominations.
I thought the characterization was quite good and showed us the actual thoughts of Touma, Stiyl and others in a way that made them easier to understand and to grasp where they are coming from. They appeared more "human" if you will, in other words.
Great volume and Highly Recommended.
August 2, 2016
"[...] But the problems that can be solved will be solved even if you're not there. Touma, I think you've gotten involved with a lot of sorcerers, for an outsider. But there are a whole lot of sorcerers in the world you don't know, and they all have their own problems, and they figure them out without needing to borrow your strength. This time is the same-- it's just that this is the first time you've seen an incident you weren't involved in ending."
July 3, 2016
though this volume wasn't my favorite in the series, I still love this series overall and I'm looking forward to volume 8
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews