The ultimate Awakened Being appears, and it seems more powerful than any Creature of the Abyss before it!
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Norihiro Yagi
What They Say
With the balance of power broken after Isley’s defeat by the ferocious Abyss Feeders, the Organization, central hub of the Claymores, deploys Alicia and Beth to the West to go after the renegade Riful. In turn, Riful continues her scheme to Awaken the remains of the powerful Rafaela. As these dire powers all finally collide, Clare and her comrades must fight for their lives in the titanic battle that ensues.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Isley proved to be no match for the Claymore Zombies, or Abyss Feeders, in the last volume, but how will this power vacuum between the three Creatures of the Abyss (Isley, Riful, Priscilla) be filled? If Riful had her way she would rule the whole continent. Riful continues in her attempts to wake the hibernating Rafaela, who will likely be an immensely powerful Awakened Being. Somehow, Rafaela stopped her Awakening, and became a hibernating body with no sign of ever returning to consciousness. But I question whether Riful would be able to control an Awakened Rafaela the way she bosses around her dumb male Awakened Being, Dauf.
Ultimately, none of Riful’s attempts to wake Rafaela prove fruitful. But for some reason, Rafaela begins to awaken when Clare approaches. Somehow, Rafaela draws Clare’s mind into her subconscious, and Clare finds herself fighting for her life. If Clare dies in Rafaela’s subconscious, then her body will become a soulless husk. Clare survives, but in the process she violently receives Rafaela’s memories about the Organization’s secrets along with new information about Alicia and Beth. Alicia and Beth are the Organization’s ultimate weapon, and they prove capable killing Creatures of the Abyss without any help from other Claymores.
Not only that, but Rafaela transforms into a fully Awakened Being the size of a small mountain! Things go from bad to complete crap when Rafaela begins spewing pieces of her body around the countryside. Each piece turns into an Awakened Being, albeit weaker creatures that can’t regenerate the way full Awakened Beings do. But that doesn’t make matters any easier considering there are dozens of these Rafaela parts wandering around, searching for food of any kind.
Throw Alicia and Beth into this mix, and all hell is breaking loose! Will Clare and the other Survivor’s of the North ever be able to escape all these powerful enemies?
In Summary:
With the political intrigue circling around Rubel in recent volumes, volume 17 kicks readers in the teeth with nothing but action, and it makes no apologies. Creatures of the Abyss, Abyss Feeders (Claymore zombies), Alicia and Beth, and an Awakened Rafaela and all her body parts turning into Awakened Beings, all this spells nothing but doom for Clare and every human on their island continent. All this action makes for quick reading, and while not as earth-shattering as the revelations in volume 15, this volume is still very entertaining. However, I grow tired of the short glimpses the author gives us of Raki as he travels with Priscilla. It is nice to see that Raki has grown into a man, but I’m dying to see him reunited with Clare. At this point they have been apart for so long, I don’t know if they could rekindle their friendship. It seems unlikely, especially considering Raki has spent all these years traveling with Priscilla, a Creature of the Abyss that Clare has sworn to destroy.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: January 4th, 2011
MSRP: $9.99
