An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride Volume 7 Review

After a stressful adventure in the last volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, this time around Zagan and family take a break for some fun in the sun. It’s time for swimsuits, beaches and… fishing?! With summer firmly upon our heroes, let’s check in and see what’s happening in Volume 7 of this romantic comedy.

As we reunite with the cast we find that they’re taking it easy. After being drained of mana at the end of the last book, Foll is recovering and stuck inside resting. Being a young child, she’s understandably growing bored and so Zagan suggests a day at the beach on a deserted island. Foll readily agrees to this suggestion and the cast head out for a day of fun, but it’s not long before a new enemy makes themselves known…

An Archangel named Michael alerts Zagan that a sorcerer is out to murder him, having already slaughtered another of the Archdemons. With both his and his family’s lives at risk, Zagan prepares to fight to the bitter end to defend those he loves – but will he be able to overcome someone powerful enough to kill an Archdemon?

Elsewhere in this volume Chastille and Barbatos have a falling-out, which could spell the end of their friendship. Zagan and Nephy decide that it might be in everyone’s best interests if they try and patch things up, but will their intervention work? Even if it does, are Chastille and Barbatos about to become something more than friends?

This instalment of Elf Bride spends most of its time relaxing, which is a nice change from the tension of the last couple of entries. Being at the beach is an excuse for some easy fan service, which is sure to please some readers, while those less interested in that sort of thing will enjoy reading about the  cast holding a fishing contest. It’s the sort of ordinary everyday activity that Elf Bride does best and makes up for the fact that  we’ve fallen back into a ‘monster of the week’ format again recently.

It’s often difficult for me to decide on my feelings toward this series. While I love the romance and am quite attached to the cast, I don’t like the lack of a bigger overarching plot. Every volume a new enemy comes in who becomes a friend or is simply defeated outright. It’s predictable and never the most enjoyable aspect of any of these books. Lately, a part of me wishes the light novel series would take a leaf out of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level’s book and just focus on the everyday lives of the characters more often.

Having said all of that, if you can put aside the new foe in this volume then you’ll still have a great time with it. There is some meaningful character development for Chastille and Barbatos, which we’ve been needing for a while and fans of their relationship will appreciate. Zagan and Nephy also have some fairly sweet moments, which show how far their relationship has come since the first volume.

This volume of Elf Bride once again comes to the West thanks to J-Novel Club and has been translated by Hikoki. The translation reads well and had fewer issues than usual in the pre-pub releases, which was a nice change. The final eBook reads well, as always.

Overall, this volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride gives us the chance to take a break and catch our breath. It’s not the best book in the series, but it’s still a great deal of fun, provided you like the cast.