There are many things to like about So I'm A Spider, So What?. Kumoko's highly infectious personality is, for many, the hook that got them into the books (and the associated manga/anime). Watching her rise throughout the books felt both meaningful and exciting when each hurdle was defeated. The world building, and the depth of the descriptions of the System are interesting and, while in many ways derivative is still compelling.

Unfortunately, the typical tropes that follow isekai stories rear their ugly head towards the end. Power creep, while joked about many times does trivialise many of the later fights to the point where conflict feels meaningless. The many unresolved relationships between characters remains incredibly frustrating, even as they developed over the course of the novels.

(LN 16)

(LN 14)

Additionally, the bullet point summary at the end of LN 16 is incredibly frustrating, and immediately felt like the author had to hit a particular word count and no more.

(LN 16)

Perhaps some of these issues could be forgiven if they elaborated on the next steps for Kumoko following the finale or something about what comes next, but the author again leaves all of this detail to the imagination.

Some others have noted that this all works because the outcome of the story isn't necessarily meant to be positive. This fundamentally is just an excuse for missing detail - there is no reason the story couldn't have ended on the same point if there was actual care and attention paid to the various actors in the story.

On this, in writing this review I went back and explored the various different arcs throughout the story and familarised myself with why I felt so compelled to continue reading: the depth and care paid to the characters.

For people looking for an interesting tale, particularly those coming from the anime, do know that there is a huge amount of world and plot in here that feels incredibly special, but do know that you will be left at the end blue-balled.