I realized I never did a proper recap of volumes 19 and 20 of The Ancient Magus Bride. Either that, or I can’t find the recaps I did anywhere and if I can’t find them, then readers of this blog definitely can’t find them either. So before I give you guys my thoughts on the latest volume, I’ve decided to also recap the two volumes that were missing. A lot happened in these volumes and this was also a nice excuse for me to read them again. So without further ado;

We left off volume 18 with Lizbeth fusing with an ancient evil that is like a god, but not quite complete. Morrigan is the one that steps up to actually deal with the problem and wants to make use of Adam, the specter of Philomela’s father that was released when Alcyone was destroyed. This version of Adam cautions Philomela to not call him father as he truthfully isn’t that, he’s just a specter. With Morrigan and Adam distracting the god with a little help from Ruth, the children and Elias come up with a plan. Philomela still has some control over the book that was used for this ritual and if they can get their hands on that book they might still have a shot. The werewolf is also running a distraction, being aware that their attack on Lucy’s family was all the fault of Lizbeth Sargent. 

We then get to see Philomela work through her trauma. Of course the groundwork for all of this was laid by the care that she received from the people around her and some help from Alcyone, but it takes a lot of courage to push past the feeling of uselessness that comes with being treated as useless. But Philomela knows that the book is still somehow tied to her and that if she can just get some support from the kids, they have enough magic to kick down the ladder holding up this god. Or so to speak. After dealing with the god, we’re left with a melting Lizbeth who doesn’t seem to have any regrets about what she did. And if she wanted to atone, it’s now too late as the werewolf lops her head off. 

But we’re not in the clear yet. With the ancient gods all departed, including Morrigan and the specter of Adam, it seems now is the right moment for someone to swoop in and steal the tome at the center of this mess. A strange looking familiar with a cloth over its face dives through the chaos and when Ruth jumps to attack it, the werewolf foils Ruth, claiming that her child is still alive. So the werewolf child has been turned into a familiar serving Veronica Rickenbacker. Does this mean she was always aware of what was going on, or maybe even the one masterminding everything? Either way, she gets out of this without anyone knowing about her involvement and with the tome in her possession. Surely that will become a big problem in the future, but it seems like for now things have calmed down.

Philomela wakes up in the English countryside in the little cottage where Elias and Chise live. She confuses Silky for an artificial spirit, but the spirits here are not artificial at all, but 100% real. It looks like she’ll finally get to take a deep breath and relax a little as the kids spend winter break in Elias’ house. We get a cute interaction where Tori and the students see Chise and Elias interact with fae like it’s the most normal thing ever, something that is completely unfeasible for alchemists, so they’re kind of jealous. Then Chise and Elias go to complete a promise and deliver a mistletoe to have their seasons blessed. I love the little joke Ruth makes that it’s good that she asked for mistletoe and not the heads of a hundred warriors. This could have gone very poorly, but luckily it didn’t 

Elsewhere, the teachers from the college come to relieve Zaccheroni of his guard duty and Narcisse Maugham prepares to speak with the departed Lizbeth Sargant to hopefully learn something more about what went on and what other problems they could expect. Unfortunately, alchemists are tightlipped and much damage was already done to her psyche before she passed away. Thus the college is stuck with the riddle of who took the tome and where it is now.

The kids continue to enjoy their Christmas break at Elias house, learning how to make potpourri and making presents for people. During all of this, Elias ponders what it means to make friends and we get the sad claim that he almost made a second friend at the college but she died. This is of course referring to Alcyone, who was getting along with Elias quite while towards the end of her life. Elias thinks of Simon as a friend in a sense, but the concept is still so new to him that it’s hard for him to express. Meanwhile Chise goes to visit Josef and treat him like a therapist. He’s delighted in the fact that Chise is becoming more and more like him, but also annoyed at how much better she is dealing with that fact.

And finally, we get a peek into what seems like an important part of the upcoming arc and that is that someone is getting Lindel to leave the Aerie. We see a shadow visiting him and Adolf as they are still taking care of the dragons and although we don’t get to see their conversation or even who this visitor is, we do see a panel of Lindel and Elias confronting each other in London, meaning that something got Lindel to leave home behind. 

This was an interesting volume as it had a little bit of everything. It was very much a transition between arcs and it looks like we’re setting up for something to do with the dragons again. Dragons have been an omen of big changes in this story so far, with the first dragon being corrupted by Josef and then later we saw the dragon appear in the earth below England, causing a stir. I’m curious where it’s headed as Chise seems to be getting better at handling her power and not overdoing things. The children are also all in recovery with Philomela not even having a functioning hand right now, although it looks like Isaac will build her some temporary prosthetics which makes her very happy. I’m excited to reread the other upcoming volumes and provide you with quality recaps. Thanks for reading!