Tinaris can no longer just pass herself off as a talented but otherwise ordinary alchemist, as a global threat means she must help step up to save the world.
…And accepting this mission involves her hogging almost the entire volume.
Okay, “hogging” is rather harsh. But the second chapter starts at when the book is 75% complete — yes, the second chapter! And there are only three in total, the third being an added side story starring…the twins’ pet Mujimuji?
I’ve never been a fan of how some of these light novels have absurdly long, almost useless chapter divisions, but this volume seems a bit boxed in by how the previous books were organized. Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind has checked in with Tinaris and then her father at various ages, and to keep that pattern, her age 13 chapter is almost the full volume here. In addition, Marcus’ is very short even though something big happens to him in this volume. Mujimuji’s story ends up being twice as long as his. Out of all the characters we’ve met, that’s not who I would have voted for to have a short story. Komori mentions she never found the time or the drive to write this when the novel was serialized. It’s not a bad tale, but it’s clearly something that’s been tacked on.
It’s no surprise that Tinaris’ story is long though since her life is changing in a big way. Renge and Marcus reveal to Tinaris that Renge is the Mythical Beast who saved her when she was an infant and that as the last of the Spherit Folk, she can help prevent the world from being destroyed by purifying monsters. Still, she can’t do this alone, and she will need help from others, including Renge’s compatriots and old allies, to stop the threat of destruction.
Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind doesn’t become a full-fledged adventure story (and the plan is to have monsters come to her rather than vice versa), but the series does switch gears a bit. This isn’t a sudden change by any means, as this has been hinted since the beginning, but if you enjoyed following along with Tinaris’ latest concoctions and meeting visitors at the inn, volume 3 may be less to your liking. For me, I prefer this shift away from the slice-of-life pace even though it means less Nakona.
Tinaris doesn’t plan on giving up being an apothecary and still works on creating better medicine. For now, though, this is more of a typical “summoned to another world” isekai where she must acquire new powers and then test them out. Plus, there’s the handsome protector with whom she forms a strong bond with.
Feelings between them are in the early stages, but Renge does serve as a good counterpart to Tinaris. She tends to be mature because this is her second life, but he has lived much, much longer and yet still has a lot of charming youthfulness in his personality. With Tinaris’ budding crush on him, she also starts to truly live as the currently 13-year-old Tinaris instead of a Japanese woman stuck in a kid’s body.
So between that and Tinaris beginning to follow her destiny, Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind volume 3 was a fun read. I just wish the novel had been broken up more and allowed Marcus to better share his thoughts on what’s happening. And if there are going to be more short stories, I’d rather see characters like Renge and Nakona take the stage. So pick this up, but know that volume 3 is a bit different than its predecessors.