Cover Image: Her Majesty's Swarm, Volume 1

Her Majesty's Swarm, Volume 1

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Member Reviews

I received a copy of this manga through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

At first I was like “Again…a computer game plot…Why do Japanese want so badly to escape to computer games…? 😮” In the end it wasn’t quite that and I’m glad there were no information cards hovering whenever something happened, it eventually gets a bit annoying…🙄
I usually don’t care about insects or murderous swarm queens but when they sort of become vigilantes and kill for the goodness of nice people then I’m quite pleased. 🤭
The art was beautiful and the monsters were detailed. It’s a gory manga but quite interesting!😃

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Her Majesty's Storm is about a college student who gets transported into an RPG world and now has the body of a 14 year old girl. She's determined to survive and you follow her journey.

This book was not my taste. I enjoyed the gore aspects and thought the artstyle was nice but I didn't enjoy the plot. This definitely has its audience but it wasn't for me.

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Thanks to NetGalley Kodansha for an advanced digital copy to read and review.

A young women who spends all her free time playing a RPG commanding a swarm of giant arachnids, gets transported with said arachnids to a different world. She is the queen of the swarm and thus part of their hive mind. She uses strategies from her game to help an elfin village go up against a gang of human traffickers. As she defeats more enemies, will she be consumed by the hive mind or keep her own will?

The art in this manga is pretty awesome, but it is gruesome. There is plenty of dismemberment, severed heads and people being chopped in half. If you are scared of bugs or spiders, you might want to skip this one. This was fast paced and entertaining, but not my favorite thing ever. If my library buys this series and I come across it, I might continue out of curiosity.

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"I am destined to become the most vile mass murderer the world has ever seen."

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❗This is a spoiler-free review from NetGalley❗

⚠️Trigger Warning: This manga contains graphic scenes of death and human trafficking.⚠️

So, I just finished another ARC read for this week. They seriously keep getting better and better, which makes it much harder for me to avoid spoiled details, but alas, those are the rules.


I am going to start by saying that this is NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNGER READERS. I know most kids these days are pretty accostumed to graphic images of violence and darker themes...this manga is pretty dark. That being said, those same dark themes and graphic, violent images are part of the reason why I liked this so much. It hit my style exactly. Yeah, I'm pretty weird like that 😁😁 So, this manga is, in a sense, a darker, twisted Jumanji-ish type of story. An eighteen-year-old girl finds herself inside a strange version of a video game she used to play obsessively, but for some reason, she's younger than she was in real life. She is also the Queen of Arachnea and the leader of an army of giant spiders. I know...badass 😍😍 As she tries to find a way back home, to the real world, she becomes this BADASS queen that kicks some bad people's asses. Yeap, she's as cool as she sounds. I'm really intrigued by this story and I'm most likely going to continue reading it, I really am dying to know what happens.


There is one particular thing that bothers me, and the reason why this awesome manga isn't 5 ⭐, something that is constant in mangas and anime. I don't get why all the women/girls have enormous breasts. I just don't get it at all and I really really don't like it. They are unrealistic. I've read so many great mangas and they are almost always ruined just a little because of these crazy body standards and female oversexualization. I feel like this is a topic of interest for many fans of the genre and others, so I thought to way in with my own opinion on the matter. But, other than that this manga is near-flawless in storyline, and I would like to keep reading and find out what happens.


In spite of what I just said, I would still recommend this. Its story is worth reading.

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This made me incredibly uncomfortable and I don’t think I can read anymore of it I’m not going to lie.

Lots of body parts flying around and weird hive mind stuff. Art is gorgeous but just gave me the creeps. Kind of like an iskai except there’s no duke to romance hah

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This seemed like a story I would have gotten into but sadly I was not. I was confused in the beginning, and the rest just wasn't my cup of tea.

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When I requested this for review, I knew I was going outside of my normal Manga choices, but I like trying new things. I’ve only heard the term “isekai” in 2021 and this was applied to the handful of RPG type player stories I read.

This story is rather gory in parts and not from the more familiar perspective of the “hero”. The main character is the queen of battalion of brutal insects desiring victory. Victory it seems will be brutal and bloody.

I thought the approach was interesting but I’m not sure how well the first volume works as convincing the reader to stick around. I might try the next book, but not sure yet.

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A really interesting premise for a manga that doesn't fall into the typical romance or adventure niche. "Her Majesty's Swarm" is delightfully bizarre. I really enjoy the protagonist's grey moral compass and the fact that she is not hasty to take to violence nor shirk her responsibilities to her swarm. It's not what I expected from the manga, having seen the cover and description, but I'm invested enough to read volume 2 for sure.

Would recommend this title to fans of MMORPG based manga, such as sword art online, looking for a new twist.

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To start things off, thank Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for allowing me to read the rest of volume 1 so now I’ll give a short overview of my thoughts.

I thought it was good at first to see the female lead becoming the “Queen of Spiders” in the other world but I found the whole plot quite bleak. I was expecting some interesting characters that she could team up with but I just felt the series wasn’t really going to offer much of this. It’ll just be the FL constantly be bragging of how much of a potential queen she could be to her spider army, that’s just how I personally felt tbh….

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I received an e-arc of this from netgalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I really liked the idea and plot behind this, the story starts by introducing the MC who was a gamer in the real world. She devoted all her time to building her swarm. Suddenly she wakes up and a spider is in her face! This is where the story starts off and by golly the story gets bloody and gore packed fast!

The plot flowed a little choppy but overall story was interesting. The graphics and aet were very nice and I enjoyed the style in which it was produced.

Will definitely have to pick up Volume 2!

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Well I knew this was going to be dark, but honestly was surprised by some of the more lighter moments that would interrupt unexpectedly.

A young woman who spent a long time playing an RTS commanding Arachnea, suddenly awakens in a world faced with hundreds of actual arachnea monsters in front of her. They are collectively calling her their queen. Faced with uncertain circumstances, she jumps right in and accepts the position.

I expected off the bat to just see her go all in on the killing, but this book actually has her thinking strategically. When faced with an elven town, the spiders are ready to kill, but she has other plans. She saves an elven pair from slave traders and uses that as an in for trading. The killing is super grotesque as she commands the spiders, but then sometimes you'll see her tie a ribbon on a spider's leg affectionately, or her knight gleam with happiness and pride. These are the lighter moments that kept this manga from delving in to nothing but non-stop violence.

Overall I was expecting to find it too violent for my tastes, but before I knew it, the volume reached its end and I just wanted to read more. I'll definitely check out future volumes, and now plan to read the light novel series as well.

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Her Majesty’s Swarm Volume 1 by 616th Special Information Battalion, Eiri Iwamoto, and Akita Minamoto.

Our protagonist wakes up in a foreign land surrounded by a swarm of giant spiders!!!

As far as she can remember,, she is an eighteen-year-old college student living in Japan. Now, she is finds herself in a land that is similar to the video game she played for years and is being recognized as the Queen of the Arachnae faction she played as. Now, she must find a way to return to Japan while trying to maintain her sanity, and avoid getting eaten by her so-called subjects by leading them to victory. What victory exactly are they looking for?

I am usually not a fan of the isekai genre mostly because it is EVERYWHERE and a lot of the times, I find that the main protagonist is overpowered. Her Majesty’s Swarm is much the same, at first glance. However, as the story progressed, clearly there is a good plot, conflict, and I am hoping a good character development to look forward to. I also find this manga to be unique as the main character is a female versus the more popular gender counterpart. I liked that even though she is female, the authors did not portray her to be overly feminine or weaker than male protagonist. She is also not shown as meek or quiet but instead very driven, focused, and logical. This is definitely on the darker genre and i am hoping it remains that way. It adds more uniqueness to the story.

I can’t wait to read more and learn more of her journey. There’s definitely a lot unanswered and it could go so many ways.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the authors, and Kodansha publishing for the opportunity to read this manga for free in exchange for an honest review!

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

This manga follows a girl who is transported into the world of the game she was playing and now has to deal with the responsibilities and trials of being the queen of the spiders/other creepy crawlies faction. However, this world that she's in is not the same as the one in the game so that brings a whole new set of issues.

Her Majesty's Swarm was way more gory and grotesque than I expected it to me. I thought that it would fall a bit more on the lines of So What I'm A Spider, but I think this has more of a Goblin Slayer kind of vibe. The art is very detailed and definitely is not one to shy away from showing decapitated forms. I would say to proceed with caution, but so far it's a good story and has presented a lot of questions for the protagonist to deal with.

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What a good surprise! I tend to go into manga not really knowing much about the plot so I was pleasantly surprised by how dark and gritty this one was. It follows a college student who is suddenly inside of her favourite video game— with no idea how she got there. But now she’s the queen of a group of insects!

I will put a content warning here that if you have arachnophobia, do not read this. It is full of spiders and scorpions and other creepy crawlies!

I really enjoyed this first volume. The worldbuilding was slow but steady which I appreciated. It wasn’t just a quick overview of the world, we got to discover it as the main character did. It’s so interesting to see her development too. She’s linked to her army so she’s not sure if she’s actually that murderous or if it’s because of her mind link.

I am so excited to read more from this series! It’s action packed, gory, full of revenge and a need for justice that only she and her army can deliver amid a lush world. Highly recommend this!

4/5⭐️

TW: arachnophobia, blood, gore, violence, death, beheading/torture/dismemberment, nudity.

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TW: Monster Horror and gore.
Before I get into this I have to say that I probably don't fully understand this book. I found the art to be horrific in a beautiful way. I cannot get some of the images out of my head. I typically don't enjoy monster horror, as I don't find the monsters scary enough. That was just not the case with this novel. If you have a fear of spiders, don't pick up this book, do yourself a favor.
(Arc from Netgalley)

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After having played an infinite amount of hours at an RPG game, the protagonist, a 18 years old antisocial, awakes in another world as the new queen of the most murderous and bloodthirsty criatures.

While reading this manga, it gave me a lot of "good for her" vibes kind of like in Jennifer's body if you know what I mean.

It has a lot of similarities with Overlord, and if you wnjoy it but can't stand reading too much about men (like me) this manga is for you!

Both the art style and the story are good and enjoyable but not original with the exceptions that so far all men are the worst.

I give it a 4/5 mainly because the protagonist is a ruthless woman and I love those stories,

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A video game player nicknamed as Mushi-nee, finds herself into a world where she finds huge monster-size spiders which she used to lead even in the game. She gradually finds that she is sucked into a land named Arachnea. The huge monster like spiders call her as queen. She choose to become their queen and lead the troop to their goal.
The background build is quite interesting and dark as our protagonist's character development is focused in this volume and it's definitely a treat to read.

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Rating: 3 🌟
First and foremost, I'd like to express my gratitude to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with an e-ARC of this manga.
This manga was new and had a refreshing concept. Being a part of the game you're playing, as well as being the protagonist and resolving important difficulties. The art style was great otherwise.

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I honestly don't know what I was expecting from this title, but I got a pleasant, if dark, surprise! There is a lot of gore in this series, so heads up! Anyway, if you like your reincarnated (maybe?) in another world story with a bit more edge, this might be for you. I for one, appreciated that the video game world in question was a tactical RPG this time. This might mean more strategic moves and diplomacy as the story progresses, rather than straight up monster slaying. The Queen herself is also an interesting character to follow., as it's implied the hive-mind is slowly taking over her own consciousness. (Or is it?)

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I have a full review here: https://youtu.be/Y4tSrfntfWI


What a mature manga, beware this is full of Gore so if you are sensitive avoid this one. the images are brutal and the concept of a hive mind is super interesting. I am very curious to see how our MC going to leave this fantasy world if she leaves at all,

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