Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-68.193.62.234-20140814014024/@comment-6192846-20140814022306

It can definitely be hard if you're new and don't know where to start. Fans like you are why I'm glad to have joined the wiki.

Three important rules:

1) Take your time; this series is big and there's no way you can properly digest and remember all the material if you rush. Go at your own pace (it took me many many months before I felt comfortably informed about the series).

2) Read what most interests you. If something confuses you while you're reading the light novels, maybe it'd be best to check if this wiki has an article for it so you can learn more about the character (If you read Cloture, then Ney comes to my mind).

3) Ask. If you read a lot of the fan translations and wikia articles and are still confused, ask. Unless the answer pertains to something mothy hasn't revealed/explained, a user is more than likely to answer you.

Now since you are a fan of the Story of Evil, I'd recommend starting there. Best get you hooked on what you're most passionate/familiar with before branching you out into (arguably) more confusing stuff.

From the series article I linked above, you have a list for the seven official songs in the series and the characters. Listening to those songs and reading those character articles at your leisure should help you learn a bit more.

Reading Wiegenlied would also help you with filling in a lot of the gaps for Cloture, so you can then skip most of that info in the articles.

If you need to understand more general information, reading Reign of Evil and Conspiracy of Evil would give you more of a birds-eye view on the overall plot.

Wiegenlied also gives you an important backstory to the vessels of sin, so you may want to read the introductory info we have for the Seven Deadly Sins page.

Between all that, you should be able to get a good grasp. From where, I'd recommend you start reading about characters and events of the Seven Deadly Sins and Original Sin Story, especially Elluka and Irina Clockworker.

This may all look intimidating as it's a lot of info to take in, but just keep in mind that it's okay to take your time. This is definitely not a series you can just know. If you're interested, just let yourself be lost in the characters and world you are reading about (like some lost history you're discovering all on your own!).

That's the best advice I can give.