Let me get one thing out of the way first. I have read the SO novels and I have watched the anime. Honestly, I did not think much of it compared to the Danmachi anime's first season.
However, I feel like not including some of the stuff from the SO novels in the Danmachi anime leaves the audience scratching their heads in the later seasons regarding how certain things were supposed to play out.
A good example of this is that if you watched the anime or only read the Danmachi novels then you would believe that Ishtar's plan to take Freya down only involve Haruhime and the ritual with the Killing stone when it was actually more complex then that. As she was aligned with the remnants of Evilus that were using Knossos as a base of operations.
Then we got the fact that the more recent volumes of the SO novels have plot lines that have an impact on the main series.
Because of this I see two options at this point.
The first is a reboot of the Sword Oratoria anime with a longer first and second season in order to catch up to the main series.
The second is to start weaving the story from the novels into the main series. In truth, it might have been a good idea to do that with this season as it would explain why the Loki Familia was there when Bell came out of Knossos.
What do the rest of you think? Please speak up if you have something to say and please keep the conversation civil.