Solo Leveling

by Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels
Pages: 272
Series: Solo Leveling (light novel) #8
Rating:

Synopsis:

"MAY YOUR COURAGE SAVE YOUR WORLD." The Monarch of Destruction and the armies of Chaos have descended upon Earth, leaving nothing but death and carnage in their wake. The fate of humanity lies in the hands of the newly crowned Shadow Monarch, Jinwoo Sung. Who will be the final victor when the dust settles on this timeless feud?

And more importantly, will there be anything left of the world to save?

The eighth and final volume of Chugong’s Solo Leveling is a bit of a mix. It contains the last few chapters of the main story, then a bunch of more or less inconsequential side stories (with just a few that seem really important, and some that are just comic, or filling in some gaps), then finally an epilogue that does feel significant.

It leads to the volume feeling very piecemeal and disorganised. Perhaps the side stories should’ve been after the epilogue, which would’ve helped… or split into a separate volume, and previous volumes each been expanded by a chapter or so to fit all the main story into seven volumes. It feels a bit sad to end with such a meh volume, because the main story itself isn’t bad at all, it’s just overshadowed by what feels like filler.

Some of the side stories are fun (like ones that show the POV of Jinwoo’s minions), and the ending is epic and a little sad. I think I’m over it now and don’t need to read more; I kinda wish it’d been self-contained and not been obvious setup for another series. It was fun while it lasted, though!

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)