Review marked below, but first, for those who don't read often...
I discovered Solo Leveling as a part of a commitment I'd made to my partner, an avid reader. I haven't been much for books since childhood, always reaching for my phone or a video game for entertainment. We often visit the bookstore, and eventually, I started feeling like I needed to be more a part of this world, but I had to find a place to start.
I thought a visual novel would be the best place to start — easier to digest, a smaller time commitment — and so I scanned through the manga on the shelves, completely overwhelmed. Solo Leveling, the comics, stood out to me. They seemed conceptually simpler and familiar to me as a gamer. I decided to try it, so I picked up the first two comics.
Through the weekend and week beyond, my partner encouraged reading time. Even though I enjoyed the content, I felt every minute of it the first few times. After finishing my first book, I celebrated! It had been a long time since I finished a book in that kind of timeline, even if it was just a comic.
The second went quicker.
Then the hunt began. Each visit to the book store, I hungrily grabbed for remaining issues. When I couldn't find them in store, my partner encouragingly ordered the ones I was missing online.
Within a month, I'd finished all 8 of the currently available comics. I'd finished eight books! But I needed more of this content. I needed to know what happened next. I wanted to see the differences between the content of the anime that we'd started watching, the comics I'd finished reading, and this series, the source material.
And so I graduated from comics to novels.
The first night, I read 20 pages. That was huge for me!
The next day, I'd finished 100 pages. I finished the book within 3 days. I'd finish two more by the end of the week.
A month later, I've completed the series. While I wait for the ninth comic to see these words come to life, I want to celebrate and encourage anyone else who may not be a reader but might see this review.
Start here. Be like Jinwoo – don't give up.
***Review***
This is a fun series that takes you on a journey about what life would be like if we lived in a world that was like an RPG.
What if you could see your stats? What if you could control your growth by managing your stats? How would you distribute them?
What if the safety of those you loved was threatened by otherworldly invaders? Would you fight, even if it meant risking your life every day? What if you had such tremendous power that few other entities could control you?
How would you use those powers?
This is the world of Solo Leveling, a story taking place primarily in modern-day Korea. A world where magical portals called gates appear out of nowhere and lead to dungeons and other worlds filled with beasts intent on hunting and destroying humans.
Select humans have awakened, granted defined powers to fight for humanity — and get tremendously wealthy in the process.
Jinwoo, the so-called weakest hunter in the world, lives this life and puts himself at constant risk of harm and death for his comatose mother and younger sister, Jinah.
When an opportunity to get stronger appears before Jinwoo, he takes it without any knowledge of what he is accepting into his life.
Now, it's time for Jinwoo to level up.