Solo Leveling, Vol. 1 (novel)
-
-
4.8 • 286 Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
THE WEAKEST HUNTER OF ALL MANKIND! E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung has no money, no talent, and no prospects to speak of-and apparently, no luck, either! When he enters a hidden double dungeon one fateful day, he’s abandoned by his party and left to die at the hands of some of the most horrific monsters he’s ever encountered. But just before the last, fatal blow… PING! [Congratulations on becoming a Player.]
Customer Reviews
Great book
This is a great book! I decided to start reading this because of the anime and I enjoy this more than the anime. They leave some things out of the anime and there are minor differences.
Not terrible, but not what you may expect for the hype
If you are a fan, don't hate me. I took my time, did my research to get the right context ambiance, studied the Korean phonetics, and got the names' pronunciations right. I made an effort to like it and even went as far as to read the whole thing before writing this review.
The storyline is ok. The stereotypical underdog character that, in a twist of fate (the author's pen), unlocked a videogame-like mechanics that allowed him to beat every obstacle in his new game-like life. Thank god, the story develops originally enough to keep the entertainment going. The fantasy environment with some even more fanciful excuses helped a lot with the world construction. And I'm grateful it kept the magic stuff and skills as mysterious as possible. As you can see, it is not something irredeemable.
On the other hand, the writing is messy. It kind of gets fixed with time (the obvious growth process of the writer), but for me, it is a charm breaker. I found myself constantly reading back and forth some paragraphs of phrases, trying to make sense of what was going on when inadvertently the narrator's perspective switched to someone else.
At times, the writing feels off. I don't know if it is the writer's or the translator's fault. Sometimes it feels like the sentence or idea it tries to express doesn't match the situation.
Other times, the sentences are simplistic. I ignore the ups and downs of the Korean language, but you can find many examples of passive writing while relying on onomatopoeia (to the point that it gets annoying) to compensate for the lack of expressiveness of the writing. It made me feel like I was reading a script for a comic book instead of an actual novel.
I've heard about Solo Leveling for a while now. I saw the anime adaptation, and even if it hardly met my expectations, I can't deny that it was a decent work. I'm sorry, but even reading the books didn't convince me to join the ranks of fans who think this is the best story ever.
Well worth.
Got tired of waiting on the anime the books are even better and it was a good word