Title: Solo Leveling Ragnarok Vol. 1
Author: Jin, Daul, Brix, Redice Studio
Publisher: Ize Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Publication Date: July 21, 2026
The Story
Sooho Sung is the son of everyone’s favorite Shadow Monarch, Jinwoo Sung. Jinwoo and Haein have gone missing, and it is up to Sooho to find them in this sequel series; however, Sooho, much like his father in the beginning, is powerless. Three years ago, gates began to appear throughout the world, and magic beasts have returned. The peace Jinwoo established has been broken; however, Sooho feels destined for greatness after a dream of climbing through a dungeon to face the ultimate final boss… his father.
That dream is about to become a reality when Jinwoo’s top shadow soldier and everyone’s favorite ant, Beru, returns to be by Sooho’s side; however, after crossing dimensions, he receives a severe power nerf. Now acting as a guide rather than a fighter, Beru is impressed that Sooho was able to activate a new and improved version of the System that was created by Jinwoo. We also learned that Sooho is much stronger than he is at the moment because Jinwoo sealed his true potential away.
This series is about following Sooho with three main goals: To restore his power that was sealed by leveling up, to restore Beru’s power by having him consume magic beasts, and to find his mother Haein, who went missing, much to Beru’s shock. And to accomplish all of this… It’s time to start Solo Leveling in the dungeons!
Characters
There are some stark differences between Sooho and Jinwoo. Jinwoo was very cautious; however, he was also very forward and brash with his words. He seemed as if he were all business, but there were moments when he showed a soft heart. Sooho is more carefree than Jinwoo. He gets more excited over the prospect of the System being more like a video game, but his sense of justice rivals that of his father. Also, and this is probably because he is Jinwoo’s son, his mental fortitude when it comes to figuring out the System almost seems like second nature. He can adapt to it quite easily, and when he receives the Rune of Shadow Extraction, the same power as his father, he uses his ingenuity to create a brand-new way to use it! Sooho’s fighting style is like his father’s in the sense that he prefers up-close combat, but while Jinwoo favored daggers, Sooho favors his fists!
Beru seems a bit off in this series. In the original Solo Leveling, he seemed more fierce and savage, ready to tear apart anything and everything at his king’s command, but here he seems more like a light-hearted Disney character more than anything. I know it’s probably due to the realization that he is nowhere near a fraction of his power, and thus, a guide is all he can be, but he’s missing that bite that he used to have. His loyalty is still there, though… and he is still forever faithful to Jinwoo, and that includes his son, too. I’m hoping that once he gets his power restored, Beru will shift back to the badass ant that we remember him as.
Lacan’s Fang may be a sword, but it is the essence of the now-deceased Fang Monarch. When Sooho encounters it, we get a nice history lesson about the other eight monarchs. While the character of the sword is just an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of character, it makes you wonder if the essences of the other defeated monarchs are out there stored inside of similar weapons. If so, Sooho could amass an insanely powerful arsenal, but this would also mean that unlike Jinwoo, he could master multiple fighting styles, thus surpassing his father.
Final Thoughts
We’re off to a good start, but I can already see the nuances from the first series slipping through immediately… and by that, I mean Sooho being overpowered. When he had to face the Mist Burns at school, he seemed pretty balanced… even after unlocking the System. He struggled, he came close to failing, and that means he felt human. Then, he was just given Shadow Extraction and Ruler’s Hand right out of the gate, and it was played off as him just naturally adapting to the powers without much of a learning curve.
I get it… He’s Jinwoo’s son, and that means there should be some inherent knowledge of how to use these powers, but I would have loved to see him struggle more with them. Instead, not only does he learn them immediately, but he also creates a brand-new form of shadow extraction in the first volume of the series… something not even his father could have done. That’s quite the power-up out of the gate, and I fear it will only get worse.
Again, I get it. Solo Leveling as a whole is a power fantasy series where you sit back, turn off your brain, and watch an overpowered main character rip through everything while you sit back and laugh at the absurdity of it. In that sense, Ragnarok looks to achieve that in spades, much like the prequel. But I’m also a fan of slow growth. After playing numerous RPGs over the years, that slow and steady growth of a character feels rewarding. Giving them the tools to break the game in the first chapter is just cheap, so I will always be critical of a series like this.
Overall, the story wasn’t bad, though. Sooho has his goals to achieve and is determined to see them through… especially when we know that Haein is in more danger than Jinwoo. We’ll see how things continue in the next volume as it seems not all enemies are going to be a magic beast in this series!
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This item was provided for review by Ize Press
