Title: Solo Leveling Vol. 12
Author: Dubu (Redice Studio), Chugong (Original Story)
Publisher: Ize Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Publication Date: May 20, 2025
The Story
Volume twelve of Solo Leveling picks up with our battle between Jinwoo and the Monarchs. While fighting the Monarchs 1 vs 3 is pretty tough, he is able to take down the Plague Monarch, leaving just the Frost Monarch and Beast Monarch. Despite their numbers being reduced, they overpower Jinwoo and deal a mortal blow to him. When this happens, Jinwoo’s Unknown Skill kicks in, and something very unexpected happens!
As he begins to traverse through this unexpected situation, the Shadow Monarch appears and has a bit of a conversation with him, revealing the truth behind everything! Once Jinwoo learns the truth, he knows what he must do because everything is about to be at stake. When Jinwoo returns, he is able to deal with the Beast and Frost Monarch; however, the battle is far from over. The Monarch of Destruction is on his way, but before he arrives, preparations must be made!
Characters
How do I even begin to cover the character development in this volume without completely blowing some of the biggest reveals this series has ever seen?
Simple… I don’t. Yes, this is going to make this review painfully short; however, when the entire volume is a giant spoiler that would ruin it for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, I don’t have much of a choice; however, as aforementioned in the story section, we learn the truth behind the Shadow Monarch, the Rulers, the other Monarchs, The System, The Architect, Jinwoo himself, and so much more. I will sum it up and say this… if you were looking for that one moment in this series where every question possible was answered, then Volume 12 grants you that wish. It is that lore-heavy!
Final Thoughts
What can I say? This volume started off with an incredible fight and not much dialogue. The pages were flying by as we take in impressive attack after impressive attack; however, after a grand moment to close out the first of the volume’s three compiled chapters, the series just drops lore bomb after lore bomb on us that answers nearly every question we’ve had from the truth about what The System truly is, the complete history of The Shadow Monarch, who the Rulers and Monarchs are, where they came from, why they are at war with one another, and so much more.
Then, after we get bombarded with some of the most important lore in the series’ history, we do get a bit of an emotional reunion between two characters right before the preparations need to be made for the King of Dragons, Monarch of Destruction, and his army.
This sets the stage for a grand finale, and it looks to start as early as the next volume. This was probably one of the best volumes in the series thus far, and it has me hyped for the battle that is to come!
Things have gotten interesting for sure! Three volumes remain, so let’s see how all of this wraps up!
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theouterhaven.net
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was purchased for review
