The Leopard Mask

What compelled me to read the first installment of the Guin Saga was its apparent influence on the manga Berserk and the game series, Dark Souls. First chapters in, I could confirm that influence without a doubt. This led me to believe that it'd be this dark, somewhat nihilistic story, perhaps more layered than it initially lets on, but it loses this tone pretty quickly and largely just becomes a very pulpy, standard heroic fantasy novel, despite having its fair share of violence and gruesome moments.

Pros: It's VERY fast-paced, which allowed me to read it easily in about a week, reading a chapter or two every night. It's also got some creative imagery as far as fantasy and horror tropes are concerned.

Cons: It might be the translation, or just a product of Japanese fantasy-writing tendencies, but the dialogue is distractingly corny and flat. The characterization of the main players is clear, but also pretty cut and dry/simplistic. Too much of the book is devoted to scenes upon scenes of our hero Guin just effortlessly cutting his way through every battle. It gets pretty repetitive by often describing the same moments or feelings multiple times over the course of a couple pages... making it feel padded and like it could've been even shorter than it already is.

Overall, it's fine. I enjoyed it well enough, and it was a casual read I didn't have to think about much.