Manga Review – Berserk Vol 17 by Kentaro Miura (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Manga
Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: June 5, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1593077426
Stand Alone or Series: 17th volume in the Berserk series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Warrior supreme Guts, the Black Swordsman, has seen better days — and more popular — in the kingdom of Midland, a land he once defended as captain of the Band of the Hawk. But the Hawks were betrayed and slaughtered, and now the hyolier-than-thou Holy Iron Chain Knights have captured Guts and plan to whip some repentance into him — literally. But Guts isn’t so easily held at bay, at when he manages to escape with the Holy Knights’ leader, Farnese, as his hostage, the demons that are drawn to Guts’ Brand of Sacrifice are all too willing to show her the teeming darkness in her own soul!”

This is the 17th volume in the Berserk series and continues the story started at the end of Vol 16. I loved how much progress the story made in this volume and thought it was a very strong installment in this series.

Guts is held prisoner by the Holy Iron Chain Knights but Puck helps him escape. Unfortunately Guts ends up having to hold Lady Farnese hostage to get away. Lady Farnese sees some things that are more demonic than she knew existed.

After another awesome battle Guts has a vision about Casca and returns to the Blacksmith and Ricket only to find that Casca has wandered off. Then the story leaves Guts for a bit and we see more of the misery that has befallen Midland and find out that Lady Farnese has been given a new mission…to guard the Inquisitor and his Torturers.

As you can see from above, a ton happens in this volume and it was all very interesting and engaging. The illustration continues to be top notch and I impressed with progress the story is making. We also meet a lot of very interesting new characters in this volume.

Overall this was an amazing continuation of the Berserk series. I was very impressed with how much story was packed into this volume and with the new characters we meet. I would recommend this whole series to mature readers who enjoy horror fantasy manga.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge