System of the Beast Slayer (Volume 1)

I had expected System of the Beast Slayer to be a power fantasy of a hero just leveling up and getting strong, but it's not. I was wrong. At the end, I actually came to care about a skinny 13 year old boy with a little crossbow! Ray, a sad young gamer, whose parents have passed away, is the beginning of the story. He finds himself waking up in the body of Roy, a poor farm boy in the world of The Witcher. Roy has a secret: a game-style System which grants him greater strength each time he slays something. The beginning chapters are really enjoyable. He earns XP at the village butcher, gets a silly nickname and wins money at the card game Gwent with a sneaky trick. However, this book isn't all fun and games. It was a dark night outside the village and it struck me harder than I thought. I was just beginning to get to know these villagers and I already cared for them.

But when Letho shows up, the book gets even better. He's the biggest, baldest monster hunter in the world and he is my favorite character by far, he is a witcher. He rarely smiles, speaks like a curmudgeonly old teacher and is basically kind. It's all about watching him train Roy. He shows him how to shoot correctly, how to find healing herbs and how to survive. He also quotes pithy, profound remarks that you can't forget. Some of the best aspects of their jobs are the monster hunting. Not only are they large fights, but… They're puzzles, but the real question is what is really going on? One position, with a wealthy dwarf who sells wine, resulted in laughter that was both loud and quiet. It is dark, funny and warm at the same time.

Best part of the book is the middle. Letho takes off for a time, and Roy must fend for himself in a large city known as Aldersberg. He works at the market, he has a cheap room at a watermill and he attends a school for poor children. It is there that he encounters two characters that I loved. Kind teacher Ffion says that she had a little brother, but no one else remembers him. Toria is a shy, lonely girl at the mill, whose family treats her badly. The most endearing element of the book is her friendship with Roy. This section of the mystery is quite spooky. The clues are so well concealed that when I found out I audibly gasp. There was one thing that had me goose pimples. The final chapters are of Roy's beginning witcher training, and they are very painful to read so much so that I winced along with Roy.

There are issues with this book. The writing is often translated into the English language. Spelling errors, odd sentences and one paragraph is repeated. Roy "grows two feet taller" at one point, which caused me to laugh for all the wrong reasons. Roy is also a little cold and selfish in his own head, which at times spoils his nicer moments. Some characters and storylines begin in an exciting manner and then just fade away. There are some side characters who don't get the ending they deserve. Some of the changes to beloved characters may not be to the liking of big Witcher fans. The rather sluggish beginning, which is full of numbers and stat screens, may be tedious to read for those who do not like that sort of thing. It's a big cliffhanger ending, too. That made me go crazy, as now I want Volume 2! I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars.