This is the 18th volume in the Berserk series. We didn’t see Guts in this book as much as in previous ones. We did met a new young boy named Isidro that ends up following Guts. Most of the time is spent with Lady Farnese as she accompanies the Inquisitor on his missions. The Inquisitor is a very disturbing individual who has a twisted sense of mercy and believes heavily that torture is the way to go.

We also spend some time with Casca and Luca (the prostitute who has taken Casca in and is protecting her). Luca is trying to implement some civilization to the craziness around her by providing for those who don’t make as much as she does.

At the end of it all Guts is visited again by the Skeleton King who lets him know that the Hawk of Light will rise again and another event, very like the eclipse during which Guts was branded, will take place again soon. He also spouts a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t quite understand.

Overall this was an excellent continuation of this series. The story makes huge progress here and a lot happens. We meet some excellent new characters as well. I would definitely recommend this series to mature fans of horror fantasy manga. ( )