Tower Of God Is Masterpiece
Tower of God is a manhwa written and illustrated by Jong-hui Lee. The difference between manga and manhwa is that manga are Japanese comics, they are made in black and white and read from right to left. Manhwa are Korean comics, they appear in local magazines, but more often they do not have a physical copy and are published on websites. On to the storyline of Tower of God, the legends say, if you manage to climb the top of the Tower of God, any wish you might have will be fulfilled. The manhwa focuses on Rachel, who is afraid of the darkness and cannot live in the gloomy world anymore. Despite her friend's wish for her to stay, she opens the door to the Tower and begins to ascent. Her friend Bam does not want to lose her and decides to follow her. However, those who are not worthy to take up the challenge, will be killed. But the risk is worth it!

Still Not Asleep?
Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. In the beginning the author should setup a hero (or a heroine) and the story, then you throw something at him that is a great source of conflict and takes him into a whole heap of trouble. After facing many foes and overcoming various obstacles the hero saves the day and wins a girl. Long story short, Tower of God follows that idea, which was created by many scholars, including Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung's view of myth. Simply put, Tower of God is exactly what you call a monomyth, or a hero's journey. While giving you detailed information on it might be a spoiler, all I can say is that the same formula is used in Star Wars and in The Lord of the Rings. While this might be not the best example you can come up with, this is what Tower of God is about.

What Is Tower of God?
So what is the tower? It might be confusing firstly for one to understand where the story takes place; it has been 10 years and the fact that the protagonists of the series still have not reached the final floor is slightly confusing, to say the least. Think of the tower as some multidimensional world, which is both the center of the universe and the universe itself. Still confusing, huh? Well, of course, since it is something created by a God, hence no solid explanation can be given. Think of it as a challenge, we, as readers, will never see the tower outside, we are always inside of it, we go through endless floors, some of these floors are so big that they can contain an ocean, a whole city, or maybe even a whole country. So, as you must have already understood it, the world of Tower of God is simply enormously big. It might sound somewhat similar to the manga Blame!, but with a touch of Korean magic. With that being said, as readers, we never fully understand what the Tower is. Is it alive? Does it have its own will? Who is the God? Can you even conquer the Tower to fulfil any wish you might have, or can it be just a joke for the God to make fun of the humans, who are ready to do literally everything to be able to clear even one floor. However, this is something you will only know, after the end of the manhwa.

Are You Still There? (More About Storyline)
Why are you conquering the Tower? - which is the main question of this manhwa. There are many races that are introduced in this manhwa, they form clans, families, so you will need to keep in mind many things. And do not think that the reason for all to conquer the final floor is just money, or power; as it has been mentioned already, they are many characters in Tower of God; they all have their own reason to reach the final floor and the important part about it is that their reasons always change, since both the characters and the storyline always change, which makes this manhwa this interesting, since reading the same thing for 10 years about something that never changes might be somewhat boring.

More Confusion
The protagonist of this story is a boy named 25th Bam. Let us omit the 25th part in his name, since this discussion will involve way too many spoilers. That said, Bam does not know anything about his birth, who his parents are, he knows absolutely nothing; he lives in the darkness. Until Rachel accidentally finds him, the girl becomes the first and only living creature that Bam has ever seen in his whole life. They spend a lot of time together, they play games and dream about a better future. Rachel teaches Bam how to read and how to write, she tells him what is the good and what the bad, and that girls need to be protected and that a man should never lie to a woman. However one day, despite Bam’s wish for her to stay, Rachel opens the door to the Tower and begins to ascent. Her friend Bam does not want to lose her and decides to follow her.

So begins the long awaited conquest of the Tower. And here is the main contradiction the main protagonist of the manhwa Bam does not need the Tower, he does not need the conquest, he does not have any wishes, all he wants is to stay with Rachel. So, with every floor, Bam will meet new friends and, of course, new enemies and with the help of them he will pass the tests and meet many obstacles on his path. Tower of God is not simply about Bam and Bam only. Tower of God’s main focus is a team play, Bam is not as powerful to conquer the last floor alone. While he is powerful, of course, his power is explained, he works hard to achieve this power and even when Bam becomes stronger, he still relies on the others. So, what I am trying to say is that this manhwa is not simply about one character, which would be just boring; Tower of God focuses on many characters, be they Bam’s enemies, allies, or some neutral parties. And that is why it is that interesting to read, because it requires some talent, to introduce so many characters and also show enough development for these characters.

Bam Is Boring
No, he is not. I do agree that he might be hated at first, because he is like a baby, he does not remember anything about his past, he does not even know to how to speak, so, of course, he is going to be that easy to manipulate. But this is why Tower of God is that amazing. Bam starts as a blank sheet, but during his long path he finds new teachers, who help him become stronger, not only physically, but also mentally. Bam always changes, becomes more interesting of a protagonist and his growth is not always you would call growth, sometimes it is also the complete opposite. So, what I am trying to say is that Bam receives so much character development, that I cannot name you any other character that has ever received as much development as Bam.

It is also worth mentioning that Bam is also an irregular. An irregular is one, who was able to enter the Tower on their own, by whatever means and for whatever reason. This grants Irregulars certain benefits, such as the ability to use Shinsoo (we will touch upon it later) without a Guardian’s approval. By contrast, all other people in the tower did not 'enter' the tower themselves and are so restricted to use Shinsoo; they must be allowed to use Shinsoo and are bound by the laws of the Guardians, such as a complete inability to kill King Zahard, or a Guardian. Bam, as it has been mentioned before, is an irregular. And irregulars are these people, who can change the rules of the game, they have the power to dethrone the Kings and to introduce the new order in the tower. But Bam is too weak to be called an irregular, he is even weak by the standards of the ordinary participants, so what I am trying to say is that Bam’s power is well explained, it takes him time to gain any new power and whenever he becomes more powerful, he meets the new enemies that show Bam how weak he is mentally and physically.

First Floors
Already on the first floors, the heroes will have to face grave danger, only those who are worthy are given the right to clear a floor, those who are not worthy, will die. And I must say, quite many participants die horrible deaths. However, for administrators, or floor directors all these tests are nothing but bureaucracy, bookkeeping, anything that can be associated with boring. Tower of God grants you any wish: you can become a God yourself, anything you can think of, any wish you could have ever thought of, will be granted. And this, as you might have already guessed it, includes the fact that you can wish for the tower of God to be annihilated, or you can even destroy the whole universe. Indeed, the tower, or the God, will not want for such wishes to be made, hence the first floors are designed to get rid of these ‘unworthy’ participants. Those who are worthy, however, will learn about the meaning of power, including the Shinsoo.

Furyoku, MP, Reiatsu And Shinsoo
These are basically the same thing, but with a different name. Shinsoo is a substance that flows through and is produced by the Tower. Each Floor has areas of varying amounts of Shinsoo density, increasing with each Floor. In lower concentrations, its density makes the substance act like a gas, but in higher concentrations, it behaves like a liquid. This should be enough for me to give you a basic understanding of what Shinsoo is. Of course, many more things can be said about this mysterious power, but it will be for you to find out. And so, step by step, the world is being introduced to the reader, as well as the new friends of Bam, for example Khun Aguero Agnis - who also has a very interesting backstory about him and he is also one of the reasons why Bam changes and becomes a more interesting character. How can I forget about a racist crocodile - who will also play a major role in the storyline.

All In All
So can I recommend Tower of God? It is a must read if you are watching the anime adaptation, which, by the way, skips many details, but is still a worthy adaptation, but the anime adaptation is not the main focus of this review. Tower of God is a masterpiece, the world of Tower of God is tremendously big, this manhwa is not simply about one, or two characters, there are many characters, even supporting characters are important for the storyline, Tower of God is a mix of action, adventure, mystery, drama, fantasy and even comedy, which is funny. With that being said, there are many things I have not mentioned in my review, to tell the truth, I have not explained you anything about the world of Tower of God. This manhwa is your own little research that you must do for you to understand what it is all about. And this research will be something you will never forget.