This is the greatest thing you will ever read and if you give it a fair shot you will receive so much in return. If you find you aren't interested in the beginning, just skip right into the golden arc; it's not that big a deal. However; reading this is so worth it you cannot give up reading it. If you get bored just skip a few chapters and it will get better again, so go for it.

Berserk is about such an honest human agony that you want to rip the books apart and trow them away with your heart because you can't stand caring anymore. The story has multiple arcs that blend together and keep you interested all the way through. The start is slow because of the detailed character development that occurs all the imperative setup that will just come back to hurt you later. The raw emotions and characters worm their way into your heart until you are every single character and even feel empathy for background characters.

The author makes you think: while the gore happens around these characters you are often reminded that even if this is just a book, you are cheering on slaughter and mayhem. The reality is so horrible, but that's why you keep reading and want something to go right for once.

If you watch the art while you read, you will be so pleased to see it develop alongside the story and characters. The current art is above anything I've ever seen in any manga. The artist completely understands human expression and the emotions that are being felt. While you read and feel hope, anguish, despair, love, hatred, joy, and taste bitter tears the artist displays all those same things in one expression. The emotions and expressions are all realistic to a human being and are often scared and hurt while calculating the best move for survival.

Survival is a huge theme in this series, often times you just wish all the characters would do what's best for themselves and just give up and die.

Despite how this may sound, reader Berserk is the best decision I ever made. The honesty and truth in the story, characters, art, emotions, and everything put together is so enjoyable you can't stop. It is brutal to read but changes your perspective on everything around you. You start to care so much and the enjoyment just escalates with the depth of the story and characters.