There’s a great deal going on in the seventh Solo Leveling novel.
We get the (apparently) full backstory on the war between the Rulers and Monarchs, why it’s happening on Earth, why the Shadow Monarch’s position has been so ambiguous, and why Jinwoo was chosen. The conclusion of his father’s arc is also included along with a small bit of romantic development. Most notable however is that this book features the dissolution of the titular leveling system… an ambitious thing to do considering there’s still five left to go.
As for Shin no Nakama‘s eighth entry, it’s basically reinforced all my earlier misgivings about the series. There’s just something particularly unnatural about the event development that makes it a bit of a chore to read. So yeah, I’ll be dropping the series here.