Finally, I discovered the problem.

While the romance plot of the story is way too cliché and forced, I can, to some degree, understand what the author was trying to do and why it lasted so long. And, TBH, in future books, I wouldn’t mind reading more Jason and Riley couple things for a chapter or two. No, that isn’t the main problem with the books. It is the author’s sheer fright for powercreep and this desire to have Alex be a rival, without having him earn it.

First, with the Powercreep. In the first book, the world set clear rules and powerlevels for actions, starting with Alex’s character, being trained in weapons, armor and magic around Level 120. That’s the scale of leveling here, without any class or race changes. Except, despite the effort, Jason was never blessed with that level of power, even when he finally reached that level. Even at the point where he had so many points in one stat AND home turf advantage, his was not as good as Alex. Since then, it feels like there is a concerted effort to not have Jason be any type of powerful, which was getting more and more annoying book to book. In this book, FINALLY, they give him a chance to get more power, except, they ACTUALLY nerf him in universe, so now, despite his training and all of the time spent on powering up, he doesn’t feel or seem any stronger than when he started the book. At least then, he had strong summons, that was his thing. Now, he is a poor melee and ok summoner, the entire book feeling like nothing was gained. At this point, even in a one-on-one fight, Jason, despite higher levels, would lose to the Alex from the start of the series, in the first book. It is like the author is so scared of powercreep for future books that it makes Jason feel weak.

It only makes each fight now feel pointless, as the author has a tendency to constantly have fights be decided with last minute 300% boost in stats out of nowhere. Every main book since the first has had this, even Riley’s sidequest has. In the first book, it at least has clever tactics and uses of his own abilities.

On to Alex, Please stop with the character at this point. He is literally GIVEN whatever Jason has out of nowhere, without the fight for it. Jason gains a city through Hard work, Alex gains one through the work of others and the Lady saving him just because he gets himself killed. Jason fights hard for multiple missions, including a mission from another God (the Hippie) to gain his Race and Class changes, Alex gains his after Alex f**ks up trying to kill the Dark One, with the Lady of Light literally just GIVING him the power afterwards. Jason goes through multiple chapters and books of BS to start dating Riley, better give Alex a GF too. Jason has to go through the pain of killing innocent abductees to gain a magic ship, one he can’t use because it is now locked to the Water City, Let’s make sure Alex’s new girlfriend has an even better magic ship. Alex is constantly being set up to be Jason’s equal, but he isn’t doing anything to earn it, just getting stuff. Jason has had to go through changes to get where he is, Alex has not. He is still arrogant, despite the Lady having said multiple times that she is giving him things to do to change that, yet he is still getting power regardless. Especially with that Gate Piece.

Let’s go over that whole thing. So, Jason and Original Sin were given a quest to restore the Twilight Throne. After more than a book of progress, and the literally death of many characters, the piece is stolen in a bullsh!t way at the end, so Alex has it. So now, this entire quest, has resulted in the Twilight Throne literally being worse off, which is in part due to the author’s fear of powercreep.

So now, the Twilight Throne is out of actual people, with the border villages being almost all killed off or enslaved, the city itself is destroyed, the school has been burned down, with the magic school now under the control of someone NOONE else trust, the entire amount of Mana in the well gained from the conquest having been expended, and Original Sin has NOTHING to show for their losses. They literally start whatever the next book is with NOT A GODDAMNED THING. And Now, Alex, has a gate Piece, and a Goddess who has been, by the rules set in place, actively cheated, multiple times, including trying to get the Dark One killed. I almost guarantee the Lady of Light is either going to tell Alex what to do with the gate Piece, How to get another Gate Piece or both, which Jason is going to have to go on another BS quest to either get the original piece back or get a new one.

As an add-on, the author seems to want to keep raising stakes, but doesn’t seem to know how to do that while having a character who is evolving in power. Seriously, why can’t the Twilight Throne evolve, or gain some actual semblance of power? The Crystal Reach can have Melee Firebenders with Regenerative Abilities and Winged Paladins, but the Twilight Throne only has people who don’t tire? That’s it? Actually build up the Twilight Throne in the next book, do something with it, because at this point, it honestly feels like Jason might be better off if he made his home base that dungeon from the second book.

Please, for the love of God, let Jason and the others have ACTUAL POWER, because they all seem so weak and powerless in comparison to everything and everyone else in the world.

TL;DR, since the first book, Jason is gaining nothing substantial, making it feel like the character isn’t growing, while what few victories he does get is always thwarted or given to someone else who didn’t do the same level of work.