This review is for books 1-5.

Kuznits is one of the better writers within the LitRPG genre. Jeff Hays and the two women who contribute are excellent voice talents. So what went wrong?

Starting with book 3, all of the high-tension scenes where I most want to immerse myself in the story have obnoxious sound effects and music overlaid over them. In the best case, it’s distracting and immersion-breaking. Sometimes it’s nearly unlistenable, especially under less-than-perfect conditions such as in the car or at the gym. If I can’t understand and pay attention to the words, you’ve failed at the most basic requirement of an audiobook.

As far as the story content itself, it’s ok by not great. There are too many stat blocks for my taste. Relationships are fairly shallow. It’s also frustrating that the main character is a huge idiot at times, such as regarding legal issues. And the “child of fate” we meet later is a pretty annoying Mary Sue.

Beyond that, there’s also a ret-con in book 4 which doesn’t make sense and doesn’t need to be there as we already had an explanation which worked better. I won’t spoil it except to say that it doesn’t explain things like why the MC has an instinctive and powerful hatred of Dwarves.

Overall, it’s an ok read and a good one within the genre, but unless you’re really into sound-effects in audiobooks, I’d recommend the print version.