Let’s set the story and the author and the writing and the characters in a corner for a moment.
The production quality of this book is FIRE. I feel cheated that five is the most stars I can offer.
Internal thoughts have echo sound effects so you can easily distinguish them. Otherworldly creatures have a variety of background effects to pair with their voices. The narrators go much farther than normal to voice-act the emotions and actions in context.
I would happily listen non-stop to stories of absolute garbage if they were narrated with this attention to excellence. Bravo, production team, I hope you read this!
Fortunately, the story is actually quite good!
I mean, there are some “eh” aspects to it. It’s a LitRPG, but the author clearly looked at Aleron Kong’s over-the-top mechanics and thought, “F that.” It’s a very trimmed down version, but it works well.
The main character’s background story was kind of interesting, but the story of leaving earth was by far the weakest point. The author seemed to want a decent guy stuck with bad guy powers moved to the cool world he created, and that part almost felt phoned in. It was passable though.
Once he got there the story picked up, and I tore through the book in just a couple of days! I expect to finish the series in very short order.
The concept he’s playing with is fascinating. The main character is smart and ruthless without feeling OP or unbelievable, and it’s a great read!