I’ll start by saying that I love LitRPGs, they are my guilty pleasure and I’m always looking to invest in the next series and follow the the main characters through their adventures. I’ll also say I love the narrator (Jeff Hays) and his whole company of players over at SoundBooth Theater (seriously, check them out). I’ve read and listened to great series, ok series, and bad series. Good, bad, or ugly, I usually can find something I can latch on to to feed my appetite for this genre. I am officially beat.
Maybe it was the one-dimensional, constant cringe-inducing main character torn right from the creative writing journal of the quiet, edgy kid in high school, maybe it was the numerous plot holes that failed to flesh out that same main character as anything more than trench coat mafia wet-dream, maybe it was the awkward prose, limited vocabulary, and just outright childish writing style that made it impossible for any single moment in the book to land properly, or maybe it was just the fact the author can’t decide who he is aiming this book at that made this the most difficult listen of my life.
Let’s start with the main character. We meet Jack as a self-entitled man-child that reminds you of the younger brother of your best bud that really wants to tell you about all the girls he’s scored with and all the fights he won all by himself. Meanwhile you just sip your beer and say “sure ya did little buddy”. The protagonist is not a hero, he’s not an anti-hero, he is a consistent douche that does absolutely no personal growth throughout the entire book. I can only assume he’s meant to come off as “edgy” and “in-your-face” but is a person so disconnected with reality it makes me think the author is a Poe and is waiting for someone to call him out on it. The character lucks into everything (yeah, main character, got to keep him interesting) but does zero introspection and zero growth as he easily murder-hobos the entire game-world. His backstory is equally infuriating because you can’t tell if you are supposed to hate him, pity him, or relate to him. He is so wildly inconsistent about his own background, morals, experiences, and feelings you can’t help but eye-roll every time he tries to have a “human” moment. The main character is just a caricature, for what reason, I honestly cannot tell you; But there is some real cognitive dissonance between a character you can get behind and one that just blocks the view of the world they inhabit.
Speaking of cognitive dissonance, let’s talk about who this book is aimed at, and if you figure it out, let me know. The author breaks down standard gaming terms and acts as a glossary for the uninitiated. Great, folks new and old to the genre can enjoy this book. Problem is, he frequently gets these definitions wrong, or uses terms from a previous generation of gamers that would have to listen to a section multiple times before they realized that the author really doesn’t have much of a background in this style or RPG tropes to begin with. Ok, so we have established this is not really for hardcore LitRPG fans right? Wrong! Because the author glosses over more complex mechanics, terms, and tropes with zero exposition or explanation. Also; Exposition! You don’t just have to insert a definition for a term in the characters inner monolog EVERY TIME it needs an explanation! Mix it up, let it happen organically, put it in a foot-note, hell, let the reader look it up! Just stop padding your word count with it!
Ultimately, it feels like the author spread him/herself too thin, trying to take a subject they poorly grasp and pander it to as broad of an audience as possible. You get an edgelord of a main character that KNOWs he’s the smartest, handsomest, baddest guy in the room that cannot seem to pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. He struggles to do everything, and much like his real life backstory, is just handed everything on a silver platter, never needing to grow, or work, or survive.
Final thoughts, if your eyes need a great workout, go read this book; You’ll spend the entire ordeal rolling your eyes every time the main character speaks or monologs (good luck getting away from that). If you need a good listen though, look for nearly anything that Jeff Hays and SBT put out! You won’t be disappointed.