I liked books one and two, though to be honest book one was more interesting and dynamic than book two. I was fine with that. That’s a common enough trait in a book series that its not even worthy of note. Book two was still good and I was still looking forward to the continuation of the series. However, I find that in book three the author made some very purposeful choices for seemingly no reason but to make the book worse or to push an agenda. To be concise I’ll sum it up in a few points.
1) One of the two main characters falls in love with a mentally unstable, transsexual, shapeshifter who’s also a serial killer and much of that main character’s sub plot becomes dealing with said shapeshifters mental illnesses and breakdowns.
2) If I had to guess I’d say somewhere between 5 – 10% of the book is stat sheets and reiterations after level ups. I had to skip literally hours of monotone number crunching.
3) Literally every couple in this book is either gay or dead. One of the side characters has a mom and two dads who communally raise their kids. Two side characters suddenly realize they’re bi after three books and become a couple. Two of the side characters are in a lesbian poly consensual cuckold relationship where one is asexual and the other is constantly cheating on them (with their partners angry, impotent, jealous consent).
4) The pacing in this book is considerably slower than in previous books and with little exploration of traditional cultivation and more random power ups.
5) After being built up for three books the rivalry between the two MCs casually fizzles out into nothing the moment they actually meet.
I’ll probably still read book four but if the trajectory continues I’ll end up returning it and dropping this author.