Just abused pop culture references. I got so sick of hearing “skeletal fight club” by the end of the book. If it was a drinking game, I’d be dead.
I don’t mind pop culture references when they make sense. But the MC was not said to be from earth. In fact, it sounds like he was from the same world before he was executed. (I don’t think that is a spoiler considering it is in the blurb). Also, he needs to be reminded of the definition of nearly every word to give the author an excuse to explain the rules of the game world they are in. But with that, and the MC’s tendency to completely space out and ignore everything going on around him, it feels like he just has brain damage. Which just makes his pop culture references with every other sentence that much more annoying. He doesn’t know what an”mob” or even a “trap” or “taunt” is, but he can make jokes about every nerdy book/tv show/ movie there is. Yet, in his previous life, he was some kind of commoner who was beheaded by the church for talking back to a corrupt church leader. Why would he know anything about any of the references he constantly makes?