No Spoilers
(or important ones, at least):
As this is the first LitRPG book that I have encountered, I do not have much to compare this to. I have listened to other books narrated by Jeff Hays and decided to pick this up. While the book certainly has its flaws, I do believe this is worth a try and would highly recommend it.
Pros:
— I loved the concept behind this book, which is essentially a random creature in an RPG style dungeon (like you’d get in World Of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, etc.) gets a boost in intelligence and grows more powerful than it should have.
— The narration was wonderful. Hays has done yet another wonderful job. If you get the chance, check out his other works.
— People who have played RPGs, especially those of the table top variety, will definitely find many things in this book amusingly familiar, or sympathetically cringe-worthy such as fights between a monster who’s much higher level-wise than the poor level 3 players that happened across it.
— There are quite a few funny moments along with a tasteful dashing of dark comedy.
Cons:
— One thing that becomes clear quite quickly is the difference between reading this book and listening to it. Instead of reading it, where you can take it the character descriptions (just like an RPG character sheet) in the space of about two seconds, the audiobook version takes the time to read out the entire list. This can be especially irritating when it happens in the middle of a battle scene. It does, however, notify you when you can skip to the next chapter without missing anything, and saving you about two minutes (yes that’s right).
Neutral:
— If you could not tell by the title and the cover art, there is a fair amount of sex in the book. While the actual sex scenes are rare (maybe two, I think), the author does like to linger over his female characters’ bodies (I will let you guess which part gets the most attention); nor does he shy away from characters’ inner thoughts about the topic.
— The violence tends to be frequent throughout most parts of the book. It can also get quite graphic in some cases, though without the same relish the author describes characters’ chests with.
— Special shout-out to the narrator for pronouncing those demon names later on in the book. I saw them spelled out and could not make heads or tales of them for quite a while.
Highlights:
— Getting to follow the main character as it evolves, over the course of this story, has to be one of the best parts about this book.
— The Demons R. Us scene stands out and made me laugh out loud several times.
— This book went out with a bang and set up the sequel quite nicely. I look forward to getting my hands on the second book in this series.