I have read a few LitRPG sagas so far and I sooo tired of these selfish, jackass mains. This is such a refreshing take. The main character here is legitimately concerned with being a good person in the face of circumstances where it is not easy to do that. Like most LitRPGs, you know that the main character won’t die. The true suspense comes from the moral conflict and the threat to the people around him who he has come to care about. You see a slow slippage of the main character into the dark and you to wonder when/if he will slip all the way without realizing it. You see his friends in mortal peril and wonder just how far into the dark he is willing to go to save them. You fear what will happen to his character if one of them dies. And you fear the death of the characters themselves, who are almost all given 3-D representation.
All of this conflict is supported by an enormous world outside the actions of the main character — giving the feeling that he is not the main character of this world, only of this story. Honestly, I could go on forever about the world-building in this book, it is truly wonderful!
Oh! And don’t even get me started on the villain! This author truly subscribes to the idea that “the villain makes the story”. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this story was truly “made”. Wow.
I also love how the main character grows at a steady, reasonable pace and triumphs using his limited resources. This is instead of having one impossible encounter where he pulls a win out of his ass and grows seven levels at once like certain other series I could mention (*cough* The Land *cough*).
I am trying to think up some criticism to lend my opinion a bit of credence, since no story is perfect, but honestly i can’t think of anything significant. The St. Claire letter felt a bit out of place, perhaps, which made the hell chickens by extensions seem a bit out of place.
Overall, 5/5 would recommend. A good gateway series to the LitRPG genre.