A couple hours before picking up this title, I had drudged through about 6 hours of the ‘Eden’s Gate: The Reborn’ audiobook before returning it as one of the worst Lit-RPG’s I had ever listened to. Right after, I picked up ‘Challenge’, only to discover a juggernaut within the genre. Edward Castle excels in characterizing a believable main character while spinning an intriguing story that lacks the many common tropes found in similar novels. Compounding on his execution, Jeff Hays offers a convincingly strong performance that is comparable to Nick Podehl in ‘The Land’ series. I can’t recommend this title enough to both fans of the Lit-RPG genre or otherwise.