This is a great starter book for anyone dipping their toes into LitRPG. One of the better ones for sure. You have a likable, lucky, winning MC with boyish charm – that makes up for a lack of charisma, who has believable emotions and motivations, and isn’t annoyingly out-of-touch with social norms. (It also has no harem, which is a big, shiny bonus in my book.)
Though Alistor – the MC – does get hurt, and he isn’t perfect, he ultimately destroys his foes, and when he wins, he wins BIG. The series wastes no time setting Alistor up with power, and, much to his chagrin, fame. Why would fame cause distress? Because those seeking power will now set their sites directly on him.
One thing I noticed about this book, as compared to other LitRPG, is the lack of overly-contrived dues ex machina, which is an attribute I enjoyed missing. Sure, he does a couple things to take down the big baddy that make him more heroic, and his kills more epic, but it’s nothing outside what the audience already knows about; there’s no last minute spell, or character that comes running in, or unknown mechanic, or last-minute breakthrough, or seemingly future-proofed play that the MC twists out of his hind-most pocket. Nope. Just Alistor with his brawn and brains. Honestly, I appreciated that.
Also, while there are a few nods to other fandoms, and meme-culture, it’s handled smoothly. The author doesn’t beat you over the head with pop-culture references while pointing and laughing at how hilarious they are, which I find to be a typical sin for LitRPG. No, their inclusion is subtle most of the time. (There is one glaringly obvious inclusion about gnomes – and if you read LitRPG you know exactly what I’m talking about – that I found annoying, but I’ll let it slide.) For the most part, if you notice the references, you notice them; however, if you don’t understand them, you probably won’t feel like you missed something.
My only complaint is that there were a couple times the sound effects overpowered the voices. To the point where the voices became a crackly train-wreck while the sound effects dominated the channel. I don’t find that the sound effects help audible book immersion at all, but they don’t usually take me out of the moment either. While it was annoying, it wasn’t anything that a quick rewind/re-listen couldn’t cure. Since it was a couple moments in a many-hours-long book, I’ll also let that slide.
Overall, I give this book an A. Not a literary masterpiece, but a lot of fun for anyone with a love for games and/or fantasy! And a great book for any LitRPG fan’s library.