Suddenly thrust unwillingly into a dungeon crawl with his ex-girlfriend’s cat? It sounded great to me. But after a pretty good opening, the book riffs back over so many well-worn themes that it becomes predictable and repetitive. Likes, favorites, and Sponsors…see: Hunger Games. Metaverse competition in which the protagonist seems a bit too pre-destined…see Ready, Player One. Main character having bouts of parental angst…see every Spielberg movie ever. Soon the freshness wears off and it just feels too derivative. To be fair, I laughed aloud a few times. It has parts that are fun. But the main characters gave me too little reason to root for them. I’m an hour from the conclusion and I cannot see how the ending would compel me to get the next book.