I remember watching an episode of Ebert and Roeper, At the Movies, where they were reviewing their top-ten list of movies they enjoyed, that may not be good movies from a criterion point of view. At the Top of Ebert’s list was Jackass the movie. As Roeper looked at Ebert with disgust, Ebert reminded him, that he saw Roeper laughing and that the only reason he didn’t like the movie is because Roeper was afraid of what his critic friends would think. That’s exactly how I feel about LitRPG,
Okay, I am pretty well educated. I have an extensive reading history with a long list of favorite novels by highly regarded authors that many people would find boring. I have spanned nearly every genre and can tear apart most popular authors for their core faults, poor grammar, poor story structure, and can easily dissect the writing process to accurately predict most plots with considerable accuracy. I am also well educated in engineering, military science and computer systems to easily pick out technology and procedure inaccuracies.
You’d think I would too high brow to stoop to reading such a low-brow genre of novels, but damn, do I love these books. It’s a guilty pleasure i would never admit to my peers that i like.
As too the quality of this book, the premise is ridiculous, but better thought out and believable than most in the genre. The voice acting is spot on. Audio books tend to bore me, but this one keeps me engaged and listening. The story is evolving, and actually building towards something, rather than spinning in place. This series, as of now is my favorite in the genre. The humor is less guttural and filthy than others in the genre, but is still fairly lowbrow humor. The book has a very Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett feel to it. Unlike other books in the genre, you don’t need to understand video game tropes to get the humor. The setting is obviously videogame inspired, but much of the humor tends to range from topical to observational than videogames. This makes the book much more accessible than others. Overall, great book and I highly recommend it, just don’t tell my friends.