I found this book because I read the author’s other series Super Sales on Super Heroes, and learned that Book 3 will try to connect all the other worlds Mr. William Arand created. So I found the Selfless Hero trilogy and decided to listen to it.
I would also like to say I loved Jeff Hays’ performance! He was the number 1 reason why I continued this series, and I will be keeping track of what he has narrated.
Unfortunately, I did not like this book. The main character Runner annoyed me while the side characters continues to have moments with Runner that I did not feel was earned (like days after meeting someone, he basically gets the girls undying loyalty). I also did not like Runner’s banter and constant quips. I know dialogue in the lit-rpg is cringey and normally I’m fine with it, but the way the main character in the book says it just makes me want to skip past it. I think it’s mostly because his words has no consequences, and all the side characters just either ignore what he says, or does small things like “blush” or “look away”.
For the story part, I normally feel a litrpg allows for the world to be more interesting, but the problem is there are no limits to this world. Basically, whatever Runner does becomes a reality, and there are no set rules or limitations so it seems like every instance the author can do whatever he wants to get out of a situation. The one that annoyed me the most was wall-running.
Also, I feel like Runner’s personality is at odds with the story. He constantly remarks that he feels nothing for his companions, but then in the next scene treats them (and talks to them) as if he was a chivalrous knight and they were all his princesses. I liked Felix in Super Heroes because he had limitations to his powers, and his personality was not strictly good. Here, for some reason he feels responsibility to save the real world, but I guess as a reader I did not feel the connection and urgency. I can understand why he would want to save everyone, but I think it makes it slightly boring when he goes morose every time he checks how many people have passed away.
Anyway, I probably won’t continue this series unless the next 2 are absolutely spectacular, but I’ll most likely read it to easily skip over the (in my opinion) bad sections.