I really wanted to like it, but didn’t. I came in knowing he was an antihero but he wasn’t an interesting villain either, just a troubled teenager.
Spoilers included
Narration: felt like a monotone grandfather reading a game wiki about things he didn’t understand. Character voices were grating at best, with weird inflections that added personality that I don’t think was intended by the author. I’ve listened to probably 40+ audibles but this was the first where the narration could have ruined it for me.
Characters: I’ve enjoyed many books about conflicted characters with dark tendencies (Royce a cold blooded professional killer from Riyria is great). While I prefer characters that ultimately choose the higher ground, this MC seemed very one dimensional and immoral and I simply did not like him or want to follow his story. A moody teenager turned homicidal serial killer. His only motivation driving him to murder people is to “get powerful” to have revenge on his schoolyard bully who just happens to be the highest lvl character in the worlds most popular game with millions of people. I enjoyed the divine dungeon books (Mc is basically a dungeon eating people) but this character was simply too dark for me.
Lit rpg: MC made little creative decisions, doesn’t choose his class, doesn’t choose his weapon style, just lets the AI / NPCs do it for him. Murders several level 50+ characters as a lvl 1 through sneak attacks (I guess that 5% bonus to sneak really comes in handy). Gains maybe a dozen levels before adding any points which was just plain annoying. I get that points and levels aren’t supposed to be the end all in this story, but quadrupling your strength or speed would probably help change the outcome of a fight in most cases! Backstory of the AI just seemed illogical. The company behind the game was so irresponsible it was almost laughable just tracking a SUPER creative and powerful AI completely out of control for years before release.