Just finished book 4 and it is a ride. The scope of the Ivalis universe is massive and there are a ton of creatures, cultures, deities, history that enrich the adventures of Dungeon Lord Edward Wright.
I read alot of litrpg and I don’t like when the character sheet becomes too overboding and it feels like the character isn’t actually a human being but is just a robot playing a video game with a pokedex is narrating. You get a little of that in this series but the author develops the characters as people. The moral struggle of the protagonist balancing what is effective and what is right is very humanizing.
I also really liked the magic concept of “Objectivity” as being a judge of abuse of spells that would make simple castings overpowered if they were used in clever ways, this keeps it balanced and observing the protagonist finding clever ways to push the limit on this adds suspense.
Another big thing is that the protagonist is competent and acts with cunning and strategy, too many rpgs create conflict via main character stupidity which is just frustrating. Perhaps the main superpower of our dungeon lord hero is that he is a competent gamer who understands game strategy well.
The biggest down side is that after book 4 you are left hanging from a cliff which is unlike the first 3 books. From where the plot left off there is room for alot more additions to story. Hopefully we will not have to wait too long for the next book and closure.