The New World: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure

by Monsoon117

Trapped in a Dungeon. There's only one way out. Kill or be killed...

An AI calling itself Schema has assimilated earth into its System. As a consequence, everyone gained access to status screens, power-ups, and skills. This AI turned these concepts from fiction to fact. It's easy to become intoxicated with leveling up and becoming stronger. To some, it's too good to be true like living out a dream. For Daniel, however, it's closer to a nightmare. He's in a bit of a predicament. Cracks in our dimensional fabric have unleashed terrifying beasts from dark, abyssal places. Schema organizes these cracks into dungeons, giving the native species of the planet a chance to fight back.

Daniel finds himself stuck in one of these dungeons. It's time to break free, by any means necessary.

Experience the start of an action-packed LitRPG Apocalypse series with nearly 15 Million views on Royal Road. For the first time, The New World is coming to Kindle & Kindle Unlimited, completely revised, re-edited, and loaded with new content.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

674 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2023

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

below average

Crazy thing is happening these days. People are just writing whatever comes to mind, pushing the publish button and readers give it four and five stars. Are we reading the same thing? The writing is stated awkwardly and hard to understand in places. Some just makes no sense. Redundant statements, dumb logic, contrived conveniences abound. Sorry to say, but I did not enjoy. Would benefit greatly from a professional editor. No joy. BUT, maybe for others this book is for you.

[Johnny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book one

I made it all of 2% into this book. I dropped it rather quickly and I'll tell you why.
MC shows no fear at all as his friend disappeared. Skills drop on this guy way to easy.
Lastly a level one killed a level 34 suffering nothing more than a broken leg.

.05/10 because I have to give it something.

[Adam Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got 30 pages in and quit.

So the intro is pretty standard. MC and a friend are caving and the system initiates. Which is fine, bit well used, but ok. Strike one came when after the initiation, the MC doesn’t wonder where his friend disappeared off to, or what could have caused this. He then picks a body perk cause apparently he’s a fighter/boxer and his highest stat is willpower. At that point I was already rolling my eyes.

Oh and of course he’s now in a dungeon that spawned around him. And he’s level 1, and there are giant monster bats that are level 30+. But he manages to kill one and unlocks yet more perks and a “determinator” ability tree. Then he shadow boxes for hours and manages to get this huge skill jump in pugilist as well as fighter ability tree points.

That’s the point where I gave up. Too much of all the overused tropes, and no originality.

[Pablo García · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Sci-Fi Fantasy novel series needs organization and an editor (urgently). At around the 20% mark (page 110), the main character explains a little of his background. There really is no character descriptions, no world building within the "dungeon Chasm" where the main character was teleported. Main character slowly but surely becomes stronger, without any martial arts training, beats monsters within the trial dungeon with his fists (like a pugilist/boxer). without any instruction or weapons/magical skills/etc. It is somewhat a "survival" story series with Mana and some "magical" skills/abilities. Main character is stuck in the trial dungeon because a strong being (weird insect monster/hive lord) interfered with the training period and sent this guy directly into the bottom of this trial dungeon. Similar to Arifureta (From Commonplace to World's Strongest), light novel series but without all the betrayal and revenge as main themes. Talking about main themes, the author never really mentions a main theme to this novel series. It is like a chronological account of the survival experiences of the main character. Because he was teleported alone, to this trial dungeon, he has no company. Then suddenly, finds two of his friends, without any real explanations or reasons. Main character has a subordination relationship with the hive lord that sent him into this trial dungeon. At around the 30% mark, main character convinces the Schema that he is allowed to leave the trial dungeon. There is a problem with the main character because he is more "monster" than human (apparently). Main character goes looking for his friends. Schema makes an agreement that he has to delve and help clear the Dungeons that they made on Earth. Earth above ground is mostly destroyed and abandoned.
This is 99% action filled Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel series. Scí-Fi because apparently the Schema are extraterrestrial. There are very little dialogues, little no no character descriptions, no world-building, descriptions of how Earth supposedly changed after the Schema (Dungeon Game like system) took over Earth. Because the main character has been stuck inside this trial dungeon, the author has not written anything about how Earth is at present.
The story has potential, but it needs a complete rewrite. It has no maps, no inside illustrations, no character summaries, system descriptions, character descriptions or world building. Although it is a chronological survival and progression fantasy novel series, the author does not include one date in the story, nor do we know the age of the main character, his friends or his "alcoholic and violent Dad".

[Levitate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The early parts of the story are quite repetitive and exhausting but around chapter 80 or so the story definitely improves some with sprinkles of world building and creative enemy development. Whether or not this improvement is worth slogging through the initial 1000 or so pages however is debatable.

I read some other reviews saying the story Improved over time and it definitely does somewhat but if you’re not already invested in the premise by chapter 80 or so than it’s probably not for you. I made it to chapter 100 (page 1283 on an ereader) where an unending boss fight finally made me throw in the towel. This fight involved an enemy that kept coming back from near death in an arduous fight that spans several chapters, compatriots hampering the protagonist with dumb decisions or outright attacking him after he saves them and other annoyances. Now there is reason for some of this but it didn’t make it any less exhausting to read and it was enough for me to finally set this down.

The story is a constant uphill grind with character stat progression taking the place of character development and to its benefit it does a decent job of putting you in the protagonists shoes as they struggle forward which might help to make the progression feel more impactful but I’m just not enough of a masochist to enjoy it.

The world building is unique as are the enemies who are well fleshed out, you also get a good feel for the characters power progression even if it doesn’t exactly map onto character development. If these are aspects that appeal to you along with the premise than it may still be worth your time to give this a read.

[Anie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on SFFINSIDERS.COM




Characters - I liked but didn’t love them (overall score: 6/10)

Daniel is thrust into a world that is a hellish nightmare, but he takes everything in stride. Because this subgenre has a habit of throwing characters into these gamer situations, this wasn’t weird, but the speed at which a seemingly normal guy leveled up was a bit inconsistent. That being said, because he has leveled up so quickly, he progresses through The New World, and the fast pace of the rest of the story makes up for this. However, I didn’t like certain aspects of the antagonist(s). Of course, the MC must beat local “bosses,” but events within the book's first third derailed the story, and everything felt disjointed after that point.



Atmosphere – (overall score: 12/14)

Setting: I want to read more like this (9/10)

The setting was interesting: space rifts, AI-generated gamer interfaces, and everything that makes alien landscapes cool are included. I would absolutely read more books with this setting.



Mood: Some scenes had me captivated (3/4)

The first third of this book is fast-paced and kept me captivated with epic, detailed battle scenes. But I think the overabundance of stats killed the mood in other scenes. (I will speak more about this in Writing Style)



Writing Style – (overall score: 10/18)

Storytelling: I had to re-read some passages (4/10)

The overwhelming amount of stats thrown at the reader had me re-listening to them (in this case, pausing, following in the ebook, and reading the stats.) Even for a LitRPG, a lot of dense information was thrown at you and not in a way that made it easy to follow.



Grammar: Noticeable errors (2/4)

Everything was fine until the book's last portion, where there were blatant errors (not capitalizing the names of characters, spelling, etc.) I’m not sure what happened, but if you read this, you will see them. If you listen, you won’t notice. Unfortunately, I followed along in the book for some portions and noticed them.



Formatting: No issues (4/4)



Plot – Not unique, but enjoyable (overall score: 7/10)

This is set in a simulation, and killing off alien beasties might not be new to this genre, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable! I like tropes, and I even like the overdone ones, so escaping an AI realm hellbent on killing the MC was definitely a fun ride.


Intrigue – (overall score: 7/14)

General: No strong feelings (5/10)

I was neither wowed nor disappointed with this book. The audiobook made it easy to get through, but I would have put it down frequently if I had not listened to it. Up until the first third of the book, I was listening with anticipation, but an event occurring around that point (keeping this spoiler-free) derailed the story, and the rest fell flat.



Re-Readability: Would not reread (2/4)



Logic - (overall score: 9/14)

Plot Logic: Mostly explained, but something is missing (6/10)

Maybe because Daniel didn’t make it to the training module and the information was given in dumps, it felt like there was something just slightly off that could have been rounded off.



Character Logic: Some characters didn’t fit (3/4)

Daniel meets up with some others in the dungeons, and personally, I don’t think they add too much to the overall story because Daniel is kind of doing his own thing anyway most of the time. They didn’t hold back the story but could have been more formed.



Excitement – Glad I picked it up but not wowed (6/10)

On the whole, I did like this book! Definitely has plenty of epic fight scenes and eldritch horrors that will pull any lover of Sci Fi in. However, the stats (while a staple in LitRPGs) were too dense, and the disjointed storyline left it hanging.

Audiobook Review:



Dialogue – Dialogue had awkward moments (3/4)

Performance – Good performance (3/4)

Pace – Pace had incongruencies (3/4)



Scores:

CAWPILE: 57/90

DP2: 9/12

[Kiba Snowpaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduction:
Greetings to the inhabitants of HowlStrom and beyond, this is Kiba Snowpaw, an Ice Wolf hailing from the ethereal plains of ice, bringing forth a review of the audiobook version of "The New World" by Monsoon117. This title is a deep dive into a universe where dimensions rupture, beasts emerge, and an AI reshapes our very reality. But is this world worth delving into, or should we leave it to freeze in the icy realms of forgettable tales?

Basic Plot Summary:
The earth is taken over by an omnipotent AI named Schema. It introduces game-like mechanics, including status screens, power-ups, and skills into our very existence. While many are overjoyed by this real-life RPG transformation, Daniel, our protagonist, finds himself imprisoned in a perilous dungeon, battling fierce creatures, facing deadly challenges, and uncovering the mysteries behind Schema's true intentions.

Analysis/Evaluation:
Monsoon117 crafts a world that fuses the intricate details of an RPG with the high stakes of an apocalyptic scenario. While many LitRPG tales follow a similar formula, the addition of Schema, a god-like AI, brings a fresh perspective. However, some critics argue that there's a familiarity in the narrative that could have been transcended with more original nuances.

Characters:
Daniel, our leading wolf in this narrative hunt, stands out as a fierce fighter, quick thinker, and deeply relatable individual, caught amidst the chaos. As a fellow warrior from HowlStrom, I felt a deep resonance with his struggles, both internal and external. However, some listeners felt that other characters lacked depth and deserved more attention, a sentiment I echo.

Structure:
The structure of the story stays true to its genre. There's a clear progression in Daniel's journey, both in terms of his character development and the challenges he faces. However, some reviews indicate gaps and jumps that make it harder to follow, especially when listening to the audiobook.

Impact:
The story's furry undertones resonate deeply, tapping into primal instincts and survival. The themes of power, responsibility, and freedom are explored, making one contemplate the weight of choices in a world that's no longer bound by our understanding.

Hook and Thesis:
"The New World" begins with a compelling scenario - the introduction of a game-like system into our world. This hook promises adventure, battles, and exploration of a transformed reality. However, the true thesis lies in understanding the purpose and intention behind this shift, which drives the narrative forward.

Praise and Critique:
The audiobook version is an immersive experience. The voice acting captures the tension, thrill, and emotion effectively, making it a joy to listen to. The world-building is commendable, and Monsoon117's detailed portrayal of the game mechanics is a treat for RPG enthusiasts.

However, critics, including fellow inhabitants of HowlStrom, have pointed out areas that could have been improved. The pacing occasionally falters, and the introduction of certain characters without ample background or development left some listeners wanting.

Evaluation:
From a furry perspective, especially from someone well-versed in the icy terrains of gaming, "The New World" offers an adventure that's both nostalgic and novel. The audiobook adds a dimension that makes the narrative come alive, making it a must-listen for those seeking an exhilarating journey.

Comparison:
While similar to titles like "Arifureta," Monsoon117's work stands on its own with its unique blend of AI-driven narrative and gaming elements. However, certain plot elements could benefit from the depth and character-building that other titles in the genre exhibit.

Conclusion:
As the snow settles in HowlStrom and the icy winds howl, "The New World" emerges as a tale worth diving into, especially for those seeking a furry-driven narrative laced with action and intrigue. While not without its flaws, it promises a journey that's both thrilling and thought-provoking. So, fellow warriors, plug in your earphones, sharpen your claws, and embark on this icy escapade. Happy listening!

[Twine & Ribbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the setup. The rpg system apocalypse comes upon the world and the hero is stuck somewhere really unfortunate when it happens, leading to all sorts of hijinks. It’s an oft used, generally appealing hook and this one’s a half decent take on it, borrowing a lot of influence from the systems present in early Randidly Ghosthound, but it never quite catches its stride.

There are a lot of problems, and it just doesn’t hold together, especially after the first arc reaches its conclusion.

First off, there’s a lot of poorly placed humor that doesn’t land. Bad jokes are made early and often and they don’t really function or land. It didn’t matter too much to me, until it persisted and became the only thing that really attempted to give any personality to the hero. Seething hatred and inappropriately timed bad jokes… it just didn’t feel authentic as the character went through repeat severely traumatic major events and failed to grow or change or respond to the aggressive stimuli modifying his very being.

The world doesn’t feel very lived in or alive either. Once the initial setting is departed, the author doesn’t seem to have decided on whether the world is a post apoc wasteland or a happy post-post apoc new world. One second characters are laughing and joking about how their parents are going to give them a hard time for running off to a dungeon alone and the next it’s a complete tonal shift as the hero is walking through a dystopian wasteland of a city where the disruption to society split up families and most young or old people didn’t survive… then moments after that it is back to the dungeon again ignoring the fate of the world, while more bad jokes are made… It was tonal whip lash.

There are also some book keeping/continuity errors. For example, the author makes a huge point of having the character level their pain resistance to ignore almost 90% of all pain as a main early plot point, then it’s like they completely forget about this as the Pain Resistance skill never comes up again and the hero regularly passes out from pain or complains about how agonizing random mobs attacks are while fighting… like you had 86% pain nullification like 70 levels ago. What are you complaining about?

The first arc is ok, but the leveling and rpg stuff also starts losing meaning quickly afterwards. While it was tied to survival in the beginning the main character quickly just starts hitting stuff just to hit stuff without much underlying motivation.

Overall ok. I’m not quite half way through and don’t see myself finishing this one. I cant recommend this one.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Help me read more books

Well, it's a decent story, but it has issues. The most blaring one is with the bingo game (there's no K in bingo), and the numbers that were picked didn't line up with the 15 numbers per letter that we play when using standard bingo boards, (not sheets). There were a few other items that made the story not flow as well as it might otherwise have done. I don't know if it was a translated work, but it had some of the tells of such a work, so if that bothers you, this story may not be your cup of tea.
I did like the characters though, and while at first, I was definitely not onboard with the way his levelling started, it was later explained, so that made me have to give that a pass, though for the most part, I didn't have issues with the progression in the story, and perhaps I'd be interested in reading more in this world when they appear.
Some of the mechanics bother me, (not so much the main character's path, but as it's explained later in the book, the path others are forced to take when going through the tutorial which the main character bypassed). That explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense if the AI running the world is dead set against the bad guys moving on. If that's the case, why would it restrict everyone so drastically. Other than that, I liked the story, and suspect most folks who are fans of the genre will have minor issues, but otherwise will probably like the story.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. This isn't properly written, or is it for people that are already familiar to the genre?

How this started, it's like the protagonist is already a pro, knows how to distribute his "stats", and is already meta-planning his future (what he needs to get X). This doesn't come off as a rando gets chucked into something.

I'm only four chapters in. No ground rules were set, if a new person to the genre read this, they would be confused as the requires prior exposure to work.

I finished the book. This was poorly edited. Yes, the grammar was okay, but the continuity readers and beta readers failed the author. Things that happen in this book does require you being familiar to the genre.

The author (protag) doesn't ask many of the questions that would be normal in this situation. A main one being, how the heck is everyone speaking English? He just takes it as given that these aliens are speaking his language.
Another thing that gets me, is that he lets people that tried to kill him go too many times.

But the main thing that got me was that everything moved so fast. All his inter-person interactions and ability breakthroughs developed at an astounding rate. Things were so fast paced that it made the story disjointed. Then you had situations that didn't add up in the end.

I was going to give this a go for book two, but how it ended, I don't think I will continue.
Whole book is just off.

2.5/5 Stars

[Zé Manel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goes from good, to bad, to unreadable

Starts out in typical fashion, maybe a bit to much like so, but not in a bad way. Unfortunately while numbers go up they soon stop having any meaning. It feels like the beginning of the book was way better edited than the middle, and barely edited after that. Spelling issues, typos, missed words and unfinished sentences abound, not to mention lack of someone to point out lack of storyline cohesion.
Most annoying example of the meaningless of numbers, is how the MC becomes able to ignore 97% of damage, but his armor is basically tin foil vs most everything despite it. (3% of a 50 cal fired from an M2 would make it equivalent to a 9mm pistol round, and would turn the damage of bullets from a minigun into the equivalent of being hit by a little leaguer’s fastball.)
Then it gets worse, as everyone is a completely immature antisocial psychopath regardless of numbers in any stat or levels. If all you need is numbers go up, this does it, but a coherent setting and characters is not present. This has a ton of potential, but unfortunately it’s more than an unpolished gem, it’s still buried in the dirt and mostly unreadable without a lot of needed editing.

[Christian Menke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts with a trope that I personally enjoy greatly, a classic LitRPG apocalypse where the main character is mysteriously abducted and put into a far-too-hostile environment that allows him to power level.
Pros:
- The book is very long and therefore does not suffer from constrained arcs (such as book-end cliffhanger and drastic tone changes).
- The pacing is fast with little to no filler.
- The system is well thought out, there is no surprise introduction of powers / system options (to an extent).
- The characters are decently fleshed out

Cons:
- Characters interacting with non-characters (i.e. no-named friendlies) is a little lacking in realism.
- Nearly unavoidable Chekov's gun / Deus ex machina, in contradiction to one of my Pros.
- Felt the slow burn romance was unnecessary and possibly a little bit emotionally abusive.
- There are so very few characters for the length.

My cons are being a little nit-picky, and don't really reflect my rating or feelings on the book. I just felt like the negatives should be explored. Looking forward to book 2.

[Clinton Stanturf · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I listened this on audio and I struggled to get as far as I did)
So the story itself is not bad unfortunately this is a prime example of not all books need to be Lit RPG and not all authors should write Lit RPG or put books on audio. The word fluffing is truly horrendous of epic proportions in this book the leveling up was written with so much attention that it overshadowed a lot of the book unfortunately, it felt like you got 5 or 10 minutes of story and then you got 15 or 20 minutes of going over stat pages or just the level up process itself it's not well written at all and it's repetitive if you took out all of the leveling and stats this book would be several hours shorter which is not great. The other thing I felt extremely annoyed with was the "so-called messaging system" between the characters, why in GODS name did the author write in that it constantly repeated the name title level and unknown status when sending a message other than word fluffing? The book had a lot of potential but unfortunately, it just was not well done.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new take on a system ending out society as we know it

It was a normal day before the screens appeared and Schema integrated our world. Then it all became madness and I was alone yet in a dungeon?
There begins Daniel’s story but it truly is only a beginning as he has to find a way to survive the monsters without becoming one.
Sadly, he’s already fallen into the clutches of the first being way beyond his ability to truly grasp the power gap. Until he seizes his moment to twist that evil one’s plans but rather than dying, Daniel vaults himself into a millennia long war with beings well beyond his levels, thousands of levels beyond his.
He just needs to persevere, survive and grow stronger, oh and withstand a ton of pain because that is his new life. A new armor that protects him while trying to control him and break free of his control, is not even his first major struggle in this new world.
By the end of this arc of his story, everything of the old earth he knew will be peeled away by a world ending threat. You knew there would be one, and it’s name is Yawm.

[John-Torleif Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, but a bit too convenient for the protagonist to level

This trope often has a protagonist who is able to game the System due to unusual circumstances, but I felt that Daniel’s cheats were a bit too effective, and too conveniently simple to be believable. If skill acquisition is so easy and vital to getting points, then I would expect that you’d see more of that in the general human population. Or, if they are only easy for him to get because of the error introduced upon initialization, then I’d expect that to be more clearly presented.

Also, this book really needed a proofreading before publication. Nothing was misspelled, and there were no serious grammatical issues, but the book was full of missing words, incorrect, but similar sounding words, and incorrect names.

[Derek Hermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a massive LitRPG fan, I'm consuming as many stories as I can and I think we can all agree this new genre is already starting to lose some of its steam.

This is a fresh take on the genre and I thoroughly enjoyed (I read the audiobook):

-World-building, RPG aspects, and fresh takes
-Characters are well defined without becoming tropes
-Narrator, James Patrick Cronin, is fantastic
-Lots of action, which keeps the pace moving - the normal pacing of the narration is faster than most audiobooks and I think that's a brilliant choice
-Has grimdark elements with lots of gore, makes you feel a part of the action
-Explores human emotions in interesting ways for a "simple" LitRPG action book
-Writing and prose isn't perfect but if you can overlook that for all the other elements, you'll enjoy it

I don't give out 5 stars lightly but this book earned it from me

[Robert Bezilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have low expectations for LitRPG books. They tend to be the same story recycled over and over with the same formula: bad guy appears, MC grows strong, bad guy gets beaten, everyone rains praise on the MC, and a new bad guy appears who stronger. Rinse repeat endlessly. Most of the book is one page of plot followed by 50 pages of a fight scene. This book was one of the worst examples. There's no real story to follow, the characters feel flat, you know the MC is going to win every time, and every character is impressed with him. I stopped at 60%. Don't waste your time. The book clearly has no real editor and the author publishes the first draft. It reads like a middle aged guy telling a made up story around the water cooler.

[Horia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average litRPG, that starts as a solo dungeon survival story (in its first half) and turns into a zombie apocalypse cleansing mission (in its second).

The story holds pretty well. It's all about grit and overcoming one's status through determination and effort. Both the progression and the power leveling are satisfying.
There are some plot holes yet overall it feels right. Except the main character, all others try to have a bit of depth, yet I haven't seen it. Too many stats. Too many stats, Too many stats.

I won't continue the series, except if on offer and if I have no other books on my shelf.

[Levia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloodthirsty and personal worth

The book started pretty normal with a friendly activity between friends. It got hard fast, and became an epic struggle of determination and possibility. The initial encounter with other humans surprised me. Honestly, I feel like this held multiple books since so much happened. I love how Daniel doesn't judge or make assumptions regarding the various beings around him. The encounter between humans he knew before the system shocked and hurt me. I like the new friends, and Daniel's drive to grow and be more is inspirational. I think I've discovered another favorite series.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, but….

This was a good read & if you make it to the end it gets better. What I liked: MC is decent person & makes rational decisions, there are some really great side characters and no romance bs wasting pages :)

I only gave 4 stars because there were some parts that would have informed the reader or clarified thought processes I felt were missing or skipped over. It was frustrating & I wanted to stop reading several times, but either the plot resolved itself later or I (tried) ignored it & the story resumed.

I’m glad i finished it as the story gets better after the 50% mark and ends at a good point. No cliffhanger lol. Will read book 2 when released.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite A Bit More Than I Expected

The tone and pace gets set pretty quickly and it works well. The progression in this one takes some interesting turns. I was wracking my brain trying to think of what it reminded me of. It took me a minute but I think I’m reminded of a Manga style I read a while back. It threw me off because it didn’t seem like it at first. Whether intentional or not it works well though. Quite a lot going on one thing after another with some interesting twists. The ending felt slightly abrupt but it lasted long enough that I wasn’t left unsatisfied. Definitely fun and can’t wait to start the next one.

[Clint Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

KU Review

Pretty intense system apocalypse with this one. Dark and almost hopeless at times, the focus stays on one small area without a greater view of how the rest of the world is coping. While the mc seems op from the start, in the grand scheme of the larger system, he has a long way to go.

General disclaimer: I want to be clear in that I do not factor cost into any review and as such, this is simply a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really needs an Editor

The world-building and system elements are original and engrossing.

But dear gods above and demons below, get an Editor.

Or at least run it through Grammarly, or even Word's spellcheck would do.

What is "riveted like a Narwhal's tusk" even supposed to mean? Can you please stop using "of" when you mean "have"?

Finally, consider writing an actual story arc, with a resolution, and not just a continuous run of events that you stop suddenly and call an end.

[Tyrel Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been good but just fell flat with trying to be too ambitious. DNF at like 85% I just didn't care and wasn't bothered enough to finish it. I was going to quit earlier but gave it another shot as a good landing can make or break it but nope.

Major plot points kind of just flew by and the building up from the start kind of was moot 1/3 the way through the book. The character dynamics and behaviors were also very weird and inconsistent.

It's like good ingredients to a recipe but poorly proportions so the result is meh.

[Odin Runatyr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Concept is great... But...

I love the story line, and most of the characters are entertaining. However the editing is really bad, names change mid sentence, spelling becoming worse and worse of the last few hundred pages. The power level of the main character fluctuates, from being overpowered to hitting like a feather. The armor doesn't seem to be taken into account as the character spits during combat despite wearing an airtight helmet. With some cleaning up and attention to detail, this could be a great read.

[Murphies_law · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40 %.

Soulless and inconsistent.

The MC becomes OP by putting all his early ability points into the endurance stat and goes on smashing everything he sees with his hands...

It was hillarious how the MC forgot his friends all of a sudden after pages of talking about how he worries about them and misses them.

The book is filled with contradictions: enemies that can or can´t use certain abilities (echolot for example), armor that is great against massive kinetic impact from monsters but is worthless against mere ordinary pistols..

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, the most obvious issue to me is how badly it needs one more round of editing. Especially near the end, grammatical errors, not capitalizing character names, and (to limit spoilers) during a fight against 2 named enemies, the characters kill one but then the author mixes up the names and uses the dead one's name interchangeably with the live one??

TLDR: I am a lot more lenient with mid writing and basic plot elements/clichés when it is presented well, and this, overall, failed to do that. Not a terrible book or anything, but I don't see myself reading the sequel.

[Vance Holt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to like this, I really did. It had some super great positives like a great premise and I like the dynamic between some of the characters. However, all the fights (and I do mean all of them) end with the monster/bad guy being beaten into mush or pulp or whatever word you want to use for a soggy bloody mess. It gets old. Also, the healing is to over powered. The MC is completely overpowered until wait he isn't. Just kidding, a training montage and he's OP again. Plus, I don't like the swearing.

[Cmoore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Monsoon117 unleash a System Change on the world. Only Daniel didn’t get to participate in the introduction. He spawned in the cave where he'd been Spelunking at the time... and right from the beginning he'd been in a fight or die situation! And my action-lovin heart enjoyed it. But at times I was horror-struck by what I was listening to, and had to sigh in relief once each fight was over!
Did I connect with Daniel? Unfortunately, not even in the slightest 😑.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Low effort

I got about 4% into the book before stopping. From my notes, you can see the author can't even remember what he wrote the page before because he claims the bats in this cave are blind and faceless and do NOT use echolocation but normal sounds to find their way around, then a few pages later a bat looks at him then screeches to find him. Also, if they don't use echolocation, how do they find the stalactites to attach to while they sleep?