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Speedrunning the Multiverse #3
Speedrunning the Multiverse 3
Book 3 of this exciting LitRPG Cultivation Adventure about an ancient God who's reached the apex of his power progression and has decided to reincarnate multiple times to try and speedrun the Dao and reach the peak of cultivation.
- GenresFantasy
566 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 17, 2024
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41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 2, 2024
DNF 20%
A plot issue arose early on that kept prodding my mind. The antagonist, Jez, can already draw on the powers of more than half the universe as this book starts. He has already defeated hoards of the most powerful God-Kings, including Dorian's uber-powerful brother. So what's Dorian's plan?... to become the most powerful God-King. That's it. I kept waiting for someone to either point out the stupidity or explain the clever tactic that would win the day. I simply couldn't continue following this story to, what would have to be, a Deux Ex Machina resolution.
A minor note: Dorian's sister is turned against him by Jez when he tells her that Dorian killed her real brother, [Dorian inhabited the already-dead body. Distasteful but not murder.] Jez prides himself on honesty and love, and yet he outright lies to ensure this important betrayal. I didn't like it.
A plot issue arose early on that kept prodding my mind. The antagonist, Jez, can already draw on the powers of more than half the universe as this book starts. He has already defeated hoards of the most powerful God-Kings, including Dorian's uber-powerful brother. So what's Dorian's plan?... to become the most powerful God-King. That's it. I kept waiting for someone to either point out the stupidity or explain the clever tactic that would win the day. I simply couldn't continue following this story to, what would have to be, a Deux Ex Machina resolution.
A minor note: Dorian's sister is turned against him by Jez when he tells her that Dorian killed her real brother, [Dorian inhabited the already-dead body. Distasteful but not murder.] Jez prides himself on honesty and love, and yet he outright lies to ensure this important betrayal. I didn't like it.
May 28, 2024
I struggled to make it through this one and called it a day just shy of halfway through. The issue here is a direct result of the main issue with the last book; the author has written himself into a corner by making such a ridiculous power gap between the protagonist and the primary antagonist.
In the last book, this led to a severely rushed pace in order for the protagonist to close the gap, and anyone who has read this far in this series will know how that ended. This book picks up with exactly the same problem, one that is compounded by the second main issue that is a direct result of the last book; everything feels meaningless.
I was disappointed that the last book ended in a way that made me feel like the author was just throwing away all of the story that had been told to that point. Everything about Dorian's latest run now seemed completely inconsequential in the face of this new, bigger story, and as a result, I felt like I had wasted my time reading the majority of the first two books. I feel like you could give someone a brief summary of books one and two and throw them into book three, and I'm not sure you'd be any worse off.
This lack of meaning is now carrying through into Dorian's journey going forward. We know that he either has to get strong enough to challenge Jez directly, or he needs to come up with a plan to overcome Jez without getting powerful enough to challenge him directly. Early on in this book, they establish that no one knows how to build power quickly like Dorian because of his speedrunning hobby, so it looks like the story is going to go with option A. The issue here is that now I know the destination the book is heading towards, and it makes all the stops and detours along the way feel meaningless because they are standing in the way of us getting to that destination in an efficient manner.
This book has gone from a character-led story using slice-of-life storytelling about someone speedrunning a cultivation system into a plot-led story where Damian needs to get powerful as fast as possible so that he can deal with a God-King-level threat. In the first type of story, exploration and free-form storytelling is kind of the point. So long as the character journeys and overarching plot are making progress while delivering some fun moments and enriching world-building, the reader is happy. The second type of story is plot-driven with a clear destination, and suddenly, meandering exploration and worldbuilding not directly focused on moving our protagonist meaningfully closer to his destination starts to feel tedious.
By the halfway point, this book felt like a collection of sidequests toward a conflict that I ultimately didn't care about. If the overarching conflict had been the focus of this series from the start, then I might have felt a little different (though sidequests always feel like filler to me, no matter what kind of story you are telling). However, with this series set up the way it was, this feels more like a bait and switch. I came here to experience the fun of a reincarnated master story, but by this point, everything that I enjoy about that kind of story has been pushed aside in favour of a far more typical good guy needs to sidequest his way to power so he can defeat super-powerful villain story.
My final gripe is maybe my most personal frustration because it means I have to admit something that no one likes to admit; I was wrong.
I said in my review of book one that this story was masterfully using the show don't tell rule about Dorian, telling us that he is an uncaring selfish person while showing us that he is actually far more compassionate and caring than he will admit to himself. I thought this was further compounded in the second book by how he obviously cared for his sister. However, this book proved that I was wrong and I should have been taking him at face value all along.
Considering how the last book ended, you'd expect anyone who had an ounce of empathy towards other people to feel horrified by the number of deaths in the last book and the people he had lost, especially the loss of his sister. But Dorian has moved on to the point that he only even thinks of his sister in reference to her blood being used to track him. This means that Dorian was never a three-dimensional protagonist who is lying to everyone, including himself, about his self interest. Instead, he is literally a self-centred arsehole and no longer someone I care to read about.
I'd probably go even lower in the rating save that I can recognise my own biases at play here about the kind of story that I was interested in. I still think that the above points are some objective flaws in this series, but I'll add an extra star to make up for those biases.
Overall, I'm really disappointed. At the end of the first book I thought this was headed towards being a new favourite series of mine... serves me right for getting my hopes up. I really should know better by now.
In the last book, this led to a severely rushed pace in order for the protagonist to close the gap, and anyone who has read this far in this series will know how that ended. This book picks up with exactly the same problem, one that is compounded by the second main issue that is a direct result of the last book; everything feels meaningless.
I was disappointed that the last book ended in a way that made me feel like the author was just throwing away all of the story that had been told to that point. Everything about Dorian's latest run now seemed completely inconsequential in the face of this new, bigger story, and as a result, I felt like I had wasted my time reading the majority of the first two books. I feel like you could give someone a brief summary of books one and two and throw them into book three, and I'm not sure you'd be any worse off.
This lack of meaning is now carrying through into Dorian's journey going forward. We know that he either has to get strong enough to challenge Jez directly, or he needs to come up with a plan to overcome Jez without getting powerful enough to challenge him directly. Early on in this book, they establish that no one knows how to build power quickly like Dorian because of his speedrunning hobby, so it looks like the story is going to go with option A. The issue here is that now I know the destination the book is heading towards, and it makes all the stops and detours along the way feel meaningless because they are standing in the way of us getting to that destination in an efficient manner.
This book has gone from a character-led story using slice-of-life storytelling about someone speedrunning a cultivation system into a plot-led story where Damian needs to get powerful as fast as possible so that he can deal with a God-King-level threat. In the first type of story, exploration and free-form storytelling is kind of the point. So long as the character journeys and overarching plot are making progress while delivering some fun moments and enriching world-building, the reader is happy. The second type of story is plot-driven with a clear destination, and suddenly, meandering exploration and worldbuilding not directly focused on moving our protagonist meaningfully closer to his destination starts to feel tedious.
By the halfway point, this book felt like a collection of sidequests toward a conflict that I ultimately didn't care about. If the overarching conflict had been the focus of this series from the start, then I might have felt a little different (though sidequests always feel like filler to me, no matter what kind of story you are telling). However, with this series set up the way it was, this feels more like a bait and switch. I came here to experience the fun of a reincarnated master story, but by this point, everything that I enjoy about that kind of story has been pushed aside in favour of a far more typical good guy needs to sidequest his way to power so he can defeat super-powerful villain story.
My final gripe is maybe my most personal frustration because it means I have to admit something that no one likes to admit; I was wrong.
I said in my review of book one that this story was masterfully using the show don't tell rule about Dorian, telling us that he is an uncaring selfish person while showing us that he is actually far more compassionate and caring than he will admit to himself. I thought this was further compounded in the second book by how he obviously cared for his sister. However, this book proved that I was wrong and I should have been taking him at face value all along.
Considering how the last book ended, you'd expect anyone who had an ounce of empathy towards other people to feel horrified by the number of deaths in the last book and the people he had lost, especially the loss of his sister. But Dorian has moved on to the point that he only even thinks of his sister in reference to her blood being used to track him. This means that Dorian was never a three-dimensional protagonist who is lying to everyone, including himself, about his self interest. Instead, he is literally a self-centred arsehole and no longer someone I care to read about.
I'd probably go even lower in the rating save that I can recognise my own biases at play here about the kind of story that I was interested in. I still think that the above points are some objective flaws in this series, but I'll add an extra star to make up for those biases.
Overall, I'm really disappointed. At the end of the first book I thought this was headed towards being a new favourite series of mine... serves me right for getting my hopes up. I really should know better by now.
July 14, 2024
This third book is the start of where everyone "fights back" against the other god who became so to fix the multi-verse after Damion killed his family in a senseless fight a long time ago. He wants to "fix things" by recreating everything, although at the end when fighting fate and the others who are standing up against him, it turns out that he is betrayed by some of his "followers" and he starts to lose it. The fight goes well for Damion and how he has grown with his powers, and it was interesting to hear about the city and how the people interacted in the Hell universe. There was a lot more language in this book then previous books, it is a bit off-putting and likely may cause me to not go through book 4.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2024
cracking, good book.
I’ve enjoyed this series immensely. The MC is funny, likable, and his personality is continuing. to grow and develop. Excellent world building, plenty of fight sequences, good cultivation progression. If I could read the next book and concluding book in the series, I would do so right now. I am eagerly awaiting for it, or will try to find it on patreon. That’s how much I’ve enjoyed this book.
I’ve enjoyed this series immensely. The MC is funny, likable, and his personality is continuing. to grow and develop. Excellent world building, plenty of fight sequences, good cultivation progression. If I could read the next book and concluding book in the series, I would do so right now. I am eagerly awaiting for it, or will try to find it on patreon. That’s how much I’ve enjoyed this book.
January 31, 2024
Another Fun Read
Dorian remains our favorite jerk. Story does a good job of quickly moving along his cultivation so this series won’t stretch out into 30 books. Filled with plenty of action and comedic moments to keep things interesting. Will definitely stick with the series!
Dorian remains our favorite jerk. Story does a good job of quickly moving along his cultivation so this series won’t stretch out into 30 books. Filled with plenty of action and comedic moments to keep things interesting. Will definitely stick with the series!
May 10, 2024
Kinda falling off
Read
June 24, 2024meh. dnf after the first couple chapters. Too boring and lost its appeal when all the main characters become unkillable.
May 12, 2025
it's fun and carefree. Also, I like this new sidekick better than the last one who was and still is all over the place.
August 6, 2024
There's no logical way the protagonist can win. All of the most powerful beings in the multiverse have been defeated and 80% of all resources are already subsumed. Shouldn't I at least want the protagonist to win? I don't. He is an ass.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews