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Hell Difficulty Tutorial #1
Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Where others see doom, he sees opportunity. Hell Difficulty? More like a chance to thrive.
Nathaniel's bus ride was supposed to be just another boring commute. Wrong. Now, he, 23 fellow passengers, and a corgi named Biscuit, are stuck in a "Hell Difficulty" Tutorial, battling monsters and leveling up to survive.
Easy difficulty, anyone can handle. Normal difficulty, you've got to put up a fight to get by. Hard difficulty is where only the tough ones last. And Hell? That's where you have to be a bit out of your mind!
With his terrifying talent for mana manipulation, Nathaniel decides to invest every stat point into mana. Attribute imbalance be damned. It will either kill him before the monsters and his enemies can, or turn him into one of the most powerful beings within the system.
Never underestimate the guy who has so much Mana it should kill him...
Follow Nathaniel's crazy journey as he takes on nightmarish foes and teams up with a far-from-normal group of bus passengers in this action-packed LitRPG Adventure. He must outsmart the odds, survive, and emerge stronger than anyone else!
With more than 10 million views as a web serial, this definitive version is perfect for fans of The Primal Hunter, Defiance of the Fall, and Generic System.
Nathaniel's bus ride was supposed to be just another boring commute. Wrong. Now, he, 23 fellow passengers, and a corgi named Biscuit, are stuck in a "Hell Difficulty" Tutorial, battling monsters and leveling up to survive.
Easy difficulty, anyone can handle. Normal difficulty, you've got to put up a fight to get by. Hard difficulty is where only the tough ones last. And Hell? That's where you have to be a bit out of your mind!
With his terrifying talent for mana manipulation, Nathaniel decides to invest every stat point into mana. Attribute imbalance be damned. It will either kill him before the monsters and his enemies can, or turn him into one of the most powerful beings within the system.
Never underestimate the guy who has so much Mana it should kill him...
Follow Nathaniel's crazy journey as he takes on nightmarish foes and teams up with a far-from-normal group of bus passengers in this action-packed LitRPG Adventure. He must outsmart the odds, survive, and emerge stronger than anyone else!
With more than 10 million views as a web serial, this definitive version is perfect for fans of The Primal Hunter, Defiance of the Fall, and Generic System.
616 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2024
2958 people are currently reading
1066 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 218 reviews
May 20, 2024
I've dnf'd this twice now. Because I neglected to review it the first time. Fortunately, I realized relatively quickly that this was all very familiar with the bus and the jerks and the pathos. So I don't have a ton of detail beyond that the main character is a bit of a sociopath and that "hell difficulty" still has level two goblins and wolves making it pretty tame for the claimed difficulty. Also, did I mention the mc is a sociopath? And the author managed to make that boring, as well. One star.
June 15, 2024
I'll be honest, this was 2-star territory for the first chunk of the book. But something kept me reading and I was rewarded for my perseverance.
Plot - 8/10, Character 1-8/10, Setting and Magic - 7.5/10, Writing - 4/10, Enjoyment - 7/10
The story opens with a busload of 25 people that gets magically transported to a different reality. They end up on what a System calls Floor 1 and they are on Hell Difficulty. Generally speaking, the plot goes in the expected direction from there as the people try to survive, level up/gain skills, and advance to the next floor. What gives this story a unique spin is where the characters take this plot...
The author made a bold decision by making pretty much all the characters the most unlikeable people you'll ever meet. The MC is a 22-year-old (I think) guy with a flat affect that hides the personality of a school shooter. He seems to hate people in general and think he's superior to everyone. It's pretty obvious that it's a typical self-defense mechanism for anyone who's taken psychology, but the author plays it straight and never quite wags a finger at the character's behavior. For most people, their ability to tolerate the characters will determine their enjoyment of this book.
While it's usually nice to have a likeable MC you can root for, it's not necessary as long as they are interesting instead. While I don't necessarily think our MC's type is that interesting, his behavior creates a lot of unique circumstances and interactions with the other characters. Similarly, the other characters all seem to be self-centered and amoralistic. But also similarly, the story turns into a series of interactions that are pretty different than I normally see. Usually, characters like this show up as antagonists in a normal story, so you can expect the more heroic main characters to overcome them or witness their redemption arcs. Here instead I found myself wondering whether the other characters were actually as horrible as the MC believed (they mostly were LOL).
Without giving any spoilers, I will say that the characters seem to change and grow as the story progresses. Like how a story might force a "good" character to do bad things for survival, this story forces "bad" characters to suffer each other's company and help each other out, and it's somewhat interesting to watch the mental gymnastics they perform to justify it.
The setting varies by Floor, of which we only see a couple and things are fairly generic landscapes but populated by magic and monsters. While the initial monsters tend to be low-level wolves and goblins early, subsequent waves grow in number, level, and include named monsters. Anyone who's played an ARPG like Diablo will find themselves in familiar territory.
The skills and magic are a weird mix of being overpowered in any other context, but still barely sufficient to survive in this book's setting. I really enjoyed the variety of the skills and the consistent structure that seemed to exist for the mechanics. It remains to be seen whether the power curve goes crazy down the road, but I really enjoyed how this story spent plenty of time in the "early game" as I like to call it.
The writing is one of the weakest elements of the book. While the characters can arguably be chalked up to personal preference, the writing is undeniably weighed down by a large number of errors and then clumsy writing. While it rarely interfered with my ability to picture or follow a scene, the prose was riddled with repetition, redundancy, and useless words like "instantly, immediately, or quickly", which could be removed without affecting the sentence 99.99% of the time.
On the plus side, this book added another stamp to my Gamelit Bingo card for another instance of using "cuts like a knife through butter." The writing also offers a variety of drinking games. Take a drink every time:
-you see the word "immediately" (Medium Difficulty)
-you see the word "instantly" (Hard Difficulty)
-something or someone gets stabbed in the eye (Hell Difficulty)
Overall, as I said earlier, a person's enjoyment will heavily rely on how they can tolerate this story's characters. If you can manage it, then you will be rewarded with an interesting gamelit scenario that poses some interesting questions for future volumes and actually delivers some legit character growth during the second half.
Plot - 8/10, Character 1-8/10, Setting and Magic - 7.5/10, Writing - 4/10, Enjoyment - 7/10
The story opens with a busload of 25 people that gets magically transported to a different reality. They end up on what a System calls Floor 1 and they are on Hell Difficulty. Generally speaking, the plot goes in the expected direction from there as the people try to survive, level up/gain skills, and advance to the next floor. What gives this story a unique spin is where the characters take this plot...
The author made a bold decision by making pretty much all the characters the most unlikeable people you'll ever meet. The MC is a 22-year-old (I think) guy with a flat affect that hides the personality of a school shooter. He seems to hate people in general and think he's superior to everyone. It's pretty obvious that it's a typical self-defense mechanism for anyone who's taken psychology, but the author plays it straight and never quite wags a finger at the character's behavior. For most people, their ability to tolerate the characters will determine their enjoyment of this book.
While it's usually nice to have a likeable MC you can root for, it's not necessary as long as they are interesting instead. While I don't necessarily think our MC's type is that interesting, his behavior creates a lot of unique circumstances and interactions with the other characters. Similarly, the other characters all seem to be self-centered and amoralistic. But also similarly, the story turns into a series of interactions that are pretty different than I normally see. Usually, characters like this show up as antagonists in a normal story, so you can expect the more heroic main characters to overcome them or witness their redemption arcs. Here instead I found myself wondering whether the other characters were actually as horrible as the MC believed (they mostly were LOL).
Without giving any spoilers, I will say that the characters seem to change and grow as the story progresses. Like how a story might force a "good" character to do bad things for survival, this story forces "bad" characters to suffer each other's company and help each other out, and it's somewhat interesting to watch the mental gymnastics they perform to justify it.
The setting varies by Floor, of which we only see a couple and things are fairly generic landscapes but populated by magic and monsters. While the initial monsters tend to be low-level wolves and goblins early, subsequent waves grow in number, level, and include named monsters. Anyone who's played an ARPG like Diablo will find themselves in familiar territory.
The skills and magic are a weird mix of being overpowered in any other context, but still barely sufficient to survive in this book's setting. I really enjoyed the variety of the skills and the consistent structure that seemed to exist for the mechanics. It remains to be seen whether the power curve goes crazy down the road, but I really enjoyed how this story spent plenty of time in the "early game" as I like to call it.
The writing is one of the weakest elements of the book. While the characters can arguably be chalked up to personal preference, the writing is undeniably weighed down by a large number of errors and then clumsy writing. While it rarely interfered with my ability to picture or follow a scene, the prose was riddled with repetition, redundancy, and useless words like "instantly, immediately, or quickly", which could be removed without affecting the sentence 99.99% of the time.
On the plus side, this book added another stamp to my Gamelit Bingo card for another instance of using "cuts like a knife through butter." The writing also offers a variety of drinking games. Take a drink every time:
-you see the word "immediately" (Medium Difficulty)
-you see the word "instantly" (Hard Difficulty)
-something or someone gets stabbed in the eye (Hell Difficulty)
Overall, as I said earlier, a person's enjoyment will heavily rely on how they can tolerate this story's characters. If you can manage it, then you will be rewarded with an interesting gamelit scenario that poses some interesting questions for future volumes and actually delivers some legit character growth during the second half.
November 5, 2024
Concept is good, story is good.
While I enjoyed the story itself, the writing is clunky and hard to follow. At times the main character seems to be responding to a comment but there is no indication of it actually happening, so from the other characters point of view he just stands around and stares when being talked to a lot. Beyond that, the main character is utterly unlikeable. He has no redeeming characteristics the I can tell. Probably won't be getting the second one.
While I enjoyed the story itself, the writing is clunky and hard to follow. At times the main character seems to be responding to a comment but there is no indication of it actually happening, so from the other characters point of view he just stands around and stares when being talked to a lot. Beyond that, the main character is utterly unlikeable. He has no redeeming characteristics the I can tell. Probably won't be getting the second one.
June 1, 2024
I read for entertainment. Why would I want to read about a depressed antisocial MC?
June 1, 2024
I read 5 chapters in, and I don't know If I can do it anymore. It's written like how a stereotypical redditor would sound. The main character has heterochromea, says "cute doggo," and has other snarky one-liners. He even had some comment about extroverts that made me roll my eyes. I'm pretty sure the author spent close to two pages discussing the planning on how he would talk to the people around him. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary lines that don't add much of anything, and the main character, Nathaniel, is constantly wanting to use the other chatacters and is always talking about how he's so much "smarter" than they are. MC doesn't seem like much of a gamer, but somehow knows a fair amount of video game mechanics.
I think all of this is really unfortunate since there is a cool concept.
I think all of this is really unfortunate since there is a cool concept.
June 12, 2024
Well this was awful. I had high hopes for it too. Someone said they didn't like it because the MC was a psychopath and several people parroted the opinion. So I was looking forward to it. I am so tired of the same old white knight, unrealistic MC in these stories. Sadly, the MC is not a psychopath. He is just really really really annoying. Did you ever see the movie "Mom and Dad Save the World"? Well, I swear the MC was modeled after the Jon Lovitz character in that movie.
The story itself is awful. It can, in no way, support such a wretched MC. It's the most basic story of people being ripped away into a litrp world you can think of. There is virtually zero world building. The "system" details are utterly bare bones. The skills are haphazard and mundane.
I can only say I technically finished it as a skimmed through plenty of it. No interest in a follow up.
The story itself is awful. It can, in no way, support such a wretched MC. It's the most basic story of people being ripped away into a litrp world you can think of. There is virtually zero world building. The "system" details are utterly bare bones. The skills are haphazard and mundane.
I can only say I technically finished it as a skimmed through plenty of it. No interest in a follow up.
June 7, 2024
Another waste of time
I got to the 25% mark and couldn't keep making myself read this junk. It's badly written with an MC that has the mentality of what a 5 year old would think is cool
I got to the 25% mark and couldn't keep making myself read this junk. It's badly written with an MC that has the mentality of what a 5 year old would think is cool
December 6, 2024
Sometimes I read a book and I find myself not liking it, but I can see why others may like it, or why it has good ratings, but I just can't fathom how this has any good reviews.This is fucking awful and I don't understand the positive reviews I've seen on reddit. The main character is the shittiest anti hero/villainous hero imaginable, he's not interesting at all and just seems brain damaged. The writing makes no sense a good portion of the time, and I can't tell if the MC is saying these terrible one liners in his head or out loud, which makes me confused and lose focus. The world building is weak, the skills are poorly explained and the secondary characters are as unlikable as the MC. All in all it's terrible. 1/5
July 2, 2024
One of the least likable main characters I've ever read. I kept with it hoping there would be an arc where he learns something. Or we discover his bad attitude is a front or caused by trauma that is slowly healed. No, nothing like that. It doesn't even live up to the premise from the synopsis, he explicitly invests in stats other than mana and barely relies on his fellow tutorialees. Skip this.
July 17, 2024
So the MC is a sociopath, paranoid, control freak. Probably schizophrenia in there somewhere.
Hard pass for me.
Hard pass for me.
July 1, 2024
Interesting, neurodivergent main character
Our main character is definitely neurodivergent; logical rather than emotional in his approach to the world. We get a hint that he had a not-great childhood and we gradually see that he has no idea how to handle genuine affection much less self-sacrificing love. He doesn't see this as an area for growth; locked in continuous life-and-death struggles, he heavily leans into the survival advantage of being pragmatic and logical. He doesn't understand compassion. Helping others is a calculated choice based on self-interest. And yet, we do see some low growth. He is incredibly self-aware. He knows that investing everything in mana is a questionable choice, but it fascinates him to an irresistible degree. There are tiny moments of humor, usually surrounding the dog who ended up in the tutorial with them. There are some incorrect words (misspellings that spell check won't catch, because it's a valid word), but quite respectable for a (likely) unedited, self-published work.
We get to see that there are reasons these people end up in the difficulty level they did. And though some of the stuff very much sucks, it's not as bad as I expected from the title. Not that I'd want to live through it, you understand.
Our main character is definitely neurodivergent; logical rather than emotional in his approach to the world. We get a hint that he had a not-great childhood and we gradually see that he has no idea how to handle genuine affection much less self-sacrificing love. He doesn't see this as an area for growth; locked in continuous life-and-death struggles, he heavily leans into the survival advantage of being pragmatic and logical. He doesn't understand compassion. Helping others is a calculated choice based on self-interest. And yet, we do see some low growth. He is incredibly self-aware. He knows that investing everything in mana is a questionable choice, but it fascinates him to an irresistible degree. There are tiny moments of humor, usually surrounding the dog who ended up in the tutorial with them. There are some incorrect words (misspellings that spell check won't catch, because it's a valid word), but quite respectable for a (likely) unedited, self-published work.
We get to see that there are reasons these people end up in the difficulty level they did. And though some of the stuff very much sucks, it's not as bad as I expected from the title. Not that I'd want to live through it, you understand.
December 1, 2024
It's a bit of a messy start. Which is fine for free online but I'd rather author sat down and rewrote the first 15% or 20% of the book. There's even editors who will rewrite it for you. I think that the first 20% of the book was written while the author was figuring out how to write.
I've seen this issue with Royal road books that get published before. Ie wandering Inn great story but needed rewrites. But this is like more than that. I found myself DNF the hell out of this book. Were as wandering inn it took me 5 to 6 years to read but I always kept it on my maybe in progress reading list where as this. I was like nope. And that was mostly because of the start.
Years later that wandering inn book ended up being REALLY good a couple of books in as the author learn how to write better and excute better. This doesn't feel that way. Just by the way he writes side characters.
I've seen this issue with Royal road books that get published before. Ie wandering Inn great story but needed rewrites. But this is like more than that. I found myself DNF the hell out of this book. Were as wandering inn it took me 5 to 6 years to read but I always kept it on my maybe in progress reading list where as this. I was like nope. And that was mostly because of the start.
Years later that wandering inn book ended up being REALLY good a couple of books in as the author learn how to write better and excute better. This doesn't feel that way. Just by the way he writes side characters.
May 29, 2024
Още едно лит-рпг, затъващо в тинята на рпг елементите без да обръща особено внимание на лит-ературната част...
May 11, 2025
Sociopath mc. Boring setting. Boring characters. Reads like any average litrpg but written by a middle schooler.
July 18, 2024
I’m going to shelve this book as unfinished, for now.
I’m 56% of the book and stopped once the group hit the second stage. This is because once they hit the second stage and they talked to a character that was a part of the second stage world, I started to lose interest.
The primary reason being that the writing makes the main protagonist unlikable. I’ve read books with sociopathic and/or narcissistic protagonists, but what made them pretty good to read was their backgrounds surrounding why they did what they did. I could give the same point of view about the main character in this book, but the author writes the complete thought process of what the character is thinking and it just feels weird to read.
Compared to other light novels and web novels, this one is so far my least favorite.
I’m 56% of the book and stopped once the group hit the second stage. This is because once they hit the second stage and they talked to a character that was a part of the second stage world, I started to lose interest.
The primary reason being that the writing makes the main protagonist unlikable. I’ve read books with sociopathic and/or narcissistic protagonists, but what made them pretty good to read was their backgrounds surrounding why they did what they did. I could give the same point of view about the main character in this book, but the author writes the complete thought process of what the character is thinking and it just feels weird to read.
Compared to other light novels and web novels, this one is so far my least favorite.
May 27, 2024
Excellent LitRPG w/ Cold-hearted MC
I really, *really* liked this book. The MC seems to be on the spectrum of autism. He's very logic driven and emotions bother and confuse him. The other characters find the MC intimidating and cold.
The author shares the MC's inner monolog at times which gives insight into what drives the MC.
If you have complained about MC's who make irrational decisions, this book may be just the change you are looking for!
I really, *really* liked this book. The MC seems to be on the spectrum of autism. He's very logic driven and emotions bother and confuse him. The other characters find the MC intimidating and cold.
The author shares the MC's inner monolog at times which gives insight into what drives the MC.
If you have complained about MC's who make irrational decisions, this book may be just the change you are looking for!
June 27, 2024
I have many, many problems with this book, but most have been mentioned already in other reviews. I would like to add that I hate it when the author artificially keeps information from the reader. I still don't understand what bus these people were riding. It seems half of them know each other but we don't know how or why. We, the readers, should know what the MC knows, don't try to create suspense by withholding information.
July 9, 2024
DNF three different times the final time I made it about 27% in when I gave up for the final time. Why did I try three separate times because I'm running out of lit RPG portal books and because so many comments say it gets better... but no. I'm sure there are people who love this sort of thing but I am not one of them keywords for this would be psychopath, flawed narrator and dark tetrad. Think alpha, beta, gama male stuff.
May 16, 2024
Started off fine, then
Became pointless. The power balance is do skewed that the last part of the book is pointless. Characters have no agency and tje story is incredibly railroaded.
Became pointless. The power balance is do skewed that the last part of the book is pointless. Characters have no agency and tje story is incredibly railroaded.
January 3, 2025
LitRPG if the protagonist were neurodivergent and possibly a sociopath. I think I like the ideas behind the book, but the incredibly stilted voice, poor writing (not a single character uses contractions...), and the unpleasant personalities makes this a difficult read. I'm not sure if I'll read more in this series, but if I do it'll be solely due to Biscuit.
August 14, 2024
Hard to read but an interesting world.
I made it about 80% of the way and just found myself day dreaming about ways it could have been done better. Interesting world. But, the main character is written like a sociopath and is just not really that interesting overall. Definitely needed some more editing and structural rephrasing.
I made it about 80% of the way and just found myself day dreaming about ways it could have been done better. Interesting world. But, the main character is written like a sociopath and is just not really that interesting overall. Definitely needed some more editing and structural rephrasing.
September 2, 2025
Really enjoyed the book just wish there wasn’t so much cursing. The main character especially loves the G.D. curse word. Also it’s pretty graphic and occasionally overkill then the it describes the killing of monsters or sometimes people. If either of those two things is a deal breaker for you don’t read this. Otherwise it’s an enjoyable story
March 21, 2025
Hell Difficulty Tutorial: Book 1 is a refreshing addition to the progression fantasy genre, offering a unique blend of character development and engaging pacing. The protagonist, Nathaniel, is an intriguing character whose journey from an edgy individual to a more mature person is both compelling and relatable. The author skillfully balances the narrative, ensuring that readers remain invested in Nathaniel's growth while navigating the challenges of a "Hell Difficulty" world.
One standout feature is the pacing of the story, which keeps the momentum flowing without overwhelming the reader. The progression system is well thought out, allowing for a satisfying exploration of skills and abilities as Nathaniel and his companions face increasingly difficult monsters.
Adding to the charm is Biscuit, the corgi who hilariously calls everyone "asshole." This quirky element not only lightens the mood but also enhances the overall enjoyment of the book, making it a delightful read. The combination of unique characters and well-executed pacing makes Hell Difficulty Tutorial a must-read for fans of the genre.
One standout feature is the pacing of the story, which keeps the momentum flowing without overwhelming the reader. The progression system is well thought out, allowing for a satisfying exploration of skills and abilities as Nathaniel and his companions face increasingly difficult monsters.
Adding to the charm is Biscuit, the corgi who hilariously calls everyone "asshole." This quirky element not only lightens the mood but also enhances the overall enjoyment of the book, making it a delightful read. The combination of unique characters and well-executed pacing makes Hell Difficulty Tutorial a must-read for fans of the genre.
April 7, 2025
Every character is unlikable. The writing is barely passable. The plot is basically junk.
March 15, 2025
I can't say that the MMC was very likeable as a sociopathic/psychopathic character - or really any of the side cast either (except for Biscuit and Lily) as they were all quite self-centered and selfish. However, it was understandable in the environment they were thrown in and just comprehending human nature, really.
I completely thought that this series would be set in a Hell landscape with demons for some reason, but instead, "Hell" purely referred to a difficulty rating. However, it was hard to understand what exactly made it Hell difficulty at first as the goblins and wolves the characters first encountered didn't seem extraordinarily different than the typical stereotypes. Only as the days went on when the difficulty ramped up and the named monster boss was introduced did I truly understand their dire straits.
The world-building was interesting, and I appreciated that the cast wasn't stuck on a single floor for the whole book and made it to the 3rd floor. The writing was a bit repetitive and dry at times, and I can see why many would DNF it, but I didn't find it too hard to finish the book to jump into the next release.
I completely thought that this series would be set in a Hell landscape with demons for some reason, but instead, "Hell" purely referred to a difficulty rating. However, it was hard to understand what exactly made it Hell difficulty at first as the goblins and wolves the characters first encountered didn't seem extraordinarily different than the typical stereotypes. Only as the days went on when the difficulty ramped up and the named monster boss was introduced did I truly understand their dire straits.
The world-building was interesting, and I appreciated that the cast wasn't stuck on a single floor for the whole book and made it to the 3rd floor. The writing was a bit repetitive and dry at times, and I can see why many would DNF it, but I didn't find it too hard to finish the book to jump into the next release.
July 26, 2024
.
Recap:
A bus full of randos get isekai'd and they have to fight to level up and move through the tower!? On level 1 it's just your local beasts. Sophie is the resident bad guy who has a singular focus of protecting her sister. Nathaniel is our brooding anti-social mc. Tess is his sidekick. Hadwin is our self-proclaimed good guy. GODDAMN IT. DONUT...err I meant BISCUIT is our cute pet.
Why do litrpg just seem to be a Mashups of various other litrpgs?? This one seems to be Dungeon Crawler Carl, Big Sneaky Barbarian, and maybe Unbound by Nicoli Gonnella, oh and every other tower series.
Level 1 Sophie is a mind mage who has enthralled almost everyone from day one to protect her and sister (Isabella) and her. Mc realizes that and threatens to kill her is she does that again. He tries to destroy her geas but it just acts as a parasite which siphons his mana and grows with him. Hadwin attacks Nathaniel twice. First time under the pretense to teach him and 2nd time when he is weak after killing Cinder. They reach level 2 and are captured by a kingdom scout (I don't know why I keep thinking of them as Elves). They are divided by different factions. Lily is pampered coz she's a Healer. Ruby is the Emperor's spy who's on beck and call of her Maater Lissandra. Ruby tells Lissandra that she bought MC for 100 gold instead of only 8, and tells mc that he owed her 200 in a year paid monthly. Mc becomes an adventurer and avenges his team which's is betrayed and killed one mission. Ruby brings him back for more training. He tells her how he killed and butchered Emeric. He tells Lissandra how they are just a simulation but she can't remember what mc is trying to tell her. Mc repeats it but still she can't. She realizes that she has a geas put on her and that she is in fact in a simulation. She gives him an artificact that is rhe most powerful on her planet but mc uses it to observe the mana flow to learn from her when she becomes a singularity to blow up her planet/level. Sophie kills another Mind bender level 4 with Izabella's blue flames. When the system spits them on level 3 somehow Isabella is found alone by mc who promises to Sophie he will take care of her and she'll owe him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2024
My two cents
So, I got to the end of one of the other books from this publisher and saw an advertisement for a number of books that they recommended. This book was recommended for fans of Primal Hunter and Defiance. So I decided to give it a shot. I do my best to separate the quality of the writing from my personal preference when I leave a review. Since I did not finish this book, I am not going to be talking about the quality of the writing. For all I know, it could get better, and I do try and take it easy on the first book of a new series. That's why I am giving it four stars instead of something lower, especially since Amazon treats anything less than four as a negative review. I'm not looking to damage the author, and somebody else may like the story as is. Anything I say about the book is from before the halfway point. The story makes me think of Stargate Universe tv show or the remake of Battlestar Galactica in that we have a group of people in a life-threatening situation that, instead of it bringing them together sees them tearing each other apart. Every man, woman, and child for themselves. Everybody's got a status screen and special powers. Most are too afraid to do anything eith them. A select few start leveling up and using their new found abilities against beasts, monsters, and each other. I think the difference for me between this book compared to Primal Hunter and Defiance is that the first book in those series had the main character mostly on their own with all the nasty stuff happening in the background. Later on, our hero's shows up and puts things right for differing reasons depending on which character we're talking about.
So, I got to the end of one of the other books from this publisher and saw an advertisement for a number of books that they recommended. This book was recommended for fans of Primal Hunter and Defiance. So I decided to give it a shot. I do my best to separate the quality of the writing from my personal preference when I leave a review. Since I did not finish this book, I am not going to be talking about the quality of the writing. For all I know, it could get better, and I do try and take it easy on the first book of a new series. That's why I am giving it four stars instead of something lower, especially since Amazon treats anything less than four as a negative review. I'm not looking to damage the author, and somebody else may like the story as is. Anything I say about the book is from before the halfway point. The story makes me think of Stargate Universe tv show or the remake of Battlestar Galactica in that we have a group of people in a life-threatening situation that, instead of it bringing them together sees them tearing each other apart. Every man, woman, and child for themselves. Everybody's got a status screen and special powers. Most are too afraid to do anything eith them. A select few start leveling up and using their new found abilities against beasts, monsters, and each other. I think the difference for me between this book compared to Primal Hunter and Defiance is that the first book in those series had the main character mostly on their own with all the nasty stuff happening in the background. Later on, our hero's shows up and puts things right for differing reasons depending on which character we're talking about.
July 13, 2024
This was a mixed bag. The protagonist was completely unsympathetic for much of the book and I'm not sure if he really started getting less of an asshole as it progressed or if the plot developments that had him largely traveling alone meant that aspect of his personality was less on show. Then the plotting was all over the place, with him one-shotting opponents that were of a much higher level frequently enough to undercut the level of threat he was supposedly facing.
Despite all of this I enjoyed the story enough to immediately pre-order the next in the series. It is nowhere near as good as the Dungeon Crawler Carl series or He Who Fights with Monsters, but fans of those books might see enough similarities here to be entertained.
Despite all of this I enjoyed the story enough to immediately pre-order the next in the series. It is nowhere near as good as the Dungeon Crawler Carl series or He Who Fights with Monsters, but fans of those books might see enough similarities here to be entertained.
May 16, 2024
Read this a while back on RR. You might have seen it back then as Weapons of Mass Destruction, I honestly still hate on the author from time to time for changing the name. One day, I'll write a novel called just that, and it'll he because Cerim didn't use it. Mark my words.
Honestly, the reason I was taken with this novel was quite simple. Nathaniel, i love how twisted his mind worked and how he viewed relationships as give and take nothing more nothing less, and more interesting is the character development and the side characters who are pushing him to change without even knowing it is all happening in a smothe flow.
I also hate Sophie, I hope that's her name. But I hate her in a good way, not the hate that makes me turn off my phone and scream into my pillow, no. The hate that makes me dream of using a sling shot to pepper her with pebbles. (People from the bible will be proud.)
Then the powers, it's alright, it works because it's Nathaniel.
Honestly, the reason I was taken with this novel was quite simple. Nathaniel, i love how twisted his mind worked and how he viewed relationships as give and take nothing more nothing less, and more interesting is the character development and the side characters who are pushing him to change without even knowing it is all happening in a smothe flow.
I also hate Sophie, I hope that's her name. But I hate her in a good way, not the hate that makes me turn off my phone and scream into my pillow, no. The hate that makes me dream of using a sling shot to pepper her with pebbles. (People from the bible will be proud.)
Then the powers, it's alright, it works because it's Nathaniel.
December 18, 2024
This was a hard book to read. A lot of people have already commented on the MC’s sociopathic tendencies, some people like it and others don’t. My issue with it is how poorly it’s written, the MC goes out of his at times it seems to be difficult and petty most of the time to no one’s benefit. The logical backflips the author has to do to make his behavior make sense just make the whole thing unrealistic and hard to read. The pacing is pretty steady which is probably the only good thing I can say about this book. My biggest gripe however is the prose, everything about the writing is bland. The metaphors hurt to read, and the fight scenes are just a sequence of “I hit him, I hit him harder, I dodge, etc”. If you like reading anything that’s beautiful or flowing this book will hurt you.
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