Die. Respawn. Repeat.: A LitRPG Adventure

Die. Respawn. Repeat #1

by Silver Linings

Every time he dies, Ethan gains a little more power.
Earth was chosen for Integration, but Ethan Hill knows from the second his Trial begins that the Integration is a lie. The beings giving Earth the 'honor' of access to their System Interface want something from Earth—he just doesn't know what.

Now he's trapped on an alien planet and lost in a time loop, fighting for strength and for his own humanity.

One thing's for He'll die as many times as it takes to tear it all down.

Don't miss the start of this action-packed Progression Fantasy seemlessly merging aspects from Apocalyptic LitRPG's like He Who Fights with Monsters and Time Loop stories like Mother of Learning.

Genres: Litrpg, Fantasy, Magic, Audiobook, Time Travel, Science Fiction

510 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 10, 2024

Reviews

[GaiusPrimus]

It was ok, but it felt like there was a lot of things predetermined to go a specific way.

I did enjoy the crows, and those interactions, but the mechanics are very confusing. I don’t mean the concept of a looper, but it’s implementation in the book, especially as the MC starts to interact more and more with natives.

The magic system also left some to be desired, with the semi-explanations we get about foundation.

The crows were fun to read about though.

[Fat Frog]

There are no description of the skills... so the MC just keeps making up stuff about the skills from the name alone, in an effort to somehow "justify" his choices. It is weird. His build is just random shit that he chooses based on cryptic names.

"Triplestep is broadly useful".... Dude you have no idea what that skill name even means.

Skills just sort of do... whatever. Since there are no descriptions, the author just willy nilly has the skills do whatever the MC needs:

For example: "Fire step" makes him fast and leaves burning steps in his wake.... but then when he fights, the MC suddenly "pushes" Firestep into his fist, and now suddenly he has a burning fist. Like WTF is this stupid skill? You can buff anything with it? And make it have fire element? Same thing with Temporal Fragment... he can make copies of his past self... BUT THEN suddenly he uses it to make copies that are not of his past self.... AND THEN he uses it to explore the past of other characters. SHIT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE.

DNF 26%

[BookManiac]

A really fun, gritty, and at times dark time loop story with an excellent LitRPG system that is accompanied by great action scenes, excellent character writing, and a fascinating world and plot. Read it!

[James Riley]

Really good

This was one of the best books I've read this year. It's ending is a bit abrupt, but that's mainly because it was originally a Royal Road story. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Highly recommended.

[Muhammed Ors]

Superb

This was honestly one of the best stories I've ever read, I pray the quality continues like this. From a wonderful system to a wonderful story, the heart of it, our protagonist, is what makes this so wonderful. If I had any criticism it would be about how quickly he adapts but perhaps there will be some development with that

[Tony Hinde]

DNF 28%

There's a lot missing from this novel. Mainly it's the protagonist, Ethan. He's a blank slate. We don't know what his job was, who his friends were... hobbies, family, education, or ambitions. The author should have started the story with his complete memory loss, then we'd have some hope that he was an actual person.

[Luis]

Good times all around

A very interesting take on an apocalypse system, loved the way the system and loops interplayed. Cannot wait for more.

[Luke Lucas]

I love time loops!!

[Edward Evans]

Different take litrpg

Very good book with interesting character's. Plot does not bog down like some litrpgs so. Eenj96ed the book and looking for #2.

[Doug Sundseth]

While this series is yet another GameLit Apocalypse series, the conceit here is that with each death, the world of the protagonist is reset to its initial state. This complicates the task of the MC significantly, that task being to finish the challenge presented. Unfortunately what "finish" might mean is left unclear.

The "game" system is an interesting one, not the typical faux-D&D class and level system, but a skill and stat system with interesting details.

The plot beats are balanced well and the story flows efficiently. The supporting characters are done well, and the occasional resets of the world have a significant effect on the relationships between supporting characters and protagonist.

Unfortunately, the protagonist is largely a nonentity, though very successful in the "game" (as is standard in a LitRPG.)

The overall effect of the combination is an interesting story that doesn't really hold my attention well. I might continue this if I can get the next book cheap, but I can't recommend the series.

[Jan]

Review of first three books.

Really enjoying this series, so far.

Good plot, good characters, good world building, good writing. For me this just worked.

Ethan has been plunged into a time loop trial that will determine the future of Earth. All he has to do is not give up, or so the Integrators say.

Silver Linings enjoys playing with systems, things are never strait forward or as they seem. What is really going on? How does the system work, what is it, why is it? Most importantly, how do we break it? Throughout the books I was always eager to find out more.

I found Ethan to be highly inteligent, kind and caring. In the face of a system designed to break him he is too blodyminded and stubborn to even consider giving up. Not on himself, Earth or any of the people he meets. He does come off as somewhat too good to be real, but sometimes we need a hero. His interactions with other people are good. Sometimes serious, sometimes humorous.

I feel that Silver Linings uses the time loops well and explores both the advantages and disadvantages of knowing that nothing you do really matters. Or maybe it does. The Integrators have a few curveballs to throw in to the time loops and Ethan constantly explores loopholes and flaws in the system. At the start Ethan knows practically nothing except that he does not believe the story he has been told. He gradually comes to understand more and more. Through the time loops there was always a sense of progression, sometimes a bit slow, but still a decent pace.

[Ralph Gongwer]

unique skills / slow pace

Very alien environment. Very different skill progression. Not your typical RPG style. Firmament not really equal to Mana but similar with so much more that it gets confusing tracking it all. For some reason the plot seems slow to me. It took nearly the whole book to save one of the NPCs and finally get to the entrance of a “Dungeon.” A lot of time is spent talking about and choosing new skills and having to select Inspirations. The skills are not typical at all and difficult to understand how they are used. Chromatic… color draining skill… case in point is one of the “easier” to understand skills but not the effects. The lettering of F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS is used to give us an idea of the strength of the skill. Yet the divisions of capability are hard to understand since so few fights occur. And he dies and repeats the events until he is successful as the Title suggests. I will probably not read the next book in the series… and that is sad that it did not hold my interest.

[John Hinckley]

What? You respawned again,” I said dryly.

The story is good. The worldbuilding is bordering on great. But the prose is dryily dry, I said dryly.

There needs to be more thought given to using precisely the right word, in this book that tugs far too tightly on the heartstrings, then dryily over uses certain words and phrases. If it were edited properly by both an official editor and a line editor, not just a lone line editor it could be improved into something that could give Dungeon Crawler Carl a run for its money.

As it is, I don’t feel bothered that I already bought the next two books in the series. Especially since I got them on sale. However, the stars stay at a mere 3 and not 8 out of 5 (DCC star level) until these things are addressed.

And don’t think that you should just let it go, this story has too much great potential that will be squandered and ruined if you do.

GET IT TOGETHER AND BE AS ABS****INGLUTELY PROFESSIONAL AS YOU CAN BE. It will make all the difference between becoming a well known writer and fading into mediocrity and obscurity.

[David Phipps]

This is a fantasy LitRPG series about an Earth man inducted into some sort of trial on an unknown world. And a big part of the story is that he is in a time loop where every time he dies he starts over but retains his memories and his progression. It sounds like Earth was inducted into this system and the protagonist was not the only human participating in this trial. However the time loop aspect of this seems to be tied to the trial so I'm wondering if the overall story is limited to the trial and we'll never find out how Earth and other humans are doing. I read the blurbs for the sequels and it seems like the setting is still the trial. I think time loops are difficult to pull off in fantasy LitRPGs since the stakes and tension feel lessened when the protagonist comes back after dying. It can work well for some stories like Mother of Learning or The Perfect Run but I'm not sure about the start of a system apocalypse like this one seems to be. I decided to stop after the first book.

[Daniel St.]

Rank C+
Personal Tags: PR, Respawn Mechanic, System Apocalypse, plus catalog.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
3-stars. The death-and-respawn mechanic is a fun hook, and I liked seeing the MC slowly figure out how to use the system to his advantage. The repeated deaths could have gotten old fast, but there were enough changes in each attempt to keep me interested. I especially enjoyed the trial-and-error aspect, where every failure gives him a little more information to work with. The progression is satisfying without feeling like the MC immediately becomes unstoppable. There were definitely some repetitive sections, and a few of the character moments did not land for me as well as I would have liked. Still, the story has enough momentum and interesting system mechanics to keep things moving. Overall, it was a fun enough LitRPG and one I would probably continue if I am in the mood for more respawning chaos.

[Ozsaur]

3.5 rounded up.

This is a LitRPG book with time loops. Generally, they were well handled, and I wasn't too confused.

Ethan is transported to Hestia along with over 3,000 other humans to undergo trails. 10 humans have to succeed, or Earth will be destroyed. Ethan was relatable, but I wish more of his backstory had been revealed sooner. He was a bit flat at first.

I really enjoyed the side characters, especially Athelios, Ethan's companion. He brought a spot of brightness to the story. The crows were also intriguing, and likeable.

The action scenes were well done, but I have to admit, the surprise at the end left me underwhelmed. I'll still read the next book, the world building was interesting, and I liked the characters enough to want to know what happens next.

[Scott Wozniak]

The good part/bad part about this book is that we jump right into the action on the first page and it doesn't slow down. There is very little backstory and the character starts growing powerful quickly. I never was fully satisfied with the explanations on why our hero is exceptional after so many others tried and failed. And the other characters go along with him a little too easily for me. But the consequence of glossing over all that is nonstop plot progress, so I'm having fun seeing the surprises.

[Paul Clemons]

book took me for a loop

Good book. Good length, adventure, action, characters, world, and good mystery. Only thing that bugs me is limited mc backstory because when revealed in later books, I will have already solidified in my mind the character. Nobody can wait for book 2 to get the background even if it is too painful for the mc to get real. The author now has an uphill battle to change every reader’s opinion of the mc.

[Gabriel Naylor]

Don't really have much to say about this one, the pace was a little sow especially for the whole Groundhog's Day thing. It was fun the progression was fun, the side characters were mostly better than mediocre. Little too much time was spent on the Crow's son, and I think they introduced some big threats a little too early, leaving very little time for the main character to just deal with even the base level existential dread of being in a time loop.

[Dantegideon]

It sounded like it would be one of those miserable, always a sting in the tail books where the protagonist gets more powerful but never wins anything other than pyrrhic victories. And so it proved. The writing is pretty good which actually makes it more annoying; I could have enjoyed this if it weren’t so gloomy!

[Travis]

Interesting take on the Genre. There's been time loop stories, some done well, some done not so well, but this one is kind of odd in that it depends on the dying to advance the character (well, not really, but you'll understand if you read it). It's very odd, but also very interesting. I'll be looking for more in this series.

[Mark]

Slightly above average litRPG. I like that the respawn time loop gradually evolves toward more of a time control power. I like the interactions with the local bird people. I like that the local bird people have quite a lot of their own crap to deal with that doesn't specifically all revolve around the protagonist.

[Douglas R Grigg]

Quite entertaining.

I chose this like it was a fix. Turned out to be fun to read, and managed to surprise me a couple times. A+ writing here. Even better, proofread and spellchecked.

[Zach Robertson]

I've been reading this on Reddit (then over on RoyalRoad) for over a year, and I have and would continue to recommend it to fans of the LitRPG genre.
Love the focus on retaining humanity and your values despite a system that seems designed to grind that out of you.
5/5 would recommend.

[Michael Barselow]

Just not my speed. I know the premise is the repeating, but I did not enjoy the odd progression method and it did not make very much sense to me. The random rolling is a bit less fun than a character earning things.

[Scott Campbell]

Terrific Book

I really enjoyed this LitRPG book, the new take on dying and respawning is aninteresting concept that I have not seen before in this genre. I enjoyed all of the characters and the story, I highly recommend you read it.

[Nick Rizzo]

I love time loop books so much. This one has an interesting concept of gaining skills and “credits” based on your actions during a loop. The MC is clever and is able to exploit certain mechanics. Fun read. So glad I can read the next book immediately after a cliff hanger

[Mathew Benham]

A 16hr audio book. This long but nicely paced book would be good for a long drive rather than short drives to work. The story was decent, but temporally made no sense if you know physics but that's what make it fantasy. Overall, a good LitRPG.

[Johnie C]

Very good read.

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action.

[Nylar]

It was boring. I finished it. When reading it I kept wanting it to be over so I could read somth I ng diffrent.

I wont be reading the next one