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Mage Tank #1
Mage Tank: A LitRPG Adventure
A hilarious new Isekai LitRPG adventure perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Full Murderhobo.
Conquer ancient dungeons. Get rewarded. Grow stronger.
After being killed by a high-velocity tree-hug, Arlo is transported to a new world where those brave and talented enough to conquer ancient Delves are rewarded with incredible power and abilities.
Unfortunately for Arlo, there is no tutorial. He is immediately forced to tackle a Delve set to the highest difficulty with a party of adventurers who are not only strangers to him, but strangers to each other as well.
Arlo has no armor, no weapons, no knowledge of the world at large, and his party is growing increasingly suspicious of his lack of preparation and paper-thin excuses for how he got there.
There's also the fact that the System in charge seems to be treating Arlo's situation like a big, cosmic joke.
Determined not to die again, Arlo forgoes putting any points into his highest stat, Intelligence, and instead dumps everything he's got into Fortitude. After all, who needs equipment or fighting skills when you can eat fireballs for breakfast and still ask for more hot sauce?
Mage Tank begins a new Isekai LitRPG adventure that features steady progression, intelligent characters who spend time making intentional build choices, and tons of laughs. It’s not action all-the-time, but Arlo’s life is replete with danger and, more importantly, consequences.
Conquer ancient dungeons. Get rewarded. Grow stronger.
After being killed by a high-velocity tree-hug, Arlo is transported to a new world where those brave and talented enough to conquer ancient Delves are rewarded with incredible power and abilities.
Unfortunately for Arlo, there is no tutorial. He is immediately forced to tackle a Delve set to the highest difficulty with a party of adventurers who are not only strangers to him, but strangers to each other as well.
Arlo has no armor, no weapons, no knowledge of the world at large, and his party is growing increasingly suspicious of his lack of preparation and paper-thin excuses for how he got there.
There's also the fact that the System in charge seems to be treating Arlo's situation like a big, cosmic joke.
Determined not to die again, Arlo forgoes putting any points into his highest stat, Intelligence, and instead dumps everything he's got into Fortitude. After all, who needs equipment or fighting skills when you can eat fireballs for breakfast and still ask for more hot sauce?
Mage Tank begins a new Isekai LitRPG adventure that features steady progression, intelligent characters who spend time making intentional build choices, and tons of laughs. It’s not action all-the-time, but Arlo’s life is replete with danger and, more importantly, consequences.
Audible Audio
First published March 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews
March 14, 2025
A good start with interesting characters. A boring middle that serves as empty filler. An absolutely convoluted ending that was tedious and unsatisfying. This desperately needs context and much better pacing.
March 24, 2025
Started well but then got political.....I don't get why fantasy books continuously get into politics....don't we have enough of that BS in real life? Not for me. Onto my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!!
March 26, 2025
Started off really good and engaging with a unique take on the genre. I was a big fan of the Delve system and leveling that occurred through it. Arlo started off interesting and likeable with a humorous but sincere character. I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning as Arlo and gang takes on the first strange Delve.
Things took a sharp turn in the middle of the book as things began to slow. Several plot points came out of nowhere while other aspects were glossed over. The worldbuilding was limited once outside the first Delve which made the whole world feel uninhabited, serving only the main party. Speaking of, I did not find the side characters very engaging, and the way they instantly became friendly was very off-putting. The end of the book while engaging and action packed, was chaotic and grew unwieldy as many things began to get out of hand. By the end of the novel, I just wanted to finish. Arlo became a caricature so quickly that it was grating by the end of the book as he kept making wisecracks every second or so. The banter between characters was serviceable but I feel there was too much especially in serious situations.
Overall, enjoyed certain aspects of the book, the level/system design and certain plot points. Unsure if I will continue with the series.
Things took a sharp turn in the middle of the book as things began to slow. Several plot points came out of nowhere while other aspects were glossed over. The worldbuilding was limited once outside the first Delve which made the whole world feel uninhabited, serving only the main party. Speaking of, I did not find the side characters very engaging, and the way they instantly became friendly was very off-putting. The end of the book while engaging and action packed, was chaotic and grew unwieldy as many things began to get out of hand. By the end of the novel, I just wanted to finish. Arlo became a caricature so quickly that it was grating by the end of the book as he kept making wisecracks every second or so. The banter between characters was serviceable but I feel there was too much especially in serious situations.
Overall, enjoyed certain aspects of the book, the level/system design and certain plot points. Unsure if I will continue with the series.
July 28, 2025
DCC-lite entertaining enough litrpg. If litrpg / progression stuff is your cup of tea, this is 3.5 stars - nowhere near as good as DCC, or Worm, but it’s decent and better than a lot of other stuff out there. If that’s not your cup of tea, drop a star.
June 30, 2025
Starts out good but
First third was excellent. It was story driven. The mc was pushed from one problem to the next. He's a bit op, but it balances out with his lack of skill and enemies.
The book really slows down at this point. I found myself skipping pages of first-person narrative that was not really accomplishing anything. Got close to putting it down here.
About half way through, we get the obligatory gender dysphoria character and virtue signal. I put it down at this point. I'm reading to get away from the world and its issues.
First third was excellent. It was story driven. The mc was pushed from one problem to the next. He's a bit op, but it balances out with his lack of skill and enemies.
The book really slows down at this point. I found myself skipping pages of first-person narrative that was not really accomplishing anything. Got close to putting it down here.
About half way through, we get the obligatory gender dysphoria character and virtue signal. I put it down at this point. I'm reading to get away from the world and its issues.
March 16, 2025
Mage Tank started out great with a great hook and good, grounded combat.
Unfortunately, toward the middle, the threat level skyrocketed with very little build up.
The humor at the beginning is pointed and most of them happened in the protagonist head but toward the middle it became late stage Marvel "comedy", with everyone constantly throwing one-liners at each other.
Unfortunately, toward the middle, the threat level skyrocketed with very little build up.
The humor at the beginning is pointed and most of them happened in the protagonist head but toward the middle it became late stage Marvel "comedy", with everyone constantly throwing one-liners at each other.
August 14, 2025
it’s okay
This was a bit different in the reincarnated type of book. There were a lot of pop culture references to so many anime’s and some genuine funny parts that made me laugh out loud but the story did drag and the main character didn’t really become more than just the dude I have to follow to progress the story.
This was a bit different in the reincarnated type of book. There were a lot of pop culture references to so many anime’s and some genuine funny parts that made me laugh out loud but the story did drag and the main character didn’t really become more than just the dude I have to follow to progress the story.
March 17, 2025
I had fun!
May 12, 2026
This was for super sweaty nerds and I’m just a regular nerd
May 27, 2025
Really enjoyable start. The book reminded me a lot of He Who Fights With Monsters minus all the therapy and over glazing of the main character. The problem is this entire book is a tedious read. It doesn't start right away but slowly creeps up on you. Everything is so wordy. A description of a character's mood take three paragraphs, simple pain takes another two, and fights take several pages. This goes on throughout the book ballooning it's length to unnecessary levels. I had to work to finish the book so I could write this review.
Looking at the main characters and story, I felt the main character was given a clear personality while the others just have traits and that's about it. You never really spend time with the side characters and get to know them they are just there. I felt the story itself wasn't awful but could have used some work. Like some reviews said the ending in convoluted and doesn't really feel like it belongs in a starter book. The middle really feels like filler after it's all said and done. I feel that the story and it's lengthy descriptions are not something I want to stick around for.
Looking at the main characters and story, I felt the main character was given a clear personality while the others just have traits and that's about it. You never really spend time with the side characters and get to know them they are just there. I felt the story itself wasn't awful but could have used some work. Like some reviews said the ending in convoluted and doesn't really feel like it belongs in a starter book. The middle really feels like filler after it's all said and done. I feel that the story and it's lengthy descriptions are not something I want to stick around for.
June 10, 2026
I like this book a lot. It starts of very action packed and then slows down but I honestly found it fun and relaxing how the author takes the moment to build the world instead of just adding more action. It ends with a lot of action so I think it rounds itself out. Great MC too, funny but also knows when to get serious and the side characters are also great supporting him. In fact he depends on their support for a lot of things which is great! I was scared it was going to be like an anime isekai where he is overpowered and everyone else sucks but he keeps them around but it’s definitely not that. Loved the ending too. I’m excited to read more.
April 2, 2025
fun
Reincarnated as a new dungeon delver with no lead-in or tutorial the MC bounces from from one odd event to another. He be overpowered. Makes friends, gets adopted, and gets wrapped up in gods’ business. Ultimately, he comes out stronger.
It is a humorous story. Good “dad jokes”. The pace is steady, interesting characters and world, the game metrics aren’t heavy handed. And the narrator is highly entertaining. In all it is a great listen. Please enjoy
Reincarnated as a new dungeon delver with no lead-in or tutorial the MC bounces from from one odd event to another. He be overpowered. Makes friends, gets adopted, and gets wrapped up in gods’ business. Ultimately, he comes out stronger.
It is a humorous story. Good “dad jokes”. The pace is steady, interesting characters and world, the game metrics aren’t heavy handed. And the narrator is highly entertaining. In all it is a great listen. Please enjoy
April 20, 2025
Magical Rollercoaster
Loved the magic system, the world building, how quickly everything went, but still taking the time to build the world and the system.
The more spiritual powers and belief systems was neat, and having a character that's had therapy and wasn't all raging toxicity was also very nice.
Loved the magic system, the world building, how quickly everything went, but still taking the time to build the world and the system.
The more spiritual powers and belief systems was neat, and having a character that's had therapy and wasn't all raging toxicity was also very nice.
June 10, 2026
It was described as hilarious new Isekai LitRPG so I wasn't expected the death of so many people.
September 14, 2026
I was hooked by the preview on audible. The rest of the book has the same wit and creative storytelling so listen to it, and if you like it you should give the whole book a listen.
This is one of the first books that capture that fun carefree attitude that I found since Dungeon Crawler Carl.
I read some of the reviews, and I'll try to comment on what I recall.
Does the book "get political"? Yes, for maybe one page in the middle of the entire book. If you get immediately turned off and stop reading you will miss out and perhaps think the rest of the book is like that.
Does the book have a "Deus ex machina"? I mean technically a god comes and helps at a critical section, but I think that helps move the story along faster rather than requiring another 40 pages of the same flights or a montage. There is a montage at one point and some of the fights they mention but don't go into detail about actually sounded interesting, and I wish they hadn't montaged over it.
Does the book get boring in the middle? Not at all. It has an ebb with makes the action afterward more interesting. During this ebb more of the main character and his abilities are explored and explained.
The writing is clever without trying to pay itself in the back. The characters are well written and have distinct voices. The advancement system and delve mechanics are an interesting change from the norm.
I almost forgot, the epilogue was really confusing for me. I have very little idea what is happening in it, or whether it is important long term, but I'm pretty sure I won't remember any of those characters in the future.
Specifically for the audiobook, I feel Aethon Audio did as good a job as Sound Booth Theatre. The narrator was fantastic and the variety of voices were fun, distinct, and not at all annoying to listen to (unlike some other audiobooks I've heard).
I highly recommend this book if you like this style and/or the humor found in just the preview alone.
This is one of the first books that capture that fun carefree attitude that I found since Dungeon Crawler Carl.
I read some of the reviews, and I'll try to comment on what I recall.
Does the book "get political"? Yes, for maybe one page in the middle of the entire book. If you get immediately turned off and stop reading you will miss out and perhaps think the rest of the book is like that.
Does the book have a "Deus ex machina"? I mean technically a god comes and helps at a critical section, but I think that helps move the story along faster rather than requiring another 40 pages of the same flights or a montage. There is a montage at one point and some of the fights they mention but don't go into detail about actually sounded interesting, and I wish they hadn't montaged over it.
Does the book get boring in the middle? Not at all. It has an ebb with makes the action afterward more interesting. During this ebb more of the main character and his abilities are explored and explained.
The writing is clever without trying to pay itself in the back. The characters are well written and have distinct voices. The advancement system and delve mechanics are an interesting change from the norm.
I almost forgot, the epilogue was really confusing for me. I have very little idea what is happening in it, or whether it is important long term, but I'm pretty sure I won't remember any of those characters in the future.
Specifically for the audiobook, I feel Aethon Audio did as good a job as Sound Booth Theatre. The narrator was fantastic and the variety of voices were fun, distinct, and not at all annoying to listen to (unlike some other audiobooks I've heard).
I highly recommend this book if you like this style and/or the humor found in just the preview alone.
March 6, 2026
A progression lit book I actually liked - let's goooooo!
Arlo gets punted to a new world with leveling and decides to min max his way to success. He immediately joins a group of adventurers who are pissed this newbie is entering a highly dangerous dungeon with them. This does exactly what I want in litRPG - with extra humor and c'thons which are kinda evil fluffy octopi.
Arlo gets punted to a new world with leveling and decides to min max his way to success. He immediately joins a group of adventurers who are pissed this newbie is entering a highly dangerous dungeon with them. This does exactly what I want in litRPG - with extra humor and c'thons which are kinda evil fluffy octopi.
March 25, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyed this. A fun read
August 20, 2026
Solid start to a series. Funny, good characters, and a story that gets better and better. Can see this series growing into one of my favorites from the humor alone.
April 6, 2025
Disclaimer, I have "Full murderHobo" in my top 3 funniest litRPG of all time, along with "Big sneaky barbarian" and "Vainqueur the Dragon". While Carl has a place in my top 10/15.
When I read "Mage Tank"s description and the bold comparison with one of my favs, I pressed the buy button without even reading a single comment.
Reality check
Comparing this story with Full Murderhobo or Dungeon Crawler Carl is like comparing apples with sequoia trees. One is a squishy fruit from a tree in a vast garden, while the others are mighty wonders that stand tall for ages among the few.
The book is not bad, I actually enjoyed it, a lot. And I recommended it.
It's just that you can describe more than half the litRPG genre by the same recipe:
◾young male protagonist
◾is Isekaied upon death
◾choosing an imbalanced stat allocation
◾leading to an OP biuld
◾running dungeons with an OP party
◾and hiding his abilities from the powers at play
◾while tangled in the game of Gods.
No scratch that!
You can use this description for ¾ LitRPG series. :))
Good enough book, better than most out there, but definitely having room for improvement. Will continue the series.
When I read "Mage Tank"s description and the bold comparison with one of my favs, I pressed the buy button without even reading a single comment.
Reality check
Comparing this story with Full Murderhobo or Dungeon Crawler Carl is like comparing apples with sequoia trees. One is a squishy fruit from a tree in a vast garden, while the others are mighty wonders that stand tall for ages among the few.
The book is not bad, I actually enjoyed it, a lot. And I recommended it.
It's just that you can describe more than half the litRPG genre by the same recipe:
◾young male protagonist
◾is Isekaied upon death
◾choosing an imbalanced stat allocation
◾leading to an OP biuld
◾running dungeons with an OP party
◾and hiding his abilities from the powers at play
◾while tangled in the game of Gods.
No scratch that!
You can use this description for ¾ LitRPG series. :))
Good enough book, better than most out there, but definitely having room for improvement. Will continue the series.
March 31, 2025
I received a review copy of this as an audiobook.
This book was really fun and kept my attention all the way through. There was lots of action and lots of humor. The narration was great. The narrator really passed on the feel of what was going on.
The very start of the book, where Arlo dies and goes through character creation into his new life is slower. But then he's thrown directly into danger.
Humor is good. There are some parallels to Dungeon Crawler Carl, which I'll mention here. Dialogue is snappy. System messages are snarky. Just his messages, not anyone elses... but there's no other indication of being singled out. He ends up wearing something mildly ridiculous. Yes, that's a boa on the cover. But there's a reason for it...
He acquires a companion familiar who is arrogant and funny adding to the fun.
For female readers, there are reasonable female characters in it. And no overt sexism.
This book was really fun and kept my attention all the way through. There was lots of action and lots of humor. The narration was great. The narrator really passed on the feel of what was going on.
The very start of the book, where Arlo dies and goes through character creation into his new life is slower. But then he's thrown directly into danger.
Humor is good. There are some parallels to Dungeon Crawler Carl, which I'll mention here. Dialogue is snappy. System messages are snarky. Just his messages, not anyone elses... but there's no other indication of being singled out. He ends up wearing something mildly ridiculous. Yes, that's a boa on the cover. But there's a reason for it...
He acquires a companion familiar who is arrogant and funny adding to the fun.
For female readers, there are reasonable female characters in it. And no overt sexism.
April 22, 2025
Too weird.
Battles are very boring and strange. Since all the creatures they fight are strange, they have to be endlessly explained by the author. Dimensional shit is happening, soul sight, traveling through other layers of reality, multiple characters acting, mind attacks.... And it just makes for a really out-of-sorts explanation, instead of something exciting to read. I just end up skim reading every battle.
For example, one battle is against a creature that is a gigantic "hand". It does cartwheels to get around. Like... is that really the battle you want? Against weird hand creatures? Ugh.
There is some good stuff in the book, but you have to wade through a pool of shit to reach it.
Battles are very boring and strange. Since all the creatures they fight are strange, they have to be endlessly explained by the author. Dimensional shit is happening, soul sight, traveling through other layers of reality, multiple characters acting, mind attacks.... And it just makes for a really out-of-sorts explanation, instead of something exciting to read. I just end up skim reading every battle.
For example, one battle is against a creature that is a gigantic "hand". It does cartwheels to get around. Like... is that really the battle you want? Against weird hand creatures? Ugh.
There is some good stuff in the book, but you have to wade through a pool of shit to reach it.
May 7, 2025
Following Arlo is fun, there's no reason to rush it! Everything related to characters was great, especially the dialogue and humor, and the world building and magic system were decent enough, but the plot seemed to escalate way too fast for no real reason and the power scaling paralleled the abrupt rise. what happened at the end is what I feel like should've happened way later in the series and this book should've just introduced everything and I'd be fine if they just did another normal delve or something. anyway, hopefully the author planned the story out, cause I'll be willing to ignore quite a few problems to get to keep following Arlo on his misadventures.
March 10, 2025
Book one
Most of the book is just fine, but towards the end we stop getting loots. This disappointing development was the reason that I only give this three stars.
Starting with the Devour monster/god/avatar we didn't get any more loot until they killed the specter. Wasn't included with the specter loot either.
Any mistakes that I have found will be listed on Goodreads. This story is being written over on Royalroad.
5/10
Most of the book is just fine, but towards the end we stop getting loots. This disappointing development was the reason that I only give this three stars.
Starting with the Devour monster/god/avatar we didn't get any more loot until they killed the specter. Wasn't included with the specter loot either.
Any mistakes that I have found will be listed on Goodreads. This story is being written over on Royalroad.
5/10
December 12, 2025
I enjoyed the parts of the book in the dungeon (which ended up being the beginning and end) but I felt like the sections outside the dungeon just fell a bit flat for me. I saw others comment on the narrator of the audiobook reading the word “pause” out for one of the characters that pauses for a beat in her speech, and that was the case in my listen and it got a bit annoying, so listeners beware. I’m on the fence about continuing the series.
April 23, 2026
i dunno man. derivative, hackneyed, stuffed full of every trope, meme, and internet reference. i'm still not sure if it was written by an AI trained on a fanfic forum or not. the ebook was read by a talented actor that manages to sounds like Jerry from Rick and Morty roughly 20% of the time. no i don't know if that's good or not.
i wish i had enough self-respect not to want to read the next one.
i wish i had enough self-respect not to want to read the next one.
October 20, 2025
Started off really good.
Unfortunately it fell off pretty quickly when the initial story slowed down and started to introduce gender bender they/them characters. Nothing against this but it’s not for me. Keep politics and story separate please.
Unfortunately it fell off pretty quickly when the initial story slowed down and started to introduce gender bender they/them characters. Nothing against this but it’s not for me. Keep politics and story separate please.
May 25, 2025
First 13% was fun enough in a break-the-trope way for first 13%, then lost its way and despite tapping next page on the kindle like a demented morse code operator, i just gave up
May 1, 2026
It's fun, some really good laughs. Pause. The prose can take me out of it though. Pause. C54, mentions not knowing the recipe for gunpowder. Pause. C56 meme chants the recipe for gunpowder.
September 30, 2026
The name Mage Tank brought me here. Anytime I’ve played D&D, I’ve always thought building somebody who could genuinely function as both a mage and a tank would be difficult, especially in the homebrew games I’ve played.
So I picked this up almost entirely because I wanted to see how Cornman was going to make that idea work. What I really liked is that Arlo’s build actually makes sense for the character. The guy just died in a car wreck and woke up somewhere completely unfamiliar. So instead of immediately chasing the biggest damage numbers, his first thought is basically, “I really don’t want to die again.” I think that makes his decision to build around Fortitude feel like a character choice instead of somebody just trying to break an RPG system.
Also, Arlo spends way too long in character creation making sure he looks good, gets hit with an actual countdown, and then has to rush through the rest of his build. If you’ve ever spent an embarrassing amount of time in the Baldur’s Gate 3 character creator, that felt painfully real.
What surprised me most, though, was the party. I’ve read several LitRPGs now, and Mage Tank feels different because this actually feels like a D&D party. Xim brings the cleric side of the group but is far more than a walking health potion, Varrin gives the group some muscle and structure, Nuralie brings a completely different personality and skill set, and Etja becomes one of the stranger additions to the group.
They aren’t just standing around waiting for Arlo to become ridiculously overpowered. I feel like everybody actually has a reason to be there. Watching them learn each other’s strengths, talk through builds, argue, joke, and slowly become a functioning team was probably my favorite part of the book.
I also really enjoyed the humor. Arlo has this very millennial style of sarcasm, with modern and pop-culture-adjacent jokes sprinkled throughout the story. They aren’t usually thrown directly in your face like some of the jokes in Dungeon Crawler Carl.
You almost have to catch them as they go by, and I think that makes them funnier. His developing relationship with Xim was another highlight for me because she never treats him like an idiot simply because he doesn’t understand this world yet.
There is a growing trust there that I enjoyed watching develop instead of having the book immediately force a relationship between them.
But honestly, the main character might be Grotto. Arlo technically has the job, sure, but Grotto has ridiculous main-character energy. He is incredibly knowledgeable, pragmatic, pedantic, and completely convinced that his idea is probably the correct one. I know people like this. Sometimes the smartest person in the room becomes so convinced that they’re the smartest person in the room that they stop checking whether anybody else has a better idea. Grotto absolutely falls into that trap, and sometimes his assumptions put everybody in worse situations.
I also think this happens a lot in LitRPG, where the familiar, companion, or sidekick slowly becomes one of the most memorable characters because they have the humor and personality that actually pushes the story forward. Grotto does exactly that.
The worldbuilding isn’t as enormous or overwhelming as some other LitRPG I’ve read, but I actually think that works here. I understand enough about the Delves, the System, the people, and the fighting to feel grounded without needing an encyclopedia beside me.
I especially liked that the combat and abilities often feel like they still have to obey some version of actual physics. If you like LitRPG because you want one absurdly powerful main character steamrolling everything, this may not be exactly what you’re looking for.
But if you like D&D-style parties, specialized builds, friendly banter, unconventional progression, and watching a group figure out how to become stronger together, I think Mage Tank is absolutely worth trying.
So I picked this up almost entirely because I wanted to see how Cornman was going to make that idea work. What I really liked is that Arlo’s build actually makes sense for the character. The guy just died in a car wreck and woke up somewhere completely unfamiliar. So instead of immediately chasing the biggest damage numbers, his first thought is basically, “I really don’t want to die again.” I think that makes his decision to build around Fortitude feel like a character choice instead of somebody just trying to break an RPG system.
Also, Arlo spends way too long in character creation making sure he looks good, gets hit with an actual countdown, and then has to rush through the rest of his build. If you’ve ever spent an embarrassing amount of time in the Baldur’s Gate 3 character creator, that felt painfully real.
What surprised me most, though, was the party. I’ve read several LitRPGs now, and Mage Tank feels different because this actually feels like a D&D party. Xim brings the cleric side of the group but is far more than a walking health potion, Varrin gives the group some muscle and structure, Nuralie brings a completely different personality and skill set, and Etja becomes one of the stranger additions to the group.
They aren’t just standing around waiting for Arlo to become ridiculously overpowered. I feel like everybody actually has a reason to be there. Watching them learn each other’s strengths, talk through builds, argue, joke, and slowly become a functioning team was probably my favorite part of the book.
I also really enjoyed the humor. Arlo has this very millennial style of sarcasm, with modern and pop-culture-adjacent jokes sprinkled throughout the story. They aren’t usually thrown directly in your face like some of the jokes in Dungeon Crawler Carl.
You almost have to catch them as they go by, and I think that makes them funnier. His developing relationship with Xim was another highlight for me because she never treats him like an idiot simply because he doesn’t understand this world yet.
There is a growing trust there that I enjoyed watching develop instead of having the book immediately force a relationship between them.
But honestly, the main character might be Grotto. Arlo technically has the job, sure, but Grotto has ridiculous main-character energy. He is incredibly knowledgeable, pragmatic, pedantic, and completely convinced that his idea is probably the correct one. I know people like this. Sometimes the smartest person in the room becomes so convinced that they’re the smartest person in the room that they stop checking whether anybody else has a better idea. Grotto absolutely falls into that trap, and sometimes his assumptions put everybody in worse situations.
I also think this happens a lot in LitRPG, where the familiar, companion, or sidekick slowly becomes one of the most memorable characters because they have the humor and personality that actually pushes the story forward. Grotto does exactly that.
The worldbuilding isn’t as enormous or overwhelming as some other LitRPG I’ve read, but I actually think that works here. I understand enough about the Delves, the System, the people, and the fighting to feel grounded without needing an encyclopedia beside me.
I especially liked that the combat and abilities often feel like they still have to obey some version of actual physics. If you like LitRPG because you want one absurdly powerful main character steamrolling everything, this may not be exactly what you’re looking for.
But if you like D&D-style parties, specialized builds, friendly banter, unconventional progression, and watching a group figure out how to become stronger together, I think Mage Tank is absolutely worth trying.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews