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The Dungeon Slayer #1
Der Dungeonjäger [The Dungeon Hunter]
Tad wartet darauf, dass das wichtigste Ereignis seines Lebens endlich stattfindet ...
Seine Wiedergeburt.
Vor fünfzig Jahren wurde die Erde von Raekast heimgesucht, einem Monster mit unendlicher Macht. Die einzige Hoffnung der Menschheit liegt in der Wiedergeburt - einer Möglichkeit für die Menschen, ihre Fähigkeiten zu entfalten.
Das einzige Problem?
99% aller Wiedergeburten sind Reinfälle.
Tad sehnt sich mehr als alles andere danach, als Jäger wiedergeboren zu werden, der stark genug ist, um Dungeons zu durchstreifen, Monster zu bezwingen und Beute zu finden, aber wird er dieses Glück jemals finden?
Nein. Er ist der größte Unglücksrabe der Welt. Er wird gnadenlos gemobbt, egal, was er auch versucht, und findet einfach keine Freunde, die ihm helfen könnten.
Aber alles würde sich ändern, wenn er nur mit Stärke wiedergeboren würde - dann könnte er zu Ruhm und Ehre aufsteigen ... oder dabei draufgehen.
Please This audiobook is in German.
Seine Wiedergeburt.
Vor fünfzig Jahren wurde die Erde von Raekast heimgesucht, einem Monster mit unendlicher Macht. Die einzige Hoffnung der Menschheit liegt in der Wiedergeburt - einer Möglichkeit für die Menschen, ihre Fähigkeiten zu entfalten.
Das einzige Problem?
99% aller Wiedergeburten sind Reinfälle.
Tad sehnt sich mehr als alles andere danach, als Jäger wiedergeboren zu werden, der stark genug ist, um Dungeons zu durchstreifen, Monster zu bezwingen und Beute zu finden, aber wird er dieses Glück jemals finden?
Nein. Er ist der größte Unglücksrabe der Welt. Er wird gnadenlos gemobbt, egal, was er auch versucht, und findet einfach keine Freunde, die ihm helfen könnten.
Aber alles würde sich ändern, wenn er nur mit Stärke wiedergeboren würde - dann könnte er zu Ruhm und Ehre aufsteigen ... oder dabei draufgehen.
Please This audiobook is in German.
Audible Audio
First published August 7, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 271 reviews
August 21, 2020
This book teetered between Bad and Meh for me. I didn't drop it because it was following a story path that's different than usual standard, though it's also one that Solo Leveling forged previously and better.
Character 3/10 Plot 7/10 Game Mechanics 3/10 Writing 3/10 Enjoyment 3/10
The main character was extremely unlikable and also never really escaped two-dimensions. He was a loser that wanted to not be a loser and saw gaining strength as the method. His mindset was pathetic and difficult to tolerate for nearly the entire book.
An unlikable character isn't the end of the world, but a reader really needs someone to root for if it's not the MC. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters were pretty shallow and also cast as antagonists for the MC. I honestly found myself kind of rooting for the enemies throughout the book.
For anyone who has read Solo Leveling, this story follows the same course: people are awakened and then stuck at the same power level from that point on. The only way to gain strength is with equipment or new skills and spells. The MC alone gains an ability that allows them to level up and grow stronger.
This story provided enough originality with monster variety, but the problem was that the scenes often just didn't work, which leads me to the writing quality...
This story read like a rough draft that was fed through a spell-checker and then submitted. While there were few misspellings, the sentence structure was poor and redundancies were rampant. The scenes struggled with chronology since the author leaned heavily on 'as' for a conjunction. There was also an overreliance on similes rather than just proper description.
When the only thing at stake in a scene is life and death, the scene fails when you are only 40% into the book and you know the MC has plot armor. It was hard to feel any tension and I skimmed often.
The game mechanics were relevant to the plot, but fairly basic. The spells were your standard firebolt and icebolt with a few area of effect variations. The stats and levels semi-mattered, but fights unfolded in fairly nonsensical ways to serve the plot. A scratch would chunk a character for 20% health and then a hit that sends them flying across the room does nothing other than add narrative flavor.
Overall, the book is decent if you have nothing better to do and are in the mood for something slightly different. If you haven't read Solo Leveling, then I would start there instead.
Character 3/10 Plot 7/10 Game Mechanics 3/10 Writing 3/10 Enjoyment 3/10
The main character was extremely unlikable and also never really escaped two-dimensions. He was a loser that wanted to not be a loser and saw gaining strength as the method. His mindset was pathetic and difficult to tolerate for nearly the entire book.
An unlikable character isn't the end of the world, but a reader really needs someone to root for if it's not the MC. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters were pretty shallow and also cast as antagonists for the MC. I honestly found myself kind of rooting for the enemies throughout the book.
For anyone who has read Solo Leveling, this story follows the same course: people are awakened and then stuck at the same power level from that point on. The only way to gain strength is with equipment or new skills and spells. The MC alone gains an ability that allows them to level up and grow stronger.
This story provided enough originality with monster variety, but the problem was that the scenes often just didn't work, which leads me to the writing quality...
This story read like a rough draft that was fed through a spell-checker and then submitted. While there were few misspellings, the sentence structure was poor and redundancies were rampant. The scenes struggled with chronology since the author leaned heavily on 'as' for a conjunction. There was also an overreliance on similes rather than just proper description.
When the only thing at stake in a scene is life and death, the scene fails when you are only 40% into the book and you know the MC has plot armor. It was hard to feel any tension and I skimmed often.
The game mechanics were relevant to the plot, but fairly basic. The spells were your standard firebolt and icebolt with a few area of effect variations. The stats and levels semi-mattered, but fights unfolded in fairly nonsensical ways to serve the plot. A scratch would chunk a character for 20% health and then a hit that sends them flying across the room does nothing other than add narrative flavor.
Overall, the book is decent if you have nothing better to do and are in the mood for something slightly different. If you haven't read Solo Leveling, then I would start there instead.
October 6, 2023
After a slog through a dozen long-hoarded free e-books . . .
After drudgery upon drudgery . . .
After a string of one to two star books and questioning my life choices . . . (or at least my years-long choice to try to understand certain realms of self-published fantasy . . .)
I finally found a winner!
Long ago I wondered, what is litRPG, really? And to answer that I read several things that were not litRPG. I read some isekai, some cultivation, some wuxia, some dungeon core. I think this is the first thing I tried that it just straight-up litRPG, a fantasy adventure with character stats and level-ups, health and magic points, healing potions, stat bonuses, the whole standard package.
I was pretty sure this was going be another drag, another opportunity to DNF. The average GR rating is very good, but the top dozen reviews were unfavorable. I skimmed those reviews, because this was not the kind of thing I was too concerned about spoilers for. Now, I wonder if the book went through rewriting and/or re-editing after some of those reviews, because I thought it was FANTASTIC.
With some of the complaints, I could see the source, mostly about the main character called, IIRC, an "emo whiner" and such. I didn't see such a thing. I disliked the bullying victim set-up, true, only because it's cliche and it makes me suspect the book as a self-insert wish fulfillment power fantasy. But isn't that a standard of this subgenre? Isn't that what litRPG is for? Anyway, what I think the book did with that setup was terrific. It didn't dwell on it for long; it used the inherent injustice to propel the character to action, and it referred back to it on occasion, but over the course of this first volume in a series, the MC consciously transcended this situation. And this brings us to the book's key selling point.
This book succeeded by sticking with the main character, by presenting the story through that character lens, by showing us what happens to and with Tad, whereas many other related books put all the weight on the System, on the nitty gritty of how magic works and how the litRPG elements are supposed to make sense and how to replicate game features in a book. Here, Tad doesn't know how magic works, he doesn't know why he can level up, where his power and information comes from, and neither does the reader. There are hints at the framework that informs all of this, but it's still all a mystery by the end of this book. We get the character's experience, the character's personal arc, the character's limited understanding, and that is all. And THAT is how you tell an engaging story.
Maybe this isn't the first book to utilize its core conceit, that Tad is the only person who can gain power by leveling up through experience defeating monsters and completing quests. Some reviews reference another book that did this first. So? Isn't the litRPG/isekai/cultivation/wuxia/dungeoncore/catcore/harem world nothing BUT copycats? It's to a large degree an equivalent of fanfiction, I think. (Don't at me, fans of anything, I'm just some middle-aged dude coming to terms with all of this, it's not my bag, it can be yours and that's fabulous.) In this context, I don't care whether or not this is the pinnacle of originality, because it gave me a fucking good read. Damn! I might even read the sequels in this series offive EDIT: six (last book coming out very soon!).
Exciting, energetic and varied action scenes full of character work. Surprises and credible threats. Engaging litRPG elements that are not done to death. Mere hints at the larger goings-on in this recognizable mid-apocalyptic world. Great use of genre standards. I can't tell you enough how happy this happy surprise, final book in my e-book library clean-out reading project made me.
After drudgery upon drudgery . . .
After a string of one to two star books and questioning my life choices . . . (or at least my years-long choice to try to understand certain realms of self-published fantasy . . .)
I finally found a winner!
Long ago I wondered, what is litRPG, really? And to answer that I read several things that were not litRPG. I read some isekai, some cultivation, some wuxia, some dungeon core. I think this is the first thing I tried that it just straight-up litRPG, a fantasy adventure with character stats and level-ups, health and magic points, healing potions, stat bonuses, the whole standard package.
I was pretty sure this was going be another drag, another opportunity to DNF. The average GR rating is very good, but the top dozen reviews were unfavorable. I skimmed those reviews, because this was not the kind of thing I was too concerned about spoilers for. Now, I wonder if the book went through rewriting and/or re-editing after some of those reviews, because I thought it was FANTASTIC.
With some of the complaints, I could see the source, mostly about the main character called, IIRC, an "emo whiner" and such. I didn't see such a thing. I disliked the bullying victim set-up, true, only because it's cliche and it makes me suspect the book as a self-insert wish fulfillment power fantasy. But isn't that a standard of this subgenre? Isn't that what litRPG is for? Anyway, what I think the book did with that setup was terrific. It didn't dwell on it for long; it used the inherent injustice to propel the character to action, and it referred back to it on occasion, but over the course of this first volume in a series, the MC consciously transcended this situation. And this brings us to the book's key selling point.
This book succeeded by sticking with the main character, by presenting the story through that character lens, by showing us what happens to and with Tad, whereas many other related books put all the weight on the System, on the nitty gritty of how magic works and how the litRPG elements are supposed to make sense and how to replicate game features in a book. Here, Tad doesn't know how magic works, he doesn't know why he can level up, where his power and information comes from, and neither does the reader. There are hints at the framework that informs all of this, but it's still all a mystery by the end of this book. We get the character's experience, the character's personal arc, the character's limited understanding, and that is all. And THAT is how you tell an engaging story.
Maybe this isn't the first book to utilize its core conceit, that Tad is the only person who can gain power by leveling up through experience defeating monsters and completing quests. Some reviews reference another book that did this first. So? Isn't the litRPG/isekai/cultivation/wuxia/dungeoncore/catcore/harem world nothing BUT copycats? It's to a large degree an equivalent of fanfiction, I think. (Don't at me, fans of anything, I'm just some middle-aged dude coming to terms with all of this, it's not my bag, it can be yours and that's fabulous.) In this context, I don't care whether or not this is the pinnacle of originality, because it gave me a fucking good read. Damn! I might even read the sequels in this series of
Exciting, energetic and varied action scenes full of character work. Surprises and credible threats. Engaging litRPG elements that are not done to death. Mere hints at the larger goings-on in this recognizable mid-apocalyptic world. Great use of genre standards. I can't tell you enough how happy this happy surprise, final book in my e-book library clean-out reading project made me.
August 28, 2021
This is a review of the audiobook version.
I stand with my two-stars fellows.
This book has got a very interesting premise / world, but a piss-poor set of protagonists.
Narration is pretty decent. No complains. There's only so much a narrator can do when an author manages to cram their MC's name 3 times in 2 sentences. Editor failure.
I understand that being a downtrodden emo whiny-ass is almost a requirement for LitRPG heroes (the other option being an ex-army elite super warrior), so I won't even bother to comment on that.
What I fail to understand though is where the author wants us to stand.
It feels at times as if we're supposed to side with the little shi... errr, MC. And then he goes and spills long tirades of entitled psychotic drivel that just make you afraid for the world he lives in if he should ever get more power.
Hey!, Maybe that's the secret: maybe we're actually seeing the origin story of a super-villain!
Anyway, other things that did not work for me:
1. Why the breakneck pace? It was unjustified.
2. A dagger can parry a pole, or man-size pincers.
3. Stat points apparently also bring martial proficiency. Other books avoid this pitfall by properly separating Stats from Skill. But our little bugger here just clicks on some buttons, and now he can bounce off walls like he's freaking Naruto.
4. MC's got a thing with sticking his hands inside his opponents buccal cavities; does it in almost all his fights. Maybe the author should reflect on what that tells about them... Just saying.
5. Author really likes tearing and poking holes into the protagonists. They keep breaking all their bones, having their organs pierced, but bless their hearts, they power through and even prioritize doing other things before restoring themselves. Clearly author hasn't suffered much pain in their life.
6. The cavalier attitude towards death and killing, especially with bladed and blunt weapons, in these books puzzles me. Apparently teenagers nowadays have a naturally high affinity with gory violence. No PTSD, nothing. Just like a video game... hey, wait a minute... I think I'm on to something...
Alright, credit where due, the intrigue is pretty... intriguing 😉.
The best progression I could see for this is a second volume where MC fully embraces his self-righteousness and becomes a fanatic walking disaster, followed by a third volume for his redemption. That would balance the series. Because right now, this isn't good.
I stand with my two-stars fellows.
This book has got a very interesting premise / world, but a piss-poor set of protagonists.
Narration is pretty decent. No complains. There's only so much a narrator can do when an author manages to cram their MC's name 3 times in 2 sentences. Editor failure.
I understand that being a downtrodden emo whiny-ass is almost a requirement for LitRPG heroes (the other option being an ex-army elite super warrior), so I won't even bother to comment on that.
What I fail to understand though is where the author wants us to stand.
It feels at times as if we're supposed to side with the little shi... errr, MC. And then he goes and spills long tirades of entitled psychotic drivel that just make you afraid for the world he lives in if he should ever get more power.
Hey!, Maybe that's the secret: maybe we're actually seeing the origin story of a super-villain!
Anyway, other things that did not work for me:
1. Why the breakneck pace? It was unjustified.
2. A dagger can parry a pole, or man-size pincers.
3. Stat points apparently also bring martial proficiency. Other books avoid this pitfall by properly separating Stats from Skill. But our little bugger here just clicks on some buttons, and now he can bounce off walls like he's freaking Naruto.
4. MC's got a thing with sticking his hands inside his opponents buccal cavities; does it in almost all his fights. Maybe the author should reflect on what that tells about them... Just saying.
5. Author really likes tearing and poking holes into the protagonists. They keep breaking all their bones, having their organs pierced, but bless their hearts, they power through and even prioritize doing other things before restoring themselves. Clearly author hasn't suffered much pain in their life.
6. The cavalier attitude towards death and killing, especially with bladed and blunt weapons, in these books puzzles me. Apparently teenagers nowadays have a naturally high affinity with gory violence. No PTSD, nothing. Just like a video game... hey, wait a minute... I think I'm on to something...
Alright, credit where due, the intrigue is pretty... intriguing 😉.
The best progression I could see for this is a second volume where MC fully embraces his self-righteousness and becomes a fanatic walking disaster, followed by a third volume for his redemption. That would balance the series. Because right now, this isn't good.
October 18, 2020
This is poorly written and horribly balanced.
The main character is a whiney emo, the story progression makes little sense. The overall plot is broken and unbelievable. This just does not work on multiple levels.
The main character is a whiney emo, the story progression makes little sense. The overall plot is broken and unbelievable. This just does not work on multiple levels.
March 21, 2021
I started this book full of expectation and hope for another amazing read... and ended up struggling to finish it.
I'm honestly amazed at how many people rated this 5 stars. I feel betrayed for trusting the high rating, but I should have trusted the first review more.
The character's actions in this novel can be described in two words: Poor planning.
The characters themselves can be described with just one: Idiots.
There were a few exceptions from the stupid characters, but the majority of the time I wanted to bash my head straight into a wall.
The amount of plot armor this novel needed in order to progress was astounding.
In summary: Ruined potential.
I'm honestly amazed at how many people rated this 5 stars. I feel betrayed for trusting the high rating, but I should have trusted the first review more.
The character's actions in this novel can be described in two words: Poor planning.
The characters themselves can be described with just one: Idiots.
There were a few exceptions from the stupid characters, but the majority of the time I wanted to bash my head straight into a wall.
The amount of plot armor this novel needed in order to progress was astounding.
In summary: Ruined potential.
September 18, 2020
Disappointing
An interesting setting with story potential, ruined by an unlikable protagonist, nonsensical combat, meaningless numbers, and paragraphs of dreary and meandering text.
Good proofreading and a compelling story hook.
An interesting setting with story potential, ruined by an unlikable protagonist, nonsensical combat, meaningless numbers, and paragraphs of dreary and meandering text.
Good proofreading and a compelling story hook.
May 6, 2022
Mages are often called "Glass Cannons" because their stats are mostly put into MANA, and none else. this main character Tad, spends 15 skills points to raise Constitution, Dexterity, instead of Mana. A Mage without Mana is as useful as a Gun without ammunition, a eunuch at an orgy, or a pacifist in a war.
There is no solution for stupidity. Author did not place a character intelligence stat. Instead author placed "Courage" stat as an additional strength (so as to be able to defend against monster debuffs). Author uses Charisma (which is charm buff to characters, as a sort of Intelligence stat but more social awareness). Author also creates "Magic" stat instead of using the regular and normal "intelligence" stat to guide the amount of Mana Tad receives, which is weird and skewed. If author would only use what games and light novel authors consider as "Canon" this main character, Tad, would not be so confusing and convoluted.
I feel that main character's (Tad), total lack of knowledge, total lack of motivation to investigate, research, analyze, and have common sense, is risking his life and future readership of this book series way too much. Who the heck goes into a Dungeon in sweat pants? Who places their bag on the bicycle and then only finds the bicycle?
Author asks a lot of questions and comments on a lot of irrelevant things and yet makes his main character the dumbest and least OP (Over-Powered) dungeon crawler in the multiverse.
This is by far the most indecisive author I have read. What if this? What if that? Want to do this? Want to cancel the same thing? Japanese authors of light novels are rather non-committal because they do not want to be responsible for their actions and omissions, but if this author continues to make Tad the most indecisive person in the multiverse, then common sense says he's not going to live long.
At a point in this volume, the author describes how a debuff of poison/weakness makes the main character Tad incredibly unable. I do not know why? It is already uncomfortable to see someone unable, cowardly and weak to risk death and the death of all of his adventurer team, because of his lack of training, lack of experience and lack of power. It's as if, author, on purpose, wants the reader to feel the fear, the darkness, the incapacity of the main character. What is this a terror novel story? Is horror stories part of this Dungeon Slayer novel series.
This first volume has 300+ pages in 28 chapters- I do not recommend this fantasy-horror-novel series.
There is no solution for stupidity. Author did not place a character intelligence stat. Instead author placed "Courage" stat as an additional strength (so as to be able to defend against monster debuffs). Author uses Charisma (which is charm buff to characters, as a sort of Intelligence stat but more social awareness). Author also creates "Magic" stat instead of using the regular and normal "intelligence" stat to guide the amount of Mana Tad receives, which is weird and skewed. If author would only use what games and light novel authors consider as "Canon" this main character, Tad, would not be so confusing and convoluted.
I feel that main character's (Tad), total lack of knowledge, total lack of motivation to investigate, research, analyze, and have common sense, is risking his life and future readership of this book series way too much. Who the heck goes into a Dungeon in sweat pants? Who places their bag on the bicycle and then only finds the bicycle?
Author asks a lot of questions and comments on a lot of irrelevant things and yet makes his main character the dumbest and least OP (Over-Powered) dungeon crawler in the multiverse.
This is by far the most indecisive author I have read. What if this? What if that? Want to do this? Want to cancel the same thing? Japanese authors of light novels are rather non-committal because they do not want to be responsible for their actions and omissions, but if this author continues to make Tad the most indecisive person in the multiverse, then common sense says he's not going to live long.
At a point in this volume, the author describes how a debuff of poison/weakness makes the main character Tad incredibly unable. I do not know why? It is already uncomfortable to see someone unable, cowardly and weak to risk death and the death of all of his adventurer team, because of his lack of training, lack of experience and lack of power. It's as if, author, on purpose, wants the reader to feel the fear, the darkness, the incapacity of the main character. What is this a terror novel story? Is horror stories part of this Dungeon Slayer novel series.
This first volume has 300+ pages in 28 chapters- I do not recommend this fantasy-horror-novel series.
March 8, 2021
I am actually around 2 stars here, but I am rounding up to 3 because I really feel I am overly critical of the MC. That fool made me yell at my stereo more than once though...so there is that.
I really dislike the MC. I am hiding most of this behind spoilers to be safe.
I really dislike the MC. I am hiding most of this behind spoilers to be safe.
March 22, 2021
I don't typically write book reviews but I felt like I needed to justify the two-star rating.
This main character is one of the worst I've ever had to suffer through, and I tried my hardest to like him thinking he would get better with time and he did, I think? Somewhere about 90% through the book the main character has a misguided revelation about life, slightly because of raising his charisma state and slightly because of a situation he was stuck in that I won't go into for spoiler's sake. I said misguided because even though I was glad that he finally grew a pair and a brain, his reasoning for it was just plain wrong.
There were points in the book where I felt like I might genuinely enjoy his bullies pov of the world more than following our mc, he reminded me of a pitiful beaten and abused puppy, except without any of the redeeming features that make you emphasize with the puppy.
Honestly, the only reason the book eeked out a two and might get me to read the 2nd book is that there is actually some decent world-building here, it clearly a play on the solo leveling universe but I'll give credit where credit is due. The writing did also genuinely improve at the veryyyy end of the book so if you have a higher tolerance for this type of main character than me and suffer your way through it does eventually get better.
Here's hoping the 2nd book starts from that high note at the end and doesn't resemble the first at all.
This main character is one of the worst I've ever had to suffer through, and I tried my hardest to like him thinking he would get better with time and he did, I think? Somewhere about 90% through the book the main character has a misguided revelation about life, slightly because of raising his charisma state and slightly because of a situation he was stuck in that I won't go into for spoiler's sake. I said misguided because even though I was glad that he finally grew a pair and a brain, his reasoning for it was just plain wrong.
There were points in the book where I felt like I might genuinely enjoy his bullies pov of the world more than following our mc, he reminded me of a pitiful beaten and abused puppy, except without any of the redeeming features that make you emphasize with the puppy.
Honestly, the only reason the book eeked out a two and might get me to read the 2nd book is that there is actually some decent world-building here, it clearly a play on the solo leveling universe but I'll give credit where credit is due. The writing did also genuinely improve at the veryyyy end of the book so if you have a higher tolerance for this type of main character than me and suffer your way through it does eventually get better.
Here's hoping the 2nd book starts from that high note at the end and doesn't resemble the first at all.
August 28, 2021
It wasn’t bad but wasn’t near good either.
Up until 80% of the book I had issues with the main character. However the author solves this issue for the most part due to a plot device within the magic structure of the book. So most likely you’ll hate the protagonist up to that point. I especially hated how whiny the protagonist is.
Characters are somewhat one dimensional but that can also be explained by the same plot device as the reason for not enjoying the protagonist.
Fight scenes are okay but I found my self kind of bored with them. Not that you can predict everything but it just felt blah & predictable to a point.
I would say you might like it or you might hate it. It’s a 50/50 type book.
Up until 80% of the book I had issues with the main character. However the author solves this issue for the most part due to a plot device within the magic structure of the book. So most likely you’ll hate the protagonist up to that point. I especially hated how whiny the protagonist is.
Characters are somewhat one dimensional but that can also be explained by the same plot device as the reason for not enjoying the protagonist.
Fight scenes are okay but I found my self kind of bored with them. Not that you can predict everything but it just felt blah & predictable to a point.
I would say you might like it or you might hate it. It’s a 50/50 type book.
April 16, 2021
This is like a B-grade copy of Solo Leveling and Iron Prince books. It doesn't particularly do anything different and the characters aren't particularly noteworthy either. I feel like I say this in almost every fucking review, but dear god, the romance angle in this book is complete garbage. For once, I wish that authors would just stop writing vomit-inducing lines when they don't have the skills to write romance. Just stick to your damn strengths! The saving grace though, is that the romance doesn't take up too many lines. The lore is also pretty interesting, if I'm being honest.
I've read the first two books and this is a pretty average filler series that you can just blaze through in a few hours or so.
Rating - 2.5/5
I've read the first two books and this is a pretty average filler series that you can just blaze through in a few hours or so.
Rating - 2.5/5
June 4, 2022
Are the good reviews bots? What am I missing?
I couldn't make it past the first few chapters. It reads like a cartoon made for young children. The pity party is over the top right out the gate, and I couldn't even feel sympathy for the MC because the scenarios and dialogue were just too ridiculous. Cringe dialogue, an MC with the constitution of a wet noodle, moustache twirling bully with no motives, world and setting that makes no since....
Seriously, how does this have so many positive reviews? Am I missing something? I call shenanigans.
I couldn't make it past the first few chapters. It reads like a cartoon made for young children. The pity party is over the top right out the gate, and I couldn't even feel sympathy for the MC because the scenarios and dialogue were just too ridiculous. Cringe dialogue, an MC with the constitution of a wet noodle, moustache twirling bully with no motives, world and setting that makes no since....
Seriously, how does this have so many positive reviews? Am I missing something? I call shenanigans.
October 8, 2020
Alert
First, my review: “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Second, I am not a bot...at least I don’t think I am. Yes this is copy pasta (just learned that term, so fun!) simply because I feel like any book I read deserves acknowledgement but at the same time my feelings on reviews conflict with the normal review process.
I enjoyed this book, so my goal is to promote it and help the author. If you are a potential reader, just stop reading now and take the above as all you need to know. I am not going to share my reasoning, thoughts on the book, or any opinions that would influence your decision to read it. It is my opinion that Art needs to be experienced at an individual level. You are the only one that can determine what you like and don’t like. Don’t let others make that decision for you. You should definitely read the book and completely ignore all of the reviews. Or not if you don’t think this book is for you. That choice is all yours and the beauty of art appreciation. You are a much better judge of what you will like than anyone here.
If you are a member of the IAK Guild (thanks, Jason) or part of the review police, feel free to criticize me and challenge my philosophy on reviewing art. I think we all love a good debate. The forums are open and I welcome your comments. I was wrong in my previous request to get you to stop. Your blatant disregard for that request has led to some fun discussions. Growth is important for us all.
Cheers
First, my review: “This was a fun book. I am glad that I read it. You should try it too.”
Second, I am not a bot...at least I don’t think I am. Yes this is copy pasta (just learned that term, so fun!) simply because I feel like any book I read deserves acknowledgement but at the same time my feelings on reviews conflict with the normal review process.
I enjoyed this book, so my goal is to promote it and help the author. If you are a potential reader, just stop reading now and take the above as all you need to know. I am not going to share my reasoning, thoughts on the book, or any opinions that would influence your decision to read it. It is my opinion that Art needs to be experienced at an individual level. You are the only one that can determine what you like and don’t like. Don’t let others make that decision for you. You should definitely read the book and completely ignore all of the reviews. Or not if you don’t think this book is for you. That choice is all yours and the beauty of art appreciation. You are a much better judge of what you will like than anyone here.
If you are a member of the IAK Guild (thanks, Jason) or part of the review police, feel free to criticize me and challenge my philosophy on reviewing art. I think we all love a good debate. The forums are open and I welcome your comments. I was wrong in my previous request to get you to stop. Your blatant disregard for that request has led to some fun discussions. Growth is important for us all.
Cheers
July 15, 2021
What did I just read?? This book is so full of highs and lows that I just can't decide if was horrible or just mediocre. First off, the main character....truly he's a zero and even when his physical abilities change he remains a zero. It's a new perspective to write from. He's not a bully. He's not cool, smart, charming....he's someone you can feel sorry for, but he's so loathsome that the phrase someone only a mother could love really fits.
The dungeon scenes are interesting at first, but the author spends so much time on the blow by blow action of fights until I ended us skipping pages. Too much time spent on things that don't matter....
This is not a great book. Even in the genre it's not a great book, but it's better than some.
The dungeon scenes are interesting at first, but the author spends so much time on the blow by blow action of fights until I ended us skipping pages. Too much time spent on things that don't matter....
This is not a great book. Even in the genre it's not a great book, but it's better than some.
August 19, 2020
Enjoyable Read
This book was a fun discovery - I saw it mentioned by Ramon’s LitRPG podcast, and decided I’d give it a try. It was a compelling read that captivated me from start to finish - couldn’t put it down.
What I enjoyed is the visceral nature of the world. It is rather violent and filled with death - and that makes the action feel more real. There are real stakes in this story.
This story came out of nowhere for me, so I’ll be following the author and look forward to book 2.
This book was a fun discovery - I saw it mentioned by Ramon’s LitRPG podcast, and decided I’d give it a try. It was a compelling read that captivated me from start to finish - couldn’t put it down.
What I enjoyed is the visceral nature of the world. It is rather violent and filled with death - and that makes the action feel more real. There are real stakes in this story.
This story came out of nowhere for me, so I’ll be following the author and look forward to book 2.
August 9, 2020
Solid First Book
If you enjoy gamelit you will most likely enjoy this book. It has enough differences to not feel like a carbon copy if the genre. I'm looking forward to reading Mr. Ryan's next works because if this is what he offers up as his first book then he's going to be an author to watch!
If you enjoy gamelit you will most likely enjoy this book. It has enough differences to not feel like a carbon copy if the genre. I'm looking forward to reading Mr. Ryan's next works because if this is what he offers up as his first book then he's going to be an author to watch!
August 17, 2020
Amazing book!! Cannot wait for the next
Ive read a lot of litrpg and this stands out. A lot of original ideas and a very interesting story. Read it in one sitting. A bit lazy to do a long and in depth review but would highly recommend this. It is an amazing work and never was boring. Do yourself a favor and pick it up, you will not be able to put it down.
Ive read a lot of litrpg and this stands out. A lot of original ideas and a very interesting story. Read it in one sitting. A bit lazy to do a long and in depth review but would highly recommend this. It is an amazing work and never was boring. Do yourself a favor and pick it up, you will not be able to put it down.
August 26, 2020
Deja Vu
I felt like I was reading another story in solo leveling world But since I'm a fan so literally I enjoyed reading this book and I'll read the next one.
I would have given this book 5 stars if I have a known about to solo leveling,So I'm gonna give it 2 starts to the lack of originality
I felt like I was reading another story in solo leveling world But since I'm a fan so literally I enjoyed reading this book and I'll read the next one.
I would have given this book 5 stars if I have a known about to solo leveling,So I'm gonna give it 2 starts to the lack of originality
August 10, 2020
Great start of a story
I really enjoyed this "zero" to hero book. I really like how the author started off in this exciting new world and cant wait for the next book. Please dont keep me waiting long.
I really enjoyed this "zero" to hero book. I really like how the author started off in this exciting new world and cant wait for the next book. Please dont keep me waiting long.
August 11, 2020
Very enjoyable
Good read. Any fan of the genre will appreciate the book. The character growth is interesting. I like that the mc was a total... zero.
Good read. Any fan of the genre will appreciate the book. The character growth is interesting. I like that the mc was a total... zero.
December 21, 2020
This was excellent.
The premise seems both unique and yet tested, a bit of an enigma, but it all comes together wonderfully.
The world is really interesting and I loved the realistic aspects of dungeon delving. Tads ability to fight so well so fast doesn’t quite fit but other than that Tad seems quite really, struggling to cope with the world of dungeon delving and all its horrors.
Very impressive for a first time author. 9/10
The premise seems both unique and yet tested, a bit of an enigma, but it all comes together wonderfully.
The world is really interesting and I loved the realistic aspects of dungeon delving. Tads ability to fight so well so fast doesn’t quite fit but other than that Tad seems quite really, struggling to cope with the world of dungeon delving and all its horrors.
Very impressive for a first time author. 9/10
July 10, 2023
Enjoying This So Far
Think westernized, less violent Solo-Leveling. I really enjoyed the characters, but felt some of the fights drug on for too long. I'm looking forward to starting book 2.
Think westernized, less violent Solo-Leveling. I really enjoyed the characters, but felt some of the fights drug on for too long. I'm looking forward to starting book 2.
December 6, 2024
Buckle up this is a long review but may save you time.
No spoilers but five sections:
1. Worldbuilding Setting - Modern Earth with an Outbreak of Magic in the form of “Rebirth” and “Dungeons” it’s almost a carbon copy of Solo Leveling (Solo Leveling isn’t the first of its kind I know) if you don’t know what that is or you’re not familiar with the setting just imagine if the world suddenly had Harry Potter magic and fought like medieval warriors in 2024 or whatever year it is in the book I forgot honestly.
2. Magic System - After Rebirth all individuals are locked into whatever their rank/tier level is, exactly like Solo Leveling. You simply can’t become better than what you are rebirth’d to be apparently so you better be ranked or rebirth’d into a higher tier or you’ll need to rely on experience and other people to make the difference when facing someone stronger. There are six attributes - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Magic, Courage, And Charisma.
- Strength is self explanatory makes you hit hard, lift more, jump higher, etc.
- Dexterity is the cut to bulk and tightening adding a layer of finesse and precision to one’s physical feats, from running to jumping and even reaction time.
- Constitution is the bulk and increases an individual’s health or literally their HP bar is higher and allows one to survive longer
- Magic is literally converted into mana which is just a numeric value of magic power not exactly how much damage one can do but how much they have in the tank
- Courage is a feat of willpower to essentially best mental and physical debuffs or debilitations
- Charisma the ability to essentially read a room or people or things you interact with and how your body language describes you
Individuals all technically have a health bar (numerical value above 0) and when a person loses all of their health (the value hits 0) they are incapacitated, not dead, creating a coma period before they actually die.
3. Main Character: Subjective Opinion - Alright, MC is painfully a teenager and not the brightest of teenagers his bullied past is trauma dumped to essentially make the reader feel for them but it does the opposite IMO. Strangely though he is relatable vicariously, by that I mean we may all know someone like this who is just not made for social environments and yet this is an exaggerated scenario. Raising kids is generally hard and parents of lower class tend to have the hardest time raising them when struggling to make ends meet and may miss out on providing the positivity their kids will need to face the world and that’s who this character is apparently this is just an assumption that can be drawn with the little details that are provided whenever there is a break from the trauma dumping of being bullied.
4. Cohesiveness: There are way too many inconsistencies that may stem from poor pacing by which I mean the average story elements are improperly used and placed throughout the story while reading. The average story elements proceed before or after massive amounts of “MC introspection and action” like a Japanese anime. You know, the whole “somehow the 3 seconds I take to think about everything going on about myself and how I got here is infinitely as long as I need it to be to find my plot armor to get out the situation I may find myself in”. It really slows things down and ultimately you may end up forgetting events before the introspection and action and sometime you might forget what happened during the actions scenes. The introspection may be bad but the action scenes that follow and repeat are worse as they are too long and together they hurt the other story elements.
5. Dialogue: the character dialogue is generic up till the inner monologue where “comedy is subjective” is being stretched really thin. To each’s own when it comes to comedy but the jokes or comedic relief bits are not just cringe but completely not funny IMO. A lot of the inner monologue is apart of the MCs Introspection and instead of being fed bits and crumbs of moments of clarity and getting to know the character it’s just buckets of self loathing and self questioning of the same questions just rephrased in sequence. Granted it actually does sound like someone stuck in their head about themselves only problem is, it is written poorly or at least not with enough finesse. It comes off whiny but that’s possibly the point bcuz IRL there are people like that and since this is based on a modern earth I can assume that the humans are bit psychology the same as there is no information to refute it.
Overall Review: Hey listen there’s people or maybe a person reviewing with 5 stars to help the author out which is not bad thing and there’s maybe a person who rated this other than me 1 star and is dog walking it into the trash but ultimately it is up to you to read this book. Every bit of art should be individually experienced but I will not criticize you for coming here to find out if it is worth your time unlike some people here, I understand you may be an average individual yourself seeking to spend your free time, or what little free time you have, reading your favorite genre of book to experience some escapism and get that dopamine hit to get your through the day. You come here bcuz that time is limited and the average person is spending a majority of their time working or recuperating to work which also includes the spare money you have whether it’s $1 to $500 you may not want to just spend it willy nilly. So I’ll let you know this book is written poorly but has elements to it that can be enjoyed though I do not recommend you put yourself through it accepting the mediocre work just to get to those parts. I personally do not like it when someone tells me “if you can tolerate this or that it’s a good read” you are paying money for these books, money that cost you time to make so spend it wisely. Finally for more clarity this book appears to be written by someone either inexperienced or seeking a cash grab. I don’t say that to be mean but the litrpg genre is littered with poor to mediocre works with barely anything that sticks out with great writing. This is due to the likelihood that these books are compiled from chapters written individually on a serial release basis on websites like royal road where a bunch of inspiring authors and novelist seek to tell stories. And guess what? It’s just like any other entertainment media where there’s tons of people trying but only so little make it through the cracks. So it can explain a lot of the poorly written components of this book as it is probably a rushed project chapter to chapter as it glazes over some topics and revisit them with new information that contradicts the glazed efforts bcuz the author didn’t like what they wrote before or it didn’t fit the future of the story. It’s also written like the author tried to add some if not all of their favorite Japanese writing elements and tropes to their story it’s painful. It seems like some of these authors don’t understand that things from Japanese writing or anime culture does not translate well in western culture assuming the author is western because that’s how they come off but I can definitely believe Konrad Ryan is probably not American lol as his naming conventions seem a “Tad” bit uninspiringly generic leaning towards American themes. I mean this story is based in America but I guess Marvel superhero’s real identity names are literally just as uninspired and the stories were written by Americans. This is not me trying to say “blah blah murica” I’m just stating the appeal is there with such things. Save your money. Not a exact shot at the author I genuinely hope they get better with their writing but honesty about faults can help people avoid them in the future if they obviously adhere to the criticism.
No spoilers but five sections:
1. Worldbuilding Setting - Modern Earth with an Outbreak of Magic in the form of “Rebirth” and “Dungeons” it’s almost a carbon copy of Solo Leveling (Solo Leveling isn’t the first of its kind I know) if you don’t know what that is or you’re not familiar with the setting just imagine if the world suddenly had Harry Potter magic and fought like medieval warriors in 2024 or whatever year it is in the book I forgot honestly.
2. Magic System - After Rebirth all individuals are locked into whatever their rank/tier level is, exactly like Solo Leveling. You simply can’t become better than what you are rebirth’d to be apparently so you better be ranked or rebirth’d into a higher tier or you’ll need to rely on experience and other people to make the difference when facing someone stronger. There are six attributes - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Magic, Courage, And Charisma.
- Strength is self explanatory makes you hit hard, lift more, jump higher, etc.
- Dexterity is the cut to bulk and tightening adding a layer of finesse and precision to one’s physical feats, from running to jumping and even reaction time.
- Constitution is the bulk and increases an individual’s health or literally their HP bar is higher and allows one to survive longer
- Magic is literally converted into mana which is just a numeric value of magic power not exactly how much damage one can do but how much they have in the tank
- Courage is a feat of willpower to essentially best mental and physical debuffs or debilitations
- Charisma the ability to essentially read a room or people or things you interact with and how your body language describes you
Individuals all technically have a health bar (numerical value above 0) and when a person loses all of their health (the value hits 0) they are incapacitated, not dead, creating a coma period before they actually die.
3. Main Character: Subjective Opinion - Alright, MC is painfully a teenager and not the brightest of teenagers his bullied past is trauma dumped to essentially make the reader feel for them but it does the opposite IMO. Strangely though he is relatable vicariously, by that I mean we may all know someone like this who is just not made for social environments and yet this is an exaggerated scenario. Raising kids is generally hard and parents of lower class tend to have the hardest time raising them when struggling to make ends meet and may miss out on providing the positivity their kids will need to face the world and that’s who this character is apparently this is just an assumption that can be drawn with the little details that are provided whenever there is a break from the trauma dumping of being bullied.
4. Cohesiveness: There are way too many inconsistencies that may stem from poor pacing by which I mean the average story elements are improperly used and placed throughout the story while reading. The average story elements proceed before or after massive amounts of “MC introspection and action” like a Japanese anime. You know, the whole “somehow the 3 seconds I take to think about everything going on about myself and how I got here is infinitely as long as I need it to be to find my plot armor to get out the situation I may find myself in”. It really slows things down and ultimately you may end up forgetting events before the introspection and action and sometime you might forget what happened during the actions scenes. The introspection may be bad but the action scenes that follow and repeat are worse as they are too long and together they hurt the other story elements.
5. Dialogue: the character dialogue is generic up till the inner monologue where “comedy is subjective” is being stretched really thin. To each’s own when it comes to comedy but the jokes or comedic relief bits are not just cringe but completely not funny IMO. A lot of the inner monologue is apart of the MCs Introspection and instead of being fed bits and crumbs of moments of clarity and getting to know the character it’s just buckets of self loathing and self questioning of the same questions just rephrased in sequence. Granted it actually does sound like someone stuck in their head about themselves only problem is, it is written poorly or at least not with enough finesse. It comes off whiny but that’s possibly the point bcuz IRL there are people like that and since this is based on a modern earth I can assume that the humans are bit psychology the same as there is no information to refute it.
Overall Review: Hey listen there’s people or maybe a person reviewing with 5 stars to help the author out which is not bad thing and there’s maybe a person who rated this other than me 1 star and is dog walking it into the trash but ultimately it is up to you to read this book. Every bit of art should be individually experienced but I will not criticize you for coming here to find out if it is worth your time unlike some people here, I understand you may be an average individual yourself seeking to spend your free time, or what little free time you have, reading your favorite genre of book to experience some escapism and get that dopamine hit to get your through the day. You come here bcuz that time is limited and the average person is spending a majority of their time working or recuperating to work which also includes the spare money you have whether it’s $1 to $500 you may not want to just spend it willy nilly. So I’ll let you know this book is written poorly but has elements to it that can be enjoyed though I do not recommend you put yourself through it accepting the mediocre work just to get to those parts. I personally do not like it when someone tells me “if you can tolerate this or that it’s a good read” you are paying money for these books, money that cost you time to make so spend it wisely. Finally for more clarity this book appears to be written by someone either inexperienced or seeking a cash grab. I don’t say that to be mean but the litrpg genre is littered with poor to mediocre works with barely anything that sticks out with great writing. This is due to the likelihood that these books are compiled from chapters written individually on a serial release basis on websites like royal road where a bunch of inspiring authors and novelist seek to tell stories. And guess what? It’s just like any other entertainment media where there’s tons of people trying but only so little make it through the cracks. So it can explain a lot of the poorly written components of this book as it is probably a rushed project chapter to chapter as it glazes over some topics and revisit them with new information that contradicts the glazed efforts bcuz the author didn’t like what they wrote before or it didn’t fit the future of the story. It’s also written like the author tried to add some if not all of their favorite Japanese writing elements and tropes to their story it’s painful. It seems like some of these authors don’t understand that things from Japanese writing or anime culture does not translate well in western culture assuming the author is western because that’s how they come off but I can definitely believe Konrad Ryan is probably not American lol as his naming conventions seem a “Tad” bit uninspiringly generic leaning towards American themes. I mean this story is based in America but I guess Marvel superhero’s real identity names are literally just as uninspired and the stories were written by Americans. This is not me trying to say “blah blah murica” I’m just stating the appeal is there with such things. Save your money. Not a exact shot at the author I genuinely hope they get better with their writing but honesty about faults can help people avoid them in the future if they obviously adhere to the criticism.
March 7, 2024
This is going to be a SPOILER-FREE review of the first six books in the series. Simply because the same narrative problems and such are never rectified and the author learns nothing from his continued writing experience. So writing separate reviews is all but pointless unless I wanted to cite specific examples, which I am loath to do as it would take me all day to compile.
So let's begin by describing the reasons you should avoid this series like the plague, or invest your time in it only if you can withstand the pummeling of persistent narrative tropes.
This series is about a kid that wants power, power to escape his life full of bullying, fear, and weakness of the self. Unfortunately, while he does gain the power to "level-up" to potentially become the strongest individual in the world one day, every single fight or scenario that means anything to the narrative will include some form of a depowered trope/arc. Every single time he's in a scenario where things matter, a number of potential things will happen to limit the power of the protagonist because the author doesn't have the skill to design fights around the aptitude of his own characters.
Furthermore, if the protagonist needs to be saved they will 'level-up' and the greatest and cheapest MacGuffin in litRPG is introduced: the restoration of all health and resources, to the peak of their physical ability. If the encounters before a big boss need to be impossibly tough, the protagonist will 'level-up' afterwards, thus facilitating their ability to defeat the boss even though they were at the brink of death seconds ago. This also lets the author depower the protagonist before or during a fight because generally a 'level-up' will repower them so they can move on to the next scenario as if they weren't handicapped. Expect this to happen after every. single. encounter. You will never see the protagonist go through a scenario and not come out the other end fully healed and reset for the next scenario. There will never be downtime because of decisions made during a scenario that caused the protagonist to have a long-term health/resource issue.
A list of potential examples that may or may not happen to 'depower' the protagonist may include but is not limited to: burning through all their mana immediately to where they can no longer cast spells for the rest of the fight (including healing, making health a limited resource), sealing or limiting of certain powers to prevent them from leveraging their greatest abilities, burning through health in some inane way to prevent them from healing other people after a loss of all mana, memory loss/manipulation to prevent them from leveraging their mind, forced loss of mental or physical agency over their being, wasting limited resources on nonsense before or at the beginning of a major fight, poor decision making of major choices that can't be immediately rectified until the current scenario ends to force them into a weaker/self-destructive form/position, the breaking of or modification to the rules of the power system, and monologues/grandstanding that precedes a growth in enemy ability that would've been a non-issue otherwise.
Again, this list isn't necessarily things that happened and isn't necessarily the only things that happened.
Generally something similar to the depowered list occurs for either a single fight or an entire arc, depending on how severe it needs to be to limit the power of the protagonist in order for the antagonist to have a fighting chance. This series is written in such a way that you will never see the protagonist leveraging all the progression they've earned in a satisfying way unless the arc is about to end because the author finds it impossible to challenge the protagonist with all the capability they have instilled in them.
Here is an imagined scenario to give you an idea of what kind of scenarios might occur to waste the protagonist's potential before a real fight in a convoluted way to attempt to make it 'believable' to depower them: imagine one door above and across potential paths through three ravines. One ravine is filled with rampaging lava, one filled with raging ice, one filled with unpierceable darkness. Our protagonist gets thrown into the lava ravine, burning alive. Their solution to save themselves is to spend great resources to save themself, pulling out of the lava ravine and into the blizzard of ice to stop the damage and suffering. They then proceed to walk into the great darkness with no resources, low health, and a grand debuff to action speed for the fight beyond the door past the darkness. The fight is a close call and most of the party dies because the protagonist was spent before the encounter began.
Again, this doesn't happen in the series, but this is exactly the kind of scenario imagined into existence to limit the protagonist's ability simply due to them becoming too competent to be challenged by the scenario. This type of thing will happen every. single. time. Unless the objective has no meaning to the greater story, such as a dungeon with no narratively important characters and no important power increases from defeating it.
So I've harped on this one point a lot, but it infects and permeates the entire series and is such a devastating narrative trope to the integrity of the story that it brings you out of the telling and into your head where you question why this had to happen when the protagonist was so capable.
This is especially notable because there's almost zero downtime in this entire series. Don't expect any slice of life elements besides a few paragraphs in between disasters the protagonist will have to solve. So because of this, you're always a few minutes of reading away from the next depowered trope/arc.
This whole problem could've been avoided if the author understood how to write believable scenarios where the antagonist could challenge the protagonist at their full power without damaging the integrity of the story (such as making them both too powerful to exist in their current echelon, making it unbelievable again). Weaken the supporting cast if necessary, strengthen the antagonist, do whatever it takes to make it believable that the protagonist could go into the scenario with full power and abilities and still have it become a compelling narrative where they are continually challenged.
Decide for yourself if this invasive and ever-present problem would prevent you from enjoying the series, just know that this problem is at the heart of all other problems that might occur. Be they unbelievable emotional changes or missed opportunities or whatever. I, however, only suffered the six books I read because I was curious to see where the power system was going, irrespective of the plot and general story.
So let's begin by describing the reasons you should avoid this series like the plague, or invest your time in it only if you can withstand the pummeling of persistent narrative tropes.
This series is about a kid that wants power, power to escape his life full of bullying, fear, and weakness of the self. Unfortunately, while he does gain the power to "level-up" to potentially become the strongest individual in the world one day, every single fight or scenario that means anything to the narrative will include some form of a depowered trope/arc. Every single time he's in a scenario where things matter, a number of potential things will happen to limit the power of the protagonist because the author doesn't have the skill to design fights around the aptitude of his own characters.
Furthermore, if the protagonist needs to be saved they will 'level-up' and the greatest and cheapest MacGuffin in litRPG is introduced: the restoration of all health and resources, to the peak of their physical ability. If the encounters before a big boss need to be impossibly tough, the protagonist will 'level-up' afterwards, thus facilitating their ability to defeat the boss even though they were at the brink of death seconds ago. This also lets the author depower the protagonist before or during a fight because generally a 'level-up' will repower them so they can move on to the next scenario as if they weren't handicapped. Expect this to happen after every. single. encounter. You will never see the protagonist go through a scenario and not come out the other end fully healed and reset for the next scenario. There will never be downtime because of decisions made during a scenario that caused the protagonist to have a long-term health/resource issue.
A list of potential examples that may or may not happen to 'depower' the protagonist may include but is not limited to: burning through all their mana immediately to where they can no longer cast spells for the rest of the fight (including healing, making health a limited resource), sealing or limiting of certain powers to prevent them from leveraging their greatest abilities, burning through health in some inane way to prevent them from healing other people after a loss of all mana, memory loss/manipulation to prevent them from leveraging their mind, forced loss of mental or physical agency over their being, wasting limited resources on nonsense before or at the beginning of a major fight, poor decision making of major choices that can't be immediately rectified until the current scenario ends to force them into a weaker/self-destructive form/position, the breaking of or modification to the rules of the power system, and monologues/grandstanding that precedes a growth in enemy ability that would've been a non-issue otherwise.
Again, this list isn't necessarily things that happened and isn't necessarily the only things that happened.
Generally something similar to the depowered list occurs for either a single fight or an entire arc, depending on how severe it needs to be to limit the power of the protagonist in order for the antagonist to have a fighting chance. This series is written in such a way that you will never see the protagonist leveraging all the progression they've earned in a satisfying way unless the arc is about to end because the author finds it impossible to challenge the protagonist with all the capability they have instilled in them.
Here is an imagined scenario to give you an idea of what kind of scenarios might occur to waste the protagonist's potential before a real fight in a convoluted way to attempt to make it 'believable' to depower them: imagine one door above and across potential paths through three ravines. One ravine is filled with rampaging lava, one filled with raging ice, one filled with unpierceable darkness. Our protagonist gets thrown into the lava ravine, burning alive. Their solution to save themselves is to spend great resources to save themself, pulling out of the lava ravine and into the blizzard of ice to stop the damage and suffering. They then proceed to walk into the great darkness with no resources, low health, and a grand debuff to action speed for the fight beyond the door past the darkness. The fight is a close call and most of the party dies because the protagonist was spent before the encounter began.
Again, this doesn't happen in the series, but this is exactly the kind of scenario imagined into existence to limit the protagonist's ability simply due to them becoming too competent to be challenged by the scenario. This type of thing will happen every. single. time. Unless the objective has no meaning to the greater story, such as a dungeon with no narratively important characters and no important power increases from defeating it.
So I've harped on this one point a lot, but it infects and permeates the entire series and is such a devastating narrative trope to the integrity of the story that it brings you out of the telling and into your head where you question why this had to happen when the protagonist was so capable.
This is especially notable because there's almost zero downtime in this entire series. Don't expect any slice of life elements besides a few paragraphs in between disasters the protagonist will have to solve. So because of this, you're always a few minutes of reading away from the next depowered trope/arc.
This whole problem could've been avoided if the author understood how to write believable scenarios where the antagonist could challenge the protagonist at their full power without damaging the integrity of the story (such as making them both too powerful to exist in their current echelon, making it unbelievable again). Weaken the supporting cast if necessary, strengthen the antagonist, do whatever it takes to make it believable that the protagonist could go into the scenario with full power and abilities and still have it become a compelling narrative where they are continually challenged.
Decide for yourself if this invasive and ever-present problem would prevent you from enjoying the series, just know that this problem is at the heart of all other problems that might occur. Be they unbelievable emotional changes or missed opportunities or whatever. I, however, only suffered the six books I read because I was curious to see where the power system was going, irrespective of the plot and general story.
September 20, 2020
A little too much like "solo leveling"
Like others i've noticed the similarities with the korean light novel "solo leveling": the MC starts powerless, only he can grow in power using a game like system, the world it's besieged by dungeon and those who dungeon dive are rich an famous... the MC even uses twin daggers like the novel protagonist.
The great difference it's that this book MC makes constantly dumb choices and while 18 year old has the emotional maturity of a boy of 14...
Like others i've noticed the similarities with the korean light novel "solo leveling": the MC starts powerless, only he can grow in power using a game like system, the world it's besieged by dungeon and those who dungeon dive are rich an famous... the MC even uses twin daggers like the novel protagonist.
The great difference it's that this book MC makes constantly dumb choices and while 18 year old has the emotional maturity of a boy of 14...
August 20, 2020
Fantastic Debut
We have a great first novel here. The concept itself is not unique, but it is executed well enough that it doesn't matter. The world is layered and fun and sucks you in. Characters are interesting and feel fleshed out, rather than one-dimensional. There are a handful of editing mistakes, but nothing too crazy. All-in-all, this is a strong first novel that sets up a follow-on series very well.
We have a great first novel here. The concept itself is not unique, but it is executed well enough that it doesn't matter. The world is layered and fun and sucks you in. Characters are interesting and feel fleshed out, rather than one-dimensional. There are a handful of editing mistakes, but nothing too crazy. All-in-all, this is a strong first novel that sets up a follow-on series very well.
August 23, 2020
Book one
Mistakes: I was really impressed by this book. I only found a single mistake.
Plot: When the world is overrun with dungeons, one young man is awakened with the ability to level up while others are stuck at whatever power level they reawaken with. Time to kill monsters and close down some dungeons!
Characters: The Mc is really hung up on gaining power. I liked that he learned that having power means more than just protecting himself.
9/10
Mistakes: I was really impressed by this book. I only found a single mistake.
Plot: When the world is overrun with dungeons, one young man is awakened with the ability to level up while others are stuck at whatever power level they reawaken with. Time to kill monsters and close down some dungeons!
Characters: The Mc is really hung up on gaining power. I liked that he learned that having power means more than just protecting himself.
9/10
June 24, 2021
Just shy of 5 stars. A real page burner. On the downside like with so many books like this the MC's internal dialog of repetitive self recrimination and doubt gets a bit overplayed and heck I can't help it keeping his strength stat at 1 until almost the middle of the book drove me a bit batty. Still will stay interested in the series and the author does a great job of creating a somewhat original and unique setting and good character development and general flow.
August 25, 2020
Turned out ok, but there's only so much self-hating I can take in a character; fortunately he mostly grew out of that. It's closer to YA for the MC's age, but written well and deals with fairly age-neutral issues. Lots of potential, especially with the machinations that kicked in at the end. I'll check out the next one.
October 17, 2020
A very good first book.
The author did a good job in getting me engaged with the story. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the character e and world building. Overall it was a good read.
The author did a good job in getting me engaged with the story. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the character e and world building. Overall it was a good read.
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