Skill Eater: A LitRPG Adventure

Skill Eater

by Magnus Grey

An action packed LitRPG adventure perfect for fans of Solo Leveling, The Primal Hunter, and 1% Lifesteal!

Alone. Surrounded by monsters. Time to fight his way up the food chain.
In the aftermath of an unprecedented magical disaster, Edge wakes up in a monster-infested wilderness, standing on the bottom of the food chain. But he won’t be there for long.

After finding a unique core known as Skill-Eater, Edge gains the power to steal the skills of monsters, men, and beasts, and a chance to battle his way up to the top.

It seems that his luck has finally changed, although he will soon learn that power never comes without a price.

Experience an action packed LitRPG adventure set in a world where artifacts known as Cores let their bearers wield the planet’s magic, and where Skills grant superhuman abilities and kaiju roam the wilds. It's perfect for fans of Solo Leveling, The Primal Hunter, and 1% Lifesteal!

What to

Tons of visceral spells and awesome skills.,Did we mention there were skills? We have eating skills, evolving skills, combining skills.,Rare skills, unusual variants, and ranking skills up.,(Seriously, there are more skills in this story than you can shake a stick at).,Mechanics that makes sense and a fresh twist on LitRPG progression.,Exciting battles with powerful monsters, ferocious beasts, and ruthless killers.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

648 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Sarah brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

Over 600 pages and almost nothing happens. Good idea. Terrible execution. The guy can eat skills. Three times a day and there is zero skill grinding at all.

[M Hamed · Rating 1 out of 5]

it didn't even have the decency of being short

[Tony Hinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars. The author has a long way to go in polishing the craft.

I came perilously close to dropping this book about a quarter of the way in. The protagonist, Edge, honourably choses to risk his life to help a group of people about to be attacked by a monster. A monster that had dogged the MC's trail for days. What follows is a frenetic battle that lasts an objective five minutes... but takes over an hour to read. Sure, the author uses hyperbole (perhaps magniloquence), but I'm used to that in self-published fiction these days. We saw the fight from different POVs, there was even a flashback to rehash a segment... [was the author paid by the word?] At one point Edge received an important upgrade to his core. I know it was important because the author used a total of six similes to describe it.

Aside from my issues with the prose, there was little to differentiate this story from other system style progression tales. In fact, it was lacking a larger objective/mystery. That forced the reader's attention to solely hang on their desire to see the hero succeed. Sadly, Edge is nothing special. He finds a special core, with a special skill, but his inherent charm is — lacking.

[Logan Horsford · Rating 1 out of 5]

MC is named 'Edge'? Middle name 'Lord'?

[Elizabeth Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although at times the book can be repetitive, it makes up for it with a vivid world that holds an untapped landscape with a lot of potential. Great for fans of things like sword art online (a whole world suddenly turned deadly and it's people caught in a life and death struggle), sss class suicide hunter (nearly dying to gain skills from his opponents), and AIs with an attitude.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially the poster child for slightly better than average book. Now that is somewhat unfair because the vast majority of the competition is considerably worse. So if I'm grading on a curve this book is a solid 4 stars whereas as grading on an absolute scale it is 3 stars. What I mean by three stars is this: The book never sucked me in so that I couldn't put it down but at the same time the writing never became so bad that I had to put the book down while I got over my annoyance.

Disclaimer: I don’t care enough about this book to go back and verify information so this review may contain mistakes.

One issue I had was the setup was relatively meaningless background information. Star faring humans find a planet where magic is real. This plays to AIs’ strengths and an AI takes over the planet and becomes “the system”. This AI also convinces humans to send criminals to its planet and televise their adventures. This tv program becomes so popular that “puppets” are arranged for non-criminals so tourists can safely adventure on the magic planet as well. However, something mysteriously kills all the tourists’ original bodies and seals the planet so now tourists only live in their puppets.

MC is a tourist in a town reserved for tourists but whatever power sealed the planet also rearranged the surface of the planet. This means that the area around the town which was previously well known and pacified is now unknown and extremely dangerous. This works to MC’s favor since he luckily gains the ability to eat skills while exploring a previously undiscovered location. The MC then goes about making friends leveling up and exploring, all of which was enjoyable, but not enthralling, reading.

Next I will be discussing the books negatives. This book doesn’t have any big reveals so I don’t consider anything that follows a spoiler. However the author does include some small reveals which I discuss openly so read further at your own risk.

This world includes an unregulated bounty system. Someone pisses you off and you have money you can just post a bounty on them and await proof and pay the killer. For no apparent reason shortly after the MC gets his ultra-rare skill a massive bounty is placed on people with ultra-rare skills. I really can’t imagine how the author is going to explain this. After all everyone in “tourist town” who isn’t a bounty hunter really wants ultra-rare skill holders around as a bulwark against all the dangerous monsters they are suddenly surrounded by. Okay, I have one thought and personally I think it is a stupid story line so I hope the author has something better planned. That said I suspect what will be revealed in book 2 is that another rare skill holder put out the bounty because he/she wants to take over and wants to eliminate the competition. I hate this idea because the characters are in an emergency survival situation and so that story would be akin to the first mate of the Titanic launching a coup to take over as the ship is sinking.

The other issue I have is how the author handles combat. For example, after getting the rare skill the MC heads back to town. Unbeknownst to the MC 5 new born monsters track him. Just as the MC nears town he sees an experienced adventuring team on the road ahead of him and the monsters ready to ambush them so MC calls out warning. I thought 5 newborns against an experienced team and the powered up MC would be a bit of a challenge but a relatively safe bet. Nope. The way the author describes this fight everyone should have except the MC is able to pull off a couple of miracles. Later the MC has leveled up a bit but an experienced OP bounty hunter comes after him and frankly I though the author did a terrible job in setting up this fight because frankly the MC should have died. My point being the author is intent on making his fights dramatic but does a terrible job of balancing the pre-fight build up. Add to this the plot armor that all MC’s have and I would really like for this author to come up with a better approach.

[Ford Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard read. Bad pacing as the story is overwritten. Good world building.

This story is so overridden. There is so much filler in detail that really has no value except to overcomplicate the explanation on every event on every page. The book could easily be half the size if you took out the filler.
The overall story is okay with great world building. You really wanted like the story and get into it because it's interesting, but the pacing is soul crushing as you just want to move the story along and you keep getting pages of information that becomes meaningless to the overall plot line.
The main character is likable but feels a bit beta. You root for the main character and the progression of level building, but towards the middle of the book to the end. The main character loses agency to self-direct his own actions because the author decided to have him join a community, and in that community joined a hunting group. By the end of the story, the plot line had morphed from the main character story to many supporting cast moving into a shared spot with the main character as the protagonist of the story. And in truth you really don't care very much about the supporting cast members. Because the story is overwritten you always have to hear and learn so much information about them and what they're thinking that you get bored and again the pace is soul crushin. The main character seems to lose logic towards the end and just decides to neatly make all decisions to wrap the book up in the last 20 pages or so, releasing all his secrets simply because, he can't come up with a cover story? He saves the day but he feels like he must bear his soul? The main character had killed a bounty hunter and the abilities that the main character showed at the end of the story to the other supporting cast members could have easily been covered by saying he acquired extra abilities from his winning duel with the bounty Hunter... But logic like this isn't even entered into the story and it's wrapped up where he just confesses everything and makes himself an equal to everyone else in the hunting party. The more I think on it, the more I hate the ending of the story. If the main character had continued working with the group but maintained his secret abilities and made his own decisions to keep his own agency, this would be a very interesting story that I would look forward to knowing what happens next. But the way the author wrote it, it turns into a group and a communities shared experiences that is going to lead the plot line in the next book, and I'm not really sure I care enough about the other characters to want to read it....
I like the world building and I liked the original plot, but by the end of the book the entire story changed and I'm not sure it was good. It's a mid book, that the over explanation and filler just makes it a challenge to read. I may read book two in this series but I really have no desire to rush out, and I think it's time passes I just won't care about it. It's a shame because the main character with his core abilities to gain multiple skills is interesting and rather fun especially because the main character is just figuring it out as he goes along. I guess I'm disappointed at how the book ended and that's why it's bothering so much I can't seem to let it go... I recommend the story, more than I would say don't read it. But this is a book I will never want to read again.

[Aniconomics · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently listening to chapter 50 of the audio book. This "review" will change over time as my thoughts evolve. For now I will list off some observations. (Spoiler Warning)


I feel like its rude to ask someone what skills they have. Trapper asking our protagonist and then divulging that information to the guards is really inconsiderate. Especially in a prison world filled with dangerous criminals and bounty hunters. This is basic etiquette in most system settings. I honestly don't understand why the protagonist is not pissed off to the degree he considers refusing the invitation to join her party.

I understand the protagonist finalized his pact with Skill Eater by giving away his heart. Skill Eater in return gives his heart to the protagonist so he can continue on living. Which allows Skill Eater to fulfill his end of the pact. Was this meant in a literal sense? Does the protagonist literally have the heart of Kaiju in his chest? I feel like such a development would show some sort of change on his status sheet. Probably an increase in specific stats. The heart of a kaiju would probably be larger than several people, so I assume the heart transformed to fit his body. Perks seem to be purely external additions from the system. If you move to a different world, do you lose access to your system sheet and perks?

So Puppet bodies start off with a baseline of 10 in each physical stat. But that information is not listed on the status sheet. I wish it was. A Puppet body can also be conditioned through training, raising each physical stat by another 5 points. So puppets can have a maximum of 15 in all physical stats. I could be wrong, the protagonists status sheet starts off with a minimum of 1 in each stat. So the total might be 16 total in all physical stats. Alternatively the 1 could be the summation of 10 stat points. How does that compare to a normal persons maximum?

Using power as an example.
Power: 10 (Base Hidden) + 1 (Minimum Starting Stat) + 5 (Conditioning) + (Core Attribute Points) + (Perk Modifiers)

There are 20 other unique cores. Either the protagonist sets off on a journey to find them all and absorbs the cores to empower Skill Eater or other people will find the cores and the protagonist is forced to contend with other unique core users. The second possibility is less appealing to me. Since the bounty went up after he found the unique core, it means the other unique cores are still undiscovered. Revealing the existence of other unique cores needs to serve a function in the story or else its irreverent information. Is there any connection between the number of unique cores and core ascensions? Both are 21.

Can puppet bodies have children with other puppets or regular humans? What are the implications if the answer is yes?

When humanoid monsters rank up. Do they become more intelligent and will they eventually gain the capacity for cooperation with humans? I think the answer is yes because Skill Eater is a massive Kaiju that is capable of conversing with the protagonist. But there's no reference to intelligent monsters interacting with humans throughout the galaxy. But there are less intelligent, domesticated beasts like the ones in Trappers party.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best! Book! Evarrr! Man did things go wrong for Edge, the MC! When the System Apocalypse happened! Edge found himself alone, without a core, in the Ivory Plains a desolate grassland filled with untold Monsters and Beasts ready to make a meal of him. The only chance he has is to save himself is to find a core. And the ruin ahead is his best chance. But the ruin didn't just have a core it was holding a reliquary which actually held a Legendary Core! And of course Edge snapped it up not even realizing that he'd made a pact with Spell Eater a sentient spell! But what's up with that 🤔 saving a hundred ???'s for future Edge, he made his escape all ready powering up by eating spells along the way... Edge accidentally bumps into Trapper and her team of hunters he ends up helping them win the day, finding himself auditioning inorder to join the team for real...
I guarantee you'll love the book and want more by the book's end! Go ahead and pick up the audiobook because Paul Heitsch is awesome.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blunt edge

First of all, I hate that the main character's name is Edge...Edge Vasher. Improbable situation happens, MC gets an epic reward (i hope at some point it's explained why this reward had almost no challenge related to its immediate surroundings).
It feels like the author wanted the MC to be...edgy. he's a self proclaimed anti hero and not the heroic type...yet does exclusively heroic things. Never once makes even a questionable or purely selfish act. He gets a lot of seemingly random support from important side characters. At the end of the book, things happen seemingly because the plot says so, not because i was convinced that the characters efforts made it seem reasonable (spoiler: how is the monster weak from being transported to a newbie area when it was the newbie area that was transported to the danger zone!?). A few other minor continuity errors.
I wouldn't say this book is bad, and the worldbuilding is interesting, but i wouldn't say it was good. It's fine. It's a fine book where the MC is named Edge but everyone else has a normal name.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall it is a great book that I throughly enjoyed reading.

Overall it is a great book that I throughly enjoyed reading.

The bad - The beginning needs editing badly! The first 30% of the book has what feels like a few false starts to the story like the author didn’t know how to go to the opening battle then to the rest of the story. Or (more likely in my mind) they wrote the short story of the battle (which was good) first then tried to write a beginning storyline.

The good - I loved the overall story. Once they found their storyline it was really well written. The characters are memorable. He is actually shown creating friendships that are relatable. The villain is believable even if he does monologue. There is so much wonderful intrigue. The world itself is interesting with so much to explore.

I want the next book!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The protagonist has a fortuitous encounter at the start of the story, and the timed thing that can save his life finishes just in time. Okay, cool. It is the protagonist, after all. They generally get one of those to give them the bump they need to succeed.

Then, the protagonist gets a second timed unlock that is lasting two days. Feels obvious it is likely to be a second plot armor thing to save the protagonist's life in a crucial moment. I'm getting annoyed. But maybe it won't be that. Maybe it's just going to be the start of a skill grind or something. So I give it a chance.

Nah, I was right the first time. The protagonist gets into a hopeless situation, and the timer finishes, unlocking the skill he needs to save his life seconds from death. Ugh.

I had to stop reading at that point. It's such a shame. The plot had some promise for a fun read.

[Patrick Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fact checking? Proof reading? That's so yesterday!

When I read a book, it's not just for enjoyment but of type of escapism. It is so depressing to be involved with the story and suddenly find\n Yourself knocked out of it because somebody didn't proofread or fact checked there story. The sad part is that it's obvious Carelessness! I.e. They're go into great detail.Explaining that everyone's foot size is the same in a puppet and that it didn't matter which pair of boot he got , they would fit... Then\nSeveral chapters later , he gets another pair for the first time...huh. On his data seat it says that he received one of the special coins and then immediately proceed to explain that he had five of them. It's just so irritating for such silly mistakes to make it past everybody that supposedly reviewed it before publishing.

[Arty · Rating 1 out of 5]

audio book review.
The intro explains nothing...if it did, it does it poorly. Bit of a snuff story; as the story takes place in a prison world. It's more eat or be eaten kinda place...with desert being pain and humiliation for the various victims. The author goes into detail regarding various painful moments...and not really explain or advance the story. I stopped at the two hour mark, as the MC haven't moved on from his starting point. I did not care about the various thoughts and feeling about the various woe of the people in this sad little world. The story is a kin to sad/misery porn.

[Wendy]

DNF at 14%

Despite some action scenes the pace seems very slow. In part, I think that effect can be attributed to the writing style. It’s verbose. Even when an image or idea is interesting it gets undermined and exhausted because the writer goes back over it at least two more times. The constant abuse of sentence fragments for artificial drama also annoyed me.

The character wasn’t very compelling and I fear the skill eating was going to turn into a dreary inability to have any kind of interaction without “oh, no, the hunger, OM nom nom” getting in the way.

The book didn’t interest me enough to get me to continue.

Onward to the next selection!

[MyDoRyS · Rating 1 out of 5]

My reviews are my own. If you liked this book, I’m glad you enjoyed it. If not, I respect your opinion. This is merely my opinion, so let's keep it courteous. My review is honest and voluntary.

I started this one because it claimed to be similar to Solo Leveling, which I loved. That was a total lie. In Solo Leveling, the MC is focused, and for most of the story, he is alone. This one started great until it turned into a slut fest, I mean, paying for saving their life with sex? I stopped caring about the story at this point, and it went downhill from there. Dropping the series.

On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start to a series

The only thing I didn't like about the book is that I have to wait a month for the 2nd to come out!

Beyond that, it was a little jarring at first, not explaining what was going on, but the author does do a "1 year ago" chapter to clean up the beginning.

This world does lean a little more LitRPG than Xan, but it is a little more unique. You're introduced to overaching power levels, and then cycles within each level. The one thing that you're still uncertain of is the actual way "normal" people gain skills and levels, as the MC is a little unorthodox!

[Evey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I... really want to read this story. It's got its hooks in me and I can't drop it but it's a damn struggle because of one single annoyance: the writing style is such that every single thought and feeling the MC has keeps getting repeated constantly! It is tedious and redundant! This should have been cleaned up in editing and I wholly blame the editing at this point. I refuse to drop the story thought. Too good.

[Tyrel Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bad.
Considering how much AI I've read, this feels like it's had a pass through it.
I'd suspect that, based on how most paragraphs/sentences always end with the common personal motivation, often repeating the same thing in different phrases, overall musings from like an omniscient perspective when it's in 3rd person.

It was so wordy without anything happening is why I noticed.

DNF about 15%

[kwhgen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot device

Well, I had high hopes for this one but only got to 10%. Unfortunately, it falls into the current plot issues I keep seeing. The author in their desire for the MC to be struggle, they put them in such unbelievable situations that dues ex or some plot device is always needed to save the MC. This ruins it for me.

[ChrisR · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s ok

First half of the book was a bit rough. Did not care about the main character and the world itself was not that interesting. Stuck with the book long enough to get a little more of the world built which did make it more interesting. Main character is still not that interesting but the main power is interesting and I like the way the skills work.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

great start to a promising series

So it’s a little chaotic how the story is told in places, but the characters, premise and the way the characters level up is really interesting and different to a lot of other litrpg. Really enjoyed it and very much looking forward to the next one !

[Rodney M Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great world building but the author talks too much

I really enjoyed the world building and the uniqueness of this new series. What I didn’t like as much is that this author likes to talk… a lot. Which means I skipped much of the verbiage to get to the action. Still a good start to a new unique book series.

[Danny Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool concept. I like the unique skill that lead to an OP MC. The book got a little formulaic with the monster hunter and skill harvesting but it was an entertaining formula. I’m interested in the second book.

[Karl Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not For Me: Stopped Halfway

Got a bit too tired of the story somewhere around 50%. It is a decent story! Just not for me… little too far into the lone wolf/edge lord side of things for me to really be into it.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gets a little too excited about pain, and darkness. Outside of that it's rather dry and boring. Not really a pleasant experience. Although I did have some fun picturing the Edge from U2 in these situations. Serves him right for wanting to tour a prison planet!

[Will Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note to self: not bad, but the MC keeps getting just the right skill at just the right time... early still, but if the pattern continues, I might start noticing the train tracks.

It feels as if the author figured out the next hurdle first, then backtracked to give the MC what they would need. Not bad in and of itself, but when it happens every time it's hard not to notice. Author has a bad case of Chekhov's Writing, where each case of an implant, skill, item, or development will inevitable be the key to overcome the next encounter.

Book is good enough I'll look past it and keep reading the series.

[John B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Start

Enjoyed this book. The story and character's keep you engaged. The author did a good job of making the MC look OP at some points in the story but keeps him grounded with some of the indecision he has. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

[Clay Brasington · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it

Great book. Not to short and not an Overly powerful main character. I loved the world building. The start was perfect to suck you in without boring you with tons of exposition. I pre-ordered the next one and now I am waiting

[Richin109 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start if a new series

Really like the way people, in general, rank up. The unique ability to eat skills is an interesting twist. The rules of his skill/ability make it so he does not fear superpowers.