One Man's Laughter: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel

The Good Guys #16

by Eric Ugland

Das Vorbestellungsdatum ist ein reiner Platzhalter mit reichlich Zeitreserve für uns. Sobald das Buch fertig ist, werden wir den Veröffentlichungstermin nach vorn ziehen, wie wir es bei fast allen Vorbestellungen machen.

Er hat gerade – wieder mal – das ganze Imperium gerettet. Jetzt muss er ein paar verängstigte Kinder retten.

Montana von Coggeshall, der gerade aus der Welt der Galas, Geburtsrechte und seltsamen Weltuntergangskulte zurückgekehrt ist, hat nicht viel Zeit, sich wieder in sein normales Leben einzufinden. Er hat versprochen, alle zu beschützen, die Coggeshall ihr Zuhause nennen, und eine verängstigte Familie ist zur falschen Zeit am falschen Ort gelandet.

Doch was als einfache Rettungsmission beginnt, entpuppt sich schnell als ein Netz aus seltsamen Verschwinden, geheimen Tunneln und geflüsterten Warnungen. Möglicherweise treibt ein neues Monster sein Unwesen im Tal. Und dieses Monster tötet nicht nur – es spielt mit seiner Beute.

Je tiefer Montana gräbt, desto mehr Fragen tauchen auf, die niemand beantworten will.

Wer hat in seiner Abwesenheit die Fäden gezogen? Was verbirgt sich in der Dunkelheit? Und warum fühlt sich das alles so verdammt persönlich an?

›Ein Lachen unter Coggeshall‹ ist eine finstere, spannungsgeladene Reise durch die schattigen Ecken von Coggeshall. Wenn du LitRPG mit gruseliger Atmosphäre, brutalen Kämpfen und dem typischen Montana-Charme magst, ist dieses Buch genau das Richtige für dich.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, High Fantasy, Humor

600 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2025

Reviews

[Ihaia Tichborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a bridge to the next book than anything else

I've been reading this series series since book one. I've re-read several of them a few times. This is not one of the good ones.

The author acknowledges in an afterword that one of their goals in this installment was to clean up several lingering plots. This is all too clear in the story given the unceremonious way that is done. It is very frustrating to become invested in a plot only to have it swept aside. An example is in the goblin subplot that's been present for the previous two books. The protagonist gained several goblin followers. This seemed to be building on previous events, such as the captive goblin progenitor he has or the empowered sacrificial altar he came across. But now, in this book, the goblins are disposed of in a few pages and no one mentions them again.

The injured and sick people they've been trying to cure for several books? Gone. The steel horses the protagonist gained in a raid on an enemy camp? Off screen and rarely mentioned. It's beginning to look like the author sets up plots and characters that ultimately don't go anywhere. Why then should I be invested in them?

Instead what we get are rambling, comedic conversations with newly introduced one off characters that go nowhere. And then the last third of the book introduces a contrived weakness for the protagonist, presumably to raise tension. How does debilitating pain via poisoning interact with the protagonist's supernatural healing? Unknown, since it only lasts long enough for him to not be able to automatically swat down this book's antagonists like insects, before being dealt with off screen on the final page.

I like this series. I'm invested in the characters and will read future instalments. But I doubt I'll be reading this one again any time soon.

[Gary Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious

How could you write a book that makes it so hard to get any answers? Mr. Ugland, if even your characters are getting irritated by how every conversation goes, it is a safe bet that your readers are as well.

[Dennis · Rating 1 out of 5]

577 pages of poorly edited drivel.
would have been less than 500 pages if the word: "uh" were removed.

[Antonio Bliss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst book out of the whole series so far

I think this book covers a week and only about half a day Does he actually stay in MountainHome. And then he's off to help a friend and his family. The author says this was a transition book between arcs and take care of some loose ends, but he barely did that
Also the author has completely given up on the litRPG aspect of this series which is noticeable earlier on in the other books but completely gave up on it.
I really like the Vuldranni books and hopefully they get better and the author continues the three series.
Oh one more thing he had my tent Montana bring up the herd thing a lot and still nothing with it actually I don't know why you even brings it up anymore

[Don A. Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why?

What happened to this series? There is so much sheer fill in this book just so much pointless talking that doesn't advance the story at all. Remember when our hero got into impossible situations and came out stronger? Remember when the story and humour were equally important? I was 85 percent into the book and here is a summary of what happened. Got a mansion went home toured his fort went to a couple of villages went up a mountain and got poisoned. Everything in-between was people being clever and taking 20 words to say what one could. It stopped being funny and just became nothing but frustrating. Please find the balance that was in so many of the books before these last two

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I’m done

The ‘clever’ repartee has gotten a bit tiresome. Every conversation is talking at cross purposes and takes forever to advance the plot. All of the side characters end up sounding the same because they all have the same habit of derailing the conversation.

So, yeah, I think I’m done.

[Jez Cajiao · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!

As usual Eric weaves a story that I just want to read more and more and more of! Next please!

[Leonard Toms · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had enough

I’m a bit sick of these books now. When it started out it was all fun and progression. Halfway through the series it turned into the MC complaining about absolutely everything and doing nothing about anything. It’s no longer even slightly funny, just annoying. This follows the same line as most of the other books in the series where the MC spends the whole book waiting for something to happen to him. He is the most passive strength based MC imaginable. Doesn’t try to do any quests. Doesn’t try to figure out what’s going on just waits for someone else to figure everything out. Mopes about his lost life for the hundredth time. There is nothing new going on here. You literally have a near unkillable MC and there is no action in the book until a bit near the end. Author seems to have run out of ideas because there is so little plot in the book and nothing actually seems to get finished or wrapped up ever. Makes for a very frustrating read.

[jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Letdown

I want to preface this review by saying I would give the rest of the series a cumulative 4+ stars. It has been a really fun ride. This book just wasn't on par. It was the first book in the series that I found myself speed reading so that I could move onto something else. It only added insult to injury that no main story line progressed at all.

A summary of book 16, without going into spoilers:
- 0% to 50%, Montana talks to people and gets almost zero productive conversation from any of them. Rinse and repeat.

- 50% to 95%, Montana follows a trail and talks to more people.

- 95% to 99%, Montana fights.

- 100%, actual plotline cliffhanger.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventure is still fun, climax is still good, but the dialogue

Adventure is still fun, climax is still good, but the dialogue… I’m starting to get tired of it. I’m also starting to get tired of everyone telling Montana he isn’t doing enough. The solution to me is obvious, he should delegate, but that hasn’t happened. And I can’t even remember who’s in his hiro, but it’s a little disappointing how well you wrapped up a lot in the book but not that notification. Amber should be in the hiro; she doesn’t need to be a love interest.

[Muhammad Haggag · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dogshit

A whole load of nothing, punctuated by inane dialogue and pointless meandering. Could have been a 100 pages. Surely Eric is the one man laughing at us here.

[Dennis Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

95% of the book is just talking, the last 5% is action. I'm sorry I thought RPG books were action based not soap operas.

[Jearrod Fountain · Rating 3 out of 5]

16 books into the good guys series and a hiatus, and now he decides to write a bad book!

This is honestly a stain on the series. It’s like every other book was edited and this one was released as a stream of consciousness narrative x5.

Everyone conversation is someone bickering with someone else this book feels more like hearing people arguing in the other room with a bunch of “uhms” and every other sentence is cut off by someone else so you don’t even at least get to hear a coherent argument. The first 350 pages the MC is doing nothing, just talking about pointless stuff because 5 pages later he says ahh never mind we’ll just do this instead.

Worst offense in this book is there are 2 people on the cover, one is very intelligent and one is not, yet the MC ignored every suggestion this entire book. It was like he decided he hates her now which is so weird because he’s always respected her and she’s always respected him. Then all of a sudden in this book any time she makes a suggestion he says no to it, and when she’s around he sends her away to go do stuff so he won’t be bothered by her presence.

First half of the book 1 star, second half 3 stars, last 5 chapters 4.5 stars. Only actual good part of the book was the tail end where out of nowhere it turns back into an Eric ugland book.

If I could tell the author one thing it’s: we’re 16 books into the good guys, which is a 5 star series but you want to go an make a 12 book bad guys series that’s about 60% as good and suck the soul out of the world and use up all the ideas, only to turn around and start a grim guys series that instantly fizzled out in book 1. Stop Making Spinoffs And Finish The Main Series!

Around book 12 this series started going a little down hill, I hope this book is a sign to Eric to return to form for the MC by adventuring, being a little dumb but also a really good guy, actually building up and existing within the city he’s supposed to be protecting, looting, and also actually having system interactions.

Second favorite litrpg series, please pick it up and let this be the one lull of the series and don’t let it be the start of a nosedive, I could not handle seeing this series fall from the mountain tops.

2.75 stars

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a big fan of this series and will continue, though this one underwhelmed after the first quarter or so. I like the overlap with The Bad Guys series and was kind of sad when it ended. Good set up for the next book but it was pretty long winded to get there. Someone else said it in another review…if your own characters are commenting on how long it’s taking to get through conversations, then that’s a solid sign.

[Mr Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

So close yet so far

The first half of the Book was brilliant, the last half was quite literally drivel. Feels like the writer is burnt out. A chase up a hill, no skill use, no real fighting . Characters and a Bag of stuff never used. A Hiro that's been abandoned, could literally call in a Legion or 10 to help Coggleshell. Best to give it a miss Until we get the next book.

[Travis Shorter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rough

A harder read that felt like nothing really happened. It was all just fluff up until the very last line of the book.

A book riddled with grammar and spelling errors, unfortunately.

[tristan mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

probably the weakest book in the series

If you have read the series up until this point its worth the read. Otherwise not.

This book has the worst editing so far, weakest pacing, and there is a point where Montana is saved by a item he has on hand that physically doesnt make sense with the creature he is facing, though unless the size of the item, mot described, was way bigger than i thought it was. Just a poorly described part if the scene.

That all being said some of the magic is still there. But this almost feels like a first or second draft through. The author mentioned it was the longest in the series. It felt like the longest but because of the grammar errors and poor pacing. Montana also seems to be getting less aware of his abilities or less competent when one of the big arcs for a number of books was working on self improvement and that really showed to finally be paying off in the previous two books so this was a let down.

The author mentioned that it was a hard year and this is the first true 4 of 5 star book in the series for me so I am happy to overlook it but this is the first in the series I won’t be getting the audio for after reading.

Some of the blessed good things was that more was wrapped up than introduced. The next book should be about one of the arcs we have been waiting for forever. However the author ended the book asking if people wanted to see more in the world via other characters. Ever time a new series is introduced it is good but also takes away from what Montana books can give us so please if you respond ask to wait until other series are complete. I feel like too many series in to many directions could really affect the quality of some of the books.

Still love the series, ill probably go listen to the other audios for a 12th time.

[The Legend · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst Book I've read all year
Never have I wanted to grab an author by the hair and slap them across the face repeatedly before, but Eric has done it. I just want to take him by the hair and punch him repeatedly in the nose yelling 'FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS'. Is he off his meds? ADHD got to hard? Takes half a year to put this out and he puts out what seems like 13 year old's writing on meth.

I had hopes the author would finally focus on the Dukedom and get things sorted. Maybe get some quests done, set up his goverment, get his bag of holding organized. Nope.

What we get is tons of conversations that are nothing but tangents. One guy says something, another makes a joke, the joke goes to a tangent. Rinse and repeat for EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATIONS. It's not entertaining. It's not funny. It's flat out annoying.
It was nice when it was once or twice every few chapters in the first books but now it's every single conversation.

Then instead of getting things resolved, were just getting more and more quests. More and more distractions. More and more sides quests. Every time something is about to be resolved, something new is add and a new side quest. Then not even resolving the old ones.

This might be the last book I read in this series. It was that bad. The author needs to sit his ass down, re-read his past books, take notes and wrap up all the past stories, rewards, quests and what not. ALL OF IT. Before starting any single new quest or side story.

If the next book doesn't settle down then I'm done with this author's works.

I'm quite serious when I am a bit worried for the author's mental health. This book read more like written by someone high on cocaine or a child on speed. That Eric thought this book was ready to be published and was a coherent story that would add to the overall depths of his book, is quite sad.
If this continues, someone should contact the authorities and get this man help. Be it a mental health evaluation or some sort of drug treatment center. As it is, this is not the writing of a well person.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in this series that I read rather than listened to in audio format and I found Montana slightly irritating in this volume, which I never did in the other books. I'm not certain if the difference is in the format. Montana is a wonderful character who has overcome tremendous challenges while staying true to his desire to help people. He doesn't really have any practicality in him—which is really good when he's fighting monsters, but not so good when his friends need him to help them with mundane tasks—especially political ones.

The book roughly divides into three sections—a wrap up of the situation in the capital in which another new emperor must be chosen (and that long story arc starting in the first book in the series has been very strong), a return to his duchy, and an investigation into a serious (and ultimately very creepy) problem affecting people journeying to the city.

There is a veritable ton of action as you would expect of this series, but one piece of it never made sense to me. Montana, who I thought couldn't be poisoned due to his 100 constitution, spends a lot of this book (way too much of this book) incapacitated by poison that ultimately goes away without explanation. I didn't get this while I was reading it and I don't get it now. I also don't think it was necessary. While it certainly added to the dramatic tension at the climax of the novel, I still think that problem would have been very dramatic without the poison.

[Mathias Haas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read all books in the series in 2-3 weeks and I was hoping that the books in the end of the series would tie together all loose plots, items and characters. That didn't happen. At all.
This book dragged and dragged. The editing was extremely lazy with a dozen typos and other errors. The writing was extremely sloppy with jokes stolen from the Naked Gun (really?!) the characters complained about the plot not moving forward either and an ending which was just a big cop-out to end the book. The author is in dire need of an editor and someone to tell him to stop introducing new characters, items and plots and instead trying to tie up loose ends. And the bantering used to be funny, now it just feels like an idling motor repeating the same phrases over and over. I would recommend actually writing down an overarching plot on a paper and try to follow that. This series feels like a boat without a rudder and I'm done and a little disapointed.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a good story, and little, forced this time

I love this series and this world. Montana is the best, and it looks like he might be thinking about having character growth! Though he loses the ability to speak without saying the F word in every sentence... that got old...

This story seemed a little forced; we run into some mystical Montana kryptonite that weekens him just enough to make the fights interesting, he has a hard limit before being burned out, except when he doesn't... His solid friend goes crazy for reasons...

It all just kind of came together as too much, any of the bits could be glossed over, but all of it together just felt like the story being forced to follow the tunnel to the end. That along with using the F word in about every sentance Montana uttered, made this my least favorite installment of a great series.

I look forward to the next one!

[RandomLibrarian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every Montana interaction has become 100% interpersonal dialogue driven. We’re talking about a character who said he’s going to do better who said he’s going to be better who said he’s going to try harder for like 10 books now. We’re talking about a character who has unlimited stamina and who solves problems with violence and a bottomless bag of holding. I want shit to go into the sack. He’d have been better off becoming a lackey for Clyde and become a side character.

This book is just bad. I’m pretty sure the series is done. It’s absolutely utterly and completely impossible for the current author to finish this story at this world’s current scope and complexity without gross plot abuse.

[Twentytoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good

I still think these books are based off the authors own TTRPG campaign and none of the stats and items and rewards actually matter until it's convenient. The amount of dialogue characters get only to a throw away prop still annoys me. It reminds me of serialized TV shows. Who's the next villain of week? All this pages bantering only to die in 2 lines is unsatisfying imo. AND I'm still not ever last books villian. It was a cross over special and the villain was so disappointing. Over all I'm still enjoying enough to continue. It's like a show u keep watching because at this point I'm committed.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 37%. No story.

I suspect this series should have finished with the last book. It starts by tying up a few loose ends but after the new Emperor is elected, there's nothing left to drive the plot.

The worst part is that Montana's inner voice has become one-note. He constantly bitches about every little inconvenience. I felt like I was watching a Woody Allen movie. His go-to strategy is to procrastinate about everything in hopes that issues will magically solve themselves. This book has all the slog of a Dostoevsky novel with none of the interesting relationships.

[MOHAMMED · Rating 3 out of 5]

big disappointment

I don’t know what happened. This book was really a huge disappointment. First, to much sas. Like too much that you lose the main context of the matter. Second, you believe that the MC would grow during the story. However, non of that happened. His personality change to the worst . Third, the other characters interacting with the MC AKA “Montana “ is annoying and frustrating and take about 2 chapters to understand what is going on. I hope like really hope that this is one time incident. I just don’t want to believe that the story ended at chapter 15.

[Jeremy Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still no real progress

I loved this series as well as The Bad Guys but it's starting to wear thin.

It felt like a third of this book was characters interrupting one another and the same "you could say that / I did say that" exchange that has happened in every book.

There were, finally, a few signs of character development. And it ended with a teaser that me might finally see some progress with the story.

[Evan Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is the longest of the The Good Guys series and to its great credit it doesn't overstay its welcome. One Man's Laughter is a capping of the drama and action in the big city and then a welcome return to Coggeshall! Many of the previous storylines and characters are touched in on and then a new mystery presents itself.

As far as the new mystery goes, I was unimpressed with the results but I wont spoil it for you. But it was a fun run that never got boring.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine I guess. It "resolved" some open plot lines by killing the plot lines and added a few new major events which it promptly ignored. I think this is supposed to be a running gag. It has never been funny. If you can't maintain focus, just pick an end point and finished the series already.

[James E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs some serious proof reading.
A tad long.
I actually didn't miss the combat.
I especially didn't miss endless peeks at the MC's stat sheets.
Otherwise, I enjoyed the story.
The author could have moved the story along at a faster pace.
Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this series in spite of Montana being dumb as dirt. That is no longer true. Dirt runs circles around Montana. Every single person in Mt. Home is either incompetent, snippy, oblivious or some combination of the three.
HORRIBLE book. I would've given it one star, but as I listened to Neil Hellegers read it, I gave it a star for that.