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The Weirdest Noob #2
A Slave in the Locked Lands
The history of our world tends to move along a shallow spiral—when completing a turn, you end up mighty close to where you started. The history of Second World, in contrast, seems to have simplified its path to a ring from which there is no apparent way out. An unforeseen invasion lays waste to whole provinces, prompting the game’s most powerful clans to ally with the emperor’s guard to stop the monstrous hordes in their tracks. A war erupts that nobody saw coming, shattering the tedium of peaceful life. All the while the world’s most elusive character—once a lowly miner, now a powerful mage—finds himself in an impossible situation, and sorely in need of allies of his own as he searches for a way out.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 31, 2017
About the author
Arthur Stone
236 books273 followersArthur Stone is the pen name of one Arthur Smirnov, a prolific author in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.
Born in 1973 in Donetsk, Ukraine, Arthur worked as a geologist, and also in the environmental sector and industrial archeology all over the world. He lives and works in Ukraine.
Arthur began writing fiction in 2005 on a bet, and thus his addiction was born. His first book was published in 2006, and by mid - 2025 he had published a total of 84 books in Russian, English and German-speaking markets.
Arthur Stone - email arthurstone2017@gmail.com
Born in 1973 in Donetsk, Ukraine, Arthur worked as a geologist, and also in the environmental sector and industrial archeology all over the world. He lives and works in Ukraine.
Arthur began writing fiction in 2005 on a bet, and thus his addiction was born. His first book was published in 2006, and by mid - 2025 he had published a total of 84 books in Russian, English and German-speaking markets.
Arthur Stone - email arthurstone2017@gmail.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
August 18, 2017
3.5 stars
July 31, 2017
Great
One the better new LitRPG series coming out. Only thing I would like to see is a character sheet now and then.
One the better new LitRPG series coming out. Only thing I would like to see is a character sheet now and then.
August 9, 2017
Good book
August 3, 2017
I find it very difficult to believe that 90+ people found this book amazing.
Beware of paid reviews.
As for the novel, the first one was essentially a prologue to the novels world with a little plot advancement towards the end.
Well this book does not advance the plot at all and resets the whole thing in 1/3 of the book I've managed to read.
Dropped, I'm not interested to read a prologue that is two novels long.
Beware of paid reviews.
As for the novel, the first one was essentially a prologue to the novels world with a little plot advancement towards the end.
Well this book does not advance the plot at all and resets the whole thing in 1/3 of the book I've managed to read.
Dropped, I'm not interested to read a prologue that is two novels long.
August 4, 2017
Good story!
This is a good continuation of the series. There are a handful of errors of the likes of mana poo instead of mana pool, but it doesn't hurt the flow of the story to bad.
I recommend this story to those that like a good OP MC.
This is a good continuation of the series. There are a handful of errors of the likes of mana poo instead of mana pool, but it doesn't hurt the flow of the story to bad.
I recommend this story to those that like a good OP MC.
August 25, 2020
Too much exposition
January 15, 2025
Final Rating: 3.13/5.00
Starting score: 2.50
+0.60 for Tangh, Anya, and relationships built through practical care
+0.40 for crafting and an economy that make survival depend on useful work
+0.35 for tactical battles requiring distinct, active contributions from the party
+0.25 for captivity that exploits the game's rules and creates tangible losses
+0.25 for an evolving world with competing authorities and interests
+0.20 for resolving the main adventure and paying off its human commitments
-0.30 for the prolonged corporate briefing and repeated explanations
-0.28 for intrusive, repetitive notifications and equipment descriptions
-0.22 for reward inflation that weakens the significance of exceptional progress
-0.16 for the stale noob jokes and repeated amazement at Ros
-0.15 for reductive treatment of Anya and a crudely simplified griefer conflict
-0.10 for awkward English in recurring system instructions
-0.08 for a direct contradiction concerning Ros's crafting skills
-0.13 for deferring the wider mystery and the consequences of the final complication
Calculated final score: 3.13/5.00
I care most about this adventure when Ros has someone to feed, someone to protect, or someone whose skills he needs. That gives this audiobook a stronger emotional center than the first one. Tangh and Anya bring responsibilities that reach beyond the next rare item, and the little community forming around them gives me something to hold onto through the grinding. My ears lift when their different needs start changing Ros's decisions. The story keeps interrupting that connection to explain another mechanism, announce another bonus, or remind everyone how astonishing its hero is. There is a warmer, more involving story here, and far too much machinery between me and it.
Ros is still trapped inside a game while his damaged body needs care outside it, so earning money and remaining free have consequences beyond ordinary character progression. The continuation depends heavily on the previous adventure, including his unusual race, his summons, and the interest powerful people have taken in him. It also returns him to confinement and mining. That repetition gives the series a familiar shape already: build an advantage, attract attention, lose freedom, find another opening in the rules. What changes the experience is the need to make a functioning life with other prisoners. The Locked Lands offer dangerous creatures and valuable discoveries alongside confiscated equipment and people who consider the captives a source of labor. Ros's spectacular abilities don't immediately give him a pickaxe worth using or the means to keep someone else alive.
The captivity has teeth because it attacks specific dependencies. A powerful summoner can be helpless when he lacks the resources to produce a useful summon, and a prisoner cannot mine his way out of trouble with inadequate tools and insufficient skill. One especially nasty piece of reasoning involves healers preventing a captive from escaping through death. Something normally reassuring becomes part of the restraint. That is a more effective use of darkness than simply increasing the amount of pain described. The game does have respawns, release conditions, and limits on what captors can impose; the tension comes from lost equipment, lost progress, wasted time, and Ros's inability to step away from the world. Those costs are concrete enough to matter. His bag-related loophole preserves an enormous advantage, and the system's interventions place a protective hand over him, but he still has to turn what remains into something usable. The confinement works best at that grubby, practical level.
Crafting is where the progression earns much of its appeal. Salvaged metal can become a better tool, that tool opens access to better materials, and those materials can become equipment that changes what the group can survive. Wood, leather, skill requirements, and the cost of failed attempts keep the process connected to resources instead of letting every idea instantly become a finished masterpiece. Knowledge Ros acquired earlier also becomes useful here, which gives his previous work some continuity. I like seeing a good staff matter because it helps another person do her job. There is pleasure in watching a shortage become a plan and then an actual improvement in the party's circumstances. The wider economy contributes to this too: valuable gear is tied to access, trade, production, and the groups able to monopolize it. Money has a purpose when it can buy freedom or make life outside the game less desperate. These are the stretches where the numbers become something I can care about.
Tangh is the character who gives this installment its heart. Behind that durable avatar is an elderly man confronting a terminal illness and the frightening uncertainty of continued existence in a virtual world. His attachment to the game carries a different weight from an ordinary player's enthusiasm. He has a life, a family, and a reason to fear the disappearance of the place where he can still act. What makes him matter to me, though, is the way that fear coexists with generosity. When food becomes available, he insists on thinking about the other prisoners. His demand is inconvenient, stubborn, and materially expensive. It forces compassion to become a decision the group must organize around. As an Alpha Ice Wolf, that reaches straight into what I value about a pack: strength creates responsibilities toward those who cannot secure a meal themselves. Feed them. We can argue about the gold afterward. Tangh can be vindictive and difficult as well, which keeps his kindness from turning him into a spotless moral ornament. He has convictions that actually interfere with easier choices.
Anya gives the companionship another source of urgency. She is a teenager whose financial problems outside the game make the usual distinction between virtual treasure and real necessity painfully thin. A profitable adventure could affect her ability to escape a damaging domestic situation and establish a future of her own. Her fear and inexperience belong to that pressure, but her usefulness grows through decisions. She keeps people alive, pays attention to what enemies are doing, and contributes plans. Later combat gives her choices involving protection, casting speed, and the demands of healing under attack. She has to judge what will actually help instead of simply wearing whatever has the most impressive description. Ros's practical generosity toward her also improves him as a protagonist. Giving a companion better equipment creates a relationship in which her effectiveness matters to his survival. Tangh's help with her circumstances extends that concern beyond the immediate dungeon. Their companionship has substance because they spend resources and accept inconvenience for one another.
The handling of Anya also contains some of the book's laziest characterization. Her chatter, tears, interest in valuable things, and supposedly baffling female behavior too often get packaged as familiar girl jokes. The surrounding male commentary shrinks a capable companion into someone to explain, manage, or be exasperated by. Repeated amazement at Ros further reduces the room she has to exist on her own terms. My fur bristles at how readily the writing falls back on those shortcuts when it has already given her more interesting pressures and abilities. The hostile archer in the mine suffers from a related lack of depth. He is made selfish and vicious so consistently that the escalating retaliation against him becomes a largely prearranged exercise in enjoying punishment. The initial conflict has a practical function, particularly when another person's vulnerability is involved. Returning to the humiliation gives diminishing returns. His behavior supplies permission for cruelty much more often than it creates a difficult interpersonal problem.
The fights become considerably more satisfying once the party's roles start working together. Ros has formidable pets, but summoning takes time, losing him threatens the pet as well, and a healer cannot solve every problem by endlessly restoring health. Positioning, cooldowns, incoming damage, and the choice of which threat to control all matter. Tangh's ability to hold an enemy creates time for someone else to act. Anya's healing and tactical suggestions change what the group can attempt. Light and visibility become practical answers to ambushes. Some encounters require reassessing the plan after the enemy behaves differently from what the party expected. That gives the action a useful sequence of observation, mistake, adjustment, and consequence. I can follow why a decision is dangerous and why a companion's contribution makes a difference. The later battles pay off equipment and preparation established earlier, so success has a history behind it. The three characters have jobs that cannot simply be replaced by another speech about Ros's potential.
The notifications repeatedly smother that momentum. A discovery can trigger rewards, conditions, titles, and another reminder about where to collect a benefit, with the same underlying information returning after subsequent discoveries. The Academy of Magic reminder becomes especially tiresome. Equipment descriptions add their own extended interruptions, and another impressive item often means another set of properties to work through before the human situation resumes. In an audiobook, every repeated instruction occupies the same forward-moving stream as the scene it interrupts. I want to know the restriction that changes a decision or the new ability that makes a strategy possible. Rehearsing already established administrative information adds very little. I understand. Let us get back to the people. My impatience comes from that repeated loss of attention to the scene. The book spends time teaching me how to appreciate its progress after the consequences have already made the useful part clear.
Reward inflation creates a separate problem. Crafting discoveries, unusual achievements, stat thresholds, titles, and special advantages arrive so frequently that exceptional results start feeling routine. One successful experiment can bring a whole bundle of improvements, followed by further opportunities created by those improvements. The progression has an appetite that keeps growing. This weakens the sense of scale: the story wants the latest reward to feel remarkable, but it has already trained me to expect another remarkable reward nearby. Ros's resourcefulness is most convincing when a solution grows out of a constraint he has understood. The extra shower of recognition can obscure that accomplishment, making an intelligent piece of work feel like another occasion for the world to applaud him. I don't need each useful invention accompanied by enough bonuses to certify that its inventor is special. The practical result often carries more satisfaction on its own.
The long corporate meeting near the beginning is the clearest example of information overwhelming the story. There is relevant material in it: people outside the game are investigating Ros, trying to identify what makes him unusual, and pursuing interests that give their attention an ugly edge. The problem is the amount of recap and explanation wrapped around that movement. Events from the previous book are reconstructed at length, then the architecture and independence of the artificial intelligences are explained through successive examples. The explanation continues after the central idea is already clear. It stalls a continuation that has just resumed the adventure. The executives' importance is also pumped up through piled comparisons with predators, great minds, and extraordinary wealth. They become enormous labels attached to a conference table. Their decisions tell me more about their power than another insistence on how powerful they are. I wanted the investigation to develop through consequences; too much of this section consists of people briefing one another.
The noob routine still grinds my ears, although the word itself appears much less often than in the first book. The persistent irritation is the conversational pattern: Ros reveals something unusual, someone reacts with disbelief, and the exchange returns to how strange or inexperienced he is. The opening piles several variations of the insult together, as if a new form of the same label were enough to renew the joke. The gap between his inexperience and his extraordinary advantages keeps getting played for the same effect. Digits is more interesting when he contributes knowledge Ros genuinely lacks, including how abilities interact and how the economy works. Those exchanges establish expertise moving in both directions. The repeated surprise reduces that relationship to another audience for the protagonist. I have already accepted that Ros is an anomaly. Hearing the point restated does little to develop him or the people standing beside him.
The world's competing forms of control are more interesting than that repeated admiration. Corporations investigate Ros, clans see opportunities in his abilities, captors want productive labor, and the artificial intelligences have purposes that exceed the understanding of their supposed operators. Being protected by a system with its own agenda creates an uncomfortable kind of dependence. It can keep someone alive while arranging the conditions of his life. This gives Ros's pursuit of freedom meaning beyond escaping a particular enclosure. Even an attractive offer may carry the expectation that someone else will direct his future. His reluctance to surrender himself to a clan makes sense in that environment. I also appreciate the care taken around exposing another person's connection to him: help can become dangerous when it leaves a trail to someone powerful people might use. Those choices give the wider struggle a personal cost. The mystery of what the world is becoming remains a reason to care about its development.
The Locked Lands also gain character through the hierarchy among their inhabitants. A figure who can terrorize prisoners may become visibly smaller when a superior arrives, and recognition can depend on work, status, or the usefulness someone brings to a conflict. That makes the setting more substantial than a succession of hostile creatures waiting to be defeated. The explicit comparison with Yoda gives one authority figure an immediate visual association with the small, wise Jedi master, then undercuts the reassuring image with severity and coercive power. That little collision works because it tells me something about the person entering the scene. It has more purpose than a reference included merely to be recognized. The changing relationship between the prisoners and the people above them also makes accomplishments socially useful. A finished task can affect how someone is addressed and what that person is permitted to ask for. The setting responds through its inhabitants as well as its reward system.
The English needs more care in places where precision matters. A recurring achievement condition describes a party's median level as being “at least twice less” than that of the monsters. That is a clumsy way to communicate a numerical threshold, especially in a story that devotes so much attention to exact requirements. Familiar wording such as “no more than half” would make the intended relationship immediately understandable. There is also a direct continuity problem with Ros's crafting skills: he acquires Woodworking and Carpentry, then later asks for someone with those abilities and says, “I have none at all.” The contradiction damages confidence in the bookkeeping the book expects me to follow. These are specific weaknesses in wording and consistency, and they matter because the systems occupy so much of the adventure. If I am being asked to keep track of who can make what, the story needs to remember the abilities it has already awarded its central character.
The main adventure receives a real resolution. The confinement, preparations, and dangerous expedition lead somewhere, and the concern for other people established during the mine chapters receives a payoff. That gives the book a satisfying shape at the local level. The wider questions surrounding Ros, his condition, and the forces managing his circumstances receive much less movement. More is explained about how the world operates than about what its hidden participants ultimately want. The ending then introduces a fresh complication just as another undertaking begins, leaving the adjustment to that change for the next installment. An evolving game world provides a basis for such disruption, but placing it at the exit postpones the most interesting consequence: watching Ros find out what he can still do. I leave with the central adventure completed and another important piece of his development deferred.
Tangh and Anya give me a stronger attachment to this adventure than Ros's growing collection of advantages ever could. I want more room for their decisions and for the wider mystery to start yielding answers. Too much of the audiobook is still spent explaining, congratulating, and announcing. The practical generosity between these characters deserves more attention than another bundle of bonuses. Back in my den in HowlStrom, the part I have room for is the care they manage to build under pressure. The pack has earned a place by the fire. The endless notices can stay out in the snow.
Starting score: 2.50
+0.60 for Tangh, Anya, and relationships built through practical care
+0.40 for crafting and an economy that make survival depend on useful work
+0.35 for tactical battles requiring distinct, active contributions from the party
+0.25 for captivity that exploits the game's rules and creates tangible losses
+0.25 for an evolving world with competing authorities and interests
+0.20 for resolving the main adventure and paying off its human commitments
-0.30 for the prolonged corporate briefing and repeated explanations
-0.28 for intrusive, repetitive notifications and equipment descriptions
-0.22 for reward inflation that weakens the significance of exceptional progress
-0.16 for the stale noob jokes and repeated amazement at Ros
-0.15 for reductive treatment of Anya and a crudely simplified griefer conflict
-0.10 for awkward English in recurring system instructions
-0.08 for a direct contradiction concerning Ros's crafting skills
-0.13 for deferring the wider mystery and the consequences of the final complication
Calculated final score: 3.13/5.00
I care most about this adventure when Ros has someone to feed, someone to protect, or someone whose skills he needs. That gives this audiobook a stronger emotional center than the first one. Tangh and Anya bring responsibilities that reach beyond the next rare item, and the little community forming around them gives me something to hold onto through the grinding. My ears lift when their different needs start changing Ros's decisions. The story keeps interrupting that connection to explain another mechanism, announce another bonus, or remind everyone how astonishing its hero is. There is a warmer, more involving story here, and far too much machinery between me and it.
Ros is still trapped inside a game while his damaged body needs care outside it, so earning money and remaining free have consequences beyond ordinary character progression. The continuation depends heavily on the previous adventure, including his unusual race, his summons, and the interest powerful people have taken in him. It also returns him to confinement and mining. That repetition gives the series a familiar shape already: build an advantage, attract attention, lose freedom, find another opening in the rules. What changes the experience is the need to make a functioning life with other prisoners. The Locked Lands offer dangerous creatures and valuable discoveries alongside confiscated equipment and people who consider the captives a source of labor. Ros's spectacular abilities don't immediately give him a pickaxe worth using or the means to keep someone else alive.
The captivity has teeth because it attacks specific dependencies. A powerful summoner can be helpless when he lacks the resources to produce a useful summon, and a prisoner cannot mine his way out of trouble with inadequate tools and insufficient skill. One especially nasty piece of reasoning involves healers preventing a captive from escaping through death. Something normally reassuring becomes part of the restraint. That is a more effective use of darkness than simply increasing the amount of pain described. The game does have respawns, release conditions, and limits on what captors can impose; the tension comes from lost equipment, lost progress, wasted time, and Ros's inability to step away from the world. Those costs are concrete enough to matter. His bag-related loophole preserves an enormous advantage, and the system's interventions place a protective hand over him, but he still has to turn what remains into something usable. The confinement works best at that grubby, practical level.
Crafting is where the progression earns much of its appeal. Salvaged metal can become a better tool, that tool opens access to better materials, and those materials can become equipment that changes what the group can survive. Wood, leather, skill requirements, and the cost of failed attempts keep the process connected to resources instead of letting every idea instantly become a finished masterpiece. Knowledge Ros acquired earlier also becomes useful here, which gives his previous work some continuity. I like seeing a good staff matter because it helps another person do her job. There is pleasure in watching a shortage become a plan and then an actual improvement in the party's circumstances. The wider economy contributes to this too: valuable gear is tied to access, trade, production, and the groups able to monopolize it. Money has a purpose when it can buy freedom or make life outside the game less desperate. These are the stretches where the numbers become something I can care about.
Tangh is the character who gives this installment its heart. Behind that durable avatar is an elderly man confronting a terminal illness and the frightening uncertainty of continued existence in a virtual world. His attachment to the game carries a different weight from an ordinary player's enthusiasm. He has a life, a family, and a reason to fear the disappearance of the place where he can still act. What makes him matter to me, though, is the way that fear coexists with generosity. When food becomes available, he insists on thinking about the other prisoners. His demand is inconvenient, stubborn, and materially expensive. It forces compassion to become a decision the group must organize around. As an Alpha Ice Wolf, that reaches straight into what I value about a pack: strength creates responsibilities toward those who cannot secure a meal themselves. Feed them. We can argue about the gold afterward. Tangh can be vindictive and difficult as well, which keeps his kindness from turning him into a spotless moral ornament. He has convictions that actually interfere with easier choices.
Anya gives the companionship another source of urgency. She is a teenager whose financial problems outside the game make the usual distinction between virtual treasure and real necessity painfully thin. A profitable adventure could affect her ability to escape a damaging domestic situation and establish a future of her own. Her fear and inexperience belong to that pressure, but her usefulness grows through decisions. She keeps people alive, pays attention to what enemies are doing, and contributes plans. Later combat gives her choices involving protection, casting speed, and the demands of healing under attack. She has to judge what will actually help instead of simply wearing whatever has the most impressive description. Ros's practical generosity toward her also improves him as a protagonist. Giving a companion better equipment creates a relationship in which her effectiveness matters to his survival. Tangh's help with her circumstances extends that concern beyond the immediate dungeon. Their companionship has substance because they spend resources and accept inconvenience for one another.
The handling of Anya also contains some of the book's laziest characterization. Her chatter, tears, interest in valuable things, and supposedly baffling female behavior too often get packaged as familiar girl jokes. The surrounding male commentary shrinks a capable companion into someone to explain, manage, or be exasperated by. Repeated amazement at Ros further reduces the room she has to exist on her own terms. My fur bristles at how readily the writing falls back on those shortcuts when it has already given her more interesting pressures and abilities. The hostile archer in the mine suffers from a related lack of depth. He is made selfish and vicious so consistently that the escalating retaliation against him becomes a largely prearranged exercise in enjoying punishment. The initial conflict has a practical function, particularly when another person's vulnerability is involved. Returning to the humiliation gives diminishing returns. His behavior supplies permission for cruelty much more often than it creates a difficult interpersonal problem.
The fights become considerably more satisfying once the party's roles start working together. Ros has formidable pets, but summoning takes time, losing him threatens the pet as well, and a healer cannot solve every problem by endlessly restoring health. Positioning, cooldowns, incoming damage, and the choice of which threat to control all matter. Tangh's ability to hold an enemy creates time for someone else to act. Anya's healing and tactical suggestions change what the group can attempt. Light and visibility become practical answers to ambushes. Some encounters require reassessing the plan after the enemy behaves differently from what the party expected. That gives the action a useful sequence of observation, mistake, adjustment, and consequence. I can follow why a decision is dangerous and why a companion's contribution makes a difference. The later battles pay off equipment and preparation established earlier, so success has a history behind it. The three characters have jobs that cannot simply be replaced by another speech about Ros's potential.
The notifications repeatedly smother that momentum. A discovery can trigger rewards, conditions, titles, and another reminder about where to collect a benefit, with the same underlying information returning after subsequent discoveries. The Academy of Magic reminder becomes especially tiresome. Equipment descriptions add their own extended interruptions, and another impressive item often means another set of properties to work through before the human situation resumes. In an audiobook, every repeated instruction occupies the same forward-moving stream as the scene it interrupts. I want to know the restriction that changes a decision or the new ability that makes a strategy possible. Rehearsing already established administrative information adds very little. I understand. Let us get back to the people. My impatience comes from that repeated loss of attention to the scene. The book spends time teaching me how to appreciate its progress after the consequences have already made the useful part clear.
Reward inflation creates a separate problem. Crafting discoveries, unusual achievements, stat thresholds, titles, and special advantages arrive so frequently that exceptional results start feeling routine. One successful experiment can bring a whole bundle of improvements, followed by further opportunities created by those improvements. The progression has an appetite that keeps growing. This weakens the sense of scale: the story wants the latest reward to feel remarkable, but it has already trained me to expect another remarkable reward nearby. Ros's resourcefulness is most convincing when a solution grows out of a constraint he has understood. The extra shower of recognition can obscure that accomplishment, making an intelligent piece of work feel like another occasion for the world to applaud him. I don't need each useful invention accompanied by enough bonuses to certify that its inventor is special. The practical result often carries more satisfaction on its own.
The long corporate meeting near the beginning is the clearest example of information overwhelming the story. There is relevant material in it: people outside the game are investigating Ros, trying to identify what makes him unusual, and pursuing interests that give their attention an ugly edge. The problem is the amount of recap and explanation wrapped around that movement. Events from the previous book are reconstructed at length, then the architecture and independence of the artificial intelligences are explained through successive examples. The explanation continues after the central idea is already clear. It stalls a continuation that has just resumed the adventure. The executives' importance is also pumped up through piled comparisons with predators, great minds, and extraordinary wealth. They become enormous labels attached to a conference table. Their decisions tell me more about their power than another insistence on how powerful they are. I wanted the investigation to develop through consequences; too much of this section consists of people briefing one another.
The noob routine still grinds my ears, although the word itself appears much less often than in the first book. The persistent irritation is the conversational pattern: Ros reveals something unusual, someone reacts with disbelief, and the exchange returns to how strange or inexperienced he is. The opening piles several variations of the insult together, as if a new form of the same label were enough to renew the joke. The gap between his inexperience and his extraordinary advantages keeps getting played for the same effect. Digits is more interesting when he contributes knowledge Ros genuinely lacks, including how abilities interact and how the economy works. Those exchanges establish expertise moving in both directions. The repeated surprise reduces that relationship to another audience for the protagonist. I have already accepted that Ros is an anomaly. Hearing the point restated does little to develop him or the people standing beside him.
The world's competing forms of control are more interesting than that repeated admiration. Corporations investigate Ros, clans see opportunities in his abilities, captors want productive labor, and the artificial intelligences have purposes that exceed the understanding of their supposed operators. Being protected by a system with its own agenda creates an uncomfortable kind of dependence. It can keep someone alive while arranging the conditions of his life. This gives Ros's pursuit of freedom meaning beyond escaping a particular enclosure. Even an attractive offer may carry the expectation that someone else will direct his future. His reluctance to surrender himself to a clan makes sense in that environment. I also appreciate the care taken around exposing another person's connection to him: help can become dangerous when it leaves a trail to someone powerful people might use. Those choices give the wider struggle a personal cost. The mystery of what the world is becoming remains a reason to care about its development.
The Locked Lands also gain character through the hierarchy among their inhabitants. A figure who can terrorize prisoners may become visibly smaller when a superior arrives, and recognition can depend on work, status, or the usefulness someone brings to a conflict. That makes the setting more substantial than a succession of hostile creatures waiting to be defeated. The explicit comparison with Yoda gives one authority figure an immediate visual association with the small, wise Jedi master, then undercuts the reassuring image with severity and coercive power. That little collision works because it tells me something about the person entering the scene. It has more purpose than a reference included merely to be recognized. The changing relationship between the prisoners and the people above them also makes accomplishments socially useful. A finished task can affect how someone is addressed and what that person is permitted to ask for. The setting responds through its inhabitants as well as its reward system.
The English needs more care in places where precision matters. A recurring achievement condition describes a party's median level as being “at least twice less” than that of the monsters. That is a clumsy way to communicate a numerical threshold, especially in a story that devotes so much attention to exact requirements. Familiar wording such as “no more than half” would make the intended relationship immediately understandable. There is also a direct continuity problem with Ros's crafting skills: he acquires Woodworking and Carpentry, then later asks for someone with those abilities and says, “I have none at all.” The contradiction damages confidence in the bookkeeping the book expects me to follow. These are specific weaknesses in wording and consistency, and they matter because the systems occupy so much of the adventure. If I am being asked to keep track of who can make what, the story needs to remember the abilities it has already awarded its central character.
The main adventure receives a real resolution. The confinement, preparations, and dangerous expedition lead somewhere, and the concern for other people established during the mine chapters receives a payoff. That gives the book a satisfying shape at the local level. The wider questions surrounding Ros, his condition, and the forces managing his circumstances receive much less movement. More is explained about how the world operates than about what its hidden participants ultimately want. The ending then introduces a fresh complication just as another undertaking begins, leaving the adjustment to that change for the next installment. An evolving game world provides a basis for such disruption, but placing it at the exit postpones the most interesting consequence: watching Ros find out what he can still do. I leave with the central adventure completed and another important piece of his development deferred.
Tangh and Anya give me a stronger attachment to this adventure than Ros's growing collection of advantages ever could. I want more room for their decisions and for the wider mystery to start yielding answers. Too much of the audiobook is still spent explaining, congratulating, and announcing. The practical generosity between these characters deserves more attention than another bundle of bonuses. Back in my den in HowlStrom, the part I have room for is the care they manage to build under pressure. The pack has earned a place by the fire. The endless notices can stay out in the snow.
June 2, 2022
Holy hell! While the first chapter quickly picks up where the first book ended, the second chapter puts the reader into the boardroom meeting of "vicious, hungry lupine" directors who make the tiny employee feel like "a virgin in a brothel" as they track down and locate every detail about the MC so they can...
I don't care anymore. I'm qutting the series 10% into the second book. Way too much exposition, IRL events are stupid -from here on out, I'm going to double-check the authors of litRPG so I can brace myself for the espionage power trip of the little guppy against the monster sharks. And at the first sign of the "world quaking from their footsteps" or "i did something unique and everyone wanta to hunt me BS", I'm going to DNF.
Not to mention, there's enough prejudiced behaviour (racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, &c), irrelevant and irreverent allusions to pornography and pedophilia, infodumps, wacky translations, grammar issues, and typos to make the slog unbearable.
I don't care anymore. I'm qutting the series 10% into the second book. Way too much exposition, IRL events are stupid -from here on out, I'm going to double-check the authors of litRPG so I can brace myself for the espionage power trip of the little guppy against the monster sharks. And at the first sign of the "world quaking from their footsteps" or "i did something unique and everyone wanta to hunt me BS", I'm going to DNF.
Not to mention, there's enough prejudiced behaviour (racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, &c), irrelevant and irreverent allusions to pornography and pedophilia, infodumps, wacky translations, grammar issues, and typos to make the slog unbearable.
August 6, 2017
Amazing read
Took me about a day to read mostly cuz I had nothing else to do, So I never had to stop reading it I'm kinda sad I have to wait for the next book. Anyway the main character is op in a rare manner which is great because it's unconventional in that for all the boosts he has, he can get totally destroyed if he's not careful which is neat. I like his new friends they have good chemistry with each other and are likeable. All in all I love these series and it sucks I have to wait for the next 1 but such is life.
Took me about a day to read mostly cuz I had nothing else to do, So I never had to stop reading it I'm kinda sad I have to wait for the next book. Anyway the main character is op in a rare manner which is great because it's unconventional in that for all the boosts he has, he can get totally destroyed if he's not careful which is neat. I like his new friends they have good chemistry with each other and are likeable. All in all I love these series and it sucks I have to wait for the next 1 but such is life.
August 14, 2017
I liked the book but thought it was a little unoriginal. The MC in this book does some pretty dumb things to level and yet gets lucky. I prefer books with MC's that use there head to accomplish the tasks. This book feels more like the MC is doing everything against what is preconceived as an RPG. for instance who fights monsters 100 levels above yours and wins. I feel that that's what i had the biggest issue with. To Sum it up i felt that its more out of luck than out of Skill that the MC is Successful as well as a truly Unbelievable setting for character development and mob kills.
August 19, 2017
Now, i admit that the first book may have been a mix of everything good from other books, but in the second book Arthur Stone has proved himself to be a great writer with his own mind and ideas about this. Second World is worthy and would love to try it.
For a while i was thinking that it's going to be just like the Dive: way too OP MC and for some that is boring, but fortunately that is not the case here. He sees his own wrong doings and mistakes and try to fix them. Am curious what the series have for me
For a while i was thinking that it's going to be just like the Dive: way too OP MC and for some that is boring, but fortunately that is not the case here. He sees his own wrong doings and mistakes and try to fix them. Am curious what the series have for me
March 13, 2018
I think the only reason I didn't give the first one five stars is it didn't pack the same punch out the gate that way of the shaman did. But I have gotten used to his pace and I think that he has done something that Way of the Shaman didn't. He kept it in the same environment and basically the same game level and it was just as fun. Shaman got grander and grander in scale as far as the gaming experience. This guy is still raiding dungeons and runnning quests and it was still just as fun as the first book.
December 9, 2017
Another great installment in the series. It's only the second book, but it was better than I expected. More heroic deeds, more problems, more friends, and even more epic quests. How could you not like this one?
I highly recommend this series, even if I still do have to read the third one still. It's great writing, a nice storyline, and lots of action, I can't wait to read the next one.
I highly recommend this series, even if I still do have to read the third one still. It's great writing, a nice storyline, and lots of action, I can't wait to read the next one.
February 3, 2018
I'm surprised how much I liked this book.
A great sequel to The Weirdest Noob which was much better than the title suggested.
It's a great shame that book #3 is reported to be absolute garbage printed from a working draft with editors notes and errors. That sucks because I'm keen to keep going with this story.
A great sequel to The Weirdest Noob which was much better than the title suggested.
It's a great shame that book #3 is reported to be absolute garbage printed from a working draft with editors notes and errors. That sucks because I'm keen to keep going with this story.
April 2, 2018
About the same as previous book - quality didn't go down, though this book was much heavier on notifications. I don't mind that much if it's something like "you've levelled up" repeated 50 times throughout the book, but there are some really long notifications here that get repeated dozens of times... apart from that, pretty enjoyable read :)
April 3, 2018
Something about this series is really soothing. The story in this one is very similar to the previous one, Stone once again found a way to get Ros stuck in a mining instillation with high level monsters and difficult conditions. Still, it's different enough to not feel too repetitive and the low stress story results in the story being a nice, fun, calming read.
February 18, 2020
Fantastic!
Another great book! Good weaving of the storyline. Character creation and progression is wonderful. The depth of the scenes provide a reader with ample imagination a veritable treasure trove of images.
Mr. Stone does a great job of inviting the reader in to the party and allowing them to grow in experience as the main character does too.
Another great book! Good weaving of the storyline. Character creation and progression is wonderful. The depth of the scenes provide a reader with ample imagination a veritable treasure trove of images.
Mr. Stone does a great job of inviting the reader in to the party and allowing them to grow in experience as the main character does too.
August 1, 2017
Epic awesomeness Read
That leaves the story with a darn unfinished quest on a cliffhanger while the Author seams to want to write another story. What is wrong with you guys? Hopefully since this is a crazy Russian series, this storyline continues and is only awaiting translation.
That leaves the story with a darn unfinished quest on a cliffhanger while the Author seams to want to write another story. What is wrong with you guys? Hopefully since this is a crazy Russian series, this storyline continues and is only awaiting translation.
August 8, 2017
Great Follow Up to Book One
I thoroughly enjoyed this story just as much or possibly a bit more than book one. Definitely recommend this book to those who enjoyed the first book and look forward to book three!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story just as much or possibly a bit more than book one. Definitely recommend this book to those who enjoyed the first book and look forward to book three!
August 29, 2018
Ros ends up in the crap again, but still comes up smelling of roses. His one weird trick continues to be a weird one - how long will the game (and the author) let him keep it?
Book one, he's a loner.
Book two, he's mostly in a group.
What will book 3 bring?
Book one, he's a loner.
Book two, he's mostly in a group.
What will book 3 bring?
September 1, 2018
So good
I loved this book! I could hardly put it down. I was so engrossed that I didn’t mind the periodic typos. The MC has grown, but still makes mistakes and is riding the wave of chaos. Enjoys the book!
I loved this book! I could hardly put it down. I was so engrossed that I didn’t mind the periodic typos. The MC has grown, but still makes mistakes and is riding the wave of chaos. Enjoys the book!
June 9, 2019
3.5 to 3.75 Stars. pretty good, same as the first book. If you liked that one you should like this one. I will continue with is series even tho the 3rd books looks not to be as good but time will tell.
March 29, 2020
Ros is in trouble.
I am a reader. I cycle different authors and have a lot to say. I love how the “game” is making him work with a team, and then dropping them. Will he have small parties all over? I guess I have to read the next book to see.
I am a reader. I cycle different authors and have a lot to say. I love how the “game” is making him work with a team, and then dropping them. Will he have small parties all over? I guess I have to read the next book to see.
May 8, 2020
There was a small part of the book that was a bit tedious during an overly lengthy outtake of the bad guys behind the scenes but otherwise this was even better than the first book in the series and time well spent.
March 20, 2022
The MC, Ros, actually makes fairly decent actions, and it seems the author actually have some gaming experience.
That the MC firstly loses his levels by design and then hides as a female makes sense.
The party part is pretty boring, though.
That the MC firstly loses his levels by design and then hides as a female makes sense.
The party part is pretty boring, though.
April 15, 2024
good read
Good op noob progression story. The weird translation and over use of complex words aside this is a well done book. Some of the MCs logic can be annoying but it overall is a fun ride for a noob that can do it all easily.
Good op noob progression story. The weird translation and over use of complex words aside this is a well done book. Some of the MCs logic can be annoying but it overall is a fun ride for a noob that can do it all easily.
August 8, 2017
A good addition
Easy flow and great addition to the series. Just wish it was longer however that's me being greedy. Well done hurry on to the next book
Easy flow and great addition to the series. Just wish it was longer however that's me being greedy. Well done hurry on to the next book
August 9, 2017
Excellent series
Do yourself a favor and check this series out! Wish I could rediscover them! Please Mr. Stone, please write faster!
Do yourself a favor and check this series out! Wish I could rediscover them! Please Mr. Stone, please write faster!
September 1, 2017
Enjoyed the story
The book follows a lot of the same premise of it's contemporaries
As above, I enjoyed this story and have been reading others like it.
The book follows a lot of the same premise of it's contemporaries
As above, I enjoyed this story and have been reading others like it.
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