The seventh book I've read by this author. And another LitRPG book (gaming themed). Not sure why I keep reading them. Well, you know, other than the part where I have fun reading them.
Right, so. Book opens: A young woman is at college, first day, moving in. Her parents hug and or grunt at her, leave. Young woman is super happy that she has a single room because, to be brutely frank, she's the kind of woman who probably would have thrived during the recent perod of higher education virtual learning during the height of COVID. Or not, if that required participation. And/or something that monitored her position, eyeball movements. Basically what I'm getting at badly is that the young woman doesn't particularly wish to be around people. Because.
The author tends to give characters odd ball names, like Broccoli (that was this author, right?). Well, the main character is not "Fluff" of the title. No, oddly, the main character is named Emily. Weird, right?
Right. So. Also happening the first day Emily arrives on campus to move in is "Power Day". Power Day? What's that? Well, this is a world of superheros and super villains. And people randomly "get" powers 1 day a year. A specific day. Well, Emily gets powers. And, naturally . . . . the gaming interface thingie examines Emily and decides she's . . . a villain! So....
Emily probably follows one of the few ways a villain could survive any length of time: she doesn't want to have powers, she just wants to hide, study, get a degree, then hide in some small house somewhere, possibly with pets, and not spend much time aroudn other people. So, getting powers? Not interesting to her. Quests and stuff that pop up? She ignores as much as possible. Especially the first one that urges her to "go out and fight heroes"! Which is where I get that "she's following one of the few ways a villain could survive any length of time": villains are rare and one of the main ways a hero advances, levels up, is taking on villains. So, basically, any time there's some kind of fight it becomes "pile on the bad guy". So Emily's ignoring as much as possible? Allows her to slowly level up when she'd otherwise be pounded to dust or thrown in jail (or something).
Right, so. Emily. Villain. Not a happy go lucky fluffy type person. So, Fluff? Emily's power? Ability to summon sisters. First one she summons is a werebear. Not a cute fuzzy teddy bear, and not a foul mouthed bear like from that film Ted. No, a grizzly bear, a full size grizzly bear. Well, when in bear form. Otherwise the sister is a slightly younger than Emily human woman.
Going by the cover, and a snippet here or there I'd read from the descriptiong, I kind of assumed the rest of the sisters would also be were-creatures but . . . no. Won't continue this line of thinking as spoilery.
To use a phrase I've used a little too often in this review: to be brutally blunt: this is a multiple point of view book, with most of the action seen through Emily's eyes or her sisters eyes. And, this is the brutally blunt part, story tended to be more interesting from the other people's point of views. Though it was also fun to read along from Emily's POV.
To get back to "fun with names", first summoned sister who turns into an actual bear? Name is Teddy. (well nickname, name is something like Theodora or something like that) - Teddy's philosophy: The stick and carrot: "If someone hit you with a stick, you ate them, and if they hit you with a carrot, you ate them and then the carrot."
Rating: 4.17 (I've no recollection as to why I rated the book that specific rating)
August 29 2022