Through Adversity

Worth the Candle #1

by Alexander Wales

Juniper was always the Dungeon Master, never the player. He was always a creator of worlds rather than the one who walked within them…until now.

Somehow, the tables have turned in the most dramatic way possible. Juniper finds himself in a world filled with the wildest fantasies a mind could come up with, and his fingerprints are all over it.

Throughout this world, echoes of his own ideas and plots leave him feeling like he’s always one step behind. He finds bits and pieces of ancient influence strewn about every town he goes through. One thing is clear, though: Juniper walks this magical new world in someone else’s shadow.

It might all add up to something vital...if only he can survive long enough to figure it out.

Genres: Fantasy

618 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2022

About the author

Alexander Wales is the pseudonym of Ben Friesen. Ben is a writer and stay-at-home dad located in Duluth, MN with his wife, their son, and cat.

Reviews

[Starch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some aspects of it are interesting, specifically the meta and the psychological premise; the second being: the world is made of stories created by the protagonist, so by exploring the world he is exploring himself.

I'll probably read more, as it's interesting enough so far.

[Raunak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went into it thinking it's a typical litRPG, and in some ways it is. But it's a far more emotionally honest story than most, with protagonist that has gone through loss and does the kind of self-sabotage after that is painfully real.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reluctant to start reading this series as I didn't like the premise. There have been lots of stories written about a protagonist trapped in a well-known fictional world. Even some, where the world was of their own creation. I'm not a fan.

What makes this story interesting is the central mystery/objective relating to the hero's long-lost best friend. That pathos gives the tale a beating heart. I also find the author's breadth of knowledge impressive, in addition, his way of thinking is also unusual. That does lead to some unrealistic characteristics for the teenage hero, but it could just as easily be explained away by Juniper's growing mental stats.

Note: I don't play tabletop RPGs but if I did, I'd want someone as talented as Juniper to be my DM.

[Neil MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

surprisingly good

I review rarely…have listened to almost 50 different series now and this is different enough to stand out. The most surprising part for me was how nuanced the author deals with psychology. It’s a great read, hoping book 2 and the rest of the series is as good as this was.

[Max G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nerdy; flat characters; far from a literary masterpiece; entertaining nonetheless. These LitRPG books are kind of addictive.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It starts a LITTLE slow, in that by far the best thing about it is the interactions between the characters, and they take a bit to get going, but ultimately, it was a great read. I have a couple of minor quibbles like using self-awareness to say some slightly overly sexualized for no real reason things, I'd rather it just be said than saying it and calling attention to it to try to make it seem not like what it was. But that honestly didn't happen enough to bother me. I think twice.

Overall, it's a compelling story, with characters I cared a LOT about. I think the major emotional through-line works unbelievably well. And I really, really loved rooting for the characters. It also did a good job of not being completely obvious as to what was going to happen with various things, and really feeling like a well thoughtout narrative.

I'd say if you REALLY love amazing action, this isn't the best in that regard. The action is perfectly passable. It's well organized, you can follow it well, and it's sometimes clever. But it's not anything special. But that's probably the biggest weakness, and quite frankly I don't care about action almost all. If you're in it for a fun, character driven story, you'll probably love this. :)

[chaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow, just wow

[Of 20 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the Candle #1: Through Adversity

[Synopsis]

The last thing Juniper Smith remembers before waking up aboard a plane, strapped to a seat with his mouth sealed, was passing notes in class. Surrounded by others, he's informed that he is a CRIMINAL that will be dropped into the Exclusion Zone. Should he make it to a place called 'the outpost' his crimes will be forgiven and he'll be given passage to a city. Dumped out of the plane and barely landing safely, he receives an achievement and learns of a skill menu that allows him to distribute stat points. Before he can make sense of what's going on he encounters other survivors... and the zombies that are stalking them.

After encountering an oddly capable woman and teaming up with her to get to Silmar City, he begins making realizations to the world that he's in. For instance... that woman Amaryllis is too perfect, as if someone took his idea of his personal 'dream girl' and made her manifest. The history she speaks of and the magic that she wields, all of it is starting to feel awfully familiar. These are all places and concepts that he created for a DnD game back in the real world. His group fell apart after the death of his best friend Arthur, but it seems that Arthur's character persisted on in this world.

Amaryllis herself is one of his descendants, looking to claim a legacy of magical items that they left behind. After Juniper is near death and more of a burden to her than a benefit, she abandons him... only for Juniper to level-up shortly after. With each level-up comes exuberant bliss as a golden light washes through him, healing all of his wounds and bringing him back into fighting shape. Struggling to survive in Silmar City, it's there that he meets a young half-elf girl named Fenn. Juniper learns that Fenn is being compelled to help a group of adventurers looking for Amaryllis...

And is soon compelled too, Skin Magic used to put a deadly tattoo around his neck. Should the Mage activate it, it will bite into his neck and sever his carotid. Receiving a quest that he needs to kill the Skin Mage before being killed himself, Fenn and he team up to move forward... and save Amaryllis from the party they're trapped in. After all, she's their only means of escape from this zombie-infested hell.

[Thoughts]

Very enjoyable, tempted to pick up the sequels sooner rather than later. The premise of entering your own DnD world that's developed on its own is pretty intriguing, making a basic character act like a 'god' as he holds information standard characters would not have. The system is your standard points/skills/talents spread, this one following a tabletop motif as opposed to others with their MMO stylings. The main character rationalizes what would be dump stats or misdirects in the system and that amount if depth isn't too cumbersome, save for one chapter near the end that's entirely stat math. Fenn and Juniper are solid characters and I enjoy their dynamic much more than others.

8/10

[Russell Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is for anyone who wants fleshed-out characters interacting with a world that captures the feel of a tabletop game. That being said, it's not the most light-hearted romp through a gameworld, so just know what you're getting into.

Plot - 10/10, Characters - 9/10, Setting and Magic - 9/10, Writing - 9/10, Enjoyment - 7/10

Plot
Juniper Smith is a 17-year-old who enjoys playing tabletop games with a close-knit group of friends. But when one of the group, his best friend Arthur, is killed in a car accident, the group slowly dissolves and Juniper falls into an angry depression. It's in this state of being that he suddenly wakes up in a fantasy world that seems to be a mish-mash of various homebrew campaigns he ran for the group.

Juniper has to survive his immediate circumstances of being tossed into an exclusionary zone no-man's land with a plane full of various criminals, figure out how much of the world is truly from his tabletop creations and how much is something else, all while gaining levels and skills to survive.

It's a great gamelit story from the jump with the added layer of psychological exploration as Juniper interactions with the world and the people in it. Is Juniper living in a simulated world created for him, or is he merely afflicted with a mental delusion people in the game world call "dream-skewered" where they believe in some imaginary place called Earth.

Characters
The characters are all fleshed out, each with their own goals and immediate needs. There's a bit of a conceit expecting the reader to accept Juniper and Amaryllis to be believable 17-year-olds, but maybe it's just me. It seemed like many of the characters, namely Juniper and his companions, were walking Jeopardy contestants with everyone regularly making references that would be super obscure for a teenager to make.

Setting and Magic
The setting is a strange mix of Fallout and medieval fantasy with everything from swords to airplanes and various magic. There's plenty to keep the reader, and the characters, on their toes. Purists who are looking for a typical medieval fantasy with magic might struggle a little with the guns and helicopters, and I'll admit a small part of me didn't like it that much either.

I did like how the magic didn't follow the typical Vancian style of D&D spellcasting with spell slots. While I know it makes sense from a certain game balance perspective, it just wrecks my enjoyment and immersion.

On that note, I couldn't help but dislike the amount of shenanigans and dishonest wizardry, and by that I mean the overabundance of reality-breaking items, abilities, and spells. While it played into the authentic representation of many tabletop mechanics, I'm not a fan of every encounter plan devolving into calculations of laden vs unladen European vs African swallows. To me, it's just nonsense that further hurts my immersion. Not only does it cause people to spend more time talking about hypotheticals than taking action, but such a world would result in full party wipes nonstop, so the fact our main characters aren't constantly dying suspends the disbelief a bit too much for me.

Writing
I don't have any complaints here. The scenes were always pretty clear and easy to visualize, and I don't remember any particular grammar issues jumping out at me. The author seems to have put quite a bit of thought and effort into every niche and crevice of this story.

Enjoyment
I'm a bit of a hypocrite, I guess. On one hand, I get bored with many of the gamelit tropes and cliches along with the bland characters. Then we have stories like this one and Book of the Dead by RinoZ that give me what was lacking and then I'm like...but I wish the characters went out and had fun grinding some mobs for a bit instead of being unhappy so much. I am like Goldilocks complaining that the Gamelit is fun but too bland or spicy but too melancholy.

It is what it is and I still really enjoyed this, but I also think it might border on misery porn a bit too much for some readers.

[Manuel Del Río Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this was weird (in a good way) and interesting. Where do I start?

Worth the Candle - Through Adversity is the first installment in a series of as yet unfinished stories by Alexander Wales. The premise would be something like this: a teenage and experienced D&D Dungeon Master gets suddenly, and for no apparent reason, 'trapped' in a fictional world that in many respects appears to be a figment of his imagination, and in others, not. The story begins in medias res, with him landing amidst a zombie-apocalypse landscape, and its ambiguous nature is reinforced both by the protagonist's -Juniper Smith- previous memories and the appearance of a Role-playing stat sheet and skills which he can virtually see when he closes his eyes for more than 3 seconds. The packed-with-adventure story then proceeds through the realms of Aerb, a weird and dystopian fusion of fantasy and modern-day aspects and technologies, stringing along as companions Princess Amaryllis and Fenn the half-elf, among others.

The story is quite entertaining, and it indulges in a vast swathe of postmodern shenanigans (metarreferentiality, pastiche, irony, parody) that can make it likeable for both light and serious readers alike, although I'd imagine its ideal audience would still be nerdy people who like reading big books and fantasy, all the more so if they've been players of D&D or other fantasy RPGs. It is described as 'LitRPG' and 'rational fic' in some places, and I'm not completely sure why about this last tag- it doesn't look too much like, say, Eliezer Yudkowsky's HPMOR, except perhaps in how much the author tries to make everything he includes -the magic too- as rationally consistent and 'logical'. I am not aware that it is trying to teach you anything about game theory, bayesian reasoning, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, etc...

As mentioned, this is 'the first installment', but that description is rather lame. The novel was a work-in-progress, being published online a chapter at a time until 2021 -and I imagine, ideally designed for being read in an e-reader or smartphone. The first 'volume' - Through Adversity (Worth the Candle, #1)- takes you up to chapter 42. I haven't started the second yet, but I believe the cut is merely arbitrary: there is no gap or discontinuity between what I presume is chapter 43, and the first of Worth the Candle, #2

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard both good and bad things from this series. Now that it has been professionally edited, I'm willing to give it a go.

This isn't too bad, I'm actually enjoying it.
What I don't like is the cuts in the story that shows a group of real life people playing a game. It makes me think that at the end of the series, it will be revealed that it was all a dream or some such bull. I really hope that isn't the case.

I also don't like how close the story if following DnD tropes. Sometimes you can just be OP, you don't always have to struggle.

I'm not too happy that the protagonist needs to rely on his "party" to get by. Almost all the useful "think your way out of a problem" tools are sequestered amongst his companion's person.

3/5 Stars

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the other litRPG’s that I have read recently, this one has character depth, so I look upon it more favourably. I like the main character working his way through his trauma as he adventures his way through a fantasy realm that bears more than a passing resemblance to the world that he created as a dungeon master. Whether this is a big allegory for therapy or purgatory or what, at least the author does a careful balance of using tropes and archetypes with a self awareness that’s oddly charming.

However, I struggle to call this a novel rather than what it is, a series of chapters that just abruptly ends after 42 of them. That’s probably why it doesn’t rate higher.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff! The world is interesting and subverts a few tropes, so it's a little less predictable than usual. The abilities, monsters, items, decisions are all meaningfully varied. There are not many decisions with obvious answers. The style of LitRPG is more D&D than MMO, which I also welcomed.

The characters and their relationships are decidedly less painful to read than is usually the case, I'm invested in their growth and they make relatively reasonable decisions without agonizing over them.

The audiobook has some tedious stat enumeration but that's common. Hopefully it improves going forward.

[Denzel W · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first foray into LitRPG. Initially, the explanation of the mechanics was novel, but as the book wore on, and the explanations kept going, it became tedious. The books is as much about the theory of game design as it is about the philosophy of being and a fantasy story. The main characters are similar to the point where it’s tough to tell who is who. The only differentiator is they have a trope layered on them.

It’s mentioned a few times in the book, but the teens are incredibly smart. Smart to the point where it tugs at my suspension of disbelief.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's very alright.

there's a really cool magic system with some types of magic I've never heard and some decent world building, but the characters fell a bit flat for me sometimes. while the earth/Aerb dream subplot was interesting as first it lost a bit of its luster towards the end of the book. I will probably read the next book to see if I still like the direction this series goes, but I'm not chomping at the but to do so.

if the world and magic system sounds interesting to you, I think you should give this book a try, but don't expect an instant classic

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past this being isekai litRPG webserial trash, it's actually pretty good. The way the stories of the d&d group having fun together and then falling apart are interwoven with the main narrative gives it a sense of authenticity IMO that makes it stand out; it feels more Re:zero than standard power fantasy isekai. Though, yes, it does have the obligatory eye-rolling chapter entirely spent staring at a character sheet.

[Hadas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, smart, well written, immersive, and convincing world building... did I say well written? Am I allowed to put this in the same tier as Dungeon Crawler Carl? It almost made me wish I was a teenage boy playing Dungeons & Dragons with his unnaturally witty friends. (The friend who recommended this to me said something about a harem later on, but I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that and enjoy it until it becomes unreadable.)

[Devan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I have been hearing about this series for awhile. A lot of people look down on the LitRPG genre and say that the authors aren’t very talented and don’t compare. I can see what they mean but do disagree a bit. The LitRPG genre is more about feeling like you are in a video game, not so much writing a piece of literature that checks all of the boxes of what a good novel should include.

I have been told this series checks all said boxes while still satisfying the core of what LitRPG is about and I wasn’t disappointed. I was impressed. The way the author momentarily jumps out of the narrative to explain certain concepts by jumping to a DND scene was extremely interesting and well done. You can tell the author must have a lot of experience as a DM because things were extremely well thought out.

I also enjoyed the world building and other characters in the party. Everything is really well fleshed out and made story immersion immediate and complete.

I wish the MCs powers were better fleshed out, but I get that the author is more so focusing on the story. That being said the story started to drag for me after they left the tutorial area.

[Joe Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I didn't care for the book as I didn't like the initial setting or intro. However, as the book continued, I liked it more and more. The central concept of the MC being dropped into a mash-up of all the worlds he created as a DM was unique and frankly interesting. Looking forward to the next book.

[Marcin W · Rating 2 out of 5]

(audio) Nothing unique, funny or endearing in this one... could have been about those deep(self discovery) things the other 3*+ reviews said, but i need ones that move faster/stick to an interesting main plot line. Got to 50% and was just spacing out as it just seemed pointless.

maybe ill retry at some point, but probably not.

[StrixVaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This blew my expectations away. The characters all felt real. The intrigue of how and why Joon wound up in this situation is interesting and I want to know more. The flashbacks to D&D sessions worked really well. I can't wait to read more.

[Eiko Wagenknecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of rational fiction. I also recommend the analysing podcast by Eneasz Brodski and Steven Zuber on the HPMOR podcast if you want several hundred hours of additional content about the book(s).

[Oren Milman · Rating 5 out of 5]

241127: my second read - still great (no idea how much this edited (?) version is different from the original one I have read). Action scenes are really good, and social ones also between good and really great. I really love Alex's writing.

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A LitRPG that somewhere even claims for the world to be grimdark, but actually is a pretty wholesome high fantasy tale. The characters are likable, their interpersonal dynamics engaging, and the dialogue is laced with wit and cameraderie. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Stephen Farrance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent addition to the genre

Just excellent! Adventure and excitement, wonderful characters. Pathos, bathos and a bathhouse? Can't recommend enough. If you're new to litrpg read this one first!

[Zach Lintz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic isekai progression fantasy

The author and MC have a ton of knowledge about Dungeons and Dragons, which just add to the the whole world building of this book. Excellent example of the genre

[Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the Candle is a masterpiece. A deep investigation of grief, combined with steelclad world-building, realistic characters, and fascinating politics. Everything is taken to its inevitable conclusion. One of the best progression fantasy series.

[Carolyn Ericson · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

I Really enjoyed the book. It’s obviously well thought out and a very honest look at friendship and loss .

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute ratfic, too long and not that good. But it got me through a cold.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall was an interesting exploration of a world, but man the ending interlude was depressing.