I've been reading a handful of books outside the gamelit genre lately and picked this story to scratch the itch I was developing. This was a fun read that I really enjoyed since it gave me exactly what I came for.
Character - 8/10, Plot - 8/10, Setting/Game Mechanics - 8/10, Writing - 7/10, Enjoyment - 10/10
Our MC Derek is your standard lone wolf type character we've seen often in the genre. The difference here is that the story forces him to be around people, which is a good thing since that's where the interesting stuff happens. Following an antisocial character who just stays alone the entire story is boring as hell and a mistake that a lot of gamelit stories make imo. The supporting cast is a pretty good selection of various characters that fill the gaps nicely.
I liked the plot, maybe because I have a soft spot for stories that take the basic gamelit plot and then ask an additional question. So we have a guy who has survived a System Apocalypse for a couple of years...what would happen if he got trapped in a portal and ended up eventually landing on a totally different world that operates under a different system? We end up with a guy who keeps his level 79 stats, but has his previous class and skills suppressed while being reassigned as a Level 0. We get the benefits of an OP main character while also having some genuine issues that come about while leveling like making new class and skill decisions, figuring out how to explain or hide his strength from the powerful people in the new world, etc.
The setting is pretty standard stuff. To me, that's not a negative. The focus is on the characters, so it's nice that everything else is familiar and easy to follow. The game mechanics are a mix of familiar things and balance some various elements taken from a few different game systems. There are things that reminded me of D&D, but plenty of other MMO-style skill grinding and such.
The writing was pretty good overall. There were a couple of minor errors here and there, and a few mistakes on some of the stat sheets, like having a guy gain some levels and then his status shows the old level from before instead of the new one. I usually only skim the stat sheets and wouldn't notice this sort of thing, but it kinda jumped out at me here.
There is room for polish with the grammar and prose, but overall everything flowed well and was functional. The overall structure of the story progressed pleasantly and you can tell the author has a pretty firm grip on what he wants to do. So I feel like this is some pretty solid and better-than-average writing for the genre.
Enjoyment-wise, I had a lot of fun. There were some good character interactions and the story scratched that itch that a good gamelit always reaches. I would have liked maybe a bit more tension during some fights considering the MC should struggle a bit to adjust to the new world despite his stats, but there were some seeds planted that hint at some good developments as the more powerful people in the new world notice Derek and he has to navigate their attentions. I'm looking forward to the next book!