Posted by I have started back up with my author review requests and why not start with those that have audiobooks?
So! I thought this was going to be a portal type fantasy since this is set in the modern world that’s not recognizably different from our own. Suddenly, “artefacts” start showing up all over the world and eventually beings that resemble what we would call elves, orcs, dwarves etc. start speaking to us and telling us that Earth is doomed. Orcs are trying to enslave humanity and elves are trying to assist.
However… this is pretty much a standard litrpg. The Earth is essentially going to be assimilated into what’s known as Overworld… and in Overworld you get reassigned a new class and build up your character tree just like in a MMORPG. Things definitely hurt, you can die, and shit gets real very fast when Jamie’s family is put in harms way.
Jamie levels up per one would expect, but it was nicely laid out and there weren’t a ton of stats that were constantly interrupting the storyline. Leveling and grinding/questing is definitely a part of this, but it was more ‘real feel’, when he leveled up it was described as feeling and new intuitions rather than a scroll of numbers which can get quickly get boring.
My biggest problem with this one is how much of the world building was done via dialogue. I know that it’s realistic, Jamie needs to know what’s going on and if I were to explain a video game to someone I would go through and explain every little thing. I get that it makes sense, I just have difficultly paying attention when the world is introduced that way.
I didn’t mind Jamie as a character, he didn’t do anything that made me hate him or made me dislike him, I just never totally warmed up to him either. The biggest growth we have is right at the beginning when he has to leave his old life behind. I feel like after he suffered at the beginning, things were basically spoon fed to him and he made a ton of progress very quickly without much resistance.
I think this would appeal to people who like classic MMORPG gaming, and want a slightly different twist on the lit-rpg genre. Although many elements I’ve seen many times before there was enough unique to this series to have it stand apart. It’s a fast read with a lot going on and could be used as a palate cleanser.
Ratings:
- Plot: 9/15
- Characters: 9/15
- World Building: 10/15
- Writing: 10/15
- Pacing: 12/15
- Originality: 10/15
- Enjoyment: 5/10
Final Score: 65/100