One of the weakest of the great series

Look, I'm nine books deep into this litrpg series. I'm obviously invested in Ruwen and his Scooby gang, but for some reason this volume just didn't hit for me. Maybe it was because the sheer gravitational mass of what has come before--and the author's need to contextualize every new discovery the characters make a kid showing off their bedroom decor to their mom's half-interested date--or just that the story has gotten too big, the players too powerful for Story to beat out Exposition. It felt at times I was reading a Wikipedia summary of the characters' power set instead of a book about their experiences.

Could I do better? Of course not, I'm just a dirt bag who binge reads fantasy novels it's my true calling in life. But up till now, A.F. Kay HAS done better with this series. And I just wanted to call out this one as a let down. Maybe book 10 will get back to the personal journey and leave some of the need to recap everything that has come before in the rearview.

Even a dirt bag has to hope.5 s1 comment Peter Sowersby1 review1 follower

As this series is going on we're naturally introduced to more and more concepts and avenues to power. Up until now I feel this has been done gradually enough, with each book somewhat focusing on a specific.

With book nine this has gone into overdrive, and in doing so has lost a lot of the charm the series held for me thus far. There are a lot of new abilities and grand sweeping concepts that are touched on and not fully explored, and all of this creates a rather frenetic book that jumps from place to place leaving loose ends everywhere.

Ruwen frequently mentions to himself how overwhelming everything is for him and how he needs to focus on specifics or get completely lost, and unfortunately I think the book left me feeling similarly lost and overwhelmed. It feels there are multiple stories here all pushed together, and I personally would have preferred the focus to mostly remain in the already established worlds of the series.

There were moments that touched back to parts of the books and characters I've enjoyed so far - the interactions at the Pour Judgement, the Alchemy at the Black Pyramid etc. and others the Rift that I thought were completely superfluous.

I'll still be reading the next book, however this one was a miss for me.4 s Chris225 10

Unfortunately this wasn’t good. I’m debating the sunk time fallacy because 9 books in and not sure I want to continue.

This lost the charm of the other books, it felt more a dry instruction manual. I rushed through it so it would be over. Meh.

Also everything is so convenient, the stakes never matter. 2 s Tony Hinde1,639 39

The ending has reinvigorated my interest in the series.

The author loves the magic system in these books but I'd prefer a tighter plot. There are probably a hundred pages in this book alone devoted to stats or upgrade options, the majority of which are not chosen. That's a lot of filler. The "waffle" is offset by an ensemble cast of relatable and able characters. A cast that appears to be getting larger... or is there a spin-off series in the works?1 Kob12 2

Well.

The author writes a good prose, and I d all the previous books in the series.
The books are funny (Sift and Ruwen interactions), interesting and mysterious, with a good plot and twists - both expected and unexpected.
d it.

This entry into the series felt… off.

There are so many pressing items to handle, most of them life threatening- as in the entire world or universe threatening.

And Ruwen messes around with the Layout of his cities…?
Or with completing early level quests…?

Seems incredibly incongruous with … everything going on…

Seems the author has a backlist of items he wants to put to rest, before adding a whole lot of new items, giving an iota of explanation and leaving it open for future books - which is kinda annoying.
Authors lose readers that way!

Not one mystery was explored to the end and gained significant advancement and plan for the future;
The System - how it works or what are its plans, besides destroying everything (itself included? Didn’t it have a self-preservation directive?)

The Prime - who and what? Just throwing some tidbits of info did not work well here

The Dark Priest - if he was so bent on enslavement and destruction, why did Ruwen treats this as secondary or less in his journey?

The Infernal Lord - come on… Ruwen, with his 1,000+ intelligence, multiple entities living inside him, a supportive and capable crew, some goddesses on his side, not figured it is BAD to leave Nameless (the destructive,Nihilistic entity) free ?

There are more annoying things that, but nonetheless, I gave a 3 star, because I expect the next to be better!This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review Thorsten149 3

I love this series, but this book dragged for me, mainly because Sift, Hamma, and Lylan were absent for most of it on what I'm assuming is a forthcoming side novel. It highlights how good supporting characters can help offset a propensity for introspection and over-explanation. I have to admit I skimmed much of the city building section because I was just bored by that point, which is shocking given all the earth-shattering revelations we had along the way.

The one other niggle I have is that for a series that spends so much time over-explaining its game mechanics, a lot of conflict gets resolved with cheats. Need to be a grandmaster alchemist for the next book to make sense? I have a cheat for that - clones, baby, so many clones. Does the only conceivable peril to your MC require the literal world around him to explode and he only has seconds to live? I have a cheat for that - let's stop time and spend 20 pages really pondering the problem, then do something super improbable.

The book did finish strong with the return of Sift, Hamma and Lylan and the epilogue was intriguing. I am cautiously optimistic for the next one to return to form.wait-for-next-book Marco Ramos4

I love it, but I just can't stand the fact Lanquinriel is still alive, too much plot armor. This god was the one I singled out long ago, since he was'nt part of the pact, I guessed he was the first 1 to die among all the gods known to me that time. And, the title of the book didn't accomplish anything, since Lal (8th harbinger) is still alive. I would be very disapppointed if in the future, Izac gets to die first before Lalquinriel, Izac's existence in the story has always been obscure and if he will only die not having done anything major, him being the brother of Uru will be nothing but a waste.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review John-Torleif Harris2,668 12

I wasn’t expecting that…

I loved the stuff with Ruben, and Grave, but this seems a bit late in the course of a series to have such a massive pivot in the direction for the plot to take. Not that this may not have been in the works the whole time, since everything that happened here, was preceded by some key event related to Ruwen in a prior book; but this is definitely starting to develop in ways that wouldn’t have been imaginable through most of the previous books.

I’m curious to see where this will take Ruwen, his friends, and his allies. Levia1,313 13

Another great book

I really enjoy this series. The characters do still come across as very young despite their experiential age. I worried after a snippet in a previous book that Ruwen had a shelf life, so I'm happy that fear has been nixed. This talks more about others stepping up to take on all the responsibilities Ruwen has felt completely and individually responsible for. This helped him solve more and mark things off on his ever expanding list. I'm curious about the Earth additions. Tarot is also, thankfully, less sinister. Josiah Ploeger86 5

Another Great Entry

Another solid entry in the story, though despite a lot happening barely any time passes in it. It also feels we’re getting tons of new pathways to power being opened up but none of them are explored in depth yet. Hoping next book we’ll start digging into all the things introduced in this one. Loved the story though and could not put it down. Looking forward to the next! Bobsome105 1 follower

I do the book.
For the love of all that is good, stop using "Begs the question" incorrectly.
This one felt a little more a spreadsheet of actions taken than a story. Still enjoyable.
Not sure I the turn this is taking with the spoiler location and spoiler character in the epilogue. Having them in that location as a power comparison would have been a fine one-off fan service kind of thing. Actually involving it this far into a book series is...concerning? I guess we'll see.mythic-fantasy present-fantasy progression-sci-fi-fantasy Mark Schiel7

I LOVE THIS SERIES!!

I love that there is a lot going on. The story has so many layers. The characters are lovable and unique. Each one has a distinct personality. This series is a great Starter LitRPG. It leans into the System aspect but doesn't do it too much too scare people away. My favorite character is Rami! William Howe1,548 66

I hope he knows what he’s doing

The author continues to somehow increase the power levels…and the stakes. I hope there is a plan.

Just maybe not a plan devised by Sift. Or named by him. Travis Bryant776 6

This one wasn't my favorite of the series, and we only got a little bit of what I consider one of the best aspects of this series, and that's the friendship between the 4. The action was okay, but the grand cosmic stuff always loses me.
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