5/5 Stars, Tense, gripping, unrelenting dark fantasy
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is quite a meaty tome, and thoroughly immersive but I must admit it was so intense by the end I was almost relieved to finish it. It was like coming up for air. Something a little lighter for me next, so I can reset before moving onto Silence book 2.
It is a LitRPG, but the kind I like (I am fussy). Deep lore, real consequences and edge of your seat thrills. The story starts in that genre specific way all litRPG’s (barring The Grand Game) seem to start, where we get a to see our downtrodden hero, Felix in the real world. Dead-end job, broken relationships, poxy apartment, life is staid and dull, oh but really Felix is a nice guy that just can’t catch a break. Yep, that kind of thing. I was not gripped at this point. However, as soon as he was whisked away to the continent and the System things got super interesting super-fast.
What would you do if you suddenly found yourself on a sand spit in an acid sea in the middle of no where with no explanation and no idea where you are or what to do and the very sea tries to eat you. Yep, welcome to the continent.
From this point on, Felix’s life is one of constant danger, where even the bugs are deadly and death looms around every corner (if nature had corners). He must figure out what is happening to himself, accept his new lot and grow stronger as quickly as he can.
I have to say, I was thoroughly invested in Felix and his story which just got more nuanced and layered the deeper into the story I got. Every encounter is a skin of his teeth survival moment, and he must somehow figure it all out and me too as the reader. For me the story really ramps up another level with the introduction of other adventurers, adding depth and creating a frame to hang the story on. All of the ‘new’ adventurers are distinct and interesting and noteworthy and are on their own journeys of discovery.
The pace is moderate to start but quickly ramps up and it feels like there is no room for a breather, it is so full on. The action scenes are many, varied, brutal yet fun (in seeing how Felix deals with each challenge with his burgeoning new skills and powers). It is grim and the world the adventurers are in is very dark and some of the creatures are truly horrific (NG’s mind has some explaining to do!). For me though the finale, if I can call it that was epic, both in the battle, the narrative and the length of it. The Maw can jaw. That’s all I’m saying.
I guess you can tell from my review that the book was okay, ah who am I kidding? It was freakin’ great. I will be digging into book 2 but as I said above, I just need to decompress a bit first. Well done, Nicoli, very good!
A D Green 