5/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The main character, Rob, was talking to his best friend on a college campus. The book then talked about what made Rob’s friend such a great guy to explain why, when a black portal suddenly appeared in the air in front of Rob’s friend, Rob shoved his friend away. The portal then latched onto Rob and pulled him in.
Rob woke up in an alien place. He encountered a wolf and had to get away from it. He was injured severely. The main character barely survived, and discovered a note in his pocket that said “good luck.”
Rob then almost fell off a cliff. He almost died from disease, but he developed a Skill for disease resistance and barely survived.
Rob determined that he needed to grow in power and levels in order to continue to survive. He then encountered two elves, and tried talking to them, but they ran away from him in terror. Soon after, Rob was attacked by a squad of elves, but then the squad and Rob were attacked by a rabid bear.
One elf stayed behind to make sure the other elves got away from the bear. The bear had injured Rob, and he watched the fight between the bear and the elf. The elf started losing, so Rob jumped in and killed the bear with a lucky hit.
Rob found a dead elf a little later, but then he was attacked by another elf who thought he did it. Eventually the elf calmed down enough that Rob was able to talk to her. Rob went to the elven settlement and learned that he was the last human, and learned what had happened to humans.
He had to talk to the leaders. Rob then read a history of something called the Scouring, and learned why humans were hated.
A Dungeon spawned near the village, and they had to go clear it so it didn’t get bigger. Rob was asked to go, but refused. The party got into trouble so Rob hurried to go save them.
The village came under attack by Infected animals in the forest. A lot of elves died, including some of Rob’s friends. The Infected animals found what they were looking for, and all of the Infected merged into something called the Blight. The elves managed to hurt the Blight severely, but it used a devastating attack that atomized everything in its path. Rob tried to shield himself from it, but wasn’t able to, and died. But somehow, he came back.
Review
I really enjoyed this story. Although it was long, it had enough tension to keep the story moving forward. I wasn’t constantly checking how much further I had to go in the story. Another thing that helped keep the story moving was it didn’t get bogged down with endless stat lists, like so many other LitRPGs. Some people may enjoy the huge number lists that detail the character’s progression, but I do not.
I loved how the characters felt real. Their emotions and goals and weaknesses were well-crafted. I could see their progression through the story.
The world was well-built, and I enjoyed learning more about it the further I read. Things made sense in it. I didn’t like how the profanity increased toward the end of the book, but I understand why it did considering what happened to the characters.
This book was hilarious in parts and touching in others. I was laughing as I read through it. The book had enough emotion that it helped the characters feel real. I cared about them and what they were going through. It will be exciting to see what the next book brings.
Fireheart Books 