2/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started with a prologue that had the random perspective of someone named Darvin, who was a System Overseer.
Then it went to Derek. Derek went through a portal to save a random group of people who had asked for his help. He helped two people through the portal, but when he tried to follow them, the portal dissipated while he was inside it. So he was just floating in darkness for days, months, years. Derek had no way of keeping time, other than by the growth of his beard.
After who knows how long, Derek noticed a beast forcing itself into the place he was trapped in by cracking it, and he was able to escape through the crack.
Derek saw a boy once he escaped. The boy was terrified and tried to run but tripped. Derek went to him and scared the kid.
Derek found out that the world he was on had a different kind of system. He discovered that the forest and the creatures were diseased. Derek then cleared a village of monsters and he chose a class. Derek escorted the villagers from the destroyed village to another village, talked with the leader, and offered an idea for what was going on with the forest.
Derek started traveling through the forest, and he found the dungeon in the middle of it that was causing the forest’s sickness.
Derek realized he didn’t want to be a lone wolf anymore because of his time in the failed portal, and so he works with the villagers he is living with to help them level.
Derek took a kid through a dungeon, then when he got back to the village, he saw they were under attack by a group of adventurers. The adventurers were nobility. Derek killed them because they had killed a villager. Derek then took a group of people through a dungeon.
Someone came to investigate the nobles’ death.
He acquired a soul bound bunny companion, and after he did that the bunny transformed into a unicorn/bunny cross.
Derek was able to negotiate a deal with the person who came to the village to investigate where he would show Derek around the capital.
The end of the book had a point of view shift to the System Overseer person who was searching for Derek.
Review
I liked how Derek changed through the book, from being a lone wolf to trying to help people. However, his growth didn’t feel natural. It felt like the author was trying to force him into being something he wasn’t. Or rather, trying to force the character to change too quickly. It almost felt like the author was confused as to what exactly Derek’s personality was going to be. One moment he was a selfish jerk, the next he was offering kindly to help. I honestly was not able to get a good feel for what kind of person Derek was. It would have been better if the author had kept him consistent throughout the story. And if the author wanted him to change, have that change be gradual, and then have Derek’s demeanor stay consistent after the change.
I have a hard time reading stories about overpowered characters. Usually, I don’t feel like authors write overpowered characters well. They fail to give the characters weaknesses. That was the case with this story. Having overpowered characters can work, but they have to weaknesses. A super strong character with crippling anxiety, for example. Or major depression. Something that they have to work to overcome. Derek didn’t have anything like that. He was cocky throughout the entire book because he knew nothing could hurt him. He didn’t even miss his home.
Derek as a character was irritating. Throughout the entire book he was complaining about the system being stingy or greedy, or it not being fair. I don’t know if it was the author’s attempt at humor or not, but if it was, I didn’t find it funny. Throughout the book Derek was telling everyone else to suck it up and deal with whatever was going on in the book. But then he would constantly complain about the system. It felt hypocritical to me. He should have taken his own advice.
Derek’s internal monologues were irritating. One time, he was hit by acid from a ghoul, and it started eating through his armor. He stored his armor in his bracelet, then had to heal himself over and over in order to beat the acid. When the acid was finally gone, he looked at his chest to see some of his scars were missing. He was disappointed because he liked his scars. This just rubbed me the wrong way. It made Derek seem really shallow. Right after that, Derek looked at his armor and was upset about the damage to it. That was a logical response, but then he thought of his shirt and how he wished he had more, because he really, really didn’t want to wear the kind of shirts available in that world. So much so that he shuddered when thinking about the possibility of wearing the new type of shirt. This further reinforced the impression that Derek was shallow. He didn’t want to wear the different clothes because he didn’t like the way they looked. The author could have given a better reason, such as he didn’t want to wear the shirts because they were made out of dead puppies or something, and it went against his moral fiber to wear them because he had a dog that he loved back on earth. I feel like something like that would have been better because it would show Derek actually having a deeper reason than he just didn’t like the way the new shirts looked.
The last chapter was probably supposed to make the reader interested in the next book. However, the chapter was dull. It introduced this being, explaining who and what he was. However, introducing characters at the end of the book is not a good strategy. The author doesn’t have enough time to build the reader’s interest in the character. It’s best to do that at the beginning. It was really bizarre to introduce that character at the very end when the author had the perfect opportunity at the beginning to introduce him. The book started with a prologue, and this prologue was from the perspective of the character that was introduced at the end. It felt backwards to me and was annoying.
Giving Derek weaknesses and emotions would have greatly enhanced the story. If it had more of those two things, I probably would have given the book 4 stars. But, it didn’t. I was disappointed. I think the author tried to make Derek funny, but it didn’t work. I didn’t feel like he was funny, and it probably would have been better if the author stuck with Derek being serious.
Overpowered characters usually do not work in stories.
Fireheart Books 