I liked the first two books. They weren’t amazing, but enjoyable. After Nadine’s death and Runner’s torturing of Jacob in the second book, I had expected things to get a little more serious in the third book. Some actual conflict between people he cared about. Something other than Runner and his ever expanding harem against the game. I was disappointed.
Runner tortures Jacob in extreme fashion and when the girls find out they just say Nadine wouldn’t approve, Runner agrees, and that’s the end of it. Runner finds out that someone is spying on him, a perfect chance for one of the girls to betray him, but no. We don’t even find out who the spy is. The author explains that after a while the people that are taken in by Runner’s charisma stat will eventually be unaffected by it, but not a single person changes their feelings about him. Really? Not a single girl in his harem would prefer a man who is at least occasionally serious. Not a single girl wants a monogamous relationship, even though that is clearly the norm in the game setting.
On that note, the author seems unable to grasp the idea that a person can in fact care about someone without having sex with them. Runner’s harem bulges at the seems in this book. Even as he professes to like strong women, every single girl melts to his touch. The only women who stands up to him are the Goddess he defeats and the one actual human that was his former girlfriend.
And I will end with werewolf nipple tweaks. Seriously… All I am going to say to that is bravo to Jeff Hays for being able to read through that scene without cringing.