I think many were excited about recommending this book to me because it was their first real dive into LitRPG. It’s honestly not even the best I’ve heard in the genre. My major issues are with the writing, suffering heavily from the curse of “millenial” writing. It attempts Marvel quips, not letting itself be serious for even a moment with hard scenes being immediately remedied with a joke. On top of all the Ready Player One levels of pop culture references, there is so much cringe swearing. I’m not opposed to profanity in my writing, but when you make it incessant and embarrassing, it’s just so dumb to listen to. There is also virtually no plot to latch onto, going at the pace of “and then this happened, and then he did this, and then he did this, and then he did this… plot… and then he did this, etc.” It’s not for me, it’s main audience are Redditors and 13 year olds. 4 stars on performance because Jeff Hays put his all into the characters.