All filler & no killer… my harsh, ineloquent, knee jerk reaction after just finishing book 8.
-SOME SPOILERS BELOW-
This is by far my least favorite in the series and completely fell flat for me. I can’t believe it but the whole frenetic paced race theme didn’t pull me in and was actually fairly boring in many parts. Gone was everything we love about litRPG, Matt’s great character interactions, witty & meaningful dialogue, and a struggle that keeps you on the edge of your seat. So much happened in the last chapters so quickly that it lacked a lot of the emotional impact for the reader.
The focus was way to much on Carl, with even Donut seeming like a side character. With that being said all the other cast of characters we have grown to love are only present to move the plot with absolutely no growth or even fun dialogue. This book totally felt like a means to an end, with it’s sole existence to quickly whittle down the number of crawlers to low double digits. Hopefully the series hasn’t “jumped the shark”, if so, Jamal will be very very upset.