It might help that I have read literally dozens (at least) of LitRPG books in the past, so many of the tropes in the series are just to be expected.
I’m just coming to the end of book 7, and I feel the same. This year has been a shitshow in many ways, but these books have been a bright spot.
There are so many characters and magic items and game rules and subplots and spells that sometimes I lose the thread, but it doesn’t really matter. If something’s important enough, it’ll be explained at the proper time.
I read this thread when it was first started, and decided it probably wasn’t the kind of book I would like. But my book club chose it for our August selection, so I was stuck giving it a go.
And I liked it much better than I expected to. The story is engaging, the characters are fun, and the underlying “screw the corporate overlords” theme is perfect. On the downside, it can get distractingly repetitive. By the third boss battle, followed by the list of achievements and loot box contents, I didn’t need to read any more. The character dialog can be funny, but the game AI’s descriptions of achievements and magical items are just stupid and annoying.
That said, I enjoyed it enough to continue with books 2 and 3, and by employing @iiandyiiii’s approach of skimming (or skipping) the achievement and item descriptions, the annoyances were greatly reduced.
Some posters’ characterization of the series as fast food doesn’t really fit for me. I don’t think reading it is unhealthy, and I don’t feel guilty after the fact. Lighter, more frivolous reading shouldn’t be stigmatized. A better analogy for me would be ice cream with something slightly gross like circus peanuts on it. It’s ice cream and therefore still good, but it would have been even better without that extra topping.
I don’t disagree with any of this, but I’m curious what you found to be sexist. I didn’t notice it, and I was actually impressed that a genre and style of writing that lends itself easily to sexism didn’t seem to fall into that trap. But I have unconscious biases and I’m sure I don’t pick up on it all the time.
Yeah, you and me both. I’m as nerdy as they come (like cartoons, comic books, computer games, sf/fantasy generally), but I’m not decorating the house with that stuff.
Though maybe I split the difference just a tiny bit. I do have a few framed Shaun Tan prints on the walls mixed in with the random generic fine art prints and bird illustrations. So I’m not opposed to fantasy art per se, just not the the sort of stuff you’re talking about above.
I’m on book 2, just about halfway through it. I am enjoying what I’ve read so far.
I have read all of them. The books appear voluminous, but you get through them fast.
Yeah, and yes, I enjoyed the first 4(?) books in the carl series, especially the cat. But I gave up, some months before it suddenly became popular.
The achievements and descriptions are some of my favorite parts, particularly as the AI gets more unhinged, and more invested in Carl and group’s activities. In later books the repetitiveness is either toned down, or I became more used to it. Some of that I think is introduction to the story, so describing every mob and boss fight builds the world, but in later books it gets elided into “we killed a bunch of mobs” or “we opened our boxes,” because there’s no point in rehashing it unless new stuff happens.
Another thing going on, I think, is that the author has gotten better in later books. Instead of running out of ideas and getting dull, to me, the books are getting better written and even though longer, are also tighter stories with less irrelevant narrative. Sort of like another popular fantasy series where the author’s skill improved considerably over the course of the series.
Also, this is the only book that my wife and I recommended to our kid which they’ve ever read. They even asked for the second one.
That could describe quite a few, honestly. I have a feeling you’re talking about the author of a series about a certain Chicago wizard though!
I was thinking of a different Harry. I read the Chicago based series as they came out, so slowly enough I don’t notice changes in writing style. To me, the sophistication of the other Harry novels increases with the age of the characters, but also because I think the author just got better at writing with more practice. Also, both Harrys live in the same universe, because that conceit improves both series.
Interesting to compare Carl to Dresden. Butcher ups the stakes in every book, Makes Dresden more powerful, so then has to make the enemies that much more powerful in order to preserve the rule that Dresden must get beat down before he can win.
The stakes for Carl, Donut, and the gang are pretty much the same throughout. They can die; their friends can die. Peril for the rest of the universe is going up, but that’s because of Carl, not as a foil to Carl.
One thing I have liked about the Carl books is that it doesn’t always follow the “Man in a Hole” plot line of the hero having to be stomped before rising up and winning. Sometimes Donut one shots a city boss, because OP is a concept that exists in games, and it can be fun to reenact the sword scene from Raiders.
I haven’t read a ton of litRPG books. The other one I read, He Who Fights Monsters (HWFM), is even worse with the RPG terms. At least in DCC they change. HWFM might repeat it because the character looks at it again. No changes. I hear audio book people get annoyed at it. I can skip it.
I have a bathroom of Doctor Who things (rugs, towels, plug in lights, soap dispensers) and a few wall hangings of geek stuff but nothing that can’t be moved. This is only due to my wife getting me the things and here being annoyed if I don’t show appreciation by hanging them. I also don’t do bumper stickers or back window stickers. Just random thoughts this brought up.
Thanks for the discussion!
Butcher gets dramatically better as time goes on. I was like you and read them somewhat gradually the first time through, but on the second go-round, it was surprising how rough Storm Front in particular was compared to the later novels.
It sounds almost like Dinniman does the “NCIS” style of storytelling, where the point isn’t the plot of the episode/bppl, but rather just a easy framework to have the characters interact and develop during. And I don’t mean that in an insulting or condescending way; IMO that’s one of NCIS’ strengths; the characters get developed and you get invested in them, unlike a lot of other shows, even if you can predict who did it 5-10 minutes into the episode.
Not true at all. It changes dramatically. It started out as just survival, and then later becomes more about defeating the system, even to the extent of risking their lives to attain it.