He Who Fights with Monsters 5 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a weird one to review. It's not bad at all, but on reflection, it's just an on-Earth battle-fest with tragedy against reality eating vampires showing us that we're underwhelmed a good half of the time and utterly outclassed the rest.

It makes for good drama and a solid ongoing read, but there's a real lack of character building compared to the previous novel.

Of course, read together, it's hardly noticeable. Everything runs smoothly, and long, and fun.

So really, no complaints. :) Can't wait to squash these blood drinkers, though.

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He Who Fights with Monsters 4 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one kinda hit me out of left field and no mistake. I knew it could always be a possibility, but this kind of thing rarely happens in a fantasy series. I usually ALWAYS see it in MilSF novels because that's when the victorious troops always seem to come back to Earth only to find it all messed up and now they have to use all their prodigious skills to clean up other's messes.

In fantasy novels, being the strange returner USUALLY doesn't happen until much later.

In this case, it's a strong balance between not being supremely OP and yet still having a comfortable time of it anyway.

Australia didn't know what hit it. :)

Very, very enjoyable.

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He Who Fights with Monsters 3 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A big turning point in this novel. It starts out innocuous. More team building, rehabbing Jason's reputation, getting stronger on a road trip, but it gets insane and the big baddie is challenged FAR earlier than intended. Again.

That's the thing about road trips. They sometimes end disastrously.

And that's why I think this one seriously elevates the series for the first time. It was really good before. Now it's starting to get deep.

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He Who Fights with Monsters 2 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid and enjoyable, this LitRPG has veered into a solid team-building exercise with characters we got to know individually in the first book. Nothing too unusual happened here except the expected political hiccups, demotions, quests, and puzzles.

The best part is the team-building, of course. Very character-centric. And Jason is truly a character. He probably should have been strangled in his crib. And his team would likely agree with me.



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He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There ought to be a non-standard warning attached to this title.

Monsters are far from everything Jason fights. Indeed, this is a much more social Isekai than I thought it would be. I frankly assumed it'd be a solo progression based on what little I gleaned from it, but no. This displaced Australian is a true people person, which seems to be quite at odds with his whole doom/apocalypse DoT Sin-Eater build.

I guess it helps being an all-rounded kind of guy who can fire up a barbie while making his enemies rot from the inside as they run at you. Fun times!

To be perfectly honest, I thought this was a fairly average LitRPG for the first half, and was pleasantly surprised by the new directions by the second. Worth holding onto. I'm going to jump into the next right away.

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Uncapped: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Adventure by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to admit, there were some genuinely punny moments in this book. Just punny enough to make me want to youthenize myself. Oh, truly, rejuvenation has never been so... deadly. Or, at least, to my dad-sense.

And now that we've well moved on from those damn dwarves and we're jumping up and down world lines with summononed-coffee-addled impunity, I'm truly vibing to this. And being a true completionist seems to be truly in our grasp.

And I find it continually hilarious that the system keeps TRYING to give him so many new skills which he must constantly decline. Or that he is OWED so much cosmic karma debt that trying to get it repaid would destroy him utterly a thousand times over. It's truly hilarious.

And this last achievement... has really blown off my hat. I can't wait to see where it goes now. There's still new robes to don. Anger to be had against him.

This LitRPG has had its ups and downs, but it's back in fine form.



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All The Skills: Book 6: A Deck-Building LitRPG by Honour Rae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cleanup of a massive outbreak of scourge, consolidating his new clan, becoming beast with all his legendary cards, and generally just getting better with ALL the skills, this continuation is, quite frankly, more of the same. Big plot progression, let alone minor plot progression, either passes by without much hassle, or is so minor as to be negligible.

Good thing all other things are going to hell, or there'd be no story.

All told, still a fun read.

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