The Monologuing Is Real.

The MC says something, then retreats into his own head to monologue. It’s painful. The MC is a black hole of charisma, for the characters in the book and for the reader. I can’t stress how many times the MC sits on distributable points, he makes decisions on those points and you would think with all the monologuing we, the reader, would be brought along for that. We aren’t. He constantly makes decisions opaquely so that plot armour for some new skill will save the day.

We are told the MC’s character is broken, he rises through levels quickly, yet in the same book you are told how his level isn’t really real. Then later you get a sense he is somewhat unique, then even further on, he’s maybe a flawed build but it’s never addressed. The MC refuses advice and totally lacks curiosity. He doesn’t listen to anyone and does his thing. He holds on to gobs of class points “for later” but that should also result in him running out of tools or his tools being too weak. He spreads them out and never picks anything. So he is a generalist, he does t pile points into any one skill so when the MC comments on how powerful other people are you are just shaking your head…why would any skill he only put one point in to be relevant 30 levels later? How the points work and how power works isn’t clear.

The MC is deeply frustrating and while he is super curious about the “what and why” of the system, we are only told that he does a lot of reading. He constantly refuses (though not always) to unpack the data in his head and he will go up many % points “off camera” so you don’t even learn what he knows. Everything is always saved for later.

The MC is an ass. He is in a position to train people but other than running dungeons hard, and having a class, why is he now dragging everyone for doing exactly what he does.

Maybe the most frustrating part is this. At one point he gets basically an unlimited budget to upgrade and do things. So you finally perk up thinking, “cool, finally a buying montage and details”, soon after the montage starts the author takes great joy in stripping all joy from the situation by suddenly introducing a new wrinkle that prevents the MC from acquiring actually useful stuff. So everyone else he distributes money to grow in power due to getting what they want and John, because he is special and broken, again can’t. It’s like the Author is allergic to the MC having any bright spots between the angst and monologues.

Or when the MC decides he is never going back to earth. What? Why? He suddenly came to a realization like it’s a truth not a decision and accepts it. This MC is so untethered and ungrounded except where that intersects with his levels and growth.

So his growth is so rapid and he’s a broken character in that he levels so fast and people are jealous. Yet an idea has been forming over many books that because he skipped the basic class and went to advanced that means he is really lacking the entire development of an entire class level. This makes no sense. Like zero. But it’s morphed into how even though he is a Master class, he really isn’t, he’s just a fancy advanced class. How the actual heck is that supposed to work. So he isn’t special? He got to cheat according to system rules, which initially gave him advantages supposedly, but now while in master class the author keeps saying he is really an advanced class. This then morphed into John not being able to buy Master Class skills in the store…what? Only advanced. OK so what does this mean? No clarity on that either. Supposedly our special hero keeps up or even beats people at or above his level even though technically they have a much higher TRUE level. So he advances quickly. That makes him special maybe? No not really…he is an advanced class that scales to master class I guess.

The author has made a mess of scaling and the various comments made in books about johns true level. It comes out in comments in Johns head over many books so there isn’t just a proper discussion explaining it and how to deal with it. Instead it’s meted out over books and rears its ugly head to nerf John at various moments that could have been greatly exciting.

John, the MC monologues so much and between conversations to the point it’s becoming a running joke. John stares off into nothing thinking a lot. It almost got him killed once. Someone will ask him a question and you think YAY maybe we get out of John’s head for a minute. Nope. Before answering it’s all monologuing. It’s become truly painful. Everyone outside of the character must wonder what’s going on with him. He’s an ass, rude, cocky and painful to be around…yet people are drawn to him. That’s some grade A plot armour. The MC has become less and less likeable. The second day characters that like him
Don’t talk either. So basically you are stuck in John’s dumb head 90% of the book.

This series is “tell not do”, to such a ridiculous degree that it makes me really wonder why the author chose to write the character, in whose head we are stuck, as such an unlikeable person. He hardly talks and when he does he is always gruff and snarly about it. Why?

Power is cheap: the system in this book is a mess. The MC doesn’t grasp and learn to the highest level skills that fall outside of the system. Interesting. We are told these exist, but the MC is never curious enough to pursue it to a high degree which would have made for a more compelling story than a cash strapped quester who can’t afford the real fun stuff. As said before, even when he suddenly has money something always pops up. The MC is happy to have money but also rails against it and does his best to have no attachment including pulling out of major investments early. Why? What’s the rush? He did pull out huge money and went shopping but it was boring, later he gets even more. Boring again. Power is cheap if it’s a system purchased skill. Anyone can buy non-class skills or close approximations…this made it less special. Having expectations damped for the MC after early on being pumped up is unfortunate. Even if the MC has a windfall later on it’s too late. The actual progression and fun of a system based book is lacking. I guess that’s what happens when the MC banks class skills for ages and then “off camera” so to speak, actually places them all. So you don’t often get the joy of those. But then spreading them all over his class skills, seemingly refusing to put more than 1 point in any of them robs the reader the journey of discovery as he ranks those class skills up and all the fun that can come with that. Most of the big stuff happens off camera and is a sudden reveal later like the author is trying to surprise us with plot armour.

I’m sucked in at this point and will finish it, but at this will be my last series from this author. Too opaque, too much monologuing, too much of a salty MC and secondary characters that could have been made more interesting if THEY had been utilized to bring info to the reader instead of stuck in one head. It’s a missed opportunity. The system as “everything to everyone”, was not as well planned out as it could have been. The opacity of the system and ignorance of the reader is used to provide drama later or tamp down expectations (as with the MC)

The Narrator is amazing as always.

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