Bit more GameLit, this time from "The Father of American LitRPG". (It's a self-applied title. Make of that what you will.)
This is the story of Richter, who finds himself transported to another world from a VR system, by a demon who wants to use humanity as a way to introduce chaos to his world. This chaos will allow him to free himself from his prison, and rule over the world. That's why humans are referred to as "chaos seeds", far far too many times in this book.
(Amusingly, one of the funniest moments is that the demon is allowed to kidnap people from their own universe because they agreed to the EULA. Always read the terms and conditions.)
This realm obeys the usual tropes, with levels, skills, spells, XP and all the usual. Richter naturally starts out as a level 1 moron, and slowly advances over the course of the novel to become a higher level moron.
He is sent out into the world with no real plan or objective, which makes it very handy indeed that he runs into Sion, a wood sprite. Fourtunately, after trying to kill him a couple of times, being a dick for a few chapters and then being rescued once, he becomes Richter's most staunch ally and friend.
Until all the other people that Richter rescues turn up. See, even though he's been brought to this world as a chaotic influence, he spends the entire book amassing power and allies, in order to create a new nation of peace and tolerance for humans and non-humans alike. He's helped along the way by almost immediately walking into a village which gives him a massive power boost, and falling over a treasure chest with the equivalent of a couple of million pounds in it.
Plus, he's able to learn all of the skills, gets more stat points than any other person/race, and doesn't have any sort of limitation that might provide some tension. Or a worthwhile conflict.
Stats are important, and just in case you ever forget any, they'll be helpfully repeated every three sentences. For the love of god, LitRPG authors, sometimes less is more. Overly strict compliance to the form can ruin a good story.
Thankfully (or not, since I had to read the whole damn thing), there's not a good story to ruin here. Richter wanders about, being wildly impressive, winning all the fights by being OP, makes friends with everyone, lines up an Elf woman for banging in a sequel and starts an entire nation full of all the people everyone else doesn't want/have enslaved because grr, evil. Also talks like a schoolboy who's just discovered that it's funny to say rude things.
It's "fantasy" in the sense that you might daydream about taking over the world and being all powerful on a long sunny afternoon when you've not got anything better to do. Find something better to do.
Tagged: Book GameLit Fantasy world Novel Audio