/lit/ - Literature

This started out as a promising new entry in the genre of Australian litrpgs, this of the system apocalypse variety. In this one, the flimsy setup is that when a civilization takes science too far, local reality is altered and a higher order emerges, usually upsetting things enough to destroy said civilization when it first emerges. So over time galactic civilization has developed means to help newly changed planets along, supplying people with an interface that just happens to resemble World of Warcraft and blah blah blah you've heard it all before and nobody fucking cares.

The system and setup were engaging, though. MC is stuck in Wagga Wagga and needs to get back to his family in Melbourne. So his job is to balance his urgent need to get home to his wife with his urgent need to get strong enough to make the journey. Author has a bit of a growth through suffering fetish so the MC's ascent isn't a comfy glide. I liked that he had meaningful failures and meaningful losses along the way.

The problem came in volume 3, where he had to struggle with a shift in enemies from mindless monsters to humans, and how to morally resolve that. The author took the easy way out and made the human adversaries the vilest imaginable sorts -- racists, misogynists and vaccine deniers. I mean. Really, really, really sucked the life out of this thing.

I felt like the He Who Fights With Monsters story died at some point, but then the author matured a little bit, got a bit more professional, and was able to breathe life back into it. Don't know if this guy can do the same.