Thorsten Schiller

I've enjoyed this series so far and the only thing that's really keeping me giving the second book five stars is that the stats system feels pretty arbitrarily applied, more decorative than functional. You never really get a sense that skill level matters for anything other than the MC needing to retry some skills occasionally.

This is even more evident in the combat where, initially, it felt annoying that the MC's really basic and seemingly readily available skill combination of stealth and simple charm felt absurdly overpowered; why didn't every faction just run around with stealth mind controllers? But towards the end of the book, I realized it was more that everything was just as fragile or durable as the author wanted it to be for a given scene. Whether the target is level 100 or level 20, apparently if you stab it and really try to hit a vulnerable spot it just dies in one hit. Enemies that hit you, never one-shot you. Enemies that you charm and then hit their allies, usually one-shot them.

Obviously, every scene is ultimately scripted by the author but I do appreciate it when the cause and effect are internally consistent.

That said, I do enjoy the world, I like the Powers and the history behind that and the path the MC is on.

I was ok with an OP protagonist. It's kind of the whole premise of the last warrior being reborn to try it again.

I was ok with the quality of the translation. You end up with some odd sentences here and there but nothing that distracts you too much.

What ruined the read for me were the sound effects. I've never liked this and this book uses it continuously. I don't even know what “PI PI PIT” is supposed to be or how that relates to the sound of blades striking a shield. I'm also always of the mind that describing a menacing sound is much more effective than trying to write the sound itself. “the dog barks menacingly” rather than, and I kid you not, “woof! woof woof”. One builds tension, the other just breaks you out of your flow going wtf?

I enjoyed the core story, I just don't know if I want to continue with the series because this writing style is frustrating to read for me.

I still really enjoy this world and the characters and will continue to follow this series. Interestingly, the choice of using the first-person narrative in this book helped alleviate one of my biggest complaints about the previous book(s), the endless fawning of the supporting characters over how amazing the main characters are.

My main concerns with this book, and the reason for it not being a 5-star review, are two-fold.
1. The character power escalation is so out of control that there is just no conceivable threat anymore; most of the conflict ends up being social and results in a lot of sanctimonious monologuing.
2. I didn't really feel the whole premise of this book but I'd have had an easier time rolling with it if the middle of the story didn't get so lost in throwing simple solutions at complex problems. Until the alien invasion, I wasn't sure if I was reading a ham-fisted enviro-political manifesto or a Demon Accords novel.

Overall I enjoyed this book. The first half was a little disheartening because it just felt like nothing more than fluttering about and then blink/fold/stab/bladestorm/internal monologue.

What saved this book and really makes me hopeful for the next book is Rose. This book desperately needed more characters and more variety; solo delving had played out and had become tediously repetitive. Having someone to interact with and enriching the variety of magic and skills adds so much more dimension to the story.