Tammie

This was free on KU so I decided against my better judgement to try it since so many people love it. I already knew litrpg was not for me, but I thought maybe this one was different, maybe it was better. So many people love this, it has to be, right? Nope. I couldn't even finish this. Litrpg is still not for me, and I can say for sure that I'm done giving this genre a chance.

2.5 stars

I'm sorry to my friends who liked this book. I really wanted to like it too and I wish I had but unfortunately, this wasn't for me. Going into this I was actually hoping the villain wasn't really a villain, but a Robin Hood type instead. In some ways that's kind of true, but Robin Hood didn't torture people, so this villain was actually a villain in my opinion. It seems a lot of other reviewers felt the opposite about him, that he wasn't villainous enough, and I can see where they're coming from if they picked this up hoping for a character that did lots of dark things. I can also see where they are coming from because this villain is written in a way that doesn't make sense. A person who likes torturing people would be a lot more hardened than this guy was.

I not only have problems with the way The Villain is written in this book, but I also have problems with the way the book is written as a whole. It was supposed to be funny, and I know other people found it funny, but the humor fell flat for me. It's also seems like it's supposed to be either cozy fantasy, romantasy, or satire, and in my opinion it fails at being any of those things. I'm not really sure if the author knew what she wanted it to be. The villainous acts of The Villain (though not as villainous as some people wanted him to be), make this not a good cozy fantasy, and the lack of any real romance in the book makes it a poor romantasy. There's a lot of longing and admiring that goes on but only one kiss and a couple of hugs actually take place. This could have worked as a satire if the author would have fully gone for that, but it doesn't lean into it heavy enough. There's also the fact that it reads like a middle grade or YA novel, and it's supposed to be written for adults. It felt very juvenile, but with cursing and dead tortured bodies thrown in. It just didn't work for me.


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This was a standalone novel in the Cass Leary series. We will be reading this series in 2026, I think starting in January. I don't know where this novel fits into the timeline of the series but it was a good standalone with very little spoilers for the rest of the series. There were some spoilers involving relationships but as far as I could tell that was it. It let me wanting to read more of the series, which is always a good thing. I enjoyed reading the Christmas theme at Christmas time. The courtroom drama was little too Hollywood and not quite realistic enough, but that didn't bother me enough to matter too much. Though I hope that won't be a regular occurrence. I didn't care for the narrator of the audio but will probably keep listening to these on audio instead of eye reading anyway. This is the genre I enjoy listening to the most, and I need some audio books to listen to while I work around the house.


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4.5 stars.