Thorsten Schiller

Frustrating series. I quite enjoyed the premise and setup but found the series hopelessly inconsistent. Some spoilers ahead.

One core issue is that we see the MC's accomplishments in isolation, like nobody in the rest of the world is really doing or accomplishing anything within their easy grasp as well. A single park ranger can grant enough land to make him a Prince (not even dwelling on this point) and there is no other scenario on the entire planet where someone can justify similar land ownership for themselves? The MC gains access to gold depositories (again, not dwelling on the value of gold) and there are no similar sources of wealth in the rest of the world?

Skills and classes are mentioned but really seem to have no tangible impact and really are just a reflection of what people did in the past lives or what crafting profession they chose since. Oh, and Cooking. There are very few instances where people around the MC seem to be growing into their classes and learning interesting new abilities; the best example of his was Nancy, I think, whose Grow spell got fancier in an earlier book.

Stats are mentioned frequently but don't really seem to have much of an impact. The MC is a “battlemage” (I think - his class has so little relevance or mention that I struggle to recall it) and ironically the only stat mentioned often is his amazing Strength, which should be eclipsed manyfold by anyone with a remotely physical build by this point. Where are the high strength, high dexterity, high stamina builds?

Levels feels like they are just decoration and assigned arbitrarily. They convey no actual sense of strength or threat. The MC has fought mid-teen level mobs at low level, the same level and at twice their level and the ease of the fight appeared to have no correlation whatsoever with the level of the mob.

The absolutely worst aspect is, of course, the wealth. Again, not dwelling on the stupidity of the value of precious metals to space faring aliens. The MC gains access to effectively infinite money and the series just crashes at this point because the MC has to act spectacularly stupid to offset the impossible power up he just got. He doesn't “remember” that he can upgrade his strongholds defensively, he only buys a few weapon upgrades, he doesn't buy any personal shields, communication devices, aircraft ... he's handicapped by not setting up teleporters everywhere right away only for us to learn that buying more capacity is actually dirt cheap. Then he decides to finally buy some COMBAT ROBOTS ... and buys 5,000 of them. Then brings like 3 with him on his next dungeon dive, still insists on “tanking” and only Prime's insistence on tagging along with him saves his life.

In the end, though, it was the erratic and inconsistent writing that had me pull the ripcord at 33%. From using his prisoners as live fish bait, to having teenage girls murder them in cold blood to power level, to being shot in the chest yet again (with still NO protections beyond plot armor), to the wtf moment where the nice aliens draw and quarter the guy ... it was all just too much.

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.

A satisfying end to a great series. My only real complaint is naming the two principal female leads Annalise and Angelina... I've lost count of how often I had to re-read a paragraph because I had misread which of the two was talking or acting. ;)

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.

I still enjoyed this third installment but there is a persistent problem with this author's series that as the harem grows it feels like more and more of the story is consumed with affirmations of love and reassuring insecurities. That in itself isn't a bad thing, and part of the charm of earlier volumes, but it just doesn't leave much space left over for the story to grow.

I am looking forward to the fourth book but that may be the end of the road for me if the story progresses as little as it did in this one.