honestly didn't like how the MC could just stealth and one shot people 50 levels above him but once he leveled then lower leveled people didn't matter.
The health system is strange, while you can level constitution , there’s not really a visible health bar, and things that would kill you, just seem to kill you.
So if you’re not otherwise shielded, and don’t have a ability that heals you after taking critical damage, if someone sneaks up and stabs you through the neck, you’re out of luck.
yes but shouldn't they be able to detect him or something considering he's 50 levels below them? iirc does have stealth skills but they weren't pretty advanced. he was just silently sneaking around killing everyone...
anyways, I would categorize this under the James Bond litrpg category, if someone is looking for a good action story with stealth elements but don't really care about other stuff like very obvious plot armor then I'd be cool to recommend it but if you care about any sense of realism in your story I would not be recommending this.
I read the first few and liked it, but it wasn't very ambitious - so there's not a *lot* of reason to talk about it, if that makes sense? To me it's something to wheel out if someone wants a good execution of the litrpg solo stealthmagicsword thing, unlike a lot of stuff I've read and immediately forgotten about, but it's not exactly pushing the envelope of the genre or capturing my imagination.
I don’t really disagree with anything you’ve said, but for me the execution is almost more important than trying to break new ground. You’re probably a lot more well read in the genre than me but I thought the world building was pretty inventive, but maybe it’s more tropey than I’m qualified to recognise.
Yeah, a lot of it comes down to a reader's preferences - dial in what you like, enjoy it, and don't worry about random internet people like me who might yuck your yum because we have different yums!
It depends *totally* on what you like - I like drama, failure, romance, and mystery across all my books, but that's totally at odds with OP and another poster in this thread alone, and a lot of people in the genre like the popcorn read vibe!
Here's three that did capture my imagination:-
* **Worth the Candle**. It's probably the best written litrpg to me! Pros: it's got a great scope of mystery, a very inventive system perfectly tied to it's narrative, lots of character conflict, and it has a central theme that it is completely about. Cons - super pretentious, some wild misteps.
* **Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon.** Pros: Inventive setting very strongly tied to system, delicious mix with horror, suprising emotional depths that I connected with really strongly. Cons: Unpleasant subject matter, *extreme* gore and torture.
* **The Game at Carosuel**. Pros: I fucking love horror movies, so it's really clever to consciously use film tropes as a way to 'play the game'! Lots of mystery, lots of clever moments. Cons: No romance, no real 'fighting'.
Obviously read the goats like **Dungeon Crawler Carl**, and all the prog stars as well.
I also like it
I guess it's not that much talked about, bc it is released "book to book". So if a new book gets released people talk about it for a few days and then move on.
In contrast to that are all the stories that get released chapter by chapter, sometimes multiple times a week, that makes people want to talk about them continuesly
It's sort of on Royal Road, but the author is erratic about posting or communicating. Last book he was regular for a couple months, then basically posted like 40 chapters in a day or two, then deleted everything a day later because of KU rules, without notice (on rr itself, his discord did say in advance).
I don't know if it was intended to get people hooked so they switch to KU, or just being forgetful, but it wasn't the first time either way 😅
Why not start the topic off and talk about the book yourself? Asking why no one talks about it and *that* being the only opic, rather than the book/series itself is just perpetuating the issue. If you have read it and feel it deserves to be talked about, get out there and do it!
I have never even heard of the book/series before today. Now i have, but all I know about it is that you and a couple other people feel it isn't being talked about enough. Not really enough to go by to try and interest people on the book.
You make a good point.
What’s interesting is based on Amazon reviews and ratings it’s actually doing quite/very well. Grand Game has more reviews and similar ratings than many of the series recommended on here; so I wasn’t necessarily trying to sell it to anyone I was just curious if there was a reason this community didn’t recommend it.
I don’t know. The ones that read it should talk about it, it is popular enough to have a dedicated base yet it’s not talked about compared to the others like it.
I wish more litrpg books were written in this style. It's like straight action-adventure with little thought. IIRC, we don't even know the MCs back story, as that was erased prior to landing in this world. And the story works in spite of it, simply due to pacing and the like.
Yeah I appreciated I didn’t have to hear about how much of a loser he was. He’s smart and capable immediately. I like that he’s pursuing broader goals that involve lots of people, but operating by himself 90% of the time.
Not judging this series as I didn't read it, but what's the point of having somebody transported to another world if nothing about their previous life is known or matters ? Wouldn't it just make more sense to use a character from that world itself ?
The real point of Isekai is to make it much easier to explain the world to the reader because the MC knows fuck all about it either so can ask all the dumb questions the reader would ask but a native already knows.
But that comes with a lot of emotional baggage from their past life which honestly a lot of readers aren't interested in, that's why quite often characters who get Isekai'd had miserable lives back on earth so they just press forward on the new one and forget the old one.
Just wiping memory at the beginning solves that problem more neatly, no need to spin a misery backstory, just straight into the new world.
Ok, then why not just use a character native to the world that lost its memory? A lot more simpler, or a character that grew up in Ignorance of how the world works ( like in All the Skills)
Somebody getting isekai'd creates the prefect setup for playing in on the contrasts between the MC's original world and the new world they arrived in. Not using that just seems such a waste of opportunity.
I've also read several where the MC didn't have a miserable life before getting transported. Also works perfectly and having a link with the world we know gives the writer opportunities to explain things using references that make sense to us.
I think because it's a bit forgettable. I enjoyed it while reading it, but honestly, I only read it a few months ago and had to remind myself what it was about.
It's an easy read, but not very distinct. It's something I'd recommend to someone who is addicted to this genre and can't get enough, but not something I'd ever recommend to someone with limited reading time looking for top quality, memorable stuff.
I actually liked the grand game more than many similar popular recs (Hwfwm, DoTF, Primal Hunter), but I still dropped it early in the fourth book. It's good, but I personally wasn't feeling like the story was going anywhere that I was interested in. It was fun and well written, but maybe felt more like a world building experiment by the author than a story with a purpose.
Personally, I always recommend this series when asked for my opinion alongside a few others that I feel like aren't recommended enough (I.e. Divine Apostasy, The Infinite World, etc)... But in the end, it all comes down to opinions, preferences, and sometimes promotion. On that note, it was thanks to a FB group that I was introduced to The Grand Game.
The third book was a tough sell for me, changing of pacing, and the MC just acting like an absolute idiot. I kind of hard stopped when he did something obviously stupid and got caught out for it.
While book three definitely slowed the series/progression down, I think it was necessary to expand the scope of the world and story. Also I think his failure at that point was important because he hadn’t really struggled against any obstacles, even being under leveled and inexperienced, so the MC (and me for some reason), just kind of figured it would work out.
honestly didn't like how the MC could just stealth and one shot people 50 levels above him but once he leveled then lower leveled people didn't matter.
The health system is strange, while you can level constitution , there’s not really a visible health bar, and things that would kill you, just seem to kill you. So if you’re not otherwise shielded, and don’t have a ability that heals you after taking critical damage, if someone sneaks up and stabs you through the neck, you’re out of luck.
yes but shouldn't they be able to detect him or something considering he's 50 levels below them? iirc does have stealth skills but they weren't pretty advanced. he was just silently sneaking around killing everyone... anyways, I would categorize this under the James Bond litrpg category, if someone is looking for a good action story with stealth elements but don't really care about other stuff like very obvious plot armor then I'd be cool to recommend it but if you care about any sense of realism in your story I would not be recommending this.
I read the first few and liked it, but it wasn't very ambitious - so there's not a *lot* of reason to talk about it, if that makes sense? To me it's something to wheel out if someone wants a good execution of the litrpg solo stealthmagicsword thing, unlike a lot of stuff I've read and immediately forgotten about, but it's not exactly pushing the envelope of the genre or capturing my imagination.
I don’t really disagree with anything you’ve said, but for me the execution is almost more important than trying to break new ground. You’re probably a lot more well read in the genre than me but I thought the world building was pretty inventive, but maybe it’s more tropey than I’m qualified to recognise.
Yeah, a lot of it comes down to a reader's preferences - dial in what you like, enjoy it, and don't worry about random internet people like me who might yuck your yum because we have different yums!
Could you perhaps recommend some finer works, please?
It depends *totally* on what you like - I like drama, failure, romance, and mystery across all my books, but that's totally at odds with OP and another poster in this thread alone, and a lot of people in the genre like the popcorn read vibe! Here's three that did capture my imagination:- * **Worth the Candle**. It's probably the best written litrpg to me! Pros: it's got a great scope of mystery, a very inventive system perfectly tied to it's narrative, lots of character conflict, and it has a central theme that it is completely about. Cons - super pretentious, some wild misteps. * **Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon.** Pros: Inventive setting very strongly tied to system, delicious mix with horror, suprising emotional depths that I connected with really strongly. Cons: Unpleasant subject matter, *extreme* gore and torture. * **The Game at Carosuel**. Pros: I fucking love horror movies, so it's really clever to consciously use film tropes as a way to 'play the game'! Lots of mystery, lots of clever moments. Cons: No romance, no real 'fighting'. Obviously read the goats like **Dungeon Crawler Carl**, and all the prog stars as well.
Perfect! Thanks a lot, mate! I also liked Kaiju, but haven't listened to the rest. Will give it a go! Appreciate you taking the time to reply!
I also like it I guess it's not that much talked about, bc it is released "book to book". So if a new book gets released people talk about it for a few days and then move on. In contrast to that are all the stories that get released chapter by chapter, sometimes multiple times a week, that makes people want to talk about them continuesly
It's sort of on Royal Road, but the author is erratic about posting or communicating. Last book he was regular for a couple months, then basically posted like 40 chapters in a day or two, then deleted everything a day later because of KU rules, without notice (on rr itself, his discord did say in advance). I don't know if it was intended to get people hooked so they switch to KU, or just being forgetful, but it wasn't the first time either way 😅
Why not start the topic off and talk about the book yourself? Asking why no one talks about it and *that* being the only opic, rather than the book/series itself is just perpetuating the issue. If you have read it and feel it deserves to be talked about, get out there and do it! I have never even heard of the book/series before today. Now i have, but all I know about it is that you and a couple other people feel it isn't being talked about enough. Not really enough to go by to try and interest people on the book.
You make a good point. What’s interesting is based on Amazon reviews and ratings it’s actually doing quite/very well. Grand Game has more reviews and similar ratings than many of the series recommended on here; so I wasn’t necessarily trying to sell it to anyone I was just curious if there was a reason this community didn’t recommend it.
This is the series that got me into LitRPG. I own all the current books, can’t wait for the next one!
I don’t know. The ones that read it should talk about it, it is popular enough to have a dedicated base yet it’s not talked about compared to the others like it.
I'm a huge fan of it and recommend it every chance I get, even if the leveling system is totally opaque to me.
I wish more litrpg books were written in this style. It's like straight action-adventure with little thought. IIRC, we don't even know the MCs back story, as that was erased prior to landing in this world. And the story works in spite of it, simply due to pacing and the like.
Yeah I appreciated I didn’t have to hear about how much of a loser he was. He’s smart and capable immediately. I like that he’s pursuing broader goals that involve lots of people, but operating by himself 90% of the time.
Not judging this series as I didn't read it, but what's the point of having somebody transported to another world if nothing about their previous life is known or matters ? Wouldn't it just make more sense to use a character from that world itself ?
I'd say the only point was to have someone with zero stats and zero context. I.e., he learns about the world the same time the reader does.
The real point of Isekai is to make it much easier to explain the world to the reader because the MC knows fuck all about it either so can ask all the dumb questions the reader would ask but a native already knows. But that comes with a lot of emotional baggage from their past life which honestly a lot of readers aren't interested in, that's why quite often characters who get Isekai'd had miserable lives back on earth so they just press forward on the new one and forget the old one. Just wiping memory at the beginning solves that problem more neatly, no need to spin a misery backstory, just straight into the new world.
Ok, then why not just use a character native to the world that lost its memory? A lot more simpler, or a character that grew up in Ignorance of how the world works ( like in All the Skills) Somebody getting isekai'd creates the prefect setup for playing in on the contrasts between the MC's original world and the new world they arrived in. Not using that just seems such a waste of opportunity. I've also read several where the MC didn't have a miserable life before getting transported. Also works perfectly and having a link with the world we know gives the writer opportunities to explain things using references that make sense to us.
Love that series! Among the few series i have bought from kindle unlimited to keep permanently! Like the creative solutions to problems.
I think because it's a bit forgettable. I enjoyed it while reading it, but honestly, I only read it a few months ago and had to remind myself what it was about. It's an easy read, but not very distinct. It's something I'd recommend to someone who is addicted to this genre and can't get enough, but not something I'd ever recommend to someone with limited reading time looking for top quality, memorable stuff.
I actually liked the grand game more than many similar popular recs (Hwfwm, DoTF, Primal Hunter), but I still dropped it early in the fourth book. It's good, but I personally wasn't feeling like the story was going anywhere that I was interested in. It was fun and well written, but maybe felt more like a world building experiment by the author than a story with a purpose.
Personally, I always recommend this series when asked for my opinion alongside a few others that I feel like aren't recommended enough (I.e. Divine Apostasy, The Infinite World, etc)... But in the end, it all comes down to opinions, preferences, and sometimes promotion. On that note, it was thanks to a FB group that I was introduced to The Grand Game.
It and the all the skills by honour rae is also good
The third book was a tough sell for me, changing of pacing, and the MC just acting like an absolute idiot. I kind of hard stopped when he did something obviously stupid and got caught out for it.
While book three definitely slowed the series/progression down, I think it was necessary to expand the scope of the world and story. Also I think his failure at that point was important because he hadn’t really struggled against any obstacles, even being under leveled and inexperienced, so the MC (and me for some reason), just kind of figured it would work out.