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He Who Fights with Monsters #3
He Who Fights with Monsters 3
For all that Jason’s new life is amazing, he is about to learn that his new power, wealth, and influence comes at a price...
Riding high on success, he and his team are looking to the future, preparing themselves for the challenges to come. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the lessons his enemies have to teach. When magic is involved, the stakes can be even greater than life and death.
While Jason’s personal enemies make plans, the greater foes plaguing his new home have been pushed to the brink. With one powerful card left to play, they are on a collision course with Jason and his team. With no one to help and more than their lives on the line, Jason and his companions must fight with more monsters than ever in the race to grow stronger. With an invincible enemy already anticipating them, they will learn that sometimes winning the battle is more important than surviving it.
Riding high on success, he and his team are looking to the future, preparing themselves for the challenges to come. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the lessons his enemies have to teach. When magic is involved, the stakes can be even greater than life and death.
While Jason’s personal enemies make plans, the greater foes plaguing his new home have been pushed to the brink. With one powerful card left to play, they are on a collision course with Jason and his team. With no one to help and more than their lives on the line, Jason and his companions must fight with more monsters than ever in the race to grow stronger. With an invincible enemy already anticipating them, they will learn that sometimes winning the battle is more important than surviving it.
895 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2021
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March 8, 2024
I will not talk about things that pissed me off to the point of thinking of giving this 2 stars first, because then i would have to cut the review short, so let's talk about the good.
This probably is the most concrete, the most clear, the most driven, and complicated plot in LITRPG period, which all should indicate that Travis really is the best there is to do it. (writing litrpg)
the issue is the mistakes Travis keeps falling into, out of habit, out of neccisity, out of desire to prolong the series, it don't matter, the issue will still remain that 60% of each He who fights with Monsters novel, are a slug to get through.
This thing about mixing the two worlds, our world and the magic world that Jason got isekaied to, is brilliant, like i kind of knew it was coming because i read a future intro that Said Farah and Jason just beat a threat to Earth, so i knew all along that he will go back to Earth to fight something there, and that Farah will be revived and join him, and this totally btw isn't even a spoiler this time, because next book intro totally mentions Farah is alive, So Welcome back to our badass magician she was missed, i hope she don't kick the bucket again.
As for character development this book, Three people really shined through or are showing a lot of promise, for me Belinda was always the most useless of the entire team, and the weirdest choice to include in the novel, it felt to me like okay we want one more girl in the team, let's take Belinda, Her skillset this book just came into their own, she is still not an exciting character, but at least she is useful to the team now.
Clive underwent the best ever transformation because of Jason's Death, or maybe even before that because of Jason's encouragement, but he is really the most interesting of the team now since Jason is not with them anymore.
Neil isn't there yet, but he is definitely showing promise now, his character with the most boring honestly, but him not having to carry more than his own weight anymore, because of following an imbecile like Thadwick Mercer, is letting him kick back and show his real character, which is a little like Jason, but that's what makes it fun, because the two are polar opposites of one another.
Thadwick might not be part of the team, he might be the Draco Malfoy to Jason's harry potter, but he is also undergoing extreme changes in every single book, from being subjected to the star seed, to going back of his own freewill to the cult of the builder, to losing his life and becoming the vessel of the builder, to becoming possibly? a diamond rank energy vampire!!! I mean come on you think anyone progressing fast in this novel, look at the shell of Thadwick from iron rank to diamond rank without doing any work or anything useful in his entire miserable life, His shadow still lingering in the alley ways of this novel, is the best choice, because it's making him a true worthy rival, that even though it's through misery and losing his entire being, he is still proving relevant in the novel, despite all the odds.
As for The worst thing about this novel, which we might get a rest from next book, is the entire idea that it's a novel about an entire fucking team of six members, 20 skills each, 120 skills total, impossible to memorize and the writer knows it, and we end up with the absolute and utter waste of time of reciting what the skill does two and three chapters in a row, when nothing really changed, Technical Text of what the skill does, instead of figuring out a way to just describe and refresh our memory of what it does with prose, with describing what they did briefly without the entire wall of text, and you are stuck, he is stuck with his formulae, and we are stuck with him, and the only way is just to butcher these motherfuckers, kill Sophie Kill Belinda Kill Clive Kill Humphrey Kill Neil, that's what i felt, it's better than 2 starring the series and just dropping it forever.
The other bad thing is the repetitiveness of talking about the exact same bullshit the entire novel, Magical theory Bla bla bla, Exact same shit we talked about in the same book 3 times, and we talked about it last book three times, if i am studying this for University i wouldn't reread them this fucking much.
another thing with how the characters feel, nothing changed, Jason still feeling the same shit, Sophie still feeling the same shit, Humphrey is still the golden geller boy who is feeling the same shit, like literally nothing much changed, and we are just being submitted to the torture of talking about the exact same thing going in circles, chasing our own tails, forgetting that we lost the damn tails long ago, i mean come on....
Okay i remember one last good thing, with this ending, Travis managed to make He who fights with Monsters 4 probably the most anticipated book in litrpg period, and if 3 was just a little more better, a little less excoriating to get through, i would have started it immediately like i did with one part of Defiance of the fall before, but yeah i definitely need rest, maybe i am refreshed enough by June that i feel ready to tackle the next book, after stopping reading book 3 three times at least and finishing other stuff.
This probably is the most concrete, the most clear, the most driven, and complicated plot in LITRPG period, which all should indicate that Travis really is the best there is to do it. (writing litrpg)
the issue is the mistakes Travis keeps falling into, out of habit, out of neccisity, out of desire to prolong the series, it don't matter, the issue will still remain that 60% of each He who fights with Monsters novel, are a slug to get through.
This thing about mixing the two worlds, our world and the magic world that Jason got isekaied to, is brilliant, like i kind of knew it was coming because i read a future intro that Said Farah and Jason just beat a threat to Earth, so i knew all along that he will go back to Earth to fight something there, and that Farah will be revived and join him, and this totally btw isn't even a spoiler this time, because next book intro totally mentions Farah is alive, So Welcome back to our badass magician she was missed, i hope she don't kick the bucket again.
As for character development this book, Three people really shined through or are showing a lot of promise, for me Belinda was always the most useless of the entire team, and the weirdest choice to include in the novel, it felt to me like okay we want one more girl in the team, let's take Belinda, Her skillset this book just came into their own, she is still not an exciting character, but at least she is useful to the team now.
Clive underwent the best ever transformation because of Jason's Death, or maybe even before that because of Jason's encouragement, but he is really the most interesting of the team now since Jason is not with them anymore.
Neil isn't there yet, but he is definitely showing promise now, his character with the most boring honestly, but him not having to carry more than his own weight anymore, because of following an imbecile like Thadwick Mercer, is letting him kick back and show his real character, which is a little like Jason, but that's what makes it fun, because the two are polar opposites of one another.
Thadwick might not be part of the team, he might be the Draco Malfoy to Jason's harry potter, but he is also undergoing extreme changes in every single book, from being subjected to the star seed, to going back of his own freewill to the cult of the builder, to losing his life and becoming the vessel of the builder, to becoming possibly? a diamond rank energy vampire!!! I mean come on you think anyone progressing fast in this novel, look at the shell of Thadwick from iron rank to diamond rank without doing any work or anything useful in his entire miserable life, His shadow still lingering in the alley ways of this novel, is the best choice, because it's making him a true worthy rival, that even though it's through misery and losing his entire being, he is still proving relevant in the novel, despite all the odds.
As for The worst thing about this novel, which we might get a rest from next book, is the entire idea that it's a novel about an entire fucking team of six members, 20 skills each, 120 skills total, impossible to memorize and the writer knows it, and we end up with the absolute and utter waste of time of reciting what the skill does two and three chapters in a row, when nothing really changed, Technical Text of what the skill does, instead of figuring out a way to just describe and refresh our memory of what it does with prose, with describing what they did briefly without the entire wall of text, and you are stuck, he is stuck with his formulae, and we are stuck with him, and the only way is just to butcher these motherfuckers, kill Sophie Kill Belinda Kill Clive Kill Humphrey Kill Neil, that's what i felt, it's better than 2 starring the series and just dropping it forever.
The other bad thing is the repetitiveness of talking about the exact same bullshit the entire novel, Magical theory Bla bla bla, Exact same shit we talked about in the same book 3 times, and we talked about it last book three times, if i am studying this for University i wouldn't reread them this fucking much.
another thing with how the characters feel, nothing changed, Jason still feeling the same shit, Sophie still feeling the same shit, Humphrey is still the golden geller boy who is feeling the same shit, like literally nothing much changed, and we are just being submitted to the torture of talking about the exact same thing going in circles, chasing our own tails, forgetting that we lost the damn tails long ago, i mean come on....
Okay i remember one last good thing, with this ending, Travis managed to make He who fights with Monsters 4 probably the most anticipated book in litrpg period, and if 3 was just a little more better, a little less excoriating to get through, i would have started it immediately like i did with one part of Defiance of the fall before, but yeah i definitely need rest, maybe i am refreshed enough by June that i feel ready to tackle the next book, after stopping reading book 3 three times at least and finishing other stuff.
September 8, 2021
This has been a painful read. Out of respect for how much I've loved the first two books I still give it three stars, and I will read the next one coming out later this year. However, it will have to be significantly better than this one for me to continue after that.
The reason why I describe this experience as painful is two-fold.
One of the reasons is the EXTENSIVE spelling mistakes found on nearly every single page. There was even a part where the author forgot to remove a line stating "for audio book please remove for ebook". It made the experience irritating to say the least.
The second reason is because the book up to about 65% in was written in a way that made it feel like a giant summary instead of a story. Not in a way that rehashed what had already happened before, but like the author was summarizing the actual new story of this book. It improved a bit at the end but then another big annoyance came up. It had 8 epilogues!!! WHY? Nothing in those epilogues couldn't have been part of the story apart for one small bit.
Please please please review the book before release and at the very least use a spelling checker to remove instances of "we are are going to bla bla" or "maybe we should we are going to do" etc.
Again, the end of the book picked up in quality aside from the spelling which somewhat made the ending experience better, until you get 8 epilogues. I do recommend reading this if you love the series, despite this review, because it does bring many revelations about the world, characters and the story as a whole. I truly hope the next one will live up to the quality of the first two books which I've already devoured twice this year.
As a side note, I do not claim to be a perfect speller or anything close to that. I make mistakes like everyone else and forgive a lot in books, up to a certain point. This book passed the point.
The reason why I describe this experience as painful is two-fold.
One of the reasons is the EXTENSIVE spelling mistakes found on nearly every single page. There was even a part where the author forgot to remove a line stating "for audio book please remove for ebook". It made the experience irritating to say the least.
The second reason is because the book up to about 65% in was written in a way that made it feel like a giant summary instead of a story. Not in a way that rehashed what had already happened before, but like the author was summarizing the actual new story of this book. It improved a bit at the end but then another big annoyance came up. It had 8 epilogues!!! WHY? Nothing in those epilogues couldn't have been part of the story apart for one small bit.
Please please please review the book before release and at the very least use a spelling checker to remove instances of "we are are going to bla bla" or "maybe we should we are going to do" etc.
Again, the end of the book picked up in quality aside from the spelling which somewhat made the ending experience better, until you get 8 epilogues. I do recommend reading this if you love the series, despite this review, because it does bring many revelations about the world, characters and the story as a whole. I truly hope the next one will live up to the quality of the first two books which I've already devoured twice this year.
As a side note, I do not claim to be a perfect speller or anything close to that. I make mistakes like everyone else and forgive a lot in books, up to a certain point. This book passed the point.
September 12, 2021
For much of this book I was not engaged. It's difficult to write fight scenes while making them both understandable and interesting. In this case, the fight scenes were dull affairs. And there were so many of them we were forced to experience. It didn't help that almost every time some magic ability was used, its entire spec-sheet was listed. I prefer Robert Jordan's approach, where evocative fighting-style names are used, (E.g. Crane spreads its wings), leaving the details to the reader's imagination.
Points are awarded for the metaphysical burn awarded when "The Builder" is derided by his contemporaries for being so needy as to want mortal worshipers.
Points are awarded for the metaphysical burn awarded when "The Builder" is derided by his contemporaries for being so needy as to want mortal worshipers.
September 11, 2021
Endless battles - months worth.
Endless stats - which given now and then are OK but I think these are given way too often for a game *nobody will ever get to play*.
Also, there is some weird stuff. "Hey - we're going to a different plane of existence to root out a bad guy." Cool. I would think they'd be gone for a week or two a month on the outside. No. They are gone for MONTHS. None of the MC's high power friends seem to have any interest in checking to see if they are OK or anything. Did I miss something where they sent a message off?
Also, the world doesn't seem to have anything going on in it other than what the main characters are doing. At all. Reminds me of kind of crappy D&D games.
Endless stats - which given now and then are OK but I think these are given way too often for a game *nobody will ever get to play*.
Also, there is some weird stuff. "Hey - we're going to a different plane of existence to root out a bad guy." Cool. I would think they'd be gone for a week or two a month on the outside. No. They are gone for MONTHS. None of the MC's high power friends seem to have any interest in checking to see if they are OK or anything. Did I miss something where they sent a message off?
Also, the world doesn't seem to have anything going on in it other than what the main characters are doing. At all. Reminds me of kind of crappy D&D games.
September 8, 2021
Notes:
Great narration, but the story content for the book was disappointing. I was excited enough to listen to the story to pre-order the audiobook and read it as soon as I got it. Transition piece with loud proclamations of what's going to happen later.
Great narration, but the story content for the book was disappointing. I was excited enough to listen to the story to pre-order the audiobook and read it as soon as I got it. Transition piece with loud proclamations of what's going to happen later.
September 19, 2021
While I still enjoyed the book overall, my enthusiasm for this series has deflated quite a bit. There are a variety of reasons for this, some are specific to me while others are evidently not, as evidenced by multiple lukewarm reviews by other fans of the series.
There were a lot of typos and grammar mistakes in this book. This was even after the update that corrected the most grievous errors. It might not bother everyone, but the issues were prevalent enough to be a distraction and this book probably had more mistakes than the previous two combined.
The semi-omniscient 3rd person pov combined poorly with a slowdown in pacing to the point where I skimmed regularly. I don't really care about the specific details of a fight when there are no stakes involved. If this story was a movie, then there would have been montages to show the passage of time and growth of strength, but nothing else of import. The skill descriptions were a bit too long and frequent for my tastes as well since I've never really considered this a hard or 'crunchy' litrpg. When mana cost is simply referred to as 'low, moderate, or high', then I don't really need to see page after page of skill info.
The joy of discovering a new world and game mechanics has faded for me and now I'm finding the story a bit slow and unengaging. I still look forward to the next book, but I also hope that the series ends there or with Book 5.
There were a lot of typos and grammar mistakes in this book. This was even after the update that corrected the most grievous errors. It might not bother everyone, but the issues were prevalent enough to be a distraction and this book probably had more mistakes than the previous two combined.
The semi-omniscient 3rd person pov combined poorly with a slowdown in pacing to the point where I skimmed regularly. I don't really care about the specific details of a fight when there are no stakes involved. If this story was a movie, then there would have been montages to show the passage of time and growth of strength, but nothing else of import. The skill descriptions were a bit too long and frequent for my tastes as well since I've never really considered this a hard or 'crunchy' litrpg. When mana cost is simply referred to as 'low, moderate, or high', then I don't really need to see page after page of skill info.
The joy of discovering a new world and game mechanics has faded for me and now I'm finding the story a bit slow and unengaging. I still look forward to the next book, but I also hope that the series ends there or with Book 5.
September 13, 2021
8 + hours of skill rehash, unbelievable levels of it. Subplots that mean nothing. wasting hours on back story secondary characters, no new adventures whatsoever, just visiting the same old place again. Jason is basically in the same back woods town that's not part of the greater community of the world. Epic plot armor for the mc. Repetitiveness during most of the book.
And seriously leaving iron / bronze rankers to the fate of the world? What the HELL is rest of these supposed power house families doing in the meantime to help? Absolutely nothing.
And seriously leaving iron / bronze rankers to the fate of the world? What the HELL is rest of these supposed power house families doing in the meantime to help? Absolutely nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2023
This is third in a LitRPG series and I highly recommend reading them in order.
Having read in order, you know pretty much what to expect. You do get all of that, though this one has some important course-changing developments—none of which fundamentally alter the arc or expectations or characters so much as ramp their power arcs.
This does firm up the main bad guys beyond the merely venal, finally. Which is a relief because I've been made extremely impatient by the bad guys having unaccounted successes. So we finally see the emergence of the main bad, or at least, what I assume is the main bad of the series. The thing is, I find them mostly pretty tedious. But at least they've thrown off the veil of the stupidly venal we've put up with until now.
And it isn't helping that Jason is part of a six-person team so everything (fights, exposition, meals, even meditation) takes so much longer. Not that I want to get rid of any of them. They're a good team and I like their personal dynamics. It's just a bit much.
So this is a solid four stars. It kept my attention. I still like the main character and the developments of this were good. Yes, even . The eight epilogues were enough of a stretch for me to call out, as is the atrocious editing (or lack of?). But still, I'll pick up the next.
A note about Chaste: It's a little oblique and you have to read between the lines a little, but Sophie develops feelings for Jason in this story. But she isn't that well-developed as a person (she's young and hasn't had much control over her life so she's still half-baked). The author handles this pretty well with Jason not making any moves and denying that he would when asked in Jr. High fashion. Which is all to say that there's no shenanigans on page and this is fairly chaste despite some oblique, non-detailed discussions in other contexts.
Having read in order, you know pretty much what to expect. You do get all of that, though this one has some important course-changing developments—none of which fundamentally alter the arc or expectations or characters so much as ramp their power arcs.
This does firm up the main bad guys beyond the merely venal, finally. Which is a relief because I've been made extremely impatient by the bad guys having unaccounted successes. So we finally see the emergence of the main bad, or at least, what I assume is the main bad of the series. The thing is, I find them mostly pretty tedious. But at least they've thrown off the veil of the stupidly venal we've put up with until now.
And it isn't helping that Jason is part of a six-person team so everything (fights, exposition, meals, even meditation) takes so much longer. Not that I want to get rid of any of them. They're a good team and I like their personal dynamics. It's just a bit much.
So this is a solid four stars. It kept my attention. I still like the main character and the developments of this were good. Yes, even . The eight epilogues were enough of a stretch for me to call out, as is the atrocious editing (or lack of?). But still, I'll pick up the next.
A note about Chaste: It's a little oblique and you have to read between the lines a little, but Sophie develops feelings for Jason in this story. But she isn't that well-developed as a person (she's young and hasn't had much control over her life so she's still half-baked). The author handles this pretty well with Jason not making any moves and denying that he would when asked in Jr. High fashion. Which is all to say that there's no shenanigans on page and this is fairly chaste despite some oblique, non-detailed discussions in other contexts.
October 1, 2021
Sadness
Every fight felt like filler that I was incredibly tempted to skip. Skills, descriptions, and just the way fights were written was incredibly boring. I made it to 60% of the book and just couldn't pick it back up.
Wonderful world and entertaining characters. I might try another book by this author in a few years.
Every fight felt like filler that I was incredibly tempted to skip. Skills, descriptions, and just the way fights were written was incredibly boring. I made it to 60% of the book and just couldn't pick it back up.
Wonderful world and entertaining characters. I might try another book by this author in a few years.
May 11, 2022
4/5
The main plot got dragged too much. I was initially gonna give it a 3 star but the ending was fantastic and got me hooked up. Looking forward to the next book.
The main plot got dragged too much. I was initially gonna give it a 3 star but the ending was fantastic and got me hooked up. Looking forward to the next book.
March 22, 2024
Pēc iegūtās pieredzes un dažādu prasmu līmeņu uzlabošanas Reaper Trials laikā iepriekšējās sērijas grāmatas ietvaros, pienācis laiks kā zemietim Džeisonam, tā viņa fantāzijas pasaulē (par Pallimustus sauktu) iegūtajiem draugiem un komandas biedriem jauniegūto konsolidēt un treniņu periodā apgūt gan personīgi jaunās spējas, burvestības, gan krietni uzlabot komandas sinerģiju, lai no pusvārda, no pirmās kustības zinātu, ko grib darīt komandasbiedrs, lai neatstātu nevienu vājo vietu, kuru stiprākam pretiniekam vai briesmonim izmantot savā labā.
https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...
https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...
March 27, 2022
I liked this books content a lot. It was thoroughly enjoyable. There were a lot of mistakes that should have been edited out, just like the other two. I wouldn't have seen these if it wasn't for some very annoying parts of the book. I still docked a star for editing, because I believe it is a vital part of writing and good editors need work just as much as good authors. The narrator again added, subtracted or even changed words to make some parts make sense, not even sure if he realized it was happening. The problem I had with this book was system messages. I understand doing damage calculations, I actually find it interesting. It is a fun part of combat in table top gaming and in video games. I don't like overly repetitive notifications about abilities. If you have explained the same mechanic multiple times, guess what I don't need it again! There were 88 system messages with relation to Iron rank abilities. This in itself wouldn't be a big deal, but every notification is long, and when the 69 Bronze rank notifications are used every occurrence is accompanied by its corresponding Iron explanation. I would imagine that even if I was living in a world that had notifications that would get very annoying, especially since it is the same information repeated every time a certain ability is explained. You would think that the Iron effects would be wrapped up into the Bronze effects and summarized to some extent in order to minimize the effect these messages have on the overall story. I find this information by searching the Kindle app on my phone for specific statements that aren't found anywhere else in the book, and in this case if you look up "Effect (Iron" like I did you will actually get 89 results because in chapter 66 one of the notifications has an editorial mistake where "Effect (iron): Effect (Iron):" was left in the final product. The bottom line is that when just one Bronze rank power explanation takes up an entire page on my phone's kindle app and sometimes a little more, I don't want 69 of those in one book. Reading this isn't much of an issue as you can just skip to the relevant new information and not worry about the repeated stuff, but if you are listening to the book you have to listen to the narration. I actually took to using the Kindle app and manually skipping portions of the book because I found this so annoying somewhere in the middle of the book. Toward the end of the book these notifications become much more sparse, chapters 44-50 are ridiculous though and should be avoided in the audio format. I can't explain how annoying it is until you have experienced it for yourself, but just trust me it isn't fun. I read a large portion of this book to avoid these notifications, even though I prefer to listen to books that have cheap audio available.
On the other side of things. The story is getting interesting and deep. The MC is starting to be noticed by very powerful characters that want to manipulate him into their own far reaching plans. The friend group is getting closer and they are starting to have more fun. The long list of Epilogue chapters was fun to listen to (no notifications). The battles in the last part of the book were fun due to the more desirable just explain what ability was used and the effect. If the author must include some notification in relation to abilities it could just be a progress to the next level as this information is largely ignored throughout the series.
Continuity is pretty good, but there is an issue with progress. Basically some abilities are passive and are used all of the time, like perception related abilities. Others are on demand, but are used very frequently like a shadow teleport. Some abilities have 24 hour cooldowns and are at most used 2 times a day paired with other abilities to instantly reset cooldowns. Even if these abilities were to gain a lot more experience per use the timeline doesn't make since on how fast they are leveled up. Basically the more powerful abilities of the team are some of the last to be unlocked, as this is better for story progression. The characters rank is determined by their lowest ranked ability within their powerset, so the fastest way for any character to level up is to evenly progress each ability, because once at a threshold no more progress will be made with an ability until the straggler catches up. I like this mechanic, it is an awesome way to make your characters use all of the abilities they have in creative ways. The problem I have is that the author still needs character progression to push the story and engage the readers, so these mechanics get ignored. That is a small problem, but it is a prevailing issue with this genre. Few books have found a way to stick to their own written rule book. What is the point of having a set progression blueprint if you are just going to ignore it? Anyway I liked the book overall and tore through it. I was annoyed by notifications, but loved the story. Maybe there could be an abridged edition that summarizes the notifications.
On the other side of things. The story is getting interesting and deep. The MC is starting to be noticed by very powerful characters that want to manipulate him into their own far reaching plans. The friend group is getting closer and they are starting to have more fun. The long list of Epilogue chapters was fun to listen to (no notifications). The battles in the last part of the book were fun due to the more desirable just explain what ability was used and the effect. If the author must include some notification in relation to abilities it could just be a progress to the next level as this information is largely ignored throughout the series.
Continuity is pretty good, but there is an issue with progress. Basically some abilities are passive and are used all of the time, like perception related abilities. Others are on demand, but are used very frequently like a shadow teleport. Some abilities have 24 hour cooldowns and are at most used 2 times a day paired with other abilities to instantly reset cooldowns. Even if these abilities were to gain a lot more experience per use the timeline doesn't make since on how fast they are leveled up. Basically the more powerful abilities of the team are some of the last to be unlocked, as this is better for story progression. The characters rank is determined by their lowest ranked ability within their powerset, so the fastest way for any character to level up is to evenly progress each ability, because once at a threshold no more progress will be made with an ability until the straggler catches up. I like this mechanic, it is an awesome way to make your characters use all of the abilities they have in creative ways. The problem I have is that the author still needs character progression to push the story and engage the readers, so these mechanics get ignored. That is a small problem, but it is a prevailing issue with this genre. Few books have found a way to stick to their own written rule book. What is the point of having a set progression blueprint if you are just going to ignore it? Anyway I liked the book overall and tore through it. I was annoyed by notifications, but loved the story. Maybe there could be an abridged edition that summarizes the notifications.
December 12, 2022
So many typos.
I don't know if they thought that they would publish this without an editor and have the Kindle readers edit it, but this is awful. There are SO MANY TYPOS. I am 10% in and have already reported at least 15. And these aren't like a missing comma, but words are in there wrong, there's extra words, and my daughter who is further along than me said there is one section that says, "delete for Kindle book" in the actual text. Also the point of view of this book is not consistent with the other two. Instead of being third person limited, it is third person omniscient and he drops almost all the LitRPG wording. The whole thing reads like a rough draft. I'm so disappointed. I was really looking forward to this book, but not this way. I think I will put it back on the shelf and hope it gets fixed at some point.
I don't know if they thought that they would publish this without an editor and have the Kindle readers edit it, but this is awful. There are SO MANY TYPOS. I am 10% in and have already reported at least 15. And these aren't like a missing comma, but words are in there wrong, there's extra words, and my daughter who is further along than me said there is one section that says, "delete for Kindle book" in the actual text. Also the point of view of this book is not consistent with the other two. Instead of being third person limited, it is third person omniscient and he drops almost all the LitRPG wording. The whole thing reads like a rough draft. I'm so disappointed. I was really looking forward to this book, but not this way. I think I will put it back on the shelf and hope it gets fixed at some point.
September 27, 2021
This volume has more fight scenes and stats than the previous two, and less sociopolitical intrigue. But there's a good setup for the next in the series.
February 27, 2024
Pero que maravilla de libro, menudo enganche!
Hasta el momento es que más me ha gustado, es más y más grande de todas las cosas que me han ido gustando en los anteriores.
Sin más a por el siguiente, otras 800 páginas (espero) que de pura diversión.
Hasta el momento es que más me ha gustado, es más y más grande de todas las cosas que me han ido gustando en los anteriores.
Sin más a por el siguiente, otras 800 páginas (espero) que de pura diversión.
May 18, 2022
[Read ahead on Royal Roads because of the poor ending of book 2]
This was wonderful. Struggled with the second book because, while the end to an arc, was clearly not the end to things set up since the beginning of the story. It is lovely to see the over-arcing thread to have a tie together point, as the end of book 3 isn't close to half of what the author has written to date.
Anywho, This feels like a fitting conclusion, but setting up so much more, and questions still unanswered. I am very satisfied. My largest gripe would be (character spoiler?) the subtle erosion of unique characters. It seams over time - and especially as relational tension is resolved - that all the main characters are becoming less unique, and revolving around the same few character traits: clever, quippy, and a bit mean. Beyond that, it is a wonderful story, that I am intimitaded to continue with, but probably can't help myself.
Reread, was excellent again. Beautifully ties the first set together, and answers finally the questions brought up in the beggining of the first book, while planting the seeds for more. What will happen across dimensions? Where do we go next?
This was wonderful. Struggled with the second book because, while the end to an arc, was clearly not the end to things set up since the beginning of the story. It is lovely to see the over-arcing thread to have a tie together point, as the end of book 3 isn't close to half of what the author has written to date.
Anywho, This feels like a fitting conclusion, but setting up so much more, and questions still unanswered. I am very satisfied. My largest gripe would be (character spoiler?) the subtle erosion of unique characters. It seams over time - and especially as relational tension is resolved - that all the main characters are becoming less unique, and revolving around the same few character traits: clever, quippy, and a bit mean. Beyond that, it is a wonderful story, that I am intimitaded to continue with, but probably can't help myself.
Reread, was excellent again. Beautifully ties the first set together, and answers finally the questions brought up in the beggining of the first book, while planting the seeds for more. What will happen across dimensions? Where do we go next?
January 7, 2023
This book is excellent. Tons of awesome combat, good story and progression, fun characters and real stakes. We finally get an idea of what is going on, who the real bad guys are and what they want. A few things keep this book from being a full 5 star. First, Jason. While he is funny, amazing, and a joy to read he also has a bad habit of being annoying and sits on his own high horse. His time with his party is excellent, but when he starts to moralize he can become the worst part of the book. The next bad bit is the notifications. While they usually are not that bad, reminding you what some ability does or explaining a new item, they can be a bit....much. Particularly since it repeats itself so many times, sometimes conveying the same information said just a few sentences ago. Some streamlining and simplifying of this information would have made for an easier read. Honestly, just less repetition.
April 27, 2022
Too long and fumbles the ending
What I found initially interesting about the series is still here but I have three major issues.
Firstly, it is not really a novel in the traditional sense. There are a lot of pointless asides, repetitions of everything from themes to paragraphs and an alternation between dragging sections and rushed major plot points. A couple of passes with an editor looking at the picture and serious reworks could have turned this from ok to great.
Secondly, the climax in particular suffers the most from the previous weakness. What should have been the emotional climax of the book had me simultaneously going "ugh, finally it's over" and "wait, that's it? After all that, this is how it ends?!"
Finally, the eight epilogues are just too much. This isn't the end of the series, you don't need 80 pages of epilogues.
What I found initially interesting about the series is still here but I have three major issues.
Firstly, it is not really a novel in the traditional sense. There are a lot of pointless asides, repetitions of everything from themes to paragraphs and an alternation between dragging sections and rushed major plot points. A couple of passes with an editor looking at the picture and serious reworks could have turned this from ok to great.
Secondly, the climax in particular suffers the most from the previous weakness. What should have been the emotional climax of the book had me simultaneously going "ugh, finally it's over" and "wait, that's it? After all that, this is how it ends?!"
Finally, the eight epilogues are just too much. This isn't the end of the series, you don't need 80 pages of epilogues.
September 9, 2021
Still good
The story is still good, the earlier installments were better, the fight scenes were almost un readable, pages full of ability descriptions with a few lines mixed in describing the description of the abilities used, a paragraph describing a punch then a few lines saying this character used this ability to punch someone, then another ability description, then the same thing again, they were seriously bad to the point of almost just skipping the actual fight sequences to continue on with the story. Minus that it is still really good, and definitely leaves you wanting to read what will happen next. Good characters witty dialogue and an engaging storyline, looking forward to the next one.
The story is still good, the earlier installments were better, the fight scenes were almost un readable, pages full of ability descriptions with a few lines mixed in describing the description of the abilities used, a paragraph describing a punch then a few lines saying this character used this ability to punch someone, then another ability description, then the same thing again, they were seriously bad to the point of almost just skipping the actual fight sequences to continue on with the story. Minus that it is still really good, and definitely leaves you wanting to read what will happen next. Good characters witty dialogue and an engaging storyline, looking forward to the next one.
October 18, 2021
Losing momentum. It just gets dumber and less consistent. And apparently overcorrecting from the last book with endless repetitions of skills and stats from the increasingly inflexible and boring RPG system.
The ending epilogues are great and builds the world a bit, but it is too little after 20 hours of boredom.
If this was a movie 90% of this book would be montaged, and the little left would be shuffled in as 15min extra on book 2.
The ending epilogues are great and builds the world a bit, but it is too little after 20 hours of boredom.
If this was a movie 90% of this book would be montaged, and the little left would be shuffled in as 15min extra on book 2.
October 11, 2024
I do like this series I really do. It is clever and fun, what more could you want? It has its issues thought that frustrate me. The issues prevent it from truly being great.
Again I want to say that I overall really enjoyed this book before I get to the bad.
1. Editing. Holy crap does this series need a professional editor. It is a bit absurd that I am buying these books and there are rampant spelling mistakes. It has gotten better as the series goes on but my goodness. I used to get confused by who was speaking as there was never a clear indication when we would flip to another team’s point of view, just one omnipresent narrator. This has been fixed for the most part.
2. Endings: This series has some of the WORST falling action I have ever read. It just grinds the pace of the book into the ground. Save some of that falling action and tack it onto the next book I beg of you.
3. Repetition repetition repetition: We are told the same piece of information a multitude of times. A character will learn this information and then tell other people about it. WOW! If only I got that the first time! Also the powers in this series are explained over and over and over again. I found myself skipping all bolded text. Give it to me once. I don’t CARE exactly what Jason’s abilities do and who they can potentially affect, I will get that in context.
Again I want to say that I overall really enjoyed this book before I get to the bad.
1. Editing. Holy crap does this series need a professional editor. It is a bit absurd that I am buying these books and there are rampant spelling mistakes. It has gotten better as the series goes on but my goodness. I used to get confused by who was speaking as there was never a clear indication when we would flip to another team’s point of view, just one omnipresent narrator. This has been fixed for the most part.
2. Endings: This series has some of the WORST falling action I have ever read. It just grinds the pace of the book into the ground. Save some of that falling action and tack it onto the next book I beg of you.
3. Repetition repetition repetition: We are told the same piece of information a multitude of times. A character will learn this information and then tell other people about it. WOW! If only I got that the first time! Also the powers in this series are explained over and over and over again. I found myself skipping all bolded text. Give it to me once. I don’t CARE exactly what Jason’s abilities do and who they can potentially affect, I will get that in context.
July 19, 2024
HE WHO FIGHTS WITH MONSTERS III continues the adventures of Jason Asano, world's most trolling LitRPG protagonist, as he finds himself up against the Cosmic Builder who wants to create his own reality by pirating huge chunks of reality from other worlds. Jason and company must try and stop them by journeying to his lair and facing the being that is above even the gods (as well as his avatar). This is pretty similar to the previous books and still quite enjoyable. Jason is also less overpowered than he used to be, which makes the fights more tense. I feel the epilogue went on a little too long but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.
July 14, 2022
This installment offered nice progression in this series. I didn’t see it going in the direction it did at the end of this installment. However, I am along for the ride and I think Shirtaloon is masterful in keeping cohesion between all the characters’ magic, abilities and fighting styles! Let’s see what Shirtaloon has for us next! I am interested in the increasingly involved elements that are emerging from the storyline.
September 13, 2021
Rating 4.0 stars
I really am enjoying this series. There are some things that could be better but they haven't reached the point of being annoying yet. The grand fight scenes are a little too much. The descriptions of the powers during combat are very long and detract from the actual fighting. You want those descriptions to add to the suspense of fighting not take away from it. The characters are well written and the story is engaging. The only other issue is that the last 4 hours of the audiobook were epilogues. Overall though I still really enjoyed this book and the series as a whole and am looking forward to the next one.
I really am enjoying this series. There are some things that could be better but they haven't reached the point of being annoying yet. The grand fight scenes are a little too much. The descriptions of the powers during combat are very long and detract from the actual fighting. You want those descriptions to add to the suspense of fighting not take away from it. The characters are well written and the story is engaging. The only other issue is that the last 4 hours of the audiobook were epilogues. Overall though I still really enjoyed this book and the series as a whole and am looking forward to the next one.
February 2, 2024
I'm not crying, you're crying!
I just love these characters so much. UGH!
I just love these characters so much. UGH!
September 27, 2021
Just to address the elephant in the room- There are a ton of errors in this book. Misspellings, grammatical errors, run-on sentences, and there was even a point where there were notations like {Clive says this- Take this out for the Audio Book] [Jason says this. Take this out for the audio book} {Neil says this - take this out for the audio book}. Definitely could have used a proof reader or two, and an editor to go over it one last time. This seems rushed
That said, if you can get past the errors, overall this is a pretty good book. I would still say it is the weakest of the three so far, but it is still worth it to buy if you are a fan of the first two books. The story keeps you engaged, the characters grown and improve, and the humor, danger and excitement blended together well.
However, the end of the story is really disconcerting. It leaves on a weird cliffhanger, then there are 'Epilogue' chapters that are out of nowhere. They are disjointed and don't fit in, and I would say they should either be the beginning of the fourth book, or expanded on and published in a short story/side story (like 'He Who Fights Monsters 3.5: a LitRPG Adventure' or something) to ease into the fourth book. The 'epilogue' seems to be tacked on and shouldn't be at the end of the book at all. Not enough context for half of the chapters
That said, if you can get past the errors, overall this is a pretty good book. I would still say it is the weakest of the three so far, but it is still worth it to buy if you are a fan of the first two books. The story keeps you engaged, the characters grown and improve, and the humor, danger and excitement blended together well.
However, the end of the story is really disconcerting. It leaves on a weird cliffhanger, then there are 'Epilogue' chapters that are out of nowhere. They are disjointed and don't fit in, and I would say they should either be the beginning of the fourth book, or expanded on and published in a short story/side story (like 'He Who Fights Monsters 3.5: a LitRPG Adventure' or something) to ease into the fourth book. The 'epilogue' seems to be tacked on and shouldn't be at the end of the book at all. Not enough context for half of the chapters
September 11, 2021
Not bad but my least favorite so far.
I have the unfortunate tendency to rate a book based on how it ended and unfortunately I didn’t really like the ending of this book. I really find an author who likes to in the books with cliffhangers to be somewhat distasteful especially if you have to wait a year or more before the next book. Most of this book was very well written and I really enjoyed it but I’m beginning to suspect that the main characters becoming less important to the story. We will just have to see what direction this goes in but if the main character becomes more of a side character then I don’t think I’m going to continue to read this series.
Spoiler: ending the book with having the main character killed and then spending a dozen chapters explaining how the main character was going to come back in the next book is just distasteful. I normally would’ve just rated this book with one star because of this but most of the story leading up to this ending was excellent and well written.
I have the unfortunate tendency to rate a book based on how it ended and unfortunately I didn’t really like the ending of this book. I really find an author who likes to in the books with cliffhangers to be somewhat distasteful especially if you have to wait a year or more before the next book. Most of this book was very well written and I really enjoyed it but I’m beginning to suspect that the main characters becoming less important to the story. We will just have to see what direction this goes in but if the main character becomes more of a side character then I don’t think I’m going to continue to read this series.
Spoiler: ending the book with having the main character killed and then spending a dozen chapters explaining how the main character was going to come back in the next book is just distasteful. I normally would’ve just rated this book with one star because of this but most of the story leading up to this ending was excellent and well written.
September 17, 2021
It was a good book up until the end and then it crashed and burned hard. I can't believe it. I loved the first 2 books in the series and the interactions of all the characters as well as the world overall. But in this book it feels like Shirtaloon, does a complete 180 and instead of intrigue with a dash of local politics it alls grows so big that I honestly am not sure how too give a damn. Also it's so much of just fighting x monster to gain x lvl and doing that over and over again. The plot got shoved aside for more endless monster killing. I don't mind action in fact I'm a fan of action filled books. But when the fights aren't not half as interesting as it was in the last 2 books. Well it makes you wonder. I stilled enjoyed the book up until the end. That's when things just went from okay too complete WTF?! I will still read the next book and hope that it is better.
September 21, 2021
I am in love with this series, although this was my least favorite of the three so far. It progressed a lot in the overall arch with things that had only been hinted before, but most of it was spent fighting in isolation and I missed the other characters and interactions.
Stash taking human form now and his occasional brief toddler like conversations were laugh out loud worthy.
I know some people have complained about the constant interface descriptions on the abilities, but it wasn't as much as it felt at times. Because of the constant fighting and levelling we as readers were getting updates so we could know how the abilities had changed. We also got a blurb the first time an ability was used even if referenced in the other books. It only seemed overwhelming because we focused on multiple characters all consistently using abilities and improving those stats. In other books there was less use and upgrades on abilities and it focused mostly only on Jason instead of the whole party.
Stash taking human form now and his occasional brief toddler like conversations were laugh out loud worthy.
I know some people have complained about the constant interface descriptions on the abilities, but it wasn't as much as it felt at times. Because of the constant fighting and levelling we as readers were getting updates so we could know how the abilities had changed. We also got a blurb the first time an ability was used even if referenced in the other books. It only seemed overwhelming because we focused on multiple characters all consistently using abilities and improving those stats. In other books there was less use and upgrades on abilities and it focused mostly only on Jason instead of the whole party.
October 8, 2021
I have enjoyed this series to date but this last book was ... something. It's like there was a school assignment and the deadline arrived and everything was turned in out of order. Stuff was turned in that should have been turned in with the previous assignment, along with stuff that hadn't really been proofread, along with stuff for the next assignment, but all out of order with a giant binder clip. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, if only to work out the 8 EPILOGUES of this one.
I gave the book 3 stars instead of 4 though, because a huge chunk of this book was just out of balance with what we have come to learn so far about the magic system and ranks. This team of 6 accomplished what an entire mixed-rank expedition could not, and then some. It was too OP and unbelievable and there were elements that just came out of nowhere and then went nowhere. Then, even more disappointing, are the elements that are built up only to be skipped over or summarized in a sentence.
I gave the book 3 stars instead of 4 though, because a huge chunk of this book was just out of balance with what we have come to learn so far about the magic system and ranks. This team of 6 accomplished what an entire mixed-rank expedition could not, and then some. It was too OP and unbelievable and there were elements that just came out of nowhere and then went nowhere. Then, even more disappointing, are the elements that are built up only to be skipped over or summarized in a sentence.
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