In general, I don't care much for LitRPG and the only reason I gave this one a try was due to a recommendation by Mark Lawrence, an author whose work I enjoy a lot. Cut to the chase, John, I ended up enjoying the book quite a lot.

I will say the first half feels a lot like just about any other LitRPG book I have read, in this case basically setting up the world and the jokes. The second half, however, really started investing in the characters and the society. That's what pushed this from a 3 star to a 4 star book for me as I really came to care about the characters and the quest.

Grom is a very interesting character (eventually) and the rest of the party turned out to be pretty well fleshed out, too. I'll definitely be moving on to book 2.