delightfulmayhem's reviews
79 reviews

These stories were excruciatingly difficult to get through. Utter nonsense. Everything from the way the stories are narrated, to the spelling of certain words, to the plots of the stories is just ridiculous. The story essence and the messages behind these stories do not bring any sort of value. I would definitely never read this to my kids! 

 I love this series and was excited for this book to come out. I enjoyed book 10 but not as much as the rest of the series.  I find Jason to be a great character. I would love to be friends with him. He has also grown as a character over the course of the books, especially the last few. 

Not a lot of action takes place in the first half of the book. However, we get to see how Jason is coping with his cosmic powers and his balancing of his mental state. The book does a good job showing how difficult mental health treatment really is. It's not like physical injuries that can be quickly healed, but a process that has many steps and takes time. At times, he does better, but then something happens and he regresses. This happens in real life as well. However, he's getting better at recognizing situations that lead him to regress and taking steps to get out of them or using coping mechanisms to get through them without breaking. It gives Jason a depth that many Litrpg MCs lack. 

I think the most frustrating thing about the book is that the whole underground expedition wasn't wrapped up, so now I have to wait until the next book comes out to see if Jason comes out on top and with a soul forge. Also I would like to see a bit more progression in his essence abilities, he's been at silver for so long already. I understand it takes a while to progress through silver but I want to see him taking significant steps to level up, instead of crawling.  

 The way the book is written is interesting and unusual. The perspective changes several times throughout the story. Most of Part 1 is told from a third person narrative, and we only hear about Jude from the perspectives of the other characters. When Part 2 starts, we actually get to see Jude's thoughts and feelings. The most interesting thing is that the narrator never actually says the name Jude, it's always just 'he' so it's a bit confusing at first until it finally clicks that we're in Jude's head. 

Jude is my favorite character. He is just such a sweet and kind soul. He is lighthearted and playful even though he is in chronic pain and is very serious. I just want to be his friend and give him a hug. 

There is a lot of potentially upsetting content in this book. Warnings include: self-harm, physical and emotional abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, suicide. All of these things are not only mentioned in the book but written in extreme detail. 

I think what I loved most about this book is that despite there being so much trauma and suffering, the biggest themes in the book are love and friendship. Jude is a person who thinks so little of himself throughout the book, and yet he brings so much joy to other people's lives. 

One thing to note about this book is that there ARE happy moments. There is a lot of awfulness in the book, don't get me wrong, but it's not just unrelenting sadness. There is a lot of love and good in this book, as well. 

This book is not for everyone.

Favorite Quotes:

• “You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.” 

• “...things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.” 

• “I know my life's meaningful because I'm a good friend. I love my friends, and I care about them, and I think I make them happy.”

• “Wasn’t friendship its own miracle, the finding of another person who made the entire lonely world seem somehow less lonely?”