Synopsis
Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters.
It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it’s hard to be good when all your powers are evil.
He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters…and that’s just on the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit, and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need pants.’
Review
I loved this book. It’s eminently bingeable. I listened on audiobook, narrated by Heath Miller.
“He Who Fights With Monsters” is a thoroughly enjoyable Fantasy LitRPG. I was previously not a huge fan of all the stats and interfaces in a lot of LitRPG, but I am now a convert. I consumed them all, calculating in my head the character’s progress as he slowly ranked up all his various skills. And there were a lot.
There are so many things this author does right, I’m not sure where to start. So let’s go piece by piece.
Characters
The main character, Jason Asano, is an irreverent, snarky young man who finds himself yanked from current-day Earth and dropped into another world. He lands in a blood-cultist’s lair, along with several caged adventurers. Naked, unarmed, and confused, Jason is forced to confront his abductors or die. Seeing as this takes place at the start of the book, it’s not a spoiler to say that he survives.
Jason shows his moral character right off, choosing to save others out of compassion as well as self-preservation. The tension between courage, selflessness, and self-interest are constantly at play throughout the story. These competing qualities make for a gray, multi-dimensional character and are at the core of many of the interpersonal relationships and plot beats that make up the narrative.
Jason’s progression in the story is both driven and stymied by his outlandish, outworlder behavior. In addition to adding depth of characterization, Jason’s behavior is often comical. There are plenty of inside “Earth” jokes that the reader will understand and appreciate, but the inhabitants of his new world will not. His unconventional behavior is a tool he consciously uses, flipping the script and confusing those around him, putting them off balance. He uses this to his advantage. Occasionally, it comes back to bite him.
The many side characters, including his rotating band of adventurers, and others, serve to help or challenge him, explain the mechanics of the new world, and present the themes of this epic tale. There are many types of characters, including royalty, mob bosses, religious devotees, gods, various races of adventurers, the downtrodden, commoners, familiars, and monsters. All are interesting, and some are downright odd, foremost of which is his first “familiar,” which I won’t spoil. But yuck.
Themes and Worldbuilding
A major theme in “He Who Fights With Monsters” is standing up to authority. The world Jason lands in is a hierarchical society, with royalty, adventurers’ ranks, churches, and gods. He is having none of it, setting up some fun encounters.
The royalty (sometimes not literal royalty, but instead the top tier of adventurers) consist of a mix of those who take their responsibility to care for others seriously, versus those who inherited their titles and feel, well, entitled. The story explores a range of conduct by the privileged classes, from truly noble, to abuse of power, to outright corruption.
The gods play a relatively small role, popping in now and then, mostly, it seems, to give Jason another chance to reject authority. The gods’ followers are another matter, however. Religious zealots play a larger part in the intrigue, underlying politics, and plot of the story.
Another aspect of the hierarchy, the underdogs and downtrodden, offer a counterbalance to the mostly illustrious adventurers guild. A seedy underside of the world is woven in here and there, slowly building a parallel plot thread and set of characters that become more important later on.
Friendship and loyalty are integral to the story. Jason is good at making friends. He is just as good at making enemies. The antics that result in so many enemies are often humorous. Friendships grow over time in an authentic manner, offering glimpses into the serious side of our main protagonist. Jason’s brash, audacious behavior is his usual persona, making the brief moments when his mask falls away all the more impactful.
Being an outsider is another theme. Jason is, by his nature as an outworlder, different and out of place in this world. While this puts him at a disadvantage in many ways, it also has its benefits. He brings in a unique perspective, and this allows him to skip or ignore a lot of the restrictions inherent in the society. He is also able to solve some challenges that confound the “natives” of the world, through his different way of thinking. This is a light, uplifting tale for the most part. So, the potential for abuse, poverty, and exploitation many lower classes or refugees suffer is mostly avoided here. That theme is covered in our aforementioned underworld subplot. Jason mostly rises above his alien status, or excels because of it. This involves plenty of struggles, of course, mostly in the form of fighting monsters and ranking up his adventurer’s powers.
Magic and Game Mechanics
If you are a MMORPG player who loves to geek out on strategy, spells, and gear, you will love this. The author, Shirtaloon, goes all in on the gaming aspects. If you are not a gamer of this or any video game genre, it might just get you to start playing. The portrayal of team dynamics, and the details of spells, weapons, monsters, etc., are spot on for the massive multiplayer online role-playing games. I am a Final Fantasy XIV player, and much of the book feels very familiar.
The magic runs deep, being a fundamental component of this imaginary world. Adventurers consume “essences,” which give them basic magical powers. The type of essence determines the adventurer’s class and available attributes. Awakening stones unlock other abilities within their essence types. Adventurers rank up from Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. It’s a slog to even get through Iron rank.
Adventurers fight monsters to both protect civilians and to level up. They stumble upon monsters or other types of enemies. They can also ply their adventurer’s trade by taking monster quests off the local guild boards or the notice boards found in various villages, ala FFXIV, WOW, the Witcher games, etc. Adventurers go up against other adventurers in PvP (player vs. player) matches, mostly for training, but sometimes as real-life opponents. Like I said, Jason is good at making enemies. Or, sometimes there are just bad people out there, and this story has its share of antagonists and evil plots to foil.
Shirtaloon lacks no creativity in coming up with a myriad of strange and diverse spells, skills, and monsters. He goes into great detail about clothing, food, training, and all manner of game mechanics. I personally love all that stuff, even the stats, as I mentioned before.
Then of course is the fighting. There is a lot of it. The pacing is good, and the dynamics are engaging and well described. Shirtaloon hits all the senses, creating a graphically depicted, immersive experience. The action is well integrated with the plot and character development, making the confrontations compelling and satisfying.
Overall Enjoyment Level
I still can’t figure out the recipe that makes some books so addicting that I end up bingeing them without intending to. This is one of them. I suppose I feel like I know the characters at this point, and I like them. Or I love to hate them. The world is well developed, and the magic systems are abundant and entertaining. There is a good share of humor, which keeps the tale from getting too dark. The audiobook narration was excellent, which added to the experience for me. If you haven’t dived into LitRPG yet, this is a great place to start.
(Note: They seemed to have paused paperbacks while they roll out the hardcover.)
Leave a Reply