Reviews

The Grand Game by Tom Elliot

tsareeena's review against another edition

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2.0

This very much felt like a re-telling of Apollos Thorne's 'Level up or Die!', which made the story fall a little flat for me.
Much of the progression felt like it was done out of convenience for the plot rather than actual skill-building or hard work on MC's part. The majority of levelling came from very low-effort practices that moved extremely quickly.

mylhibug's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

usernamesarestupid's review

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2.0

A lot of reviews say this but I still didn't fully understand how deeply stupid the MC is. Every interaction comes across as explaining something obvious to a stubborn child that refuses to believe. We're talking "fire is hot" level of knowledge. It seems intentional since every new character the MC encounters has a part where they look at him like he's an idiot. Even the animals. Coupled with the simple prose it feels like this book was written to target middle school ages.

The plot is just the generic paint-by-numbers gamelit dungeon crawler so far. That's not necessarily a bad thing of it's done well and has interesting characters but this doesn't. In a sense the MC was written too realistic. It's just not that entertaining to follow an average, if not below average, person as they struggle to figure out basic RPG mechanics and how a rogue fights.

Maybe it gets better in future books or it'd be different if this was one of my first instead of hundredth litRPG novels but it just doesn't hold up to the other popular series.

eraki's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

faetedonereads's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

wolkenfels's review

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3.0

I am not a big fan of stories where the MC is mostly on solo adventures with not very much social interaction.
But it is well done, the MC makes some interesting and good decisions and it is fun to follow him. Overall the world was too much of a stage for my taste.

battleexile's review

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

5.0

florian's review

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adventurous fast-paced

4.0

savethekhajiits's review

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5.0

This was my first foray into litrpg and, daaaang, I could not put it down. When I had to put it down all I could do was think about it. It is one of those books that just makes you excited to read. I practically forced my partner to read this just so I could talk about it and think about it more (not really forced, I knew he'd also be obsessed) and he ended up buying and finishing the second in the series before me. Definitely recommend, am currently enjoying the second in the series.

kmoniqued's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0