The Land: Forging: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seed #2) is a 2016 fantasy adventure LitRPG novel written by Aleron Kong and narrated by Nick Podehl. The second installment in the Chaos Seed series, the story follows Richter’s continuous adventures in the Land as he and Sion seek level advancements and a means of protecting the Mist Village.
One of the biggest problems I had with the previous book was that the story felt directionless. The protagonist goes into the Land not knowing anyone or anything and takes no measures to learn. Unfortunately, this story doesn’t change that. It’s boring in a lot of ways that matter because watching the character “leveling up” only works in games and not the literary sense, especially at the expense of the story. There’s so much that feels so disjointed. There’s no flow, no sense of consistency. Things just happen, many of which for no reason outside of continuing the main story.
The story continues with Richter being the main protagonist and he’s just stupid. Richter is easily one of the dumbest characters I’ve ever had the misfortune of following and for a lot of reasons. He’s supposed to be a gamer but when entering the game world does nothing an actual gamer would do. He’s selfish and greedy, even exploiting those he’s closest to in order to gain some mediocre goal that only benefits him. No matter how bad his decision-making is (and boy does he makes some dumb decisions) other characters affirm him. He has choice to wait a few hours to get a familiar without compromising his town’s safety or risk the lives of 300 people because you’re impatient. Guess what decision he made. Straight up idiot. I will say that Alma is actually a solid addition to the cast. Unlike our main protagonist, she’s not selfish and stupid.
Overall, the supporting characters are much better than our main characters. They actually feel real and not like some over-the-top caricature like Richter. Still, they’re decent enough to like though the reserves of depth that would make them compelling isn’t quite there yet. Sion is decent but I’m seeing something that makes me nervous for his character. There are some characters who stand out more than others. He’s starting to adopt some of Richter’s bad traits. So, in all, I can say that the story is lacking but at least some of the characters stand out. Not terrible but can be better. (3 out of 5)
As I’ve listened to the audiobook, I will say that I really enjoyed Podehl’s narration. He’s great with giving characterization to the large cast of characters. I find that he’s deep and that often makes the characters expressive which is good to here. He’s good with pacing, painting the action sequences, and generally providing an entertaining read.
The overall quality of the audio isn’t bad. It’s actually quite good. The prompts are a headache and although they tend to be annoying because of how overly detailed it can be with the allocation and how they detail stats one by one instead of rounding together, it still sounds pretty good. The sound design deserves points for the quality. (3 out of 5)
Personally, I think Kong has something of merit here. Unfortunately, the author has a poor writing style. Not only does it lack finesse in terms of delivering some of the mechanics but as a story it lacks substance and direction. If the character was gaining levels and improving while on a journey to discover why he’s in the Land, that’ll be cool. But to just read about a character grinding is quite boring and repetitive and does nothing for the overall story.
Generally, I like the “gameplay” mechanics of the book, though at times it can be incredibly tedious. This is where any praise for this book stops. I have nothing against the author personally but his profession as a writer is mediocre. I like the idea and the setting and appreciate him for being the first author to introduce me to the LitRPG genre. But he sucks as a writer. He doesn’t know how to write a good protagonist. He doesn’t know how to write a gamer. I find his writing style amateurish and quite frustrating. Does he have room to improve? Yes, because the potential is there beneath the cheesy jokes, lackluster storytelling, and jumbled writing.
Much like the previous book, I grew frustrated at how little effort our main protagonist gives yet receives the most powerful items and wealth. He just stumbles upon an area that has one of the most powerful items, he fights an unbeatable enemy with dumb luck and wins, he receives a boost or power up just at the most crucial moment. Everything just feels very convenient for him. Even the progression of the story. He does nothing to progress the story and seemingly gets thrown quest that progress it. Or something random happens to progress it. Though some mechanics stand out as the series’ best feature, the poor narration and direction more times than not mar the experience. It’s below average writing that could be better. (2 out of 5)
The Verdict: In the end, The Land: Forging: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seed #2) continues what’s good in Founding, but also all the bad about it. Richter’s still a dumbass jerk who tells bad jokes and makes a lot of dumb decisions, there’s nothing really new about the Land explored, there’s virtually no story progression, and the writings pretty mediocre. Still, the gameplay mechanics are interesting, the narration is exceptional, and some of the supporting characters are cool. The Land: Forging: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seed #2) gets 3 out of 5.
Be the first to comment